The Thrill Is Gone

She’d been awake for the better part of an hour, gazing up at him with such tenderness and sheer adoration, that had he been conscious, he would’ve surely shed a few tears of joy. Only a day ago, he’d been a broken hearted man that longed for the warm embrace of his beloved. He’d been depressed and irritable, cursing at himself for having ever flirted with all those women, but now . . . now, after flying across the Atlantic and having bared his heart to her, everything was better, he had what he’d yearned for so desperately . . . he had her in his arms again. He lay in bed beside her, his arm wrapped protectively around her waist as if his subconscious feared that she might sneak off in the middle of the night and never come back. He’d held her like that all night. And for the first time in their history of sharing a bed, their respective fidgeting hadn’t forced them apart, their impulses had somehow been kept under control, and he’d held her in his arms all night, and she relished in being held by him.

Their time apart had given them newfound appreciation for one another, and more than that, it truly served to cement their feelings and intentions. They both made it perfectly clear that their love was of an unwavering sort, and that no matter what the future had in store for them, they were going to be together, because the concept of not sharing their lives was unfathomable to them. He was the only man she could envision herself marrying and raising a family with. She wanted to have curly haired children with him, children that would have Harry’s mischievous little grin and her eyes, she wanted to have a ginger or two, beautiful freckled face children that he would teach to ride while she fretted about their safety. He was her future, and he felt the same towards her. She was his heart, the only woman that he wished to one day call his wife. She was his lover, his friend, his confidant, and one day she would become his wife, the mother of his children, and a duchess.

Their time apart had been a learning experience that taught them not to take each other for granted. It made it perfectly clear to them that they had to be better or else the other could simply walk away, and that would be their end. If they didn’t take the time out of their days to truly make the other feel loved and appreciated, then things would once again turn to shit, and now that they knew that, they were more willing to put in the extra effort into their relationship, because there was no way in hell that they were going to fuck things up again.

They didn’t want to have to go through the pain of a break up again. It had taken a heavy toll on both of them. They’d drunk heavily, they’d sulked, and they’d spent more than one night staring at their phones, willing it to ring. The days had been long, their nights longer still. Their break up had been over a week of hell, but now that they were back together, they were going to make things right. They were going to make an effort to not be so stubborn and temperamental. They were going to be better. It was going to be challenging for them, what with their having such strong characters, but they were determined to make it through, because they never wanted to suffer because of their stubbornness ever again. Life was far too short for that.

And as Paulina gazed up at his sleeping face, she couldn’t help but smile at the promise of what the future held for them. It wasn’t going to be easy, she wasn’t foolish enough to think everything would become better overnight, things didn’t work like that in the real world, but she knew that no matter how difficult and trying the following two years were, they were going to be worth it. She was going to have her law degree, she would finally complete her dream of becoming a Harvard graduate, and when she finished all that up, she’d travel home to California to take the bar exam. She knew there was a good chance that after passing the bar, she might have to leave that life all behind. She would be twenty-seven years old by the time that happened, Harry would be twenty-eight, and perhaps by then, it would be time to take things to the next level, perhaps by then, she’d have to quit being a citizen of the United States, but until then, she was going to enjoy this phase in her life, and she was going to enjoy having him in it.

Several more minutes passed before Harry woke, and when his eyes opened for the first time that morning, the first thing they saw was her smiling face. At that, he couldn’t help but break into a massive grin. He couldn’t believe that she was actually there, lying beside him in bed. It felt like a dream. He had spent so many nights longing for her, yearning to wake up at her side, and he’d dreamt of doing just that countless times, but whenever he woke up in the morning, she wasn’t in bed beside him, but this time it hadn’t been a dream. This time, she was there. She was actually lying right beside him. He could feel the warmth of her body emanating onto his own. She was no longer a dream that would vanish when he woke, she was his reality.

“Morning, darling,” mumbled Harry, sleepily.

“Good morning, güerito.” She gazed up at him. “How’d you sleep?”

