"You'll have to tell your father," she said. "I'm not sure he'll be pleased."
"He wants a grandchild and an heir for me. He will come around much quicker than Grandma Tessa. She still resists me."
Mia laughed. "You're winning her over. Tonight at dinner she offered you seconds without you having to ask. That's progress. I'm not sure your father will be as easy as you think. This can't be what he had planned for your future."
Rafael shrugged. "He will adjust. At least he'll stop parading potential brides in front of me."
"He really does that?"
"It is not a marriage mart, but yes, women are brought to different events and I meet them." He smiled at her. "So far I have found it very easy to resist their charms."
"I can relate. If my grandpa Lorenzo had thought he could have gotten away with arranging marriages for his granddaughters, he would have done it in a heartbeat."
"Would you have said yes?" he asked.
She drew her knees closer to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. "Not my style."
"Because you are too independent."
"It's more than that. I loved my grandfather, but he would have made the best match for the vineyard, not the best match for me. Isn't that what the king is doing to you? Parading around the grand duchess of Whosits because her father owns shipping rights to Finland or whatever? Does he actually care if you fall in love?"
"Is love so very important?"
"Hello? We're talking about living with someone the rest of your life. I suppose if the castle is big enough, you could have separate wings. Is that what you want? The right marriage for Calandria rather than the right marriage for you?"
"I think I can make them the same thing," he told her, his blue eyes claiming hers.
There was a not-so-subtle message there, she thought, not sure if she should lean in and say yes or bolt for freedom.
"I don't even know any good princess jokes," she said at last.
"You don't have to. The rules can be learned, Mia. But not the heart of a person. That is more complicated."
"What do you know about my heart?" she asked.
"That you do not give it easily. That you are loyal. That when you love, you do so without reservation."
"What happens when you love?" She lowered her feet to the floor. "Have you been in love before?"
"You mean aside from you?" he asked.
She felt herself flush. "I didn't want to pressure you."
"I loved you," he said easily. "I thought we loved each other."
His words stirred her, body and soul. Relief tasted sweet. It was as if she'd been starving for weeks and he'd finally offered her food.
He had loved her. All that had been real.
"Then have you been in love aside from me?" she asked.
"When I was very young," he admitted. "A long time ago. I was just eighteen. She was a few years older and very beautiful."
"Right, because in real life, the prince never falls for the ugly girl."
He smiled. "You consider me shallow."
"I consider you a typical male. Go on. You met a beautiful, older woman who seduced you with her worldly ways and seductive charms."
His humor faded. "You are right. It is a cliché, but I did not know that at the time. She could claim some minor nobility, which made her acceptable, but my father did not like her and said we were too young. Or at least I was."
Mia knew the story didn't end well. If it had, Rafael would currently be Mr. Minor Nobility and they wouldn't be having this conversation. "And?"
"And I bought a ring so I could propose, despite my father's disapproval. Then I discovered she was selling the intimate details of our private relationship to the press."
She winced. "How intimate?"
"Very. I had only been with a few other women. She taught me how to please a woman and then she told the world about it."
"That would be horrible for anyone to have happen anywhere, but to have it play out in the tabloids… I'm sorry."
"As am I. But I learned an important lesson. Now I do not trust so easily."
Did he trust her? How would she know if he did? What did it take to gain his trust? Did she want to?
"It was a long time ago," he told her. "I assure you, I have recovered."
"It's still sucky that she did that. I'm sure you gave her jewelry. If she needed money, she should have sold that instead."
He chuckled. "My innocent Mia. Don't you know that to a woman like that secrets are far easier to part with than anything that sparkles?"
"No. I guess this is why I don't belong in your world."
"Don't you?"
He reached for her and she went willingly into his arms. He might think the humiliation of that young man was gone forever, but she knew some wounds never completely heal. Knowing he'd felt pain made him seem a little bit more like a regular person.
His mouth claimed hers in a kiss that demanded more than comfort. She met him as an equal, willing to do a little demanding of her own. He shifted her so that she stretched out beneath him on the sofa.
As she parted her lips and circled his tongue with her own, she rubbed her hands across his shoulders and back. He braced himself above her, his eyes closed, his beautiful, talented, sexy mouth teasing her, making her tremble.
Need rushed through her like a storm-driven tide. She melted and found herself wanting more than just a simple kiss. Her body remembered what it had been like the last time they had been so physically close. Heat filled her. Between her legs she felt herself swelling in anticipation. She knew if he touched her, she would be wet and ready and hungry.
He drew back slightly and kissed her cheeks, her forehead, her nose; then he nibbled along her jawline. She turned her head to give him more room and he licked the sensitive skin below her ear.
"Mia," he breathed before he bit down on her earlobe. "I want you."
Simple words, she thought hazily. Magic words.
