Chapter 297


    Chapter 0297


    Soon, Elva got squirmy and Nichs lowered her down. She rushed back to her toys and Nichs


    came toward Charlotte and me.


    Charlotte immediately stood. “Please.” She offered him her seat.


    “I couldn’t,” he said.


    “I have chores that need tending to,” Charlotte said. That didn’t seem entirely truthful, but gave


    Nichs enough reason to sit down. Charlotte winked at me behind his back. “Would you like a cup of


    coffee, Your Royal Highness?”


    “Yes, thank you. That would be lovely.”


    Charlotte removed her own cup and walked toward the doorway where a pot of coffee and some cups


    had been set. As she worked, Nichs inched his chair closer toward mine.


    Even those few inches of closed distance sent my heart racing. His gentle smile set my skin on fire.


    “I’m sorry aboutst night,” he said, and that cooled me somewhat, though not enough to want to be


    away from him. If anything, I only wanted to be closer, to feel his warmth ignite within me again.


    “Don’t apologize,” I said. “You had no control over what happened.”


    “I should have been more forceful.”


    I shook my head. “You could have hurt her without even realizing it.” Lilliana had been so drunk, she


    would have just kept pushing without feeling any pain, no matter how Nichs tried to push her away.


    “I’m d I came when I did,” I said. Maybe I saved the both of them. Saved myself too, from acting too


    rashly.


    I was a virgin and had always wanted to stay one until I found either my perfect person or my fated


    mate. Nichs, unfortunately, couldn’t be either of those things.


    He was a prince. He wouldn’t marry for love. He’d marry whoever would fit him best on the throne


    beside his. This person wasn’t me. I had no idea how to sit on a throne, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to


    learn.


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    I had enough problems. So did the royal family.


    Our problems didn’t mix well.


    But that didn’t mean that our… attraction, or even our affection, was irrelevant. It just… wasn’t enough.


    I wanted to be intimate with Nichs, but I couldn’t cross that line. Last night I had been willing. This


    morning, I wasn’t so sure.


    I was d I didn’t have to find out if I would have regretted giving my virginity to Nichs. Nichs


    leaned in closer. I leaned in too.


    I wasn’t ready to surrender my virginity, but everything else…?


    “Piper,” he whispered. “Why did youe to my roomst night?”


    “You know why,” I said. I licked my lips. He watched and licked his own. “I’m not ready for everything.”


    “We’ll do as little or as much as you want,” he said. “I’d never press you…


    “But…?”


    “No, but’s,” he said, and seemed earnest. His voice lowered. “I want you however you are willing…”


    I swallowed hard. My nerves itched to be closer to him, to touch him, to wrap myself around him and


    never let him go.


    Charlotte returned with Nichs’s cup of coffee, and he and I jumped apart.


    “Sorry,” Charlotte mouthed to me, when Nichs wasn’t looking.


    I shook my head lightly. It was fine. It was good, actually. Every time I was near Nichs, I was ready


    to throw almost everything away to be with him.


    I needed to remember myself and my temporary ce in his life.


    I needed to protect my heart, that wanted so badly to reach out to his and make him my special person.


    As Charlotte walked away, Nichs smiled at me. A fire burned in his eyes.


    “You shoulde back tonight,” he said, and I knew I would before he’d even finished speaking.