we were thinking of just calling it princess’s blend."
Annika’s eyes widen with excitement. She tosses her hair and looks at me, a goofy grin on her face. "This is the best birthday present anybody could've ever gotten for me. I don't know how anyone could ever top this."
She steps closer and hugs me, while responding to Noah's question. "I love it. Noah, I would be extremely proud to have my name on your product."
Noah smiles briefly, his face creasing for only a moment. "Thank you, your highness. We are happy to oblige. I know I speak for everybody in the company when I say how thrilled we all are that you are a fan of toffees. I know they are a bit stuffy and boring."
"No, no. I don't feel that way at all. Can I ask, is there any chance of you making this toffee low calorie or sugar free?"
Noah smiles again. Bowing his head, he answers her. "It already is sugar free. The fact that you can't taste it is a good sign, I think."
Nika grins at both of us. "I would say so. Thank you for helping us out today, Noah. Can I sign anything for you? I'm sure that you have some little girls in your family that would like an autograph."
He bows his head. "Thank you, Princess. My niece would love your autograph."
I shoot Noah a little glare, but Annika doesn't seem to mind signing a couple of company brochures. She carefully scrawls Noah’s niece’s name, signs a few more brochures, and then hands them all over to him.
I gather up the bags of samples that we are taking with us and Noah sees us out of the factory. He is very diligent but still quite grateful.
As we leave, heading down the stairs and out into the parking lot, Nika slides her arm around my waist and gives me a hug. "Thank you for doing that. It was really a once-in-a-lifetime treatment."
I smiled down at her, kissing her lips for a moment. "You're welcome. Admittedly, I didn't come up with the idea of naming a flavor after you. When I called to make the arrangements for a factory tour, the company was very gracious. I didn't do much of anything, really."
Nika chuckles. "You knew me. You knew how much this would mean to me. That's really the essence of why I am so blown away. That's it."
Tugging her to a stop, I leaned down and brush my lips over hers. "I'm glad you got what you wanted."
She pulls back, looking at me. For second, I feel her gaze as it rakes up and down my face and shoulders. "You know, I think that I got a lot more in the bargain than I asked for. And I'm not talking about the candy."
The corners of my mouth turn up a little. "No?"
She's shakes her head. "No. I'm talking about you."
I don't really know how to accept her complement straight on. So, I just grab her hand, kiss her on the lips, and pull her toward the car.
31
Erik
It's been ten days since Nika agreed to move in with me. Ten days of delirious happiness. Ten raunchy, dirty nights.
Every time I look at her, all the good chemicals in my brain start listening, trying to convince me that I love her.
The sound of her laughter.
The way she presses her face against my chest, burying her head.
The feeling of completeness I have at the end of the day, holding her in my arms.
Is it love? I have no idea.
But I know that I'm not ready to say anything to her, lest she be let down by my inevitable flip-flopping.
Still, I think that everything is going pretty well for us. I make an early morning run to the palace, scooping up a few of Nika's things and checking in on Stellan. I don't even get the chance to talk to the king.
So, after I stop for some fresh bread and nice piece of salmon, I head back upstairs to the penthouse loft that I own. When I get inside the door, I am aggravated for about the twelfth time by a loose floorboard that's sticks up a quarter of an inch.
I grit my teeth and remind myself that I just have to call someone to fix it. Living in the new loft is a little weird because it's the first time that I've ever had to think about things like that. I've never owned anything before, certainly not pieces of property