“You're beautiful, baby. I'll make sure you don't trip in that thing,” dad says, holding my arm, waiting for the massive cathedral doors to open.

“You'd better! There are probably like a hundred million people watching. I don't want to give them something to laugh about my first official day as Princess.”

“Forget it. We'll be fine.”

My nerves make me wonder. He tightens his grip on my arm, making me smile. He's really regained his strength, plus several pounds this past month, returning to the vibrant man he used to be.

Everything else? Jesus, it's happening.

I'm really here. Standing at the door to a thousand year old cathedral with my literal Prince waiting at the altar. Wearing this long, flowing, angel white gown with twenty-four karat gold trim all over it.

Then there's the diamond tiara I'll get after my ring. The heavy, jewel studded thing that tells me there's no turning back the instant it goes on my head.

“Ten seconds, my Lady.” Dean stands at the side, one hand near the piece attached to his ear.

Two burly guards on both sides of the doors finally make eye contact. They start to pull the massive doors open with a squeak that would make an ancient tomb jealous.

I've got this, I tell myself, remembering rehearsal. Just listen for the cues.

The first one, there's no missing. A dozen coronets blow the world apart, piercing the sky, proclaiming our love to the universe.

Dad starts moving before I do. I follow carefully, one foot in front of the other, down that long, rolling burgundy carpet that seems like it stretches a mile. There are too many people on both sides of the aisle to look at any of them too long.

Dukes, duchesses, priests, diplomats, and heroes. Famous celebrities, billionaires, scientists, politicians. All wearing suits and formal dresses that could easily give mine a run for the money.

The full orchestra fires up. Medieval stone walls and stained glass shake softly, sending the heavenly, unbelievable notes up to the domed ceiling and back down again. It's an echo unlike anything I've ever heard.

I'd stop and admire the breathtaking beauty. If only I weren't the star of the show, I could stop and enjoy it longer.

“Keep going, darling. We're almost there,” dad whispers when we've closed half the distance.

I won't let my eyes fix on him until they're good and ready.

There he is, as if from a dream. Silas.

More dashing than ever, dressed in his royal finest, a navy blue dress uniform with a red sash and medals criss-crossing it like stars. He's waiting for me with a smug, smackable smile on his face.

His tongue comes out, almost imperceptibly, rolling across his lips for a fraction of a second. Yesterday, he teased me about tying me down and eating my pussy all night for our honeymoon. If he's doing it again, however silently, I swear I'm going to flip.

Dad's hand lets go a few seconds later. I have to walk the last few steps alone, up the tiny stairs, holding my breath as I take the steps.

Silas reaches out, grabs me, and pulls me up. “Christ, you're gorgeous. Almost too hot to take to bed, love. Almost.”

Yeah fucking right, the wink he flashes says.

I won't even smile at his crap today, however much I want to. Cameras watch every move we make, perched from every corner. He's already violated several rules the new press secretary drilled into our heads during practice.

Keep it formal. Respectful. Subdued.

The last one, subdued, never made sense to me, anyway. There's nothing remotely subdued about this hundred million dollar display of royal luxury.

Queen Marina sits behind us on a temporary throne, ready to do her part. Silas takes my hand in his, and we turn to face the priest, just as the final choral voices behind the music die down.

“When two hearts become one, bound in royal blood, a kingdom rejoices,” the priest begins. “A people lives by its sovereigns, and dies by their absence. Today, we are gathered here with full confidence that we will live. His Highness, in all his love and wisdom, restores his line and our nation by binding his heart to hers. Will you both hold your right hands and swear before God, before the Queen, before your very lives?”

We both lift our right hands. A choral note swells high. It's so drawn out my arm starts to hurt by the end, but I keep it up, my heart banging in my ears. I'll do anything for this handsome man next to me.

“Your oath is your word, true and immortal as steel and diamond. Your Highness, do you have the ring?”

“ I do.” He reaches next to him, swiping it from the lavish pillow Victor holds out. Silas' valet looks so much better than he did just weeks ago, when he had to use a cane while the stitches in his side healed.

“Will you claim this woman, today and forever, for your crown, your country, and your future children?”

“I will, and I do.”

His words echo proudly through this insanely huge place. Then he's shoving the ring on my finger, instantly adding weight to my hand with its gold and oversized diamonds. Breaking tradition, he brings my hand to his lips, closing his eyes.

