Page 10 of Royal Surrogate 2

NO, I tell myself firmly. I’m never going to get to sleep if I keep letting my thoughts go down paths like this.

Caspar gives another snort, rolling over. Before I can properly prepare myself, his body is right up against mine, his arm draped across me.

I go rigid, afraid to breathe. Beside me, Caspar’s breathing is deep and steady. He’s obviously still fast asleep, and he has no idea that he’s snuggled up against me. Meanwhile, my entire body has gone so hot it feels like my skin is about to burn off. My pulse is rushing in my ears, and my nipples have hardened against the silken fabric of my nightgown.

Don’t panic, I tell myself with the last shreds of logic I have left in my brain. Just push his arm off and roll away from him. I’m already basically at the edge of the bed, but if I roll from my back onto my side, I can put a few more inches between us.

Forcing myself to take a deep breath, I gently take him by the wrist and attempt to lift his arm.

“Grrmmphhrmmmph.” He squeezes me tighter, refusing to let go.

I try again, tugging a little harder this time.

“GRRMMPPH. Rrrmph rrrmph.” They’re more grunts than words, and he still refuses to release me.

And every time he squeezes me harder, my heart leaps and my body becomes more aware, more aroused, until I feel like I might burst. Panic is rising inside me, and in that state there’s only one thing I can think to do to free myself.

I kick him. Hard.

“YEOWW!” Caspar springs upright in bed.

I’m still panicking, and the last thing I want to do is explain why I had to do that, so my response, silly as it may be, is to pretend I was asleep the whole time.

“Wh-what?” I say groggily, rubbing my eyes. “What’s going on?”

Caspar has shifted away from me, and in the darkness, I can tell he’s rubbing his shin. “You kicked me.”

“Oh.” I do feel bad, and I’m glad it’s too dark for him to see how red my face is. “I’m sorry. I do that in my sleep sometimes.”

“You’ve got quite the leg on you,” he grumbles. “Did you play football or something?”

“I’m sorry,” I tell him genuinely.

“Don’t worry about it,” he says, sounding tired again. “Just go back to sleep. I’ll live.” I hear a bit of a smile in his voice when he adds, “If our son inherits your kick, I can probably get him on our national team.”

Hearing him talk about our son with such love makes my stomach twist, adding to the guilt I already feel. I roll over so that my back is to him, wondering how this all got so messy so quickly.

And when I do finally fall asleep, I dream of a little baby kicking my heart over and over again.

CHAPTER 10

Caspar

“Aren’t you going to ask where we’re going?” I turn to look at Renae, who seems all too content to stare out the window at the passing scenery.

She doesn’t even glance at me. “I figured you’d tell me when we got there. Or give me a head’s up if there was something I needed to know for the interview.”

“No interviews today,” I say, happily tapping on the steering wheel. It’s been a long few weeks, more for Renae than for me, I’m sure. Hopefully, if we can steal a few days away from the spotlight—just the two of us, alone for once—I’ll have a chance to talk to her.Reallytalk to her. Tell her all the things I should have told her before she agreed to marry me.

“Okay.” She straightens, turning to me with a small smile. “Then where are we going?”

I grin. “Well, I was thinking that we never had an actual honeymoon…”

Renae rolls her eyes before turning back to her window. “I don’t suppose your shin tells you how I feel about that.”

My leg throbs at her words.I knew that couldn’t have been her merely kicking in her sleep.

“If I offended you, my lady?—”

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