Chapter 15

Flora

My first thought after Uther sweeps me into the waiting car is, “Who was that man?”

In one moment, I am minding my own business while my idiot brothers fight in the balcony box. As always. The next thing I know I’m literally hanging by a thread.

But now that everything is playing out in my mind on repeat I only have one question. Who was the man who caught me, who rescued me from having my head split open like a coconut on the pavement?

“What man?” Uther asks, looking me over and checking my eyes for signs of a concussion.

I huff at him, “The man who caught me. He was tall, with reddish-blond hair and a bushy beard. He was a little shabby, but he had kind eyes.”

“His Highness Prince Torben said he had dark hair.”

“Well, he’s not the most observant,” I snap.

“That’s not important now.”

This comment comes from my brother Etienne, now fully sober, apparently riding with me to the hospital.

I blink at him, first thinking that I am hallucinating. Etienne must have been really scared if he’s here to keep an eye on me.

“But it is important. He rescued me. He should be awarded for his bravery. Don’t you think?”

Etienne nods his head. “I agree, but the first order of business is to make sure you’re well. No bleeding or broken bones.”

“Your brother’s right,” says Uther. “You should rest and try not to stress yourself.”

There’s only one person who doesn’t stress me. His very presence makes me feel less stress. “Where are Mother and Father?”

Etienne clears his throat.

“They went to secure location,” says Uther.

“What? That doesn’t make any sense. There was no threat or terror attack or anything like that. Why would they go to a secure location?”

Uther stares straight ahead at the road, but with the way his jaw tics, I know he’s hiding something, and he’s not happy about it.

“I simply carry out orders, Your Highness.”

All day I’ve been willing myself not to screech at people fussing over me. All I want to do is ask for Callum.

I wanted to text him, but my brother took my phone away, saying it would be bad in case of concussion if I was staring at a screen.

So, by the force of some inexplicable energy between us, there’s a knock on my door after the doctors, nurses, and brothers have all left.

“Come in.”

The door creaks open, and Callum steps through, somehow more attractive than usual. His face is drawn and worried and his hair is a mess. He looks like he’s run a half-marathon, disheveled clothes and all.

“Callum, what happened to you?”

But he doesn’t answer. He rushes to my side, sitting on the bed. Close up, his eyes are fierce, and he looks like he hasn’t eaten all day.

“What happened to me? I’ll tell you. The love of my life almost got killed today by the antics of her brothers.”

I smile at him, trying to get him to calm down. “That’s not exactly how everything happened.”

Callum ignores this and scans my body. “Can I touch you? Where does it hurt? Where do you not want me to touch you?”

My heart stutters, and I tell him, “I’m fine with you touching me. I feel absolutely fine except that you’re not touching me.”

Callum grabs my shoulders and kisses me. I kiss him back, and I can feel the tension releasing in his shoulders. His grip on my nightshirt loosens, and I breathe against his mouth.

“Stop freaking out, okay? You look like you’ve been through the wringer?”

“Because I’ve been trying to find out about your condition all day. I’ve been wandering around the castle, pacing the grounds, waiting for your reply. I tried coming to see you, but I had a house staffer shoo me away.”

I gape at him. “That’s dangerous, Callum.”

He grips my face and intensifies his kiss. The man is trembling.

“It doesn’t have to be dangerous,” he says. “It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of us together.”

“Sigurd will care. He’ll rearrange your face,” I whisper.

Callum’s hand travels up my leg and finds me bare underneath my nightshirt.

His eyes grow dark.

“Are you saying you can’t love this face after your brother breaks my nose?”

I cup his jaw. “You know I can’t stand your dark sense of humor, especially when it’s about yourself.”

He replies by working that teasing thumb between my folds. I shiver and forget what I was saying when he brushes over my core.

“You’re gorgeous when you lose your train of thought, princess. Why do you worry your little head about anything?”

“You’re terrible. Next thing you know I’ll be nothing but a damsel in distress for you to rescue.”

I cry out, then bite my bottom lip when he switches his thumb out for his thick middle finger. He leans in, speaking close to my face.

“It’s okay to be rescued. You’ll have to let me, sooner or later.”

He works a second finger in and probes me in and out, letting me feel every magical knuckle, making me smile as I rasp, “Why does that sound like a threat?”

