Page 151 of Tall, Royal and Grumpy

“I don’t think she’s gonna be able to reach,” I heard Mariyah tease.

I glared at her, cheeks aflame as everyone laughed. Mariyah wiggled her eyebrows at me cheekily. I fucking knew she was going to make a height joke.

“I can reach,” I said, a reluctant smile taking over my mouth.

I had to stand on my tiptoes, but with a flick of my wrist, I lit a match and little orange flames latched onto the wicks of each candle. I put the box down and turned to Kai. He gave me a beautiful lop-sided smile as he shuffled forward. Everyone else followed suit, phones out for pictures and videos.

“Are we ready?” Prince Arsh called out then waved his hands like a conductor. “One, two, three…”

The chorus of “Happy Birthday” shook through the entire kitchen, belted out a little off tune but full of happiness and love. And Kai’s blushing grin was the most beautiful thing in the entire universe.

As the closing note turned into whooping and hollering, I cupped my hands around my mouth and cheered the loudest. Kai blew out the candles, tugging at his ear as he stood straight. Then he sunk the knife into the bottom tier of the cake, carving the first slice.

“Feed Princess Esmeralda some,” a woman shouted out and an agreeing roar followed.

I didn’t think he was going to do it, but he cut off the edge of the cake slice, picked it up in his fingers and brought it to my lips. I couldn’t stop grinning giddily as I swiped the piece into my mouth, holding his glittering gaze the whole time. He looked so happy and proud as he brushed his thumb across my bottom lip. I wanted to pounce on him and bite him for being so cute. Instead, I broke a piece off the cake and fed it to him, indulging the crowd.

And indulged they were feeling, because another woman yelled out, “Now kiss,” and soon everyone was chanting, “Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss.”

I looked up at Kai. He looked down at me. I bit my bottom lip as I raised my brows in question. His eyes tracked the movement before he lifted his lashes. Something glinted in his ink black irises.

Before I knew it, he caught me and swooped me around, dipping me as if we were dancing. The wild squeals all around drowned out my gasp as I clung onto him. The only thing keeping me from toppling backwards was his strong hand at the back of my head and his arm banded around me.

His tongue snuck out and licked across his smirking lips before his expression softened. “I missed you so much, Babble,” he whispered for my ears only.

My chest clenched. “I missed you too, Mr Perfect Prince.”

And then he settled his mouth over mine and kissed me.

It wasn’t a light kiss for the satisfaction of the watching eyes. It was so much more than that. Nights apart. Promises of days together. It was sweet, it was deep, it was beautiful. And it was for us.

But I was glad someone caught it on camera. Because tucked against Kai’s naked body that night, I got to watch him set the picture as his screensaver on his phone.

He looked so pleased when I promised to give him thousands of more moments just as good as that one, if not better. Before he rolled me under him and loved me so long and slow, making up for all the hours we spent loving each other from a distance.

THE END

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