Page 50 of Some Like It Secret

“Are you imagining me in the tiara and nothing else?”

“I am now.” They both laughed, but Sebastian sobered first. “If you want a tiara, I’ll have one made. If you don’t, then I won’t.”

“So, what’s our plan?” It took her a moment to realize they’d completed the takeoff somewhere in the middle of their conversation. They were airborne and the only flutters she experienced came from the casual caress of his skin on hers.

“Once we land in Los Angeles, we’ll stay in my apartment at Petersburg Tower. Tonight we’re having dinner with Armand and Anna. There’s a good chance Richard and Kate will be there, that is if Richard has forgiven me for letting you and Kate run all over Europe.” The quixotic grin on his face said he didn’t really care one way or the other.

“Afterward?” She knew he always made a plan.

“What do you want to do?” The question teased her senses.

“I assumed you’d have some traveling to do—meetings, appearances?” His public life had dictated their time together for so long.

“Perhaps. What about you? Do you want to keep teaching?” The question surprised her.

“I love teaching, but it’s not very practical if the students only show up on the off chance the hot prince I married might stop by.”

His grin grew smug. “You think I’m hot?”

“Well, isn’t that what the papers call you?” Teasing him was almost effortless and fun.

“I don’t care about the papers. But, seriously, do you want to still teach?”

“I want to be with you.” The answer came so much easier than even she expected. She loved her career, loved the research and working with her students, but, God, she loved Sebastian far more. “If you travel, I want to travel with you. I’m tired of living on separate continents and being in different time zones.”

“Then we’ll talk about it. We’ll make plans that work for us.” It was his turn to trace his thumb over her engagement ring. “I’ve spent the last several years rearranging my life to help achieve what I thought everyone else wanted. The only rearranging I plan to do now is what we decide we want together. You and me. No more assumptions, no more presumptions. We’re going to live happily ever after, no matter what.”

“Because you said so?”

“No, becausewesaid so.”

Dammit, she was going to cry again. She blinked rapidly to stem the tears. “I love you, Bastian.”

“I know,” he grinned. “I’m a prince.”