Page 85 of Regally Binding

“Oi.” He scooted closer so their lips were nearly touching. He smelt of chocolate cookies, and Liss held the memory tight. “I give them the best hours of their lives.”

She didn’t doubt it. The time they’d spent with each other’s bodies were life-changing. The moments wound around Bear’s heart were just as significant.

“Tell me something you’ve never told anyone,” Liss whispered. In the darkness of the early hour, they were under a spell, and she didn’t want to break it with loud voices.

His brow knitted together as he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her body as close as their faces were. “Once, when I worked on the door of this rough club, I was chatting to the DJ. I was giddy because he’d promised to play my favourite song. It was a Spice Girls track, but that’s between you and me.”

“My lips are sealed.”

“They’d better not be,” he replied, causing her to roll her eyes. “Anyway, in my excitement and because I was nineteen years old and trying to show off, I tried to jump the DJ booth, but I caught my foot and hit the floor. I was jumping up to face my humiliation when the cry went out to the other door staff. The DJ thought someone hit me. Suddenly, we had five hyped-up, massive security guys lumbering onto the dancefloor, and all these drunk dancers jostled to see what was happening. By the time I’d stood, there was a massive punch-up. One of the security guys decided who took me down and tried to drag himout. Everyone was throwing punches. It was carnage. In the end, the police arrived and broke it up.”

Liss’s giggles were out of control.

“Oi, you.” Bear pouted. “Right, I’ll have to stop you from laughing then.”

He kissed her gently on the mouth and tangled his fingers in her hair. Liss wrapped her legs around him. The heat was there. It never left, but like lovers in it for the long haul, they embraced the opportunity to be in each other’s arms. His lips were tender, and his hands gentle as he caressed the strands of her hair. Occasionally, one of his hands held her thigh against him, but neither pushed it further. Instead, they revelled in the intimacy, as if through kisses and caresses, they created a future in each other’s arms where royalty and expectations didn’t exist. Bear became her world, and as her body offered him its most intimate secrets, he protected them with his entire being while gifting her his own.

As the sunrise streamed through the window, Bear jumped out of bed. He yanked open the windows before returning to her bed. Her lips were sore and her heart full as he sat up and pulled her to sit between his legs and gaze out of the window.

“The best bit about this room is the view of the sunrise,” he whispered in her ear, cradling her between his legs. She shivered against his breath as it tickled her neck. They held hands in front of her body as the sun rose.

The hills that peaked above the river outside her bay window glowed with a sunrise more beautiful than she’d ever seen. It was as if the world was aflame with a promise of a future. In the silence of the early hour, the impossible felt possible. “Somewhere in our parallel universe, we’re waking up to this. We have two dogs—”

“And a feral cat,” she cut in.

“We have two dogs and a feral cat,” he conceded, brushing kisses against her ear, “on the bed with us, and we’re sipping coffee and nibbling on cookies as we watch the sunset.”

She faked a gasp. “Cookies for breakfast?”

“Trust me, we’ll find a way to work it off, and I don’t mean long dog walks.” Tingles ran the length of her spine, and she reached for his hand and caressed his knuckles with kisses. He hummed as he sighed. “What are our dogs and feral cat called?”

“The cat’s called Zorro because he’s a fighter,” she replied as he stroked up and down her arm with his fingertips.

“And the dogs?”

“Jeff and Roy, like old-school football pundits because human names for dogs is funny.”

He squeezed her tightly. “You’ll get no argument from me.”

“I like the sound of this parallel universe.” She turned to kneel in front of him. She peppered his lips with kisses. “I presume you’ll cook a roast dinner for me every Sunday.”

He tucked a loose wave behind her ear. “Whatever my princess wants.”

“But I won’t be a princess in this world.”

Bear smoothed the lines on her forehead away with his thumb. “You’ll always be my princess,” he replied softly. Bear laid her down on the bed and eased her T-shirt away before worshipping her body and making love to her under the light of the rising sun.

After a breakfast, Liss returned to organising the business while Bear planned Bodyguard Corp’s work for the next month.

Somehow, the day passed without incident. They lived like a couple going about their everyday lives. Strike called to let them know that they’d probably have the results of the tests by Friday.The King might refuse to believe them, but she needed to try and save her grandad even if she tore her new family apart.

Several beeps from the laptop distracted her. It was a bunch of receipts of payments from the invoices and reports she’d sent out, and there were requests for repeat business.

“More business than these guys can cope with,” Liss mumbled to herself. There must be a process for these situations.

She listened out for Bear, but he was busy on a call.

Liss video called Luke.

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