Page 102 of Breathtaking

Especially now, when I finally feel like I’ve gotten a piece of my home back.

“We’ll talk next week about housing options,” Rhys adds, matter-of-factly. “There are plenty of homes on the property. You’ll need a base when you come in to visit.” He looks at Maddox and tucks Brennan against his chest. “Maybe you could open up a restaurant here one day.”

“Maybe,” Maddox agrees and stands, then pulls me to my feet. “You ready,tesoro?”

I nod quietly, unable to force the words out. I reach for Brennan and laugh when Rhys turns him away.

“He’s going to be so much bigger by the time you come back.”

“Aww... Do you think the people know their king is a big softy?” I steal my baby back and snuggle him against my chest. “It might help with the search for a queen.”

“I’m only a softy for you and this little boy, got it?” He pulls me into his chest and kisses my head, then Brennan’s. “Take care of her, Beneventi.”

“With my life, your highness,” Maddox answers, and I think it’s the first time he’s gotten that right, not that Rhys cares.

Both my brothers laugh.

“When it’s the people in this room, you never need to bother with that shit, shithead.” If people heard Rhys talk like this, they’d never believe it was him. Atticus maybe, but not Rhys.

“Seriously,” Atticus groans dramatically. “Just don’t. If you two start doing it while you’re here, he’ll expect me to do it when you’re gone, and I really don’t have the energy to kiss his royal ass in private the way I have to kiss it in public.”

Smothering a laugh, I press a quick kiss to Atticus’s cheek. “I love you.”

“I’m proud of you, little sister.”

One of Rhys’s assistants walks into the room. “Ma’am. Your car is here.”

I pull back and look at Maddox as tears burn the back of my lids. “Could you take him for a moment?”

Maddox takes Brennan from me, and I throw one arm around Rhys and one around Atticus. “Promise we’ll do better than our prior generation.”

“You already are doing better, Lennon. Now Atticus and I just need to follow your lead.”

“Yeah, little sister.” Atticus pulls back. “And just because this one’s family owns a football team, don’t feel like you need to be a convert, okay?”

“Never,” I wipe a stray tear from my eye and grab my purse from the table. “I love you guys. We’ll see you again soon.”

As I walk into Maddox’s arms, I know, unlike every other time I’ve left Mornea, this time I really will be coming back soon because my brothers are going to create an environment I want my son proud to be a part of.

* * *

Maddox

Once we get Brennan down for a nap, I convince Lennon to lie down on the bed in the back room of the jet and pull her in close to me. She’s been quiet since we left Lilihill House, and it’s not often my wife gets stuck in her own head. “You doing okay,principessa?”

She rests her head on my chest and wraps her arm around my waist. “I will be. But for now, I’m trying to focus on going home and enjoying our first Christmas as a family in our house. With our son and our dog, who I miss terribly, by the way. I just wish there was a way my brothers could be there too.”

I bury my face in her hair and drag my hand up and down her spine. “We’ll go back as much as you want. I promise. We’ll make it work. And if you tell me you want us to move to Mornea, we can figure it out. I’m not saying it would be easy, but I’d make it work for you.”

“I know you would, and I love you for that.” She lifts her head to look at me. “But our life is in Kroydon Hills. I just want to make sure we go back a few times a year, okay?”

“You still sure you don’t want to give Brennan a title? Rhys may have mentioned to me that it was still an option.” I know where I stand on this particular decision, but I need her to know if she wants to change her mind, she can.

“No. No titles. I want him to have more choices than Rhys or Atticus or I did. I want him to love Mornea and his family. But I want him to never feel the pressure to live his life for his country. Everyone thinks royals are so glamorous and that it’s such a fun life to lead. They don’t realize we’d trade places in a heartbeat for just one tenth of the freedom.”

“You still happy with your decision to marry a commoner?” I tease, just to watch her cheeks flush.

“You mean was the destruction we left in our wake worth our happily ever after?” She presses her lips to mine and hums. “One day, you’ll realize you saved me, Maddox Beneventi. You saved me in the snow. You saved me from a life that would have killed me a little each day. You saved me from growing old, unloved and locked in a hell with a man I despised. Because of you, I get to live a life I never dreamed of having. So yes, it was worth all the pain and fighting and heartache. It was worth it all because I get to have you and our beautiful boy.”

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