Page 63 of Forbidden King
Chapter 19
A few weeks later…
Anna Camila scanned the clear blue ocean surrounding their yacht. The morning sun glistened on the white, turning it to pearl.
The ship gently bobbed in the water as they were anchored for the night in the middle of nowhere.
Later today, they would continue to sail on their adventure. Memories of her parents as they sailed on their small skiff laughing together rushed through her mind right now.
They’d like this honeymoon on a yacht.
The stillness of the air as she took a few breaths to cleanse her palate helped steady her thoughts.
Anna returned, barefoot, to the bedroom and slipped back beneath the covers next to her husband.
Leo moved as if her cold legs disturbed him, but then he rested and she settled back into the white sheets to stare at him.
Her husband was absolutely the most handsome man she’d ever met.
She took a deep breath and hoped he would like what she had to say. He batted his eyes so she knew he was awake, and before he even had a chance to say good morning, she hugged her pillow to her chest and asked, “Leo, what are some names you’d want if you had a son or daughter?”
His nose lifted as he sat up beside her, tugging at her pillow. “I don’t want to talk about Francesca. It’s not like I get a choice there.”
She let the pillow go “I wasn’t talking about Francesca.”
And then the pillow fell beside the bed as he asked, “What?”
Guess that wasn’t clear. Her heart beat a little faster as she stared at his muscular chest because his brown eyes always mesmerized her. “Leo, you and I have been intimate since the island…”
He grinned and squeezed her hand. “Antonio if it’s a boy and Maria’s good if it’s a girl.”
Handsome, and smart. She laughed and settled into his waiting arms as she asked, “Why those names?”
He yawned and scratched the short hair at the back of his head. “Well, family tradition requires me to name my oldest Antonio… because my full name is Prince Leopoldo Cosimo Francesco Gastone Giuliano Piero Charles Marcus Lorenzo Antonio Aussa.”
“That’s a mouthful,” she joked, but understood instantly they really didn’t get a choice in a male name. The Aussa family had rules.
Leo explained, “Antonio was a noble king about two hundred years ago and the Aussas recycle the good king names, and let the bad names die. We only get to cycle a new name in when we retire a bad one.”
And if she had a son, Antonio was a good name. “Your family is actually still following that rule?”
“Traditions are important.”
She happened to agree, for the most part. Her heart thumped as she wondered about the second suggestion. “Okay, so why Maria?”
Leo eyed her with a smug look. “Maria, because your grandmother’s cookies are really yummy.”
Cookies. Her life had revolved around those cookies for years. Since getting her own staff, her grandmother made her delicious cookies, and Anna didn’t have to worry that she’d accidentally left the oven on.
She poked his rock-hard abs with a laugh. “So you’d name our daughter so you get more cookies sent over from the dower house?”
“Umm… yes,” he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He dropped the sheets, showing off his nakedness in all his glory. “And I hope she hands over her cookie recipe to my chefs.”
“That won’t happen.” Anna’s hands grazed his chest as he came over her to kiss her and pull her hips lower on the bed.
Leo was hers. She was his. And now they’d have a family. The rest of the world didn’t matter at all.
Not today.