Callum’s slicked thumb finds my clit and strums me as he curls his other two fingers against the front of my walls. I jerk as a wave of pleasure washes over me.

He kisses down my throat, nipping at my collarbone, driving me onward toward my release.

“You let yourself feel threatened by me. By everything we mean to each other.”

The strumming of his thumb sends me barreling toward an orgasm. My hands grip Callum’s broad shoulders as my torso rolls upward, slamming me against his sturdy frame.

“I wish…”

My words trail off as wave after wave pulls me under. When I think I’m finished, Callum wrings more out of me. His fingers, his kisses, his words…his face as steady as a lion tracking its prey. But there’s more.

I love how he’s the same height as me, making kissing so much easier. I love his thick, corded neck. I love how his face gets red when I give him a certain look. I love the way he gets jealous of other people. I love how he cares for the animals, and tunes out everyone and everything else.

“What do you wish, princess?”

He brings the conversation back around to the moment before he rudely interrupted me by making me come. So polite.

“I wish for us not to care what they think.”

I come, and then the tears come.

“So, decide not to care,” he says.

“I wish it was that simple.”

“We belong together, princess. You know this. How many of the suitors your mother parades in front of you would do the things I do for you?”

What an egotistical thing to say. But he’s right.

“I don’t want you to lose your job,” I say.

Callum is between my legs now, hoisting one of my knees over his shoulder. “What a pedestrian thing for a real princess who’s getting eaten out by the gamekeeper to care about.”

And see, this is why he makes me crazy. He constantly reminds me of who he is and who I am. He insists we’re made for each other but never lets me live in that fantasy.

He traces kisses over the seam of my swollen pussy as I quake. I reach one hand down to stroke his wavy locks, half a mind to push him away and half a mind to pull him closer. But I want it harder. Need it to be harder.

“Callum…”

“I love you, Flora.”

“I know you do.”

He wraps his lips around my clit, once again swollen and achy. My heart stutters.

“Let me be the one to protect you.”

His hot breath, his sweet words…I am lost. I want to be lost in this man forever. Lost in us.

What does love have to do with it?

It’s not the pressure of him wanting me to say it. It’s me wanting to say it but not letting myself say it. Because no one will allow me to love who I love.

“Callum,” I beg, tugging on his hair. “Finish in me.”

He freezes and pulls away, staring down at me. Wiping the wetness from his chin, he nods.

“If you’re ready for me, then we have some things to think about,” he says.

I sit up, feeling his absence.

“I’m ready. You know I’m ready. I’m 23 years old.”

“You’re not ready for what I have to give you.”

“You’ve already given me everything.”

Callum fits himself between my legs, and I circle my arms around his shoulders. The warm tip of his cock slips inside, and I already know I’m going to blurt out things I shouldn’t.

“Tell me how it feels, love.”

He sinks in deeper, and I moan.

“Talk to me, Flora.”

He stretches me. “Good,” I breathe, feeling my muscles adjust. “So good.”

Inch by overwhelming inch, I start to draw him in deeper. He lets out a soft curse.

“You feel amazing, sweetheart.”

Callum goes slow until he’s seated inside to the hilt.

I reach up for a kiss, and his licking tongue makes my muscles tighten around his hard length.

“Good girl…so wet for me.”

“Only you, Callum.”

“I love you, baby girl.”

Damn it all, he’s making my eyes sting with tears.

I roll my hips upward, begging him to move inside me.

First, he takes one breast in his hand, and covers the nipple with his mouth, making me even wetter. He repeats this on the other side, then slowly pumps in and out.

“You’re mine to take care of, princess,” he says on a firm thrust.

I smile up at him. Nothing would make me happier than having him by my side every waking moment. I don’t have the heart to tell him that our love can’t be out in the open. Not yet.

“Callum.”

“You don’t have to say it back. I know this is a lot to take in,” he says.

“All I’m interested in taking in is every moment we have together. Let’s just enjoy this.”

Callum pumps into me with unwavering stamina, thoroughly crashing through every defense I have around my heart.

He transforms the physical into something spiritual, taking what we have beyond the realm of fun. Making love to Callum is so perfect that it shakes me to my core.

Whatever happens, the gamekeeper, my brother’s best friend, is the love of my life and always will be.