He kisses it while the priest frowns, trying to pretend this isn't happening. I can't help it, I let myself smile now.

What would this wedding be if there weren't a few things uniquely Silas mixed in? It's ours, after all, not just the country's.

“Erin Warwick, will you wear this ring into the next life, for your Prince, your nation, and all the children that will come from this day?”

Silas squeezes my hand and flashes me an excited look. Great, like he really needs to think about baby making even more.

“I will, and I do,” I say solemnly, trying hard to keep this as formal as they'd like.

“Then you're now man and wife, and Her Majesty will finish the rest.”

Two aides have to help her up. Queen Marina crosses to the altar, and we bow. I mean completely, down on our knees, so low I can't even see when she grabs the diamond tiara off its resting place.

“By my title, my will, and my wisdom, I crown thee Princess Erin June Bearington,” she says, bringing it down on my head, her old hands shaking very slightly. “And speaking informally, as one woman to another, you're as perfect for this country as you are for its future King.”

Everything stops. Silas and I both look at each other, doing a double take, before we stare at the Queen.

She's just gone off script, wearing the most mischievous smirk I've ever seen on her royal lips.

“People of Saint Moore, this day is all about Silas and Erin joining in marriage, and I won't steal their light. I've chosen to do something that will make everyone remember and cherish their love forever.”

About a thousand gasps and hushed, excited murmurs rumble through the crowd. Silas reaches for my hand, gripping it, pulling me up as he stands.

“Grandmom?” he says softly. No one has a clue what's happening.

Queen Marina leans into the mic, lifting both hands above her head to the crown. “I've served you all faithfully with my very best for sixty three years. Regrettably, my health is failing, loyal subjects. I won't give you anything less than my finest. My ministers will be briefed, and the paperwork has already been drawn up by the palace. By midnight tonight, I will formally abdicate the throne. It's only fair that my grandson should stand next to his beautiful bride, wearing the highest crown, a new royal couple for our kingdom in an evolving age.”

The choir starts to sing over the murmur in the crowd. They've probably decided it's the ceremony's end, like it's supposed to be. Truthfully, nobody really knows what to do after the shock and awe Her Majesty just dropped. Her ex-Majesty?

I'm clenching Silas' hand while Queen Marina lifts the heavy crown from her head, shifting it toward Silas, who bows his head low.

It's on his head. King, in all but name only.

I'm going to have a heart attack. I don't know what to say, so I just stand there, while Silas shares one more look with his smiling grandmother.

Then he turns to me, his eyes narrowed, that huge golden crown sitting just slightly crooked on his head. “Love, let's not forget the most important part.”

I don't remember what he means until he jerks me into his embrace. Fortunately, my lips do it for me.

We kiss, with more fiery passion than there's been at this altar in hundreds of years.

He kisses me long, hard, and hot. He kisses me while the crowd goes insane and cameras tip over in the commotion, with guards rushing around, settling down the madness breaking out all around us.

The orchestra and choir both keep going because they don't know what to do. It's a beautiful, chaotic confusion that's strangely fitting.

For us, it's easy.

We're finally official, and Silas isn't going to take his lips away until heaven itself knows it.

* * *

The official crowning ceremony can wait, or so we've been told. Silas insisted on it with the royal cabinet, and they gave him their blessing.

He's chosen a secluded spot for our honeymoon, thank God, a different corner of the northern shore, next to the most amazing mountains I've ever seen and an extinct volcano. The royal helicopter has nobody in it except us, and our pilot, who's going to drop us at the cottage and go.

We'll be left alone to the wilderness and our own hearts for the next two weeks. Plenty of time for the media to remember how to breathe. More than enough for Queen Marina to tie up loose ends, and close out everything before Silas has the reins.

The scandal with Serena never even got off the ground. The Republic Firsters are probably seething because nobody cared when they jumped on it, stealing the headlines for roughly two seconds, before wedding madness swept everything else like a tidal wave.

There's certainly something crazy sweeping through me right now, every time his thick, strong hand brushes my wrist.

He's going to kill me with desire before we land. Silas and I share looks that say a thousand words, numbing any need to shout at each other over the helicopter's blades.

I'm going to fuck your brains out, his eyes say.

Not if I melt yours first. That's what mine say right back, while I'm biting my lip, grateful that I'm down to just one layer of casual white royal fabric.

