Page 110 of Fallen Crown

She doesn’t hesitate in handing her over, and I cradle her against my body. She’s big enough to sit up comfortably. Her eyes have turned a greenish hazel, and her previously blond hair has darkened slightly. I can’t help marveling at how children can be such mixes of their parents.

Brice reappears at my side, and he presses a gentle kiss to the top of Grace’s head before pressing one to my temple. When I turn to meet his gaze, I expect sympathy or longing or some emotion over me holding her, but he’s looking at me exactly as he always does, as though I’m the only person in this room worth seeing.

A shiver skates across my skin, but it’s not from the cold, it’s from realizing that this might be the sign I wanted. He meant what he said, and I have to trust that he’ll mean it long after tonight, no matter what happens.

A leap of faith, and I make those all the time on a racecourse without second-guessing myself. Trust my instincts and go for it.

He leans in, and his lips graze my ear. “I love you too.” His hand settles on the small of my back, and then he strikes up a conversation with his mother as though this whole scene is the most natural thing in the world.

When I look around the room, I see that Iris likely captured that whole thing on video, and it doesn’t bother me. I don’t care. This happiness that I’m finally allowing to bloom in me won’t wither and die under the glare of public opinion. My love for him only seems to grow stronger the longer I let myself feel it.

###

Brice sets a bottle of tequila, two shot glasses, and a bowl of popcorn on the coffee table in front of me. “First two episodes. Are you ready?”

“Why have you got tequila?” I take a handful of popcorn.

“In case we need to get drunk after watching them and scrub our memories clean.” He plops into the seat beside me, and he puts his arm across the back of the couch, his fingers grazing my shoulder.

I cuddle into him as he clicks on the streaming service, and a giant banner of our faces with dirty, stressed expressions appears. “Oh no,” I mutter.

“We look like we’re in an action movie. I love it.” Brice chuckles.

“I guess there’s no question what their marketing strategy is. To be honest, I’m curious to see how we’ll come across on camera, whether it’ll be obvious we were falling in love.”

“I was in love with you long before we ever stepped onto Fijian soil,” Brice says as he clicks on the first episode.

“Part of me knew I was in love with you the night you asked me to go to Fiji, and I kissed you. I’d just been fighting it for so long.”

He presses a kiss to the top of my head, and we settle into watching the episodes. As the scenes we lived play on the screen, it’s the strangest sensation. I’ve been interviewed for things before and watched myself on television, but it’s a whole different experience seeing myself competing.

Toward the end of the first episode, I have to admit that InterFlix seems to have portrayed us accurately so far, and in the dying minutes, I reveal that Enzo and I are separated. The camera catches Brice’s expression, which causes him to groan.

“If everyone in the world doesn’t know I’m crushing on you hard after seeing that look on my face…” Brice covers his eyes. “I just became a meme, a gif, and that’ll trend on all my socials. Guaranteed.”

“There are worse things.” In the moment, I knew his response was significant, but watching it back with the editing and music, it truly feels like the start of something epic. “Do you think people will like us?”

“Of course. I’m funny, highly attractive, and a prince. The trifecta of awesomeness.”

I slap his chest, and he chuckles.

“And you’re gorgeous and smart and so driven to succeed that I get turned on just thinking about it.” He clicks off the TV and tosses the remote over the back of the couch. “We can watch the second episode later. I’ve got a little Maren Tucker appreciation to conduct.”

I laugh as he draws me underneath him. “I do love your Maren Tucker appreciation moments.”

“You’re in luck,” he says, tenderly brushing my hair off my cheek. “I’ve got a supply fit to last a lifetime.”

Then he kisses me, and nothing and no one else in the world matters except this man and these moments with him. Forever.