I didn’t know I had that kind of resolve, but the words flew out of my mouth before I had a chance to fully consider the consequence of breaking up with the king. I didn’t want to go, but it was the only way I could survive this without letting him shatter every part of me.

I got it. He was a king. People jumped when he snapped. But I couldn’t be discounted so easily. I had let myself fall for the fantasy. Believe that beneath the cool exterior, he was as insane about me as I was about him. That when it came to decisions, he would be the knight. The romantic. The prince charming I was a fool to believe in.

I wiped the first heavy tear with my thumb. I refused to fall apart in front of him. I tried to break for the door a second time, but Damon’s grip was forceful.

“Stay, Molly.” It was the first time I didn’t hear command in his voice. “Please, stay.”

It couldn’t be that easy.

“I could,” I answered. “But it will happen again. You’ll demand I do something. You’ll make a decision without asking. Not because you’re trying to be a dick, but because you don’t know how to do this relationship thing any other way.”

“Did you just call me a dick?”

I pressed my lips. That might have gone too far. “Yes. When we’re alone, and it’s you and me. No titles. None of the royal bullshit, yes, you can be a dick. No other man would even think the way you decide things is an option. You’re a dick. I said it.”

I didn’t expect him to laugh. His deep voice carried through the dining room.

“I’m being serious.” But the more I tried to prove my sincerity, the harder he laughed. “Fine. I’ll find a state room, and wait until we dock,” I warned.

“No, Molly. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He stepped in front of me. “This goes both ways you know. No one treats me with such royal disdain as you do.” He arched his eyebrows.

“I respect you.” I folded my arms.

“My customs? Culture? Traditions?”

I twisted my lips together. I didn’t think it was the same thing. The parallel was a stretch. I had slighted his country multiple times, but how did that equal the way he made decisions without asking me?

“All right. I don’t agree with everything Galonian. I’ll admit that. But I do respect you, Damon. You, the person. What you’re thinking. Feeling. I don’t ignore it. I don’t try to rule your life like it’s a hobby.”

He clasped my hands between his. “Then, teach me. Show me. You’re not my hobby. Fuck, that’s the last thing I want you to think.”

It was another ploy to get me to stay, but this one was working. I felt the tension easing in my shoulders. The determination to run down the hall and find a state room to cry in until we made it to shore was suddenly gone.

“I want you to move into the palace, Molly, because I want you.” He traced the line of my jaw. “I want you every night. In my bed. Waking up next to me. I want to talk to you and drink coffee on the balcony. I want to find you buried in some classic novel in the library.” He brushed his thumb over my bottom lip. “Yes, I need you to be safe, but what I should have said is I need you.”

I gasped. That resolve was gone. He had ripped it down and tore through it with his words.

I fell against him as his lips crushed mine. His hands tangled in my hair, dragging me toward his chest.

“Move in with me,” he whispered against my ear. “Will you?”

I nodded. My hands roamed over his tuxedo, looking for the space under his jacket. “Yes.” I breathed. “Yes.”

“Are you finished with dinner?” he asked.

“I think so.” I hadn’t eaten half of the first course. I was starving, but my total attention was on the gorgeous man in front of me.

“Good, because I’m going to take you back to the room. Unless you want me to fuck you here on the dining room table. Your choice, of course,” he teased.

My eyes lit to his. I breathed heavily. I pulled the edge of the gown up.

“Here,” I whispered.

“Fuck,” he growled.

His hands wrapped around my waist, losing control. He kissed my neck. My throat. The fire from his lips, blazing against my skin. I searched for his zipper, desperate to feel his cock in my hands.

He groaned when I freed it from his tux pants. I slid my hand over the silkiness of his skin.

He pulled me in for another kiss, setting me on the end of the dining table. My heels locked against his backside, hungry for him. Eager for his skin to singe mine as he took me in heated abandon.

His tongue lashed against mine as the rush consumed us. Damon’s cock pushed against my entrance and I welcomed his thrusts with tiny cries of pleasures.

It was dangerous. Someone could walk through those doors any minute. But we weren’t turning back. He rocked into me as we set sail on a new course.

“Yes,” I pleaded. “More.”

He plunged again, sending us over the edge. It was then I knew it was too late. Neither of us had thought through the consequences. His release filled me as he pumped deep inside my walls. He pressed his forehead to mine. Our bodies trying to find a natural breathing pattern, but it was impossible.

“I don’t want you to leave, Molly.”

“I don’t want to either.”

He reached for a napkin, handing it to me as I hopped from the table. The stickiness between my legs reminded me how careless we had been.

He kissed my hand, leading me back to my seat. “Should we finish dinner?” he asked. He didn’t seem to be alarmed we had forgone a condom.

“I’m suddenly extremely hungry,” I joked. If he wasn’t going to worry about it, I wouldn’t let it ruin the evening.

He pushed the seat in underneath me. I reached for the champagne, drinking it faster than I should.

Somehow things seemed settled between us. As if our bodies did the talking, but I did need some details.

“How is this going to work?” I asked. “My move?”

Damon refilled our glasses. “I’m not sure, to be honest. Sutcliffe has been instructed to come up with a plan. We’ll have the details when we arrive in Freychon tomorrow.”

“This won’t interfere with my dissertation work, will it?”

