Page 185 of Night's Fall
Aleksei started petting.
More tears filled my eyes (theseImanaged to control), asIwhispered, “Yes, baby.She’shome.”
* * *
“Darling, wake up.”
I pried my eyes open and squinted against the bright sun.
“Gluh,”Imuttered, andIwas surprisedIcould, because the rest of my body refused to move.
“Roll over,Laura.Ihave coffee,”Alekseisaid.
“I can’t.”
I heard his chuckle.
“Seriously,”Imumbled into the pillow. “Iwas there, but still, how hard did you fuck me?”
His chuckle turned into a laugh.
I heard two coffee cups hitting the nightstand, thenIwas moved, pillows were adjusted, fluffed, andIwas positioned to partially upright but draped intoAleksei’sside as he rejoined me in bed, propped up on pillows.
With no other choice,Ilet him take my weight.
“Do you want your coffee?” he asked.
“In a minute,”Imumbled.
“You didn’t get your work done last night,” he reminded me.
“Ugh,”Imoaned.
“I’ll go make you an energy lift smoothie in a minute,” he murmured.
That might help.
Might.
I felt him sip coffee.
Then he set the cup aside and the edge of a tablet came into view.
“Beauty and theBeast,” he said like he was reading something.
I put superhuman effort into tipping my head back to look at him, and yes.
He was reading.
“Yesterday evening, as if they were intent to give us a preview of their upcoming engagement announcement but were determined to outdo themselves with their spectacular flight,HisRoyalHighness, theTrueHeir,PrinceAlekseitook to the skies with his mate,LauraMakepeace.”
I pushed up further, breathing, “Ohmy gods.”
I focused on the pic that accompanied the article.
A perfect telephoto shot, in color, of my beast gliding, neck intwined with his creature, against a backdrop of a gleaming crescent moon and the pinprick of stars in the night sky.
“No two beasts could seem more incongruous, thus more perfectly matched, than the mightiest of all dragons, and the most uniquely stunning.Craftsground to a halt.Beingsstopped on the streets or ran to windows,Palmsraised, as a fairytale played out in the skies.Itis a surety that the words ‘LongLivePrinceAlekseiand hisFutureQueenwere not only on this writer’s lips.”
