Chapter 14

Brooks

Early the next morning, I pack up a sleepy Charlotte and wait for her annoying bodyguard to come pick us up and drive to the dock. We take the first ferry, not saying much at all.

There’s not much to say, but I can’t help but be a little glad that she sleeps the entire way back.

“Would you mind terribly if I took a nap?” she asks as soon as we arrive at my parents’ house.

“Not at all,” I reply, somehow managing to sound as formal as hell. “I can escort you to your room.”

She smiles wryly. “I think I can manage.”

Peter glares at me, taking my princess by the hand. “We need to go over your schedule, Princess.”

Trying not to take it personally when she agrees, I stalk to the family room at the back of the house and plop down on the sofa. Unfortunately, I’m not alone so I can’t stew in my juices or even think of what happened on our last night together.

“You’re still here?” I ask Briggs.

He shrugs and scarfs down a pimento cheese sandwich—one of my favorite southern dishes that our mother makes on Sunday afternoons. Except it’s Tuesday. “I don’t get a lot of home cooking and Mom made two of ’em especially for me.”

That explains it. “Find your Mary Poppins and you will,” I snap.

“When I get laid, I’m in a hell of a lot better mood.”

“That’s not the problem.” I tear my gaze away from the pimento cheese sandwich to stare out at the river.

“Talk to Dr. Briggs, Love Doctor, MD,” he says in a low baritone.

I roll my eyes. “I don’t think so.”

“An outside, unbiased point of view of what you did wrong is always a good thing.”

“So much for unbiased.” I lean back in my chair. “Actually, there’s nothing wrong with either of us.”

“And that’s bad how?” he asks, incredulous.

“I don’t know.” But I do know. Charlotte regrets what happened between us and wants to pretend that nothing happened at all. Just like with her slip about her parentage.

“Whatever isn’t bothering you, talk to her about it.”

I salute him.

“Seriously, dude, I like how happy she makes you.”

I give him a look. “You’ve barely been around us.”

“I was around the two of you enough. Even Dad noticed, and he’s pretty oblivious. He and Mom are pleased you’re dating such a nice girl.”

Dinner tonight should be fun if Dad’s saying something to Briggs about my dating life. “She’s a princess; of course they’re happy.”

“The fact that she’s royalty never came up.”

I grunt. “Sure it didn’t. I’m sure you’re trying to figure out how you can work that into your future campaign as head dog catcher of Raleigh.”

“Whatever, Brooksy. Go back to being the brooding pain-in-the-ass brother you usually are, but next time our parents want you to come home, I won’t be doing them any favors by asking you myself.” Briggs polishes off another sandwich and leaves the room. “Stupid-ass motherfucker doesn’t know how good he has it,” he mutters, just loud enough for me to hear.

I flip him off, but he doesn’t take the bait and attempt to beat my ass for it.

Maybe he’s right. Maybe I don’t know how good I have it and I’m just looking for something bad. As a journalist, I’m trained to look for the worst thing possible. No one wants to read about the good stuff. Hell, there was a start-up that reported only good news, and in less than a week they had a viewership the size of a country church in the middle of nowhere.

In other words, they went out of business.

But that’s not Charlotte. She loves good news. She loves baby animals, fairy tales, and keeping fish with their families almost as much as eating them. Romance novels and picnics…she loves me.

Somehow, someway, I made a princess fall in love with me.

And not just any princess, but my princess.

I can’t let my natural inclination to look for the bad fuck up our relationship.

Brushing off my jeans, I stand and move to the hallway, then take the stairs two at a time in my rush to talk to her before she takes a nap.

Her door is halfway open, so I smile, thinking I’ve made it in time, but when I walk inside, she’s busy packing her things.

My stomach slams all the way back to my spine. No way I was looking for this to happen. No damn way at all.

“Going somewhere?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Yes. Gen needs me.”

I exhale in relief. It’s both annoying and admirable that she’s so loyal to her sister. But her sister takes advantage of that loyalty, and Charlotte either willingly allows it or is too blind to see it. I’m thinking a combination of the two is the correct answer.

“It’s only for a couple of weeks.”

A couple of weeks. I have to be without her for that long? “What about our dinner with my parents?” I lean against the doorframe, trying to keep calm—something I normally have no problem doing. Fuck. Normal went out the window as soon as I gave her a key to my house on Smith Island.

She pauses, her beautiful hazel eyes landing on me. “I won’t leave until after dinner.”

“Isn’t that so very royal of you.” A tick starts up in my jaw.

“Actually it is. I have duties, Brooks, and while you might not agree or understand, one of them is to attend to the queen.”

“Until she doesn’t need you.”

“Well, yes. That’s how it’s always worked.” She shakes her head, silky locks sliding over soft skin that only hours ago I had my hands and mouth on.

Only hours ago, I made her scream my name.

Made her cry out in pleasure.

Made her come so hard that she forced my own orgasm.

I fucked her raw again, without thought or care to what it could really do to us.

To me.

To her.

To our respective futures.

And she welcomed it.

I only want you.

Her eyes roam over me, her pouty lips frowning, then curving upward. “You could always come for an extended visit.”

“As what—your friend, lover, boyfriend…some guy you like to fuck?”

She blushes. “As my…as mine.”

“Yours, huh?”

The tiniest of nods make her head bob. “Yes. You promised to give me everything, remember?”

I’d do every bit of it again in a heartbeat. “Yeah, I remember.”

She walks to me, gliding like an ice skater. I’m not sure how she manages to walk like that, but it’s natural for her. “I want to apologize for my behavior earlier. When I saw Peter, I was reminded of what we’d done, of the possible consequences…and I panicked.”

“That’s perfectly understandable. I might have panicked some, too.”

“At what we did?”

I shake my head. “About returning to the real world and you coming to your senses.”

“Wow. I didn’t expect that from you.”

“Honesty?”

She cocks a brow at me. “That you would worry about me leaving.”

“I’m a realist, sweetheart. You have other choices.”

“So do you,” she says softly. “I really am tired and I really do look forward to dinner with your parents. They treat me like I’m a normal girl and I adore them for it.”

I grab her waist on both sides, enjoying the feel of her lush curves in my hands. “Just remember that you’ll have to sleep without me tonight.”

She pushes out her lower lip. “But I don’t want to.”

“Marry me and you don’t have to ever sleep without me.”

“Not that again,” she says. “I don’t want to hear another word about marriage.”

Undeterred, I pull her to me. “Get used to it, Princess, because you said you wanted everything from me and that included taking my last name.”

Her full lips form a perfect O. I take that as my cue to leave, give her time to really think it over.

“Thing is, Princess, when a Walker finds the one, he doesn’t let little things like queens, brothers, or an entire government get in his way,” I toss over my shoulder, shuting the door behind me.