Page 95 of Royal Rising

Edie’s lips are so soft and part under mine so sweetly.

I’ve kissed a lot of women but I don’t do a lot of heavy kissing and now I can’t understand why not. Because the way Edie kisses, she puts everything into it. Hands in my hair, legs—oh, she’s wrapped her legs around my waist—and her mouth moves under mine like we’ve been doing this forever.

We’ve wastedsixteen years.We could have been doing this forever.

My arm wraps around her waist as I lean into her. Her skin is so soft as I grip the side of her neck to tilt her just so and make it that much better.

She moans softly as my tongue slips between her lips. My stomach does flips, tight knot undone and floating in the wind, but I still pull back for a moment.

“Is this okay?” I whisper against her mouth.

Edie kisses me in response, kisses me as soundly as any other woman has ever kissed me.

I don’t want to think of any other woman, ever again. All I want to think about is Edie.

Which is why I begin to trail kisses down her throat. “I… need to know… if you can handle this,” I plead between tastes of her soft skin, each a raindrop to a dying man. “Edie, please.”

“Yes,” she breathes, her head tipping to the side.

“Handle me. This is a lot.”

She lifts her head to look at me, and as soon as I’m caught in her gaze, I know she knows I’m not talking about getting physical with her.

“As long as I have you, I can handle everything,” she tells me.

The sun rises over a perfect day in Laandia and I’m kissing Edie England as it happens.

33

Edie

Idon’t know whatKalle says to the rest of the family about me staying the night at the castle, but I’m out of bed and into my car before any of them have made it out of their rooms. Kalle gives a grumble as I untangle myself from under his arm but I tell him to call me when he wakes up. I’m tempted to kiss him goodbye, but I don’t think I would leave if I did that.

The sun is bright as I drive away and the sight of it after the intensity of last night, not to mention three days of rain, does amazing things to my mood.

Or maybe it’s just Kalle.

There’s a heady sense of anticipation when I think of seeing him next. And also a healthy amount of fear.

I’ve had relationships before, and none have really worked out. I’ve had my heart broken, and it wasn’t pretty. Greg Kaan when I was eighteen. Kyle Dugan at twenty-four. And five years ago, Derrick Anders broke our engagement after eighteen days. He proposed to me, said he wanted to spend his life with me, and then he up and changed his mind. That was a bad one. Kalle was pretty angry about that, on my behalf. He had words with Derrick, andwhile I’ll never know what he said because he refuses to tell me, Derrick did end up moving to Newfoundland a few months later.

I’ve had my heart broken, but not by Kalle. They weren’t Kalle; we didn’t have the connection or the history, and I didn’t lose a friendship like his. If Kalle and I… if it doesn’t work, then I have so much to lose, and the thought terrifies me more than any thunderstorm.

Can you handle this?

I don’t have a choice now because we crossed a line last night—

Technically, early this morning, and it was several lines—

And there’s no way I’m going back to holding hands.

But still, Kalle is going to be king, which means the woman he marries will be queen. And he’s already asked me. If next time I see him things go as well as I think they will, I doubt that will be the last time he asks the question.

Kalle says he wants me to be queen, and if I want him, that may be a possibility.

And it’s something I can’t begin to process.

When I get into town, I head straight for Coffee for the Sole, only to find almost every person in town seems to have the same idea. The line up is out the door and as I take my spot I’m greeted with questions about the king.

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