“Better than I have in weeks.” With his free hand, he attempted to rub the sleep from his eyes. “How’s about you?” he asked.

“Well enough, I think,” she replied, smiling coyly.

“I reckon that smile means it was loads better than just well enough.” He smirked, looking rather pleased with himself. “And I reckon I had something to do with that.”

“Maybe you did, a little at least.” She let out a shriek when Harry lightly spanked her bum. “Harry!” she cried, fighting to keep herself from smile. “What was that about, you oaf?”

“You were telling a fib,” he told her, actively containing his desire to laugh. “And as we all know, fibbers must be disciplined, more often than not via spank.”

“Is that so?”

“It is.” He nodded. “And if you keep that up, I’m going to have to put you over my knee.”

A silence followed, on any other day Paulina would’ve said something to challenge him, something a bit saucy that would earn a laugh, but she didn’t have that in her, not at that moment at least. She was far too focused on staring at his face, on taking in his look, that little smirk he always seemed to wear whenever he said comments of that nature, and as she stared at him, she couldn’t help but give out a thanks to the universe for having brought him back to her.

“What’s wrong?” asked Harry. “Did I say something wrong?”

“No, of course not,” she assured.

“Then why ya so quiet? You’re not one to not have a remark at that ready, that’s just not you.”

“I know,” she said. “But I was just . . . I was just thinking.”

“About what?” he inquired, gently rubbing her back.

“About how much I missed this.”

“Me threatening to spank you?” he asked, cocking his brow slightly. “I take it that means you’ve turned into quite the masochist since I saw you last.”

“Not even!” she exclaimed, her eyes shining in amusement. “I just missed this, lying in bed with you and talking about silly things. I took it for granted for so long, treating it as some commonplace thing that we did, but now . . . now I understand just how truly amazing and precious these moments are.” Her cheeks brightened in color when she realized she was rambling. “I sound mental, don’t I?”

“Ya always sound a bit mental, but believe it or not, you’re making quite a bit of sense right now.”

“Am I?”

Harry nodded. “I feel the same way, about this, just lying here and having a laugh together. It’s brilliant, and it’s something we both took for granted and it’s great to be able to have at it again.”

“It is.” She agreed. “I went so long thinking that we’d never be able to do this again, but now we’re here, and I’m just really glad that we’re here. I honestly wasn’t expecting you to fly out.”

“And why the hell not?” he asked, offended by her admission.

“Because you hadn’t called at all,” she reminded him. “You called like seven times on the night I broke up with you and you text a few times, but after that, you went silent, and I thought that you were over it and moved on.”

“Only reason I stopped trying to get in contact with you was because I knew you needed time to cool off,” he told her. “Had I kept having a go at that, your temper wouldn’t have gone down and neither would mine, though, come to think of it, my temper didn’t go down until several days later. I was bloody livid when I went to see Gran that morning.”

“You visited her right after our break up?” she asked in disbelief.

“To be honest, I hadn’t planned on it. What I wanted was for Alistair to do a bit of snooping and find out the specifics, but then Alistair was busy and I had to talk to Kamal, and Kamal admitted to bloody everything.”

“You didn’t get him in trouble, did you?” The last thing Paulina wanted was for Kamal to be discharged from his position. “Because he didn’t do anything wrong, not really. He was just following his orders. Wait. That sounded better in my head, but what I’m trying to say is that Kamal didn’t treat me badly. If anything, I’m glad he was present because he protected me from those other assholes, especially the fucker that wanted to muzzle me.”

“Which one was that again?”

“Mason,” she spat, scrunching her nose in disgust. “He was the one in charge, and he was acting like he owned me and could tell me what to do. He was such a fucking prick, but don’t worry, I got even with him.”

“Ya couldn’t possibly have.”

“Oh, I did.” Paulina smirked, mischievously.

“What’d ya do to that bastard?”

