Chapter Sixteen
Charlotte
I’d seen so many extraordinary things, things that I knew couldn’t be real, that I had a hard time believing Ash really stood in front of me.
He stepped closer, hand stroking my cheek gently. “But you are here, my lady. Now look out there and see what you’ve climbed a mountain for.” He gestured to the bank of floor to ceiling windows that made up the exterior wall of the turret. “Go on,” he said when I hesitated.
I took a breath, steadying myself in the weight of his gaze and peered out at Trisea.
My breath caught in my throat, and I reached out for Ash’s arm as my knees buckled beneath me. The sun painted brilliant orange and pink streaks in the sky, casting the entire land as far as I could see in a dream-like, almost heavenly glow. The foothills and farmland stretched out for miles and miles, broken only by the dense alpine forest twisting through the magical land.
It was so beautiful, so much like an illustration from a fairytale, I found myself moved to tears and, once again, doubting reality.
“This can’t be real,” I said softly, leaning into Ash’s arm to keep myself from falling.
“But it is, my lady. Every bit of this is real. You, me, the beauty and magic of Trisea. It’s all real Charlotte. And it’s all yours, if you want it.”
I pulled away, tearing my eyes away from the gorgeous panorama to Ash’s dark blue gaze. “Tell me everything,” I said. “Tell me what it means to be a Trisean princess, because choosing you is also choosing Trisea, and I can’t make a decision without more information.”
Ash nodded, tucked me under his arm and told me everything. The politics, the embezzling royal accountants, his plan to convert the country’s economy from needing the ill-gotten funds to support the Crown, to thriving on its own merit. He told me what would be expected of me if we were to go public, how that would change if we were to marry, and what I could expect once the kingdom was his and I was his queen.
It was a lot. Way too much for a second date, which technically this was. But hell, I’d climbed a mountain for him. The least I could do was let it sink in. Besides, I’d always been the type to fall hard and fast. Why not lean into it?
“I can’t tell what you’re thinking. Do you think this is something you want, something you could handle?”
I took a moment, glancing from Ash’s midnight-blue eyes to the fiery sunset draping Trisea in magic. “I’m not saying yes to being the queen or princess or your wife or anything,” I said softly. “But I am saying yes to you, and I’m not saying no to Trisea.”
A weight visibly lifted from Ash’s shoulders, and he sighed as he took me in his arms. “You don’t know how much I needed to hear that,” he whispered gruffly. He leaned in, slowly, deliberately, and kissed me with such gentleness, such hesitant tenderness, I melted in his arms. For a second time, my knees buckled, and Ash supported my weight as he kissed me like I’d never been kissed before.
He lifted me, carrying me to a corner of the observatory and laid me on the plush sofa in front of the crackling fireplace I hadn’t noticed before.
He kissed my lips, my face, my neck, slowly, sweetly, worshiping me as he slipped me out of my clothes. Lying nude before him, he traced a single finger down the length of me, laying a kiss on every bruise and scrape I earned getting here. “I’m so glad you’re here, Charlotte,” he said as he spread my legs and lightly stroked at my center. He leaned in, hovering over me and kissing my face every time a moan escaped me. He stared deep into my eyes as slid a single finger over and around and across my swollen clit.
Just as the pressure between my legs built, the unmistakable sound of unzipping echoed on the stone walls. Ash circled my clit once more, bringing me to a devastating climax just as he slid himself deep inside me. He pumped slow and deep as my body spasmed around his until the peak was gone and I was cresting toward a new one.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said as he caressed every part of my body with his words, his weighted stare, and his hands. “I love watching you come, Charlotte.”
He adjusted my legs, and suddenly that slow, steady tension was now about to explode. He still kept the same measured, deep strokes, and it brought me maddeningly close one delicious inch at a time. With one lingering and final stroke, he threw me over the edge, and I screamed so loud, all of Trisea might’ve heard me.