My words echoed in my mind as Luke’s face fell. The lovely family across the way entranced me enough that I blurted my question out without thinking.

Have you ever thought about starting a family?

I might as well have asked him if he wanted to screw on this table and make a few babies that minute. What if he didn’t want to have children and I had backed him into a corner with that question? I didn’t even know if he wanted to be with me. Now, he probably thought I was forcing myself on him and demanding we have kids. I was still young, and nothing about our future was set in stone. I was such an idiot.

“I just meant…” I trailed off, my mind scrambling to bring back the serene smile on his face instead of whatever he was thinking at that moment.

He blinked and then his hand shot across the table and enveloped mine. “No, don’t take it back. I was a little surprised, is all.”

“I didn’t want to imply that I—we—shit,” I said, shaking my head.

He squeezed my hand. “Until you came into my life, there were so many things I’d never considered before. Children being one of them.”

He glanced at the family, and their servers dropped the food on the table in front of the three ravenous boys. They dug into their food, and I couldn’t help but smile. Coming from a small family, I always wanted to have several children so that they didn’t feel as alone as I had as a child. As much as I regretted the way I asked Luke the question, I still wanted to know the answer.

He had a more tragic past than me, so I wouldn’t have blamed him if children weren’t on his list of things to accomplish in life.

Was Gia pressuring him? Was that why she wanted him to get married? I bet she would give him his wedding day off without meddling and then get on him about having children immediately after.

Thinking of him marrying someone else made my stomach twist into knots.

Our food couldn’t have come at a better time. I could tell that Luke wanted to be as far away from the conversation as possible, so I dropped it.

“This is biscuits and gravy,” Luke mused. “I don’t see the biscuits.”

“They are underneath the amazing gravy,” I said, poking at the bread with my fork.

“Ah, I see,” he said and dug right in.

I waited for his reaction. The way his eyes rolled into the back of his head made me smile. “I knew you’d like it.”

I dug into my po’ boy and had a similar reaction.

“How do you not weigh a hundred pounds more than you do with all this delicious food?” Luke asked, taking another bite.

“It’s all about moderation,” I said. “Though a lot of people don’t have the same mentality.”

“I’ll have to bring some recipes home for the palace chefs. I think they could do a nice spin on this food.”

Luke glanced at me with his mention of going home. I locked eyes with him, and something shifted over us. He started talking about the chefs and how his father had cultivated a particular type of menu that had been repeated over the years. Luke hadn’t realized that was a part of his royal duties.

I tried my damnedest to stay in the conversation. While I responded appropriately, my mind wandered to the end of his visit. He had no choice. He had to go back to Qatar. But where did that leave me? Where did that leave us?

I doubted I could make a long-distance relationship with a king work when it was customary for him to get married and have at least one heir. I wasn’t about to be his American booty call, so at the end of this very short visit, both of us would have to choose our future. It looked like I was the only one who would have to change everything, though.

In the month that we were broken up, I imagined him sweeping me off my feet and taking me to become his queen. Now that it seemed like a possibility, why was I so afraid?

I would also never forgive myself if I let him leave again. I was completely in love with him, and I didn’t know if my heart would survive if he left.

There was no need to repeat any mistakes between us without making sure it was what we both wanted. If Luke was unwilling to accept what I was about to give up, if he didn’t care, then maybe ending it was the best thing for the both of us.

Luke excused himself to go to the restroom. When he was far enough away from the table, I wrapped my arms around my stomach and squeezed. This couldn’t be it for us.

All of the nervous feelings from when I left Qatar the last time bubbled to the surface. Nothing mattered without him. I couldn’t see a future in which he wasn’t next to me.

I had to put it all out on the table for him. No more secrets. As much as I still wasn’t sure about the job with the Dallas News, I wasn’t willing to throw away the opportunity unless I was one-hundred percent sure that we wouldn’t work out.

I slugged down the rest of my beer, willing my nerves to relax so I could think straight.

Staring at the family across the way, I was distracted by the mini-food fight between the two older kids. While the mother wasn’t amused in the slightest, it took me out of my brain for a minute, allowing me to focus on what was sitting right across from me.

Luke appeared next to the table. His head cocked to the side. “Everything all right?”

I took a deep breath and grabbed the check from the table. I hadn’t realized the server had brought it over. “I’m perfectly fine.”

