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For a while, he does. He heaves this big, laborious sigh, and listens to the lecture. All around us, people steal glances—usually other girls. If Lex notices this, he doesn’t show it, his fingers fluttering through my hair every now and again.

Until abruptly, his breath caresses my ear. “I’ll finger you first.” The whisper is deep, smooth like velvet, my core clenching at the vibration as much as the words. “Make you come on my knuckles like a desperate little slut. I know you like that, the same way I know you’re embarrassed right now, but also getting off to the thrill of me talking to you like this in front of a room full of people.” Reaching up, he touches my neck. “I can see your pulse jumping, pupils dilating, and there—your thighs rubbing together. You’redrenched.” Close enough that his lips brush the shell of my ear, he whispers, “No one knows your pussy as well as I do, Princess.”

I gulp.

“I don’t like flirting,” he adds, skating his fingertip down my collarbone. “As you’ve just witnessed, I’m not good at it, which is fine by me because I’m more of an empirical probability guy anyway. I’d much rather dothis.” This time when he touches my chin, turning me to face him, the tips of our noses bump together. “Come with me, and I’ll fuck your brains out.”

My brain shorts out at his filthy mouth, but my body spurs into action. I have my laptop in my bag so fast, I almost spill my coffee in my haste. “Let’s go.”

The heat on my skin as we leave the lecture hall isn’t from embarrassment. It’s sheer want. I start to the door, but he grabs my hand, walking straight past Winston, who never stops teaching, to a door behind the lectern.

The professor’s office.

“In here?” I ask, my voice a squeak as he shuts the door. “They’ll hear.”

“Good, they’ll spread the word that the Princess is getting her needs met.”

He pushes me against the desk, hands bunching up my shirt to reveal my stomach. He bends to press a kiss against my belly, that long hair grazing my skin. A different sort of flutter builds inside.

“For the record,” he unzips his pants and pulls out his thick erection, “what I’m about to do to you isn’t going to hurt the baby.”

He spins me around, flattening me over the desk, hands dragging both my leggings and panties down with a hard yank. He enters my wet pussy with a swift, deep punch.

I bite down on an exhale of relief, just grateful to feel him buried inside. I never know which version of this man is going to show up, but more and more, it doesn’t matter. My ache for him rivals the one he has for me.

Doctor, father, lover… they’re all the same; a man capable of giving me everything.

* * *

“Thanks for the ride.”I tug at my dress as we approach the gated building. “I know this is a little weird.”

“If I get jumped on the way home, I’m not going to be happy about it.” Sy eases the car up to the guard shack. A shiny Mercedes idles in front of us. For the second time, he asks, “Seriously, did you get called to come here? Because it’s our month. They can’t make demands of you.”

“No one is forcing me,” I insist, yet again. “There’s just something I need to do, and it happens to fall on one of the days I’m in West End.”

“A Mother’s Day event,” he says dryly.

A tea party, to be exact, held at the marina clubhouse, and by the grace of the Forsyth gods, it’s finally stopped raining.

Turning to Sy, I take in a deep breath, willing him to hear me. “I know this is hard for you all to understand, but I’m taking my role as Princess seriously. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, like having me regularly come back to West End. I never want to give up my family for my position, but I also have obligations now—things that are important to me.”

Today isn’t an obligation. It’s righting a wrong, but I know Sy can’t understand any reasoning I offer. The Royals exist in black and white. Them versus everyone else. North End turned their back on Lavinia long before she turned her back on them. She found a home with her Dukes. I was lucky enough to have a home and a mother who loved me, but the last few months have shown me a life outside the only one I’d ever known.

“You’re right. It’s weird as fuck, Ver,” he admits, watching the car in front of us get waved through. “Seeing you with them.” His eyes dart down to my stomach. “Seeing you pregnant with their kid.”

“I know.” I place my hand over the growing belly. The baby still isn’t very big, but like his fathers, he’s making himself known. “It’s weird for me, too.”

Sy pulls up to the shack and rolls down his window, the security guard pausing at the sight of him. Even though he’s a King now, he doesn’t wear the uniform. There’s no slick suit or expensive shoes, just a sleeveless shirt that shows off the roaring Bruin tattoo on his bicep.

The security guard frowns at the muscle car. “Can I help you?” he asks, in a tone that implies he knows we don’t belong.

“I’m dropping off the Princess.” Sy jerks his thumb at me. “She’s going to the party.”

The guard drops down, looking across to the passenger seat. I’m a comical contrast to the fighter in the driver seat, in my pretty dress, string of pearls and all. To my relief, the guard blinks in recognition when he sees me. “Oh, yes, of course,” he sputters over the low rumble of the engine. “My apologies. We didn’t know you were coming.”

Wincing, I offer, “Last minute decision.”

“Drive straight to the entrance,” he says, stepping back, “and Happy Mother’s Day, Your Highness.”