Page 35 of A Valiant Prince

Chapter Ten

“Wake up,” Anna’s voice pulls me from my sleep, and I blink. I reach for my phone.

“It’s only five forty-five,” I note.

“So? I’m up! Let’s get ready and get on the road earlier. Come on, the early bird catches the worm,” she says and jumps out of bed. I watch as she turns on a light, and I blink, adjusting my vision to brightness. She leaves the room and returns a few minutes later.

“Coffee’s on, and the guys are getting up,” she announces as she shuts the door and heads into the bathroom. I groan. My princess is a morning person as much as a night owl, and that might just kill me.

I run a hand over my face and rub my eyes as I get out of bed and stretch. It’s funny that I’m not a morning person except when I’m on my boat. Something about the salty air gets me up and going. I walk into the bathroom to find that she’s already gotten in the shower. I admire her form through the glass door for a few minutes before I join her.

She eyes me suspiciously as I close the shower door. She pokes my chest and places her hands on her hips. She looks utterly adorable because she’s giving me a stern look with soap on her face.

“No funny business. We need to get ready,” she says before quickly turning around and rinsing the soap away. I’m about to answer but she walks past me and gets out, leaving me alone with my morning wood. Once she leaves the room to get dressed, I wrap my hand around my cock. It only takes a few strokes while remembering images from the night before for me to shoot my load against the tile wall of the shower. I lean forward and let the hot water pour over me. This woman is changing me in ways I didn’t think were possible.

I quickly finish getting ready. As I walk out of the bedroom, I find Pete and Anna at the kitchen island already nursing cups of coffee. Anna reaches for a mug on the counter and pushes it toward me.

“Caffeinate. It’s going to be a long day,” she says with a wink. I shake my head and down the coffee. The five of us are in the car after Lucas and Hendrick join us for coffee, and we begin our road trip. Of course, Pete has to be a buzzkill early on and note all the rules we will have to follow in order to be safe. Anna rolls her eyes so many times that I warn her that they may stay that way. That only earns me another eye roll.

We listen to music. Anna makes us play a game of “I spy,” saying it’s not a road trip until we do so. I question her on whether she’s actually been on a road trip.

She cocks her head from side to side and shrugs. “What counts as a road trip?” she asks me.

“Have you ever traveled in the car for multiple days?” I ask her.

She shakes her head. “No, just for a few hours,” she admits.

“Well, then you are a road trip virgin,” I tell her. She hits my chest, and Lucas stifles a laugh as Anna glares at him.

“Oh, OK, Mr. Know-It-All. How many road trips have you been on?” she asks me. If she wasn’t seated, I’m pretty sure her hands would be on her hips. The corners of my mouth threaten to turn up, and I have to use my will power to prevent that from happening because I’m fairly certain daggers would shoot out of Anna’s eyes if I laughed right now.

“Two,” I answer.

“Details?” she asks.

“My grandparents rented a camper and drove me out West one summer after I got back from camp. We spent two weeks driving around. It was really cool. And then in college, my friends decided to drive to Mardi Gras. We ditched class on Friday so that we could leave Thursday afternoon. We took turns driving. We spent two nights sharing a hotel room and then drove all the way back so we could get to classes on Monday morning,” I tell her, smiling in fondness at the second memory.

“People seriously do that?” she asks.

I laugh. “Yes, crazy young people definitely do that,” I say.

“Well, count me out, that does not sound like a good time,” she says. I laugh again.

“How much longer?” she asks, pulling out her phone.

“About an hour or so,” Lucas says from behind the wheel.

“Why don’t you take a nap?” I suggest.

Anna shakes her head. “Heck no! What if we see something cool, and I miss it?” she exclaims, making all four of us chuckle.

“What if I promise to wake you if we see something cool?” I ask her.

“Nope, your idea of cool may be different than mine,” she declares as she crosses her arms and gazes out the window. She asks questions about things as we drive past. She makes us play one more car game before she sees the first sign for the American side of the falls.

She squeals in delight and points to it. “We’re here!” she says excitedly. You’d think this woman had never been anywhere before, and yet, I know for a fact she’s been all over the world.

“How come you are so excited?” I ask her.

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