Chapter Twenty-One

Coming Back Together

As Lorena raced through the halls of the palace, her mind whirled. Prove you choose her. How would she convince Rose she was in it for real this time? How could she take back her harsh words and mend the relationship?

She burst out into the brisk night air. The moon shone down in the dark sky. Round fairy bulbs strung alongside the rows of pear trees twinkled golden white. And in the tenth row, third tree back…a curvy blonde in bright blue huddled on a high branch.

“Rose!” Lorena bolted toward her. She stumbled to a stop at the base of the tree and planted one hand on the trunk as she doubled over to catch her breath. Damn, that was a lot of running. But she wouldn’t stop now. “Rose, come down. I need to talk to you.”

So high up, Rose scowled down at her. “What do you want?”

Lorena wheezed. It was very unprofessional. “It’s important. Come down, please.”

But Rose raised her chin. “I’m staying up here. Thanks to you, I had to tell my mum I couldn’t pick anyone and face her wrath all on my own. Fuck you.” She spat the last two words, but they held more hurt than venom.

“I really don’t want to yell this conversation,” Lorena yelled.

“Then byeeee.” Rose waved her fingers.

Lorena stared up into the tree. She couldn’t leave Rose, couldn’t give her up. Gritting her teeth, she reached up on tiptoes and got her fingertips over the edge of the lowest branch. Her sneakers scraped against the bark, searching for traction. With a grunt, she pulled herself up, swinging her feet out as counterbalance. In a lunge, she hiked her body up and over the branch and scrambled to press herself against the trunk. Breath coming fast, she closed her eyes and tried not to panic. Don’t look down. Keep climbing.

“Lorena?” Rose’s voice jumped in surprise.

Lorena opened her eyes and, shaking, adjusted so she was on her knees. She raised one knee, braced the sole of her shoe against the branch she was sitting on, and reached one trembling hand for the next branch, the one beside Rose.

She looked down.

The ground spun beneath her. Her fingers missed the branch, swiped through the air, throwing her off-balance. With a yelp, she clung to the trunk and squeezed her eyes shut.

This was when it had happened. The last time she’d climbed a tree…

Little Lorena reached for the branch, but her grip slipped. She plummeted through the air, then landed hard on her arm. Splitting pain shot through her, and she screamed. Screamed and screamed for her parents, but they never came to her rescue. When she ran out of air, her throat raw, she had to push herself to her feet, clinging to the arm that swung as if dead. She stumbled, weeping, to the porch, where they were faced off in a shouting match.

“Mamá, Papá,” she sobbed.

Finally, they stopped screaming at each other, and— “Oh, shit,” her father cursed under his breath and bolted for the car keys. Her mother picked her up without a word, which was somehow worse. They flew to the hospital, her parents arguing the whole drive there about who should have been watching her.

No comfort. No I love yous. Not even a held hand.

Lorena learned that day to take care of herself.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Rose demanded.

Lorena forced herself to take long, deep breaths. Once her heart rate had calmed, she reopened her eyes. Furrowing her brow, she stretched for the next branch up. “I have…something…to say,” she gritted out and pulled herself up. She swung one leg up, up, up, until she latched herself around the branch. It was clumsy, it was terrifying, but it was successful. She was finally even with Rose.

Don’t look down.

Lorena clung to the branch with both hands. She gripped it tight between her thighs. Shakily she said, “I told you, I need to talk to you.”

Rose stared at her. “Well, here you are,” she managed at last. “Talk.”

Lorena took a deep breath and met Rose’s gaze. “I’m sorry for being a dick. I said hurtful things, and I wasn’t honest about my feelings.”

“What feelings?” Rose muttered.

Lorena winced. “Okay, I deserved that.” She hesitated, then reached over and touched Rose’s hand briefly before grabbing her branch again. “You should know, I… My parents had an ugly divorce, and my whole life they’ve been fighting. They didn’t believe in love, and as a result, I never thought it was for me. I threw myself into my business instead, like my mom.”

Rose watched her, listening.

“I expected to be alone. And then I met you, and you shattered all my expectations about everything. I wanted something for myself for the first time in a long time. I wanted you. And I was scared.” She bit her lip. “It wasn’t really about you and me being a problem. Like, that part was scary, but the real issue was that I was scared to admit how much I felt for you.”

