Page 71 of Princess and Country

Dahlia let out a harsh breath.

“I love you, Princess. Even if I wanted to stop loving you, I wouldn’t know how. It’s you and me. Forever.” I took her left hand in mine and traced the edge of her engagement ring with my finger. “I still want it all. I’ll forgive you. Both of you. But it might not be today. Maybe tomorrow.” My lips brushed hers, and I heard the sobs bubbling from deep within her. “We’ll be okay.”

I unwound my body from her and stalked to the shower, needing to flush away every bit of pain clinging to me.

* * *

“Hey, wife, come here for a sec. I need to run something by you.”

Dahlia walked in wearing nothing but one of my gray T-shirts. My Adam’s apple worked at the sight. She didn’t show yet, but with the pregnancy, her boobs had doubled in size. I didn’t have big enough hands to contain their fullness.

My wife—we got married a week ago—propped her elbow against the doorframe, giving a peek at the side of one ass cheek. My dick came alive. I blinked. For a second, I forgot what I wanted to talk to her about.

“What’s going on, husband? Have you lost your tongue, or am I the reason you’re drooling right now?”

“It’s not funny.” I shook my head. “I don’t think being infatuated over someone like I am with you is normal, Princess. You don’t just mess with my body but with my head too.”

Her eyes traveled down to my crotch, and she gave me an approving nod.

“I love it when you’re that happy to see me. Anyway, what did you need my help with?”

I closed my eyes and inhaled, trying to put some order into my thoughts. I scanned the room, trying to remember. In the last few weeks, I’d painted the wall in a light shade of cream and the trims and door in white. Dahlia had transformed her nana’s old rocking chair, stripping the pink paint and adding new white cushions, contrasting the now dark wood. A giant gray stuffed hippopotamus stood in one corner, next to the changing table and a wooden toy box. “Oh, yeah. Would you prefer the monkey mural over the crib or the changing table?”

Dahlia stepped inside the nursery with awe in her eyes. We had plenty of months left to work on the room, but somehow, I wanted it to be ready as soon as possible. It made everything more real.

“Jeff, it’s beautiful.” She grabbed the stuffed bear I’d laid over the pastel-yellow bedspread in the white crib. “Oh, I haven’t seen this fellow in a long time. Where did you find it?”

“My mom gave me a box full of baby stuff. Jack-The-Bear was in there.”

“You used to bring it every time we went camping with our parents when we were little and hid it in your sleeping bag. I knew because Carter told me.”

I snickered at the memory.

“It seems like a lifetime ago that we were young and clueless. You know I was already in love with you back then. I just had no idea what the butterflies in my stomach meant.”

With Jack pressed against her heart, Dahlia prowled toward me.

“The day you stared at me with heat in your eyes in your kitchen, with just a towel around your waist, changed everything for me. That’s the day you stole my heart.”

My hands slid under her shirt, tracing circles over her warm skin.

Dahlia shivered under the pads of my fingers.

“I’m glad I caught your eyes that day. I’d been waiting for months for you to notice me. I was desperate. I might have done that on purpose. Parade in front of you half-naked, I mean.” I shrugged.

My girl’s throat worked. A gleam in her eyes. Her cheeks flushed.

“I bet you did. Oh God, I didn’t know what to do with all the tingles inside me. I couldn’t breathe,” she said with a sultry voice that made my entire body pulse with need. Her index finger trailed down from my collarbone to the waistband of my pants. “We can deal with the mural later. I kind of need you to love me right now. Those pregnancy hormones are the real deal. I keep picturing you naked—”

I scooped my wife up in my arms. “Don’t say another word, Princess. I’ll be your slave. Your guinea pig. Your sex toy. I’ll make a sacrifice in the name of science. Let’s count how many orgasms it takes to get your hormones in check.”

Dahlia’s smile brightened her face, and her mouth crashed on mine, mirroring all the desire pouring from every pore of my body