It's so intense I can barely stop to appreciate the gorgeous scenery, swelling up all around us.

“Three minutes, sire! I'll take us down,” the pilot says over the radio.

A lot can happen in three minutes. Like smoke rising between my legs, the fire only he can see, tempting him to go as deep as he needs to put it out the minute we're by ourselves.

You're a knockout, he mouths. Beautiful as sin.

I'm a Princess now. Isn't looking pretty part of the job?

He grins. Devouring my sarcasm in that cocky, sexy, possessive smile.

He's going to eat me alive tonight. I'm going to adore every single second.

Silas reaches over, grabbing my hand as the chopper bounces to a stop. The pilot switches off the blades. We're unloaded in no time.

It's awesomely silent out here. There's a glacial lake at the foot of the mountains. Nothing but a few distant bird calls to remind us we're on planet Earth.

Turning around, I see him helping the pilot. He looks so ordinary, lugging our stuff in, everything the royal service hasn't prepared for us several days before. Silas jokes with the pilot like they're old friends.

Smiling, I know I didn't marry him because he's a Prince. I hitched my life to the man behind the title, gold, and diamonds, the one who's struggled to get a grasp on his kingdom simply because of who he is.

Yes, he's had his demons. I've watched him slay them, one by one, until he can see me with those clear blue eyes I love. Every glance, I'm swept away.

Silas waves to the pilot, and guides me to the cottage's porch. We both watch as the helicopter lifts off, disappearing into the sky, leaving us to ourselves.

He embraces me from behind, pressing his hard-on into my ass. “Finally. Love, you don't even know how hard it's been keeping it in my pants after seeing how you looked at me at the altar...”

“Yeah?” I twist in his arms, turning around, rolling my hands up his shoulders. “I think I might have some idea. There's something sexy about a man in uniform, and yours was the best I've ever seen.”

“Too bad I didn't pack it,” he says with a smirk. “Only brought a few changes of clothes. We're not going to need them with all the time we'll be spending naked.”

“Aw, really? I thought we were just here for the scenery,” I tease.

Growling, Silas runs his hands down my back. He stops at my ass, clasps my cheeks, and squeezes them hard.

“Fuck the gorgeous views, Princess. There's nobody around here for a few hundred kilometers. We can scale the volcano wearing nothing, if you'd like, as soon as I'm done fucking you raw.”

Yes. Please. My eyes say it all.

He grabs my wrist and leads me inside, kicking the door shut behind us. Inside, it's rustic, cozy as a lodge, just like I imagined. We wind our way through the old rooms to the master suite overlooking the lake. It's on the second floor, really just a giant loft with a bed, a few cabinets, a hot tub, and a lovely looking bathroom attached.

I stop when I see the bed. It's even bigger than the ones in the palace, with tall black pillars reaching up to the ceiling, lion heads carved in every post.

“Hmm. I see we'll have an audience,” I say, sticking my tongue out.

“I wasn't joking about the restraints, beautiful. You're going to need them to hold your legs open after you've come on my tongue ten times.”

“Silas...don't tease.” I can't tell when he's joking.

He sounds so deadly, excited, and serious. I'm going to find out how serious when he grabs me, pushes me onto the bed, and starts tearing away what's left of my wedding dress.

Our lips collide the whole time. I can't keep my mouth off his. I'm moaning, panting, begging for his touch.

He's swallowing everything I give him. All my breath, my love, my fire, pressing the massive erection in his trousers against my bare pussy. The teasing doesn't end when he pushes me to the center of the bed, dips over the bed, and reaches into one of the heavy oak drawers under it.

“Legs out. Before that pussy soaks the sheets straight through.” I surrender.

He takes my feet, one ankle at a time, and puts them in the leather loops. Each one goes to a pillar, stretching me wide open for his hands, his mouth, whatever he desires.

I'm losing it when he looks at me again. Silas presses his hand firmly against my pussy, but he doesn't slide his fingers in. He just teases my clit in slow, evil strokes while his lips press mine.

“Please – please!” I'm in heat, pleading, by the time he starts his trek down my body.

My back arches each time his mouth pulls at my nipples. He sucks them rough, plumping my breasts, grinding his thumb a little harder against my clit.

“No, Princess. Not yet. Got to make me believe you need it,” he growls, kissing down my belly, then across my right thigh. “Make me believe you need this mouth. Then I'll make you squirt so hard you're seeing stars.”