“Well, when he took off one of the handcuffs, I decked him right in the face, then I punched him a second time after that, but then Kamal grabbed me to keep me from doing anything else stupid, but that guy started talking shit, and so I found myself obligated to kick him in the balls.”

Unable to control himself, he burst into laughter. “You’re mental, you are!” he exclaimed, laughing all the while. “Honestly, I’ve spent the last week thinking how I was gonna get even with those blokes for being such wankers, and now I find out that you’ve already gone and kicked their arses. Bloody hell, darling, you are fantastic.” He lowered his lips to his forehead and pressed an affectionate kiss to her lightly tan skin. “I can’t believe I’d thought you hadn’t done a thing to them. I should’ve known better than to think you’d let it slide, but fuck. I honestly can’t believe that happened, and I just want to say how sorry I am for what my Gran did.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for.” Paulina propped herself up slightly, to better see him. “It’s not like you did anything wrong. You didn’t even know what was happened. Everything that went on was your grandmother’s doing, and even though I fucking hated her, we’ve moved on since then. That doesn’t matter anymore.”

“It matters to me though.” Harry told her. “I can’t fucking believe she had the nerve to do that to you.”

“Neither can I,” she spoke. “But I guess that I kind of understand where she was coming from.”

“You’re joking . . .”

“I’m being serious,” she insisted. “Your grandmother has a bunch of stress on her shoulders. Yes, the monarchy isn’t exactly running the government like it did way back in the day, but even then, she still has duties to see to, responsibilities to uphold, and she still has to be the matriarch that does right by her family, and I guess she just wanted to make sure that I would not only be good for you, but for the monarchy. And as much as I hate to admit it, the most effective way to do that was to bribe me. So yeah, even though I’m disgusted by what she did, I understand her motives, and I try to focus on the good that came from it. She likes me now, so it obviously worked out for the best.”

“She doesn’t like you.” Harry stated. “Liking you is far too trivial a thing for her. My Gran adores you.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” mumbled Paulina.

“It’s the truth.” Harry gently brushed some hair out of her face. “Ya should’ve seen how furious she was at me when I told her that ya broke up with me.”

“There’s no way she would’ve been mad. It’s not like she’s emotionally invested in us.”

“From the way she told me off, I reckon she is.”

“What’d she say?” Paulina was intrigued.

“For starters, she called me an insufferable child and then she went onto accuse me of being the ruiner of this relationship, so she didn’t blame you at all. She had you on a pedestal, she did.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“I’m serious here. She really was furious at me when I told her. It was quite strange really, but at the same time it’s not that strange. You’re lovely. It’s only natural she adore you.”

“You do know you don’t have to keep being such a kiss ass, right?” teased Paulina.

“Can’t a bloke say nice things about his bird without being a kiss arse?”

“He can, but you’re not one for that. You mostly do it when you want something or when you want to make up for something.” Paulina stated, knowingly. “And that’s alright, because you don’t have to be overly sweet with me, I just want you to be here with me.”

“And I will,” Harry promised. “We’ll be here till Wednesday. I’ll sort out a flight for myself. Wednesday was the day you were meant to fly out to London, right?”

“It was.”

“Was?”

“I . . .” she bit her bottom lip out of embarrassment “. . . I sort of cancelled my ticket.”

“You what?!” he exclaimed.

“I cancelled my ticket.”

“Why?”

“Because I was furious,” she answered. “That night I broke up with you I fucking lost it. I got hammered and cancelled my ticket. So, uh, now I’m gonna have to jump on the computer later on and get a new ticket.”

“Ya don’t have to do that.” Harry told her. “I’ll have it sorted out. Alistair and Kamal will see to it.”

“They don’t have to. I’ll buy my ticket.”

“I’m getting it.” Harry said, firmly. “And since we’re on the subject of flights, I have something to tell you.” He took in a deep breath. “You remember last night, how ya said that you wanted to talk things through and come up with ways to make this easier?”

She nodded.

