Page 164 of The Unlikely Spare

“There,” he gasps, fingernails scoring lines down my back. “Right there, don’t stop.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I shift slightly, making sure to hit that spot with every thrust, and he throws his head back, exposing the long line of his throat. I lean down to bite at his pulse point, tasting lingering traces of soap, along with salt.

Mine, something fierce in me growls. Mine, mine, mine.

He must read the look in my eyes because a smirk takes over his lips.

“Possessive,” he manages, but he’s tilting his head to give me better access.

“You bring it out in me.” I reach between us to wrap my hand around his cock, stroking in time with my thrusts. His hips buck up to meet me. “Only you.”

Christ, the sounds he makes. The way he says my name like a prayer and a curse all at once. The feeling of him clenching around me with each stroke. It’s too much and not enough and everything I never knew I needed.

“Eoin,” he gasps, my name breaking on his lips like waves against rocks. His whole body is trembling now, muscles taut as a bowstring. “I’m close. I’m…”

“Let go,” I tell him. “I’ve got you.”

He comes with my name on his lips, and the feeling of him clenching around me, the sight of his face, sends me tumbling after him. My vision whites out as I empty myself inside him. The pleasure rolls through me in waves that seem endless.

We collapse together, breathing hard, bodies still joined. His heart beats against my chest, rapid and real, proof that we survived everything and made it here. I press lazy kisses to his shoulder while his fingers card through my damp hair.

“We’re terrible at keeping things professional,” he murmurs eventually, voice hoarse and satisfied.

“The worst,” I agree, pulling out carefully. I dispose of the condom and reach for tissues to clean us both. “Though I notice you’re not complaining.”

“Never.” He watches me with hooded eyes, looking thoroughly debauched with his hair wild, lips swollen, and my marks blooming on his skin. “Come here.”

I settle back beside him, pulling him against my chest. His fingers trace the scars on my chest like he’s memorizing me with his fingertips.

“Did you tell Scotland Yard everything?” Nicholas asks against my neck.

“Yes.”

“The whole truth?”

“Seemed pointless to lie.”

He props himself up on an elbow, looking down at me with those impossible eyes. “Do you regret it?”

I think about the career and the reputation I’ve spent years building that is now in tatters. Then I look at this man whochallenged everything I thought I knew about myself, the most extraordinary person I’ve ever met.

The man who contains multitudes.

“Not for a second,” I tell him honestly.

We stay like that, wrapped around each other. The city lights outside cast everything in soft gold, and for the first time in days—maybe weeks—I feel something that might be peace.

“What happens now?” I ask eventually. “I’m probably getting fired. You’re going back to being royal. I somehow doubt the palace is going to approve of?—”

“Of what? Their spare heir falling in love with the man who saved his life repeatedly?” Nicholas props himself up on an elbow, eyes sparking with defiance. “I’ve just helped orchestrate the largest wealth redistribution in British history to start atoning for historical injustices. I think I’ve earned the right to make my own choices about who I love.”

“It’s not that straightforward. Your family?—”

“Do you know what I told Callum when he asked why I was so insistent about staying with you?” Nicholas interrupts quietly. His fingers find mine, interlacing. “I told him you were the first person who ever looked at me and saw just Nicholas. Not the spare, not the symbol, not the performance. Just me.”

I swallow hard at the raw honesty in his voice.

“That’s worth fighting for,” he continues. “Worth whatever battles we have to face. There’ll be conversations, probably a truly mortifying amount of media training for you because scowling doesn’t exactly photograph well. But, Eoin…” He frames my face with his hands. “All those regulations I’ve rebelled against? They were nothing compared to how hard I’ll fight to keep this—to keep you.”