Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 82317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“I don’t have to give it up,” I explain. “Whether we’re living in Bretaria or Africa or somewhere else, I can still work for Jameson. I’ll be able to go on missions no matter where I’m based.”
Camille’s eyes light up hopefully. “Really? That’s amazing.”
“So the only question becomes… where will we go?” I lift her hands to my mouth and kiss the knuckles on one, then the other.
“I’d like to see Pittsburgh,” she says, “maybe starting with your apartment.”
Yes, I’d like that too. I kiss her again, wrapping her tightly in my arms. When I lift my mouth from hers, I say, “I want to go visit my parents. Up for a stay in an old farmhouse?”
“I’d love it,” she replies brightly. “And maybe we can see a bit more of DC?”
I nod, digging the flush to her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes. Seeing it on her face and hearing it in her words… she’s happy.
Really, really happy, and that means I am too.
“Then after,” I say, without needing to think on it much, “we’ll go home to Bretaria.”
Camille gasps. “Really? You’d want to do that?”
I cock an eyebrow. “Your dad isn’t going to throw me in his dungeon, is he?”
She giggles and shakes her head. “There’s no dungeon.”
“That’s not what Dmitri said,” I mutter, but then I sober so she knows I’m not making my decision lightly. “But yes, really… I want us to go to Bretaria. I want you to be the best princess ever and run those mines like the boss lady I know you are. And I’ll work for Jameson and take missions when I’m not helping you do whatever you want me to do.”
“Dreams come true,” she murmurs, more to herself than to me. But then her eyes cloud over. “It’s a lot of pressure… being with me and what I do.”
“I expect if I were to become a prince, I’d have even more pressure, huh?”
Eyes as big as saucers, she asks hesitantly, “Would you ever want to be a prince?”
“I know I want to be with you forever, so if that means becoming a prince, I suppose I could live with it. But if and when the time comes to put those desires into action, I’ll be doing the formal proposing, okay?”
“Okay,” she whispers.
“I might ask your dad to borrow an appropriate ruby, though,” I say.
Camille shakes her head. “A diamond, please. It can be small. I have enough ostentatious jewels.”
I laugh as I nod. “Deal.”
Camille’s eyes well with tears, and I fear I’ve said something wrong.
“Hey,” I urge, catching one on my finger. “Don’t cry.”
“I’m just… so happy. Yesterday, or was it the day before, I don’t know … I’m so discombobulated with everything that’s happened… we were over. We said our goodbyes. Nothing was going to change that. And now…”
“And now, our life starts,” I finish for her. “I get to be with the woman I love, and I get to live out my days making her happy.”
“I don’t know that you can make me any happier, Jackson,” she says on a tiny sob. “But I love you so much and I’m willing to let you try. As long as I have the same opportunity.”
I laugh and pull her in close, hugging her so hard she gasps. “How about we go to my apartment right now and make each other even happier?”
Camille’s smile burns brighter than the sun as she takes my hand and tugs me to the door. “That’s the smartest thing either of us has said so far. Let’s go.”
And I follow the woman of my dreams toward a reality I never thought possible.