mouth, smacking his lips appreciatively.
My lips twist. I sigh, tilting my head and leaning back on the bed. “I’m not sure. I…” Pausing, I bite my full lower lip. “If I weren’t a princess… if I could break away from the royal family, I would live a very different life.”
His eyebrows rise. He sets his glass on the floor and runs a couple of his fingers along the outside of my arm. “What would you do?”
I push out my cheek with my tongue. “I would probably focus on charity work? Maybe something with fashion… or maybe raise awareness for people with eating disorders? I don’t know. I would just be excited to go out without the paparazzi following me everywhere.”
His lips quirk. “Like this morning?”
I nod. “Exactly.”
He screws up his face for a second. “We could break away from the palace, you know.”
I give him a funny look. “What?”
He shrugs, looking down at the platter. “I’m just saying. You can do anything you want to do, if you are willing to pay the price.”
I give a half-hearted chuckle. “What about you? Where are you in this scenario? Because I don’t see you being Stellan’s secretary if you encourage his little sister to run off and become a former royal.”
He looks up at me suddenly, spearing me with his deep, serious gaze. “I don’t plan on being his secretary for much longer. Before all of this, I was trying to find the right time to tell him that I wanted to leave. Now, I have even more motivation to leave.”
I stare at him. My heart pounds. “Are you saying you would go with me if I made the jump?”
He nods. “I would. In a heartbeat.”
I frown. “And what would our future look like together? How would we live?” I scrunch up my nose. “I imagine that I would receive some sort of stipend from the royal family but— “
“We don’t have to worry about money,” he says, tilting his head at me. “I have enough. I mean, it’s nothing like the kind of money that the royal family has. But it’ll do. I can take care of you for the rest of our lives, Nika.”
I narrow my gaze. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to take care of me.”
He shrugs. “It’s just money. I would rather spend it on making a life with you than anything else.”
I bite my lip and frown at him for a few seconds, taking it all in. My heart lurches in my chest. “You’re serious? You would break off from my family if I agreed to go?”
He trails his touch along my arm, nodding. “Yes.”
I scoot around to be close enough to kiss his gorgeous lips. For a minute, we just explore each other’s mouths, languorously kissing. When I finally open my eyes and look into his face, my heart is so full that I can’t help but grin.
He smirks. “How should I read that? Is that a yes?”
I nod, biting my lip. “I would be a fool to say no. I’m not promising anything, but… I will leave if you’re propping me up.”
“I can’t think of anything better.” Erik pauses, his brow wrinkling. “We should wait until after Stellan’s wedding to make any announcements. Right?”
“Yes. That would be the polite thing to do.” Reaching up to his sideburn, I run my fingers through the short hair that I find there. “It would be even more polite to wait until after he gets back from his honeymoon.”
He pulls a face. “It would be polite, yes. But I don’t want to wait that long. Do you?”
My lips twitch. I kiss his lip for a second before shaking my head. “No.”
Erik moves closer, kissing me more deeply. We get lost in the moment and I sigh breathily as he starts to brush his lips against my collarbone…
29
Erik
Annika is looking at me like a fucking angel. I can’t not touch her. I put the tray of food on the floor and pull her closer. She moans with this breathy little voice that makes me wild and crazy.
Shaken to my very core, I drag my thumb across her lower lip, then follow the caress with the press of my lips against hers. She responds immediately, ravenous for my touch.
Fuck.
Echoing her sentiment with an appetite all my own, I bend her backward, trailing kisses down her neck. I grab her by the waist and bring her down to the floor, spreading her thighs and bringing us together. My