---

Shoving away all the “what ifs” for the remainder of our time at the amusement park, I fell even more in love with Luke. We played a ton of different games, ranging from group to individual ones. I kicked his ass on a lot of them, determined to flip the gender roles and earn him a big stuffed animal. Luke accepted my gifts like the gracious king he was, but I knew it bruised his ego a bit to have me win them for him.

When it started to get dark and the lights on the rides burned into my retinas, Luke suggested we head back to my place.

I agreed, even though I wished we could have stayed at the amusement park a little longer.

Denying the inevitable could only last so long. I had to pull up my big girl pants and get the conversation over with. That would give Luke two days to figure out what he wanted.

---

“Are you all right?” Luke asked as we stood outside my apartment. He held two bags of takeout Chinese food that I barely remembered ordering. I was too in my head about what I needed to tell him, and I completely lost track of everything else.

“Yes,” I said, forcing a smile. “I’m a little dizzy. Probably hungry.”

“Let’s go in then,” he said, offering me his arm.

Pressing my fingers against Luke’s arm kept them from trembling.

What if I told him on Friday about the job? After he told me whatever it was that he needed.

No. Prolonging the lie was only going to get me into trouble again. As far as he knew, I was jobless and had no boyfriend. The perfect recipe for the position that he was trying to fill.

Queen Sophia. I couldn’t wrap my mind around the name.

We reached my door much quicker than I anticipated.

Luke went into my kitchen and found plates and utensils. As if I were a robot on autopilot, I moved everything off the table and set up the takeout, popping the boxes open and gathering them in the center of the space.

Luke came to the table, pressed a kiss to my cheek, and set the table as if he were a busboy instead of a king.

The thought of him being king brought back my name attached to a similar title.

Luke sat down and looked up at me. I couldn’t move from my spot. I stared at the small crack in the top of the chair that I hadn’t noticed before. Had I bought it like that?

“Sophia.” Luke’s voice broke into my thoughts. “You must tell me what’s on your mind.”

“Okay,” I breathed, finally looking at him. “I have to tell you something.”

Luke’s mouth pressed into a hard line. “What is it?”

“Carrie,” I said.

“Carrie?” he asked, his eyebrow raising.

“She’s not my friend,” I said.

“Who is Carrie?” he asked.

I sighed. “The woman I spoke with yesterday.”

“Your divorced friend—but you said she’s not a friend?”

“Yes. I mean, no.”

Luke shook his head. “Just spit it out, Sophia. The food is getting cold. Whatever it is—”

“She’s an editor in chief,” I said. “For the Dallas News. I went on an interview. That’s where I was coming from when you showed up on my doorstep.”

He licked his lips and dropped his gaze to the table. “Oh, I see.”

I rushed over to his side, needing him to hear me out. “She called to offer me the job. I asked her to give me a week to decide because I don’t know what’s going to happen between us, but I wanted to figure it out. I’m sorry I lied. I just—I’m not sure what to do about all of this.”

I expected Luke to get mad and yell at me for lying or to walk out of my apartment. I did not expect him to sit there and say nothing. It was much worse than I anticipated. So much worse.

“Please, say something,” I said, resorting to begging. Had I ruined everything by telling him about Carrie? Damn it! I should have waited. If he wanted me to come back to Qatar with him, he would have asked already. Was this him telling me he only wanted closure? What the hell were the last few days about then? Who would tell someone they loved them and then leave for good? I wondered if I had thought about his return all wrong.

He had no intention of taking me back with him.

I plopped down into my chair and stared at my food. My stomach growled, but the sour taste in my mouth had already ruined my appetite.

Luke’s head lifted, and he reached for the closest box to him and poured some noodles onto his plate. “We have one more day together. We can decide everything after that.”

I opened my mouth and then thought better of it. He had come to Dallas on his terms, and he was obviously going to leave on those terms as well. Whatever he had planned would wait until he was ready to reveal it.

Even though I felt like shit for blurting it all out, once I forced down some of the Chinese takeout, I felt a little better about my decision. Neither of us could worry about feelings when it came to the inevitable conclusion that loomed over us. We had to put it all out there, and if we made it through the worst of it, we would come out on top, together or not. This was a turning point in our relationship, and I wasn’t going to hold back or lie to keep living in our little make-believe world. Those stories were in children’s books, and this was real life. It was my life, and I had to take it by the reins and ride into whatever sunset fate had in store for me.