“No. Other than the inconvenience of having royal escorts, you can do anything you normally do. Although, I think the royal library has a lot you can use. I can fly in anything you request.”

“You’d do that?” I had to keep my lips together.

He smiled. “Yes.”

“True, but I do have a roommate.” I tried to think how Brooklyn was going to handle this news.

“She was the one with you at the gala?”

I nodded. “It was actually her night. Something on her bucket list. I tagged along to supervise.”

He laughed. “That’s such an American concept.”

“Why do you say that? Everyone should have a bucket list.”

Damon leaned against the table. “What we did five minutes ago—was that on your bucket list?”

I blushed. “It should have been.” My bucket list consisted of seeing rare collections of text, visiting historic libraries, and traveling to New Zealand. It was probably a one-of-a-kind list.

“Just live, Molly. Don’t worry about crossing things off an imaginary list. I promise you’ll have more fun that way. Maybe even tonight.” He winked.

I didn’t want to tell him Brooklyn would severely disagree.

“You must have something,” I pressed. “It’s not only Americans. Kings can have goals.”

“I made one happen tonight.”

I tried to think of which thing we had done which might have given him a sense of accomplishment. “Which was?”

“We’re not locked in separate hotel suites, are we?” I saw the Cheshire cat grin on his face.

“And why is that? Ayla told me not to enter your suite no matter what. She is strict.”

“We’re on international waters. There are ten state rooms on this ship. My crew isn’t going to report anything that happens aboard. It seemed the only way to have you to myself.”

“Is this what happens when we return? We have to sneak to each other’s rooms like we’re in a dorm?”

He laughed. “There is an elaborate tunnel system in the palace.” He paused. “But I’m not using it. You’ll be in my bed.”

The way he said it made me shiver. It was just as possessive and controlling, but I had seen underneath Damon’s hard exterior. I knew there was an emotional side he guarded tirelessly. And for some reason he had peeled back the curtain and given me a glimpse.

“And you think you can pull that off? Upend your family’s history?”

The flicker in his eyes dimmed. “Do you know how I became king?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t.”

“Everyone else in the country knows. You should too.”

“It doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a happy story.” I took the refreshing champagne.

“There are two ways you can become the head of the monarchy in Galona: your predecessor steps down and hands the crown to you, or the crown is vacated.” He paused. “In my case, it was vacated. My father died.”

“I’m sorry, Damon.”

“It was supposed to happen eventually. I knew it. But I didn’t envision the weight of the country of my back before I turned thirty. But I’m thirty-two and I’ve ruled for five years. I assumed I’d take over on my father’s death bed, when he was eighty-eight. I’d be an old man myself by then. Not a young king. Not a man who wanted freedom.

“It took me a while to stop blaming him. To stop cursing my father for what he did to my life, by dying young. By leaving my mother and the rest of us.”

My heart twisted with his pain.

“What did you do? How did you cope with the reasonability and grief?”

“I governed,” he answered flatly. “Meanwhile, my fathers advisors surrounded me. Sutcliffe, he’s left over from the old days. I’ve replaced most of them. Kenley and Ayla are new additions. They suit my style better.”

I wondered if it also helped that they were smart beautiful women who had a way of spinning negative situations into positive ones.

“I didn’t realize your mother was still living.”

“She left the Freychon palace after he died. She lives on the coast in one of the summer homes. She converted it into a residence meant for a dowager queen. She wanted to be out of the spotlight. No one blamed her.”

“Do you see her often?”

He shook his head. “Isabel visits the most. Dominic is too engrossed in his own problems. The rest of us have heavy schedules.”

I was sad for her. Sad for all of them. It seemed as if Damon’s father’s death had a rippling effect on the security of the family.

“Maybe I’ll plan a trip after I get through the next round of cabinet votes.”

I nodded. Mothers liked that kind of thing. I knew mine did. She worried if I didn’t call every week. She loved getting cards and small things I could send home. Video calls were our lifeline to each other.

“What happened to your father? Is it ok if I ask?” It seemed like a crucial piece to the puzzle. “Am I prying? I am. Aren’t I?”

“Molly, you can ask. I brought it up. The cause of death was inconclusive. My mother swears it was the stress of running the country.”

“No one knows?”

He shook his head. “He dropped dead after a morning swim in the pool. He was rushed to the hospital, but they were never able to revive him.”

“Oh my God, that’s terrible. I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you.”

“And that’s how you became king?”

“It is. I was sworn in that afternoon and coronated a month later. I ran the country at twenty-seven and didn’t have a fucking clue what I was doing.”

“Galona is an incredible country, Damon. Your family must be proud. The circumstances that led to your ascension make it even more impressive.”

He waved me off. “My reign has been about finding the balance between the royal shackles my father prescribed to and the reality of living in a modern society. If I want my girlfriend to move in, she should be able to move in. I don’t care about Sutcliffe’s list of rules. That’s the part of the crown I despise.”

“So I’m a political statement about the old ways and customs?”

“In some ways, yes. You are. And even that pisses me off.”

“But on the ship, we can do whatever we want? No customs. No politics.”

He nodded. “Everything we want.”

“Can we go back to the room?”

“I’ll have them bring us dessert.”

I smiled as he led me away from the table. “But you had your dessert before dinner.”

He chuckled. “I think I’m going to have some more.”