“Well, I reckon I’ve a few ideas as to how to go about that.” He cleared his throat. “Since I’m done with training and all . . . well, I reckon that my weekends will be a lot more open. My royal engagements will be scattered across the weekdays, so I should have more flexible weekends and even if I had an engagement, you could go with me, since you’re used to them now. Anyways, what I’m trying to get at is the fact that instead of just flying out once a month, you could fly out twice.”

“Henry,” she said his name softly. “I think that’s a great idea, but the thing is, I can’t afford that. It’s not financially feasible for me. I mean, I’m alright with money. I’ve got it budgeted so I can live comfortably and spend time with you, but each trip costs about twelve hundred dollars, and I can’t afford to take a second trip each month.”

“You won’t have to pay for the second trip.” Harry interjected. “I’ll be paying for that one.”

“But it’s too much money.”

“Not for me.”

“I don’t want you paying for my flights.”

“If you’re being stalked because you’re my girlfriend and ya can’t have a moment’s peace because of me, then I reckon you ought to have something in return.”

“I do.” She reached out to touch his bearded face. “I get you.”

“Doesn’t matter though, you deserve more. And before you say anything, just hear me out. I know it might sound like a lot of money, but you’ve got to remember that it’s not much for me. I’ve a military salary and the investment profit from the money my mum left me, also the bit that comes from being a prince, so I’ve more than I need, and as your boyfriend, I reckon it’s only right that I invest in our relationship. So let me get that extra ticket each month. All you’ve got to do is tell me when you’re available, and I’ll schedule it. And then . . .”

“Then what?” she asked, curiously.

“Then I’ll book my own ticket so I can fly out here once a month as well.”

“You’ll what?” She sat up, her eyes wide at the news. “Did you just say that you . . . you’re gonna fly out each month to visit?”

He nodded. “I reckon it’s not right that you be the only one that flies out. I should have a go at it as well, and if you’ll agree to this, then that’ll be three weekends a month that we’ll have together. I know it’s a bigger inconvenience on you to have to fly out twice, what with work and uni, but I reckon it’d be good for us.”

“It would be,” she agreed, touched by how much thought he’d put into it. “But are you sure about this, Henry? Are you really committed to flying out every month?”

“I am.” He sat up. “I promised that I’d do everything in my power to make this work, and I intend to keep that promise. I now recognize that one of the reasons things didn’t go so well the first time around was because I never made the effort to travel. It was always you that went to me, but this way, we’ll both be at it, and we’ll have loads more time together. So what do ya say? Should we have a go at that?”

She didn’t want him to spend so much money on her. The twelve hundred dollars a month would add up, and he’d have his own monthly flight to cover, but spending that extra weekend with him was something their relationship desperately needed, so she smiled brightly and nodded, and when a relieved smile crept onto his face, she pounced on him, knocking the messy haired ginger onto the bed.

“You’re fantastic,” she whispered as she straddled him, her face mere inches from his own. “And I love you very much, mi güerito lindo (my lovely güerito).”

There were few things that Harry loved more than Paulina calling him a güerito. He loved the way the word sounded, the way it made him feel, and to have her straddling him as she uttered that blessed word was nothing short of a dream come true for him. Unable to control himself, he captured her lips in a passionate kiss, which quickly escalated into something more.

They spent the late morning making feverish love in her bedroom. Despite having gone at it several times throughout the course of the night, their bodies didn’t demonstrate any sign of fatigue that might have been expected. They went at it as if it had been months since they’d last been together, and when they finally reached their sweet release, they collapsed. His head rested on the pillow as he struggled to catch his breath, and Paulina hunched over him, her forehead resting on the crook of his neck as she struggled to steady her breathing.

“Fucking hell . . .” he whispered, still rather breathless. “That was . . . fuck, it was brilliant.”

She nodded against his skin.

“You alright there?” he asked, running a hand through her hair. “I didn’t break ya, did I?”

“It’ll take a lot more than that to break me,” she spoke, lifting her head so she could see him.

