Chapter 215

I kissed Charles, and he pulled back, eyeing me. “Should we be careful or anything?” he asked. “You know, for the baby.”

I shrugged. “It's not like I've been pregnant before, but I would guess not. The doctor didn't say anything about that.”

“And you haven't even searched things like that online yet?”

I shook my head. “How could I? I've been so busy, not to mention the fact that I'm trying to keep certain people from finding out.”

“Then we'll go slow and be careful,” he said.

His kisses came soft and gentle, and his caresses all over my body were the same. Keeping secrets from him had been a bad idea. Now that they were out in the open, just these small touches made the connection between us feel so much more real as if I had closed some invisible distance between the two of us.

This drove me to smash our lips together, desperately seeking the rest of the connection that I hadn't even realized I'd been missing.

He chuckled and pushed me back. “What happened to taking it easy?” he teased.

I blushed and giggled. “I guess I'm just really excited,” I admitted.

“I can be on board with that.”

This time. When he kissed me, it was more passionate.

Rather than pressing me down to the bed, he pulled me to straddle his lap. He didn't even take me out of the skirt from the suit that I had been wearing, instead pushing it up and over my thighs and moving my underwear aside.

“This way, I don't have to worry about squishing anyone onboard for the ride,” he said.

He paused. “You don't think the baby can… you know… see what's going on? Do you?”

I laughed. “If that's the case, I think just about everybody would be born traumatized.”

This seemed to be all the answer he needed because he went immediately back to kissing me desperately.

Between my legs, against my sensitive mound, I could feel him stiffen and rise. Anticipating the occasion, I rubbed my hips, toying with the feeling of him coming to life beneath my touch.

His next words came in a whisper across my lips. “Before you go too crazy, remember the safehouse isn't very big, and my mom is out there.”

He shoved himself up inside me, and I gasped, clinging to his shoulders and riding out the rhythm he began to beat. His vetiver scent surrounded me, and the emotional connection that had been reforged allowed me heightened sensation.

I could feel the entire length of him as it slid along the inside of my body, connecting us on multiple levels. I gasped at the intensity of the sensations, both physical and emotional, digging my nails into his shoulders and urging him to press on harder.

He obliged, taking his movement harder and faster until I was thumping against his lap with each thrust. I clung to him as if writing a wild stallion. And my antics only spurned him on.

The whole while, I tried to keep a small part of my attention focused on not making a complete scene. But as my pleasure mounted, it grew more and more difficult.

A cry burst from my lips, and I bit down on them, trying to keep from screaming out the ecstasy that rolled over me in an overwhelming wave.

I achieved pleasure most of the time with Charles without either one of us having to put in too much effort, but this was something altogether different. The intensity of it sent stars bursting in front of my eyes, and my breath caught in my throat until the breathlessness of it almost scared me.

Charles groaned out his excitement into my shoulder, not managing to keep any more quiet than I had been.

Then I was sitting on his lap with him inside me, his member twitching and pulsing as it shrank back to its normal size. And the two of us started laughing, almost wildly, with the ridiculousness of it all.

“I'll definitely have to answer to my mother for that one,” he said. “We sounded wild enough that I'm sure she'll want to know whether or not you were using protection.”

“She'd be that nosy?” I gasped with a laugh.

“If she thought we were conceiving her grandchild, then maybe.” He made a face. “Judging by the intensity of my orgasm, if you weren't pregnant before, you are now.”

I laughed even harder. “Spoken like a man with confidence in his prowess,” I teased. “What if there was something wrong with your swimmers, and you couldn't get anyone pregnant?”

Charles barked a laugh. “Not possible.” He waved a hand teasingly around his body. “Have you seen the specimen you just rode? If this wasn't made for breeding, I don't know what was or what is.”

I laughed and kissed him. “I'm just glad you're doing that breeding with me.”

“Are you?” he asked, looking at me carefully. “The last time we talked about anything like this, you really wanted to continue your career.”

I climbed off his lap and sat on the bed beside him. “If you hadn't noticed, everything about my plans is now up in the air,” I pointed out. “I'm sure life on the other side of this trial will be completely different whether I want it to be or not. Because whether I'm on the run and fighting for my life or the acknowledged heir to the throne of Orlune, I'm never going back to the way things were before.”

“Good point,” he said.

“And I never said I didn't want to have children,” I continued. “I just said I wanted to get my career in hand before I did. Now it doesn't really matter. I mean about the career, not about the children,” I hurried to tack on.

He leaned over and kissed me gently on the lips. “I'm glad you're excited about this.”

“I don't know that I would go that far,” I said. “I haven't had a chance to process. In fact, the whole thing has me scared to death because of what might happen if things don't turn out in my favor. But I promise you this: if I have children with anyone, I'm happy it's with you.”

“For now, I can accept that.”

He kissed me again, this time on the cheek. “And as soon as we know you're safe, we're going to change that so that you're just as excited to be a mother.”

“I would certainly love to give anything that could bring me happiness my full attention when this is done,” I said.

I tucked away the part of my mind that argued that happiness, after the verdict was returned wasn't guaranteed.

We spent the rest of the night in tense silence with those sharing the space in the safehouse. This consisted of my soon-to-be mother-in-law, all six guards, the chef, and the taster. And it made for quite a crowded house.

Part of me wanted to complain, but I knew that the additional people were there both out of concern for me and the judges concerned for me. And it was hard to argue with people who were there to save my life.