Oh, hell. Doesn't he know he's close to doing that without even putting his mouth between my legs?

I'm twitching. Moaning. Shifting my hips side to side, aching for his touch, just a few lashes of his tongue to give me sweet release.

His licks and kisses wrap around my thigh, circling ever closer.

Closer, closer. God, please, closer!

Every muscle I have quakes as he slowly, tauntingly moves to my wet center, replacing his hand across my mound with hot, feral breath.

“Did you think this Princess thing was easy?” he whispers, mischief whirling in his eyes. “Bet you didn't know it means giving this sweet cunt up to me anytime I want it, Erin. Any place. Any fucking way. You're about to forget that 'no sex' rule ever existed.”

Forget the rule? I barely remember my own name.

I'm about to explode. He pushes his face in just then, opening me with his tongue. Licking wild, sucking furious, taking my clit like he owns it, because he does.

Pleasure's coming, stealing me away.

Going. Going.

Gone.

My body tenses up and my legs shudder. The straps holding them open do their job, their tension adding an extra thrill to the orgasmic wave ripping through me.

My spine turns to flame. My hips pump, riding his face, over and over and over. I can't press the back of my head into the mattress anymore.

There's nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. Nothing to do except scream, and let it wash over me.

This is a tongue fuck truly fit for a royal. Sheer, mind bending ecstasy in full control for the next five minutes.

His hands and mouth won't stop. Just when I'm coming down, they stoke my flames again, pushing me back to the edge.

He's licking me even faster this time. Even harder. My clit disappears into his mouth, throbbing against his tongue, and crackles like lightning again.

I'm coming so hard my vision goes red, then white. I see dark, fiery spaces in between.

Stars. Just like he promised.

Is nothing impossible for this man? The answer's probably no, because about ten seconds later, I feel a dam break somewhere mid-orgasm.

I'm coming again.

Coming!

Except, this time, there's a distinct heat. A wetness that soaks my entire pussy and leaks out of me onto the sheets, his face, everywhere I can feel it through the numbing ecstasy that's ignited my blood.

The bastard has me gushing. Another promise fulfilled, one that says my body will do anything for this man on command.

I don't realize I'm clutching the sheets, nearly ripping holes through them, until he moves away from my quivering legs.

Silas comes up wiping his face, his smile more sexy than ever. Of course, that also means more arrogant.

“Hope you liked your first wedding present, love,” he says, slowly taking down the restraints. “We'll get back to these later. But I want your legs wrapped all the way around me when we fuck. I want you to pull my dick so deep I don't see a drop of come slipping out when it's over.”

There's that heat again. Impossible, as it is incredible.

“You're the King,” I tell him.

“Not officially,” he says, slowly undoing his belt. “That won't happen until we're home, and I'm formally crowned. You'd better believe it doesn't matter in this bed. I'm fucking like a god, love. Like I own every single inch of you because we both know I do.”

I'm about to mouth off, try to deny it, when he drops his pants. That huge, magnificent cock coming into view always silences me.

It's a thing of awe. And it's about to be mine, as soon as it's inside me, pumping its way to a few more earthshaking climaxes.

He's completely naked, on top of me, dragging my legs up over his shoulders. Our eyes lock fierce while my chest rises and falls.

I want him more right now than any woman should. I want my Playboy Prince, my bastard, my husband.

I want to fuck him today, and then every day for the rest of my life.

“Oh, God,” I moan, just as he starts rubbing his swollen cock against my pussy. “Go, Silas. Please. Fuck me.”

“What's that, love? Didn't hear the magic word.”

He's going to make me say it. I try to hold out as long as I can, stroke by stroke. But when he starts to dip the very tip of his cock into me, pulling away before I get his fullness, I'm helpless.

I surrender, and then some.

“Please.” My eyes pinch shut as he gives me another inch. “Yes, fuck, please!”

My legs shake harder on his shoulders. He grabs them, holds them still, and gives me another feral look.

“I'm in a giving mood today. Must be that hot, tight married pussy wrapped around my cock.”

He thrusts deeper. Sweet heaven.

At last, Silas fucks me. It's a slow building storm, strengthening one stroke at a time, lifting me a little higher each time he pushes into me. His hips crash into mine each time he pulls back and glides forward.

“Harder,” I grunt, teasing him.

