Page 37 of Solstice

“I’ll call Miri.”Lex gave me another smile and leaned down to kiss me again. “You look entirely too comfortable here, Little W.” He turned to Abigail. “Don’t get any ideas about moving in.”

“Don’t tempt me. I’ll do it just to mess with you.” She scrunched her nose at him as he turned to head toward his own room. “You two are disgustingly, adorably inloovvveee.”

Ignoring the burn in my cheeks, I thought about last night, when he’d held me down by the throat and torn my skirt off so he could fuck me on the kitchen table before dinner. Love had nothing to do with it, of course. I still hated Lex, almost as much as I loved him and knew I could never live without him. What we had ran deeper than both sentiments, and that didn’t scare me as much as it used to.

* * *

“Environmental subcommittee meeting at ten thirty,”my assistant, Reagan, said, running through the rest of my day. I’d been sworn in almost a month ago, and only now felt comfortable rolling up my sleeves to get started. I’d gotten involved with as much as I could, environmental policy being the start.

Two knocks on the door had everyone’s head poking up.

My secretary stood in the entryway. “Ma’am, Her Royal Highness, the Princess Miriam, is here to see you.”

My heart fluttered at the mention of my wife.

Miri?

Despite knowing she’d be flying in today, I hadn’t expected her to show up at the Capitol. A shot of excitement jolted through me as I stole a second glance at Reagan, who shook their head.

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” they said. “I don’t have her on your itinerary.”

“It’s okay.” I stood and gestured her in. “The princess is an old friend.”

Miri appeared in the doorway wearing a navy blue wraparound dress that fell mid calf and matching suede pumps, clutching a handbag in the center of her body. Her bodyguards stood in the entry room beyond the door.

I drank her in, the soft waves of her brunette hair, the delicate juncture of her neck to her shoulder, where I loved to sink my teeth, and the swell of her breasts under all that fabric, perfect nipples that ached to be sucked. I’d never get over what she did to me when she looked at me like that, like I hung the sun in the sky.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I could come back later. I just assumed?—”

“It’s fine. Come in.” I glanced around at the rest of my cabinet, ignoring Giana’s narrowed gaze. “Everyone else, give us a few minutes.”

“Shall I bring you some water?” my secretary asked.

“We’re okay.”

She closed the door as I circled around to the seat behind my desk, watching Miri look at the modest space.

“Your Royal Highness,” I said. “To what do I owe this great pleasure?”

She smiled and took a step forward, making my pulse race at her possible intentions.

“I caught an earlier flight.” She absently ran a finger over the chair on the other side of my desk. “And I thought to myself, who would be most pleased about my early arrival?” Another step forward. “My husband? Pfft.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ve got two of those.”

I licked my lips and pushed my chair back from my desk, making room for her as she walked around it and came to stand in the V of my legs.

“My wife?” She leaned down to bring her face centimeters from mine. “Well, boys are a dime a dozen. There’s only one girl who has my heart.”

I closed the distance between our mouths, a moan barreling out of my throat as her scent hit me next—flowers and springtime and whiskey, sweet and beautiful. I stood and pushed her so the back of her legs hit my desk, my hands on her waist coaxing her to sit. Desperate to touch more of her, I ran my hands up her hips to her waist.

“I missed you,” I said around hungry, breathy kisses.

“I missed you, too.”

It had only been a month since Solstice, but I ached for her in ways only she could understand. We needed each other, the four of us, and after she’d offered to work on a joint effort to promote infrastructure for a new sustainability plan, we’d made our visits routine. She’d never shown up unannounced before.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I pulled back to look up at her brown eyes, but she nodded and kissed me again. Something in her expression didn’t ring true, and I thought about sneaking inside that brilliant brain. It would be so easy.

But…I’d promised. No telepathy without asking; only Lex and I had that free rein. If Miri wanted me to know, she would have told me. I kept my suspicions to myself and stood, but she glanced at a rough draft copy of the four-hundred-page bill I planned to present, a bill we’d planned together, sitting tidy in a binder on my desk.

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