Against the Odds

They were forced by rules and regulations to take their seats at the front of the plane while it took off. To say Harry was irritated by the delaying of Alex’s induction into the