Rose swallowed hard, but she still didn’t say anything.

You have to say it. Lorena blew out a long, slow breath and pressed on. “I’ve spent so long afraid of love I’m not even sure I know how to do it right, but…I think I’m falling in love with you too.” She dug her nails into the branch. “I pick you. I hope it’s not too late.”

Sniffling, Rose touched Lorena’s thigh. “You pick me? For real?”

“I pick you.” Lorena’s vision blurred, and when she touched her face, her fingers came away wet with hot tears. “I’m sorry. I should’ve picked you from the beginning. I wanted to; I was just scared.”

“And you’re not scared anymore?”

“Oh, no, I’m scared shitless.” Lorena’s laugh was half sob. “This is all new. In all honesty, I’ll probably fuck up again. But I want to fuck up with you. I want to be with you. Paparazzi and responsibilities and all.”

Tears rolled down Rose’s cheeks. “But your business? What about Love, Lorena?”

“My best friend, Tascha, works with me. She can take over.”

“You’d give up matchmaking for me?”

“Rose, it’s a job. I love it, but I love you more. And besides, maybe I can consult if I miss it. But if I have to choose, I’d rather have you.” Lorena placed her hand over Rose’s.

“And politics,” Rose rushed. “You won’t be allowed to talk politics anymore. And you’ll have to become an Ìovorian citizen. Also, there’s tons of rules you’ll have to follow, and half of them are dumb as shit. And you won’t be princess or queen, you’ll be a consort, but my mum will probably assign you a duchy so your official title will be duchess—”

“I’m not here for the title,” Lorena said quietly.

“I know, but you should at least know what you’re getting into—”

“Luckily, research is my forte.” She squeezed Rose’s hand. “I’ll learn all the rules. I’ll sit and stand in order. I’ll stop eating when your mom does, even if it means I need a snack after dinner. Even if I’m not allowed to consult at Love, Lorena at all, I don’t care. I want to be with you.” Lorena leaned in and kissed Rose softly, one hand leaving the branch to weave into her loose blonde curls.

Rose sighed with pleasure; the heat of her body warmed Lorena against the cool night breeze.

“Help me down,” Lorena whispered, and Rose helped her descend out of the tree.

Once they were both firmly on the ground, Lorena pressed Rose up against the trunk for a deeper kiss. She licked into Rose’s mouth, and Rose sucked lightly on her tongue as she caressed fiery trails down Lorena’s back and waist. She broke away to trail kisses down the side of Rose’s throat, and Rose arched into her touch with a happy sigh. Lorena swept her hand down to her waist, then back up, caressing around her chest without ever fully touching it. Rose made a complaining sound…until Lorena cupped both breasts in her palms, and she moaned. Lorena devoured the sound, suddenly ravenous and sizzling all over.

The world spun, and her skin sparked, and the kiss lasted for a moment and a year, and it was glorious.

“Inside?” she murmured when they parted for air.

“Inside,” Rose agreed, and hand in hand, they ran for Rose’s suite.

As soon as the door shut behind them, Rose tugged her in for another kiss. Her hands skated down to explore Lorena’s torso, then her ass, closing over one cheek and pulling her up against Rose’s curves. Lorena slipped her hands over Rose’s shoulders to slide her arms around her neck, letting out a little noise of appreciation when Rose backed her up against the wall and hooked Lorena’s leg around Rose’s hip.

“Rose,” she whispered, panted really, and Rose mumbled aye before kissing a path down Lorena’s neck and down past her collarbone before slipping her hand underneath Lorena’s sweatshirt to smooth over abdomen and breasts. “Oh, Rose.”

“Shirt off,” Rose pleaded. Her brown eyes were hot with want as she peeled off her own clothes.

Lorena tugged her shirt off and threw it to the side, heedless of where it landed, heedless of wrinkles. All that mattered was the feeling of Rose against her.

Rose ducked her head, and her mouth found Lorena’s chest. Lorena sighed, arched into the open kisses tracing ever closer to her nipple. Rose pulled down the bralette and closed her pretty lips around that peak, and Lorena whimpered in pleasure. Rose hummed, laved her tongue over the bud; Lorena shivered. Please, yes. More.

Rose kissed her way to Lorena’s other nipple before licking a steaming circle around it. Lorena’s brain crackled out of existence.

“You taste so good,” Rose whispered, “and I haven’t even gotten to the best part of you yet.” Nibbling at Lorena’s earlobe, she slipped her fingertips down Lorena’s pants, between Lorena’s folds.

Lorena moaned, her hips canting into the touch.

“Och, love, you’re so wet already.” Rose’s lips trailed down Lorena’s neck. “You feel so good.”

Lorena’s phone buzzed in her pocket. Lorena muttered no way and turned it off without looking at it.

With a grin, Rose stroked harder, faster. “Forget about your phone. You’re all mine, aren’t you?”

Lorena arched, tension coiling inside her. “Yes. Yes.”

Rose slipped a finger inside her, then a second, and curled them upward, over and over. Lorena trembled as Rose whispered, “You’re so beautiful, love. And you feel amazing, like you were made for me. All for me.”

“Oh…oh, sh… Keep going, Rose, keep—” Lorena lifted up on her tiptoes and came with a cry, the orgasm washing over her in a wave of tingling ecstasy.

Rose whispered sweet nothings as Lorena recovered. Beautiful and sexy and I love you and more. After a couple minutes, Rose sank onto her knees, where she pulled Lorena’s sweatpants down and licked a leisurely line up her core. The last rational thought disintegrated from Lorena’s head.

“Mmm,” Rose purred from between Lorena’s legs. “You are bloody delicious.”

You’re all mine. Made for me.

Rose licked and sucked and Lorena came again, hard enough that she bit down on her knuckle to keep from shouting. She sagged against the wall, worn out and tingling.

Rose smiled, a hint of satisfaction in it, and traced her nails lightly over Lorena’s skin. “You’re one sexy woman.”

“Me?” Lorena sighed. “You blew me away.”

“And I was more than happy to do it. In fact…” Rose trailed one hand down Lorena’s body and between her thighs to her hypersensitive clit.

Lorena laughed and pushed that rascally hand away. “Enough. I need a minute.” Instead, she nudged Rose toward the bed and pinned her to the mattress by her wrists.

Rose pulled lightly at her grip with a grin and no real intention of escaping. “Oh no, whatever will you do with me?”

Lorena bit her lower lip suggestively. “I’m thinking turnabout is fair play.” She kissed the tip of Rose’s nose, her jaw, the line of her neck, the valley between her breasts. “Mmm.” She sucked gently at each nipple, her tongue lingering where Rose moaned and writhed. Another kiss down her abdomen, then on her mound, then at the top of her slit.

Rose arched up into the light touch. “Yesss, love. Fuck, I love you.”

The words sizzled inside Lorena, and she grazed her lips over the little patch of hair. “Say it again.”

Rose shivered. “I love you.”

And Lorena believed her. She licked the flat of her tongue along the slit from bottom to top, savoring Rose’s moan. She suckled her clit, making her arch and groan with pleasure, and released one wrist to carefully, softly rub her entrance with the pad of her thumb.

Rose panted harder, needier as Lorena teased her. “I want you inside me,” she whined, pushing her pelvis against the almost-there touches.

Lorena pressed in closer, without actually entering her. With a hum she swirled her tongue over the sensitive nub.

Rose shuddered again with a pleading noise. “Love, please.”

Lorena sighed with a smile and finally dipped her finger inside Rose. She slid in and out, and Rose thrust in time with her. She released Rose’s other wrist, and Rose scratched her nails up Lorena’s back.

“Fuck me hard,” Rose had said that night after the charity fundraiser ball. So Lorena devoured her pussy and thrust in a fast, fierce rhythm. Rose’s breasts bounced with the pressure. “Och, love, aye. You remembered.”

“I…I love you.” Lorena somehow expected the words to stick to her tongue, but they flowed from her lips as naturally as anything. They felt smooth. They felt right. “It’s you,” she whispered, amazed. “It’s always been you.”

Rose moaned. “I love you too. So much.”

Lorena curved her finger inside Rose, bobbed against that most sensitive place.

Rose cried out, fisting one hand in Lorena’s hair and the other in a pillow. “Oh—ohhh, fuck—” She arched against Lorena’s ravishing finger, up off the bed, and she splintered for Lorena in an exquisite, celestial moment, just the two of them, bound together by the ribbons of fate.