“Harder?” He pauses, grabs my nipples, and pinches them tight. “Like this?”

He almost pulls all the way out. Then he slams himself into me so hard my breasts shake in his hands. I'm moaning again, enraptured.

His wife.

His Princess.

His whore.

He's taken what I said like a challenge, and I'm in trouble now. The most decadent, tantalizing kind of trouble a woman can get herself into.

His cock slams into me so fast and hard I can feel his balls slapping my ass. Silas' hold on my legs tightens, and he's growling, fucking me over the edge.

“That's right, love. You'd better come for me again. I'm not giving it up until you're begging me to stop.”

Oh, shit. Hell!

I'm screaming. Clawing at his chest. My pussy pinches his cock so hard the stars return, beautiful as they are scary. Coming shouldn't feel this good.

My heart shouldn't throb this intensely for any man. But it does, and it will forever with my Prince.

Our fucking becomes hotter, so swift and fiery, it's blinding. I'm deep in my zone, locked when he reaches between my legs, thumbs my clit, and lets his hand go berserk while he power fucks me into the next century.

Coming! Yes, it's insane, but it's happening again.

Somehow, I hear him growling his words in between his thrusts, savage and forceful. He's whispering in my ear, driving deeper with every word, beating his balls against my ass.

“Knew I'd make you mine the second we made that deal, Princess. Fucking knew it. Good thing you love it.”

I do. And he isn't done.

His hips piston faster. I've barely recovered from the last orgasm before he starts on a new one, jackhammering his cock into me. It's bigger, hotter, and faster than ever before. My pussy tingles for his come, totally engulfed in flames, praying for the only thing that can put them out.

“Silas!”

He grabs my chin and pushes his lips on mine, holding my face. Crazy doesn't even describe what I'm feeling anymore.

“You think it's hot now? Just wait, love. I'll be making you sing when we're so old and gray they're printing us on the kingdom's money. I'm going to keep fucking you. Going to keep owning every beautiful piece of who you are. Going to put a baby in your belly soon, Erin. Then another, and another, and another...”

Oh...fuck! I grab him so hard I probably scratch his shoulders.

Neither of us care. Thinking about him planting his seed deep drives me over the edge.

My hips go wild, joining his in the frenzy, bucking back at his length as hard as I'm grunting. His cock drives deep, just to the edge of my womb, and swells.

Coming! Coming! This time together, fused together, twitching as one.

“Fuck!” Silas cries out, losing himself in me.

His cock heaves everything from his balls deep inside me, flooding me with his heat, his essence. My eyes roll back in my head. It's so intense I can't even breathe, let alone scream.

Time flies like mad. Soon, I'll be off the birth control, letting him own me in the most primal way a man can for real.

For now, this is great practice.

“Christ, I needed that. Every second of you, love,” he whispers, drowning me in tender kisses.

I'm still coming down from my climax. Very slowly, he softens, and then pulls out.

Laying on his chest, he holds me in his huge, tattooed arms. We're spent, at least for a few minutes, and it's marvelous.

“Did you really mean what you said about how you knew the first time?” I ask, letting my eyes feast on his perfect body. Every contour, every muscle, is smooth and strong as steel, like God himself reached down with a chisel and sculpted him for me.

“Don't think I'm allowed to wear the royal crest on my skin if I didn't believe in destiny.” He smiles, resting his forehead on mine. “Fate. There's something to it, after all.”

His smile is contagious. We kiss again, only breaking away when his hand gently cups my cheek.

“You're meant to be my Princess forever, babe. Mine, with more benefits than I dared imagine. Love you, Erin. Love you like nothing else in the world, like nothing any money or power will ever buy. Love you so fucking hard and real it's never changing. Never fading. Never going anywhere. Not in this lifetime, or the next.”

“Silas...I love you, too.” My heart flutters.

He's right about the benefits – more than he knows.

It's amazing where life takes a woman. I never thought I'd wind up married to a Prince, shaking off the best sex of my life, surrounded by a gorgeous kingdom I've just started to explore and understand.

Incredible as it is, it's nothing compared to how his words have changed, down to their very roots.

'Princess with benefits' used to make me want to slap the smugness off his face.

Now? It's the magic phrase that sends my lips to his like magnets.

We kiss. Long and sweet. Tender as our love itself.

This stopped being pretend a long time ago. It's real, and I'm proud to belong to my Prince with benefits forever.