Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 117920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
I err on the side of caution and take the playful route, very aware that he’s still grasping my arm, standing close. His cheeks are a little flushed, from the fire and the brandy. This could all go a million ways but it most likely won’t go the way I want it.
“Permission to be dismissed,” I say with a small smile. “Your Majesty.”
His grip on my arm tightens. “Permission denied.”
“Then you better start paying me overtime,” I say, and he takes a step toward me, until there’s barely any space between my chest and his. The energy radiating from him is overwhelming, enveloping me like a black hole until I’m sure there’s no escape.
He gazes down at me, lost in thought. His lower jaw is tense, as if he’s holding something back. He’s so restrained. What would he be like if he let loose? What would he say?
What does he want from me right now?
Is it possible that he wants the same thing that I do?
I want to stop hiding how I feel. I want it all to be allowed, to be okay.
I want him with a need so deep that I feel ravenous to the bottom of my core.
Just as I’m thinking he might kiss me, just as I’m thinking I might do something stupid like kiss him, or worse, blurt out that I love him, he takes his other hand and ever so gently tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, his eyes absently gliding over my face as he does so.
“Merry Christmas, Aurora,” he says softly, his fingers running down my neck, my shoulder, my arm. “Goddess.”
My heart flips.
Goddess.
I manage to swallow, even though my throat and mouth have dried up and every inch of my body feels like it’s coming alive.
“Merry Christmas, Aksel.” I pause. “King.”
His touch falls away from my skin, and I’m free to go.
But even as I turn and walk away from him, I’m not free at all.
My heart belongs to him now.
Even if he doesn’t know it.
Chapter 13
Aksel
January
“That was one hell of a present, Aksel,” Stella says to me as she sips her coffee.
Considering it’s been a week since Christmas, it takes me a moment to figure out what she’s alluding to.
But it’s Aurora. Of course, it’s Aurora. I knew the moment I bought that vase for her that everyone else would be giving me side-eye, making assumptions on why I would buy a 300,000 euro vase from a Christie’s auction and give it to a nanny. In some ways I wish I could have given it to her in private, but at the same time, I want everyone to know what she means to the family, what she means to me.
In a strictly professional way, of course.
“She deserves it,” I say simply, not wanting to make a big deal out of it.
“I know she does,” she says. “I’m just saying, that cost you a fortune.”
I shrug with one shoulder. “We have the money. I had the means to get it.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Then what is the point?” I look at her mildly. “Hmm?”
“The point is … well, you better hang on to her for as long as you can.”
Her comment shouldn’t fill me with dread but it does.
In one way, I can’t imagine not having Aurora around. She’s part of this family now, beyond just being the help. Whether she knows it or not, she’s the thread that holds this palace together.
In another way, I can’t imagine how I’ll even fucking handle the future.
The truth is, I can’t. I’ve been barely hanging on this last month.
She’s started to become a full-blown obsession, one that I can’t shake, one that I can’t ignore, no matter how hard I try.
And I do try. I avoid her when I can, put up my walls again and again, keep my distance. I do everything I can to keep her in her place as the nanny. She isn’t supposed to be anything more than that, and I certainly am not supposed to think of her more than that.
But Aurora is a force of nature. She’s sunshine and fresh air and the northern lights. She’s a goddess, through and through with playful eyes and a smile that will knock you flat on your back. She came into our lives like the first rays of the morning and she won’t be shuttered out or dimmed.
Even when I do my best to ignore her, she has this way of pulling me back into her orbit, wrapped up in her very being.
I always thought I was stronger than most people because I had lost so much. I thought that my upbringing, being groomed for the throne, would have made me hard and impenetrable. And it did. I prided myself for being the sort of man that nothing would get to. Even when Helena managed to penetrate my defenses, I was quick to put them up again. Stronger. Better.