"I want you," he repeated as he stared into her eyes and covered her breast with his hand.
His touch was exquisite. The weight of him, the way he moved so that his palm caressed her hard nipple. She had to bite her lip to hold in a whimper of desire. He cupped her curves in a gentle caress that loosened the last slender threads of her control.
"I want you, too," she breathed as she pushed him back. She raised herself up a few inches and tore off her T-shirt. Next she reached behind herself and unfastened her bra. That got tossed to the floor, too.
She leaned back on the cushions, feeling the cool leather on her bare skin. Above her, Rafael smiled with anticipation. It was an expression she recognized.
"So beautiful," he told her. He used a single finger to explore her breast. First the underside, then the top. Finally he slowly, oh so slowly, moved to her nipple. Once there, he lightly brushed the very tip.
Her breath caught. Need tightened every muscle in her body. She swore, then raised herself so that she was inches from his mouth.
"Stop playing."
"As you wish."
He lowered his head, then took her nipple in his mouth. The hot, wet pressure pushed her to the edge. She couldn't get enough, couldn't be close enough, couldn't feel enough. Wanting grew until it consumed her. Wanting and desire and the heavy thickness of her body slick with passion.
He sucked her nipple, then replaced tongue with fingers and moved to her other breast. She writhed beneath him, wanting it all, yet desperate to have him between her legs.
He read her mind, or understood what the frantic tugging of her hands on her shorts meant. He drew back.
"Sit up," he commanded as he pulled his shirt over his head.
She did as he requested, but first she unfastened her shorts and pushed them down, along with her panties. He stared at her nakedness for a moment, groaned, then removed the rest of his clothing. She parted her legs, desperate to have him inside.
But instead of accepting her invitation, he slid to his knees on the floor and moved between her thighs.
"Oh, God," she breathed as she remembered what he'd done to her before when he'd touched her with his mouth. It had been beyond exquisite, beyond sensation.
He cupped her hips and shifted her so she was at the very edge of the sofa, then he lowered his head toward her hot, swollen center.
At first there was only the puff of his breath. She tensed in anticipation. He parted her tenderly, then slowly, gently, lightly stroked her with the very tip of his tongue.
She felt the scream building up inside of her. She spread her legs as wide as they would go and wished she'd studied yoga more. If only she'd… He licked her again, this time with his tongue flat. From bottom to top, he covered every inch of her. Then he returned to that one special place and reintroduced himself.
He circled and teased and rubbed and sucked. He slipped two fingers inside of her and caressed her from the inside, the movements matching. She groaned, she begged, and did everything in her power not to come. Not yet.
She could feel herself getting wetter and wetter. She was swollen to the point of discomfort and still she held back because no one had ever gone down on her like that. But in the end, which was maybe three minutes, she had no choice. She covered her mouth with her hand and screamed her surrender.
The waves of pleasure swept her into another dimension. Muscles convulsed in rippling release, an orgasm that went on and on. Just when she thought she was surely finished, he reached up his free hand and lightly touched her left nipple. That sent her back into another release. Then he replaced tongue with fingers, keeping her going as he raised up, shifted, and thrust into her.
More, she thought, as she continued to come with each thrust. She wrapped her legs around his hips, holding him in place. More and deeper and forever.
He pumped and thrust, filling her over and over again. She felt herself begin to shatter as every cell of her body sighed in pleasure. Then he stiffened and came and they clung to each other as the aftershocks rippled through them.
She resurfaced on the sofa, his body pressing against her. They lay together, spent and satisfied. She looked at him, at the face that was familiar yet different, and in that moment she knew him.
"Just like before," she whispered.
He smiled. "Better. How I love to touch you, Mia. You are made for pleasure, and when I am with you, I am the most powerful man in the world."
Tears burned in her eyes. He had often said such things to her before, but now, knowing about his past and what his first love had done, she felt touched. She could easily use those words against him, humiliate him publicly. He trusted her to keep him safe.
"Katie was right," she said without thinking.
"Katie? Your sister? Right about what?"
Mia swallowed. It had been five years and she'd never stopped loving him. She'd never moved on. All this time she'd been waiting for the love of her life to return, and he finally had.
"I will marry you, Rafael. I'm proud to marry you."
His eyes widened slightly. "Are you serious? You are not just saying this in the heat of the moment?"
She grinned. "You're good, but you're not that good. This isn't about us making love, despite the fact that it was spectacular. It's about the fact that we belong together. I don't know how it's all going to work out, but we'll deal with that later."
"Mia." He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her hard. "Thank you. You are right. There are many things to discuss and much for you to learn, but you will see. All will be well." He grinned. "You're going to marry me."
"Apparently." She thought about the last royal wedding that had been broadcast on television. "It's going to be huge, isn't it?"
