Page 127 of Prince Charming

Attentive man.

The most perfect distraction.

He was a perfect man that existed in the real world – in her life – and not conjured from her fantasies.

Every time he put his mouth on her, or pried her legs open with a dirty boy smirk before he lashed her with his tongue into a screaming mess, it took her brain about five seconds to check in and realize this was real.

Six manic fueled days she cleaned like a demon, cooked until Tag’s freezer was bulging with food. She ran miles. She danced late at night in the gym while Tag’s hungry gaze watched her from the corner.

Inevitably resulting in sex.

To her surprise, Tag installed a free-standing ballet barre for her.

Though, she later found out it was for him too, because after a stress relieving dance, he’d used that barre to anchor her leg out straight and to fuck her from behind in front of the mirror.

“I think you planned this, baby boy.” She’d panted, taking what he was giving as she watched their erotic images in the mirror.

“You caught me,” he’d grinned at her before sucking a sweet mark on the side of her neck.

Things were falling into place, finally.

All her puzzle pieces, the jagged edges, and emotional wreckages inside her were finally righting themselves. Her family were on the way, and she had the affection of a truly wonderful man.

She felt too lucky.

Like it was a dream, and she’d wake any moment.

And then, oh god, the day finally came.

At the airport, hardly believing Galina, Pasha, and Lily were on the plane to Colorado.

“Relax, darlin’, drink your coffee. They won’t be here for a while yet.”

“Do you think they’ll really come?”

“You spoke to Galina, Anna, check-in went fine.”

A lot could go wrong between now and then.

Her heart wouldn’t stop its panic-stricken thundering until she laid eyes on her children. Tag did what he did best, and that was calm her when she was too full of nervous energy and gravity felt too heavy on her legs. He cuddled her into his side while they sat on uncomfortable bucket seats, watching the arrivals monitor.

His mouth touched the side of her head, breath warm and lovely brushed her ear. “Anna, I can’t calm you down here by fucking you, you gotta relax, baby, or you’ll pass out once you see them.”

God, she probably would. Melting against him, she felt how he rumbled his praise. What did it say about her that she lovedpleasing him?

That was thoughts for another time because oh, my god.

The plane was arriving.

Her nerves tripled, growing like a pack of rowdy dogs.

She’d held herself together with sticky tape and hope for months, praying this day would come. That all her horrid mistakes would eventually level out into something good.

It felt like forever waiting, holding onto Tag’s shirt sleeve.

She turned her face up to Tag, found him watching her, unsmiling and thoughtful.

There had been so many words bouncing between them this week that neither of them had gave voice to. Instead, they filled the moments up with their bodies.

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