“That a challenge?” inquired Harry, arching his brow.

Paulina smirked. “Might be, but it’s not a challenge that should be taken on straight away.”

“And why’s that?” he asked. “Give me a bit, and I reckon I’ll –” he was cut off by a loud rumbling in his stomach.

“You’ll be starving.” Paulina stated. “It’s late and we’ve already missed breakfast, so we’ve got to clean ourselves up and then head out to the grocery store.”

“But there’s food here.”

“There’s not, actually.” She got off him and laid down to his right. “I haven’t gone shopping in awhile, so I’ve got to do that, and then we’ll come back and cook.”

“Can’t we just order something?” Harry mumbled. “I don’t feel like leaving your flat. There’s gonna be loads of photographers outside, we should just hide out here.”

“Believe it or not, I actually want the photographers to see us.”

“Have ya lost your mind? Those prats won’t give us a moment’s peace.”

“Exactly,” stated Paulina.

“Sorry, I’m not following what you’re getting at.”

“What I’m getting at is that I want every single one of those assholes to run back to their tabloids with pictures of us, so that everyone will know that we’re still together. That way those assholes will stop asking if we’re broken up or if I’m gonna leave you, because I’m fucking tired of them pestering me about that. It’s like there’s nothing else for them to report on, but if we just go outside, that’ll shut them all the fuck up.”

“How terribly romantic of you,” Harry teased. “But I get what you mean though. If we give them this story, then they’ll somewhat tone it down on their pestering.” He paused, furrowing his brow as a thought came to him. “I’ve a question.”

“What is it, güerito?”

“Why didn’t ya let slip that we were broken up?” he asked, simply. “You could’ve issues a statement or something, and then they wouldn’t have been pestering you about whether or not we were broken up.”

“No offense, Henry, but I’m not really one for issuing a statement. I’m, technically speaking, still a private citizen, so I was waiting for you to make it public knowledge.” She paused, hesitating as to whether to say the next bit. “Also, if I’m being completely honest, I was holding out hope that this might happen. It wasn’t a lot of hope since things were a fucking mess, but I thought that if you weren’t saying anything about it and I wasn’t saying anything, then that meant that there was a still chance. And here we are.”

“That makes sense,” agreed Harry. “But if ya were holding out a bit of hope, then why’d ya take down the painting and take off your necklace?”

“Because it hurt too much to see them,” she replied, honestly. “Whenever I saw the painting, it tortured me with thoughts of better days, of when we were good, and I just couldn’t stand it. I’d be feeling like crap and then I’d look at it, and I don’t know . . . it was like it was mocking. Does that make sense? Probably not, but I don’t really know how to explain what was going on with me, but I just wasn’t in a good place, and that painting didn’t make things any better on me. And as for the necklace, well, I kept opening it to see that portrait of you, and after awhile, I decided that wasn’t healthy, so I took off, hoping to tear you from my heart, but here I am, and here you are, still very much in it.”

“That’s because there’s no getting rid of me.”

“There’s really not.” She smiled affectionately and reached out to touch his beard. “And I’m fine with that.”

Harry grinned. “I’m pleased to hear it.” He closed his eyes, relishing in the feel of her finger tips brushing against his ginger beard. “What time do ya mean to go to the market?”

“In about a half hour, I think.” She told Harry. “We can shower and then head over. It’s not far, so if you like, we can walk.”

“I’d rather not.” Harry didn’t feel like moving about too much. “I’ll ring Alistair and Kamal.”

It wasn’t long before the pair had showered and finished getting dressed. They quickly went about their business, and as they waited for Kamal and Alistair to get there, they did some tidying up at the flat. Paulina made the bed, Harry put his painting back up, and then, just as Alistair was about to knock on her door, Harry fastened Paulina’s necklace in place. He was pleased to see the locket resting on her chest again, it made him feel proud and more than that, relieved. They were back on track, and he knew that that time around, things were going to better for them.

When Alistair and Kamal entered the basement, Paulina pounced on them. She hugged them each tightly and placed kisses on their cheeks, catching them both off guard, but they were glad of the reception she gave them. Knowing very well just how stubborn Paulina could be, they had feared that Harry’s trip to America was going to be an utter failure, but seeing her smiling brightly and seeing their prince grinning like a man besotted, filled them with a strong sense of satisfaction.

“You’re fucking joking.” Paulina blurted out when Alistair informed them that the entire block was crawling with photographers. “There seriously can’t be that many.”

“There are, Miss.” Alistair stated. “Kamal contacted the authorities shortly after we arrived. Since the press is leaking onto the streets, it is possible for the local authorities to have them removed.”

“Good thinking, Kamal!” Paulina shot him an appreciative smile. “I hope that works, because I’d really hate for Meredith to have to deal with that when she comes back tonight.”

“She’s not upstairs?” inquired Harry.

Paulina shook her head. “She went on a cruise with some of her friends from the senior center. She’s meant to come home tonight, so I hope by then, the photographers will have dispersed to touch up the pictures and do whatever it is they do.”

“I reckon it’ll be fine by then.” Harry agreed. “It’s not like we’ll be out anywhere. We’ll stay in, they’ll get bored and – why ya looking like that? Something wrong?” he asked.

“No . . . kind of . . . ah – I don’t know!” she said. “Nothing’s wrong, not really, I’d just forgotten that I have dinner plans for tonight, but don’t worry. I’ll cancel them and reschedule.”

“Ya don’t have to.” Harry assured. “If it’s not a bother, I can go out with you and your mates.”

“I don’t really have any mates,” she said, embarrassed by her lack of friends at Harvard. “I’ve only got two.”

“Two?” he repeated. “How the hell do ya only have two? You were always gone with everyone at Oxford, had a bloody rugby team as mates, you did.”

“Yeah, but they liked me before you and I went public, so I could trust them, but here it’s . . . well, never mind. I like my friends. You’ve already met Meredith, and the other is –”

“You’re friend with a sixty something year old woman?”

“When you say it like that, it sounds weird, but it’s not.” Paulina argued. “Meredith’s really rad, and she’s always telling good stories and she bakes like no other, so she’s ideal.”

“Does she have you rub ointment whenever her joints get to aching?”

“Not even,” she scrunched her nose at him. “Now, where was I before you started teasing me? Ah, now I remember! I was saying that Meredith’s my friend and so is Stephanie, but I’m not going to dinner tonight with Stephanie.”

“Then who?” he asked.

“With the Kennedy’s,” she replied.

“With all of them?” he tried to seem nonchalant about it, but truth was that he was curious if that Francis was to be there.

“Well not all of them,” she answered. “I don’t think there’s a restaurant that could house them all, but, uh, Bobby will be there, Ted as well, and I think they said something about Francis swinging by but that probably won’t happen since he’s apparently always so busy. But yeah, I can cancel that’s no big deal, they’d understand.”

“It’d be rude though.” Harry honestly didn’t care about whether or not she was rude to them. He just wanted to meet the blokes. “If they invited you to dinner, then you should go.”

“Do you want to come?”

“You don’t think they’d mind?”

“Not at all,” she said, though in truth she didn’t know if they would. “I’ll just call Bobby when we get back from the market, though I know he’ll be happy to have you join us. Ah! Thanks güerito, this is gonna be excited, and you’re gonna really like them, they’re great people.” She pecked his lips lovingly, and then brushed a stray strand from her face. “Right then, time to head out, güerito.”

Kamal was the first to leave, it was him that would make a path through the crowd for them. He walked a few steps ahead of Harry, who was firmly holding onto Paulina’s hand, and the moment the young couple was within view of the cameras, the photographers went into a frenzy. They’d all been certain that the young woman had ended the relationship, that the union was no more, but there they were, the young prince and his American girlfriend.