AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“How long?”
“How long what?”
“How long have you loved a spoiled, ungrateful prince?”
She blinks and then inhales a trembling breath.
34
Kala
He’s going to make me say it. “Twelve years.”
“Twelve? Twelve years ago I was nothing but a sixteen-year-old good-for-nothing.”
“Hey. Nobody talks like that about my husband,” I say, my voice cracking, still terrified of what he’ll think of me now that he’s learned I’ve felt this unrequited love for more than half of my life.
Etienne gives me a sad smile. Oh, great. He thinks I’m pathetic.
“You were…you were 17,” he says.
“Yes, and you were 16, and it seemed the entire internet was obsessed with the rebellious young teenager sticking out his tongue during the royal family’s visit to Finland.”
“Was it?”
That he doesn’t remember a moment so formative for me is mind-boggling. But why would he remember it? He doesn’t understand his effect on people.
“Yes. The photo was everywhere. You were flashing devil horn fingers and winking, too.”
“Oh gods,” he moans, laughing and pinching the bridge of his nose.
“And that was the moment I knew.”
“You fell for a photo of an obnoxious teenager?”
“No,” I answer immediately. “I fell for someone I knew was more than what the tabloids said. Remember, I grew up in your orbit. I watched you. I saw there was more to you than what people believed. I saw there was more to you thanyoubelieved.”
He hesitates. “And now?”
I breathe and say, “And now I’m desperately in love with a husband who will likely shatter my heart into a million tiny pieces.”
Etienne takes a moment comprised of a single breath.
And then he kisses me. Hard, and with both hands clasping the back of my head, the only thing keeping me from knocking my skull against the car window.
His mouth takes possession of mine. His tongue sweeps past my lips, already parted in momentary shock. My husband has finally heard the truth about me, and his response is to kiss me so hard that all flesh between my legs throbs for him.
The prince’s mouth is so insistent I wonder if he understood what I said. Could Etienne have mistaken my words for play-acting? Surely not.
I go over what I said, and…no. Nope, I put the truth out there, spelling it out so that even a total nincompoop would understand. There’s no mistaking it.
And he accepts me. And kisses me, and keeps at it.
And the kiss is so…so…wonderful.
Suddenly, something feels scratchy at the back of my throat, but before I can pull back out of fear of giving Etienne a head cold, the truth of it pours forth. I’m not coming down with a cold. I’m about to cry. Sob. Blubber like a baby because this man, my husband, who has done all manner of filthy things to me, is destroying me with his kiss. I’ll never be able to move on from this moment.
He pulls back when he feels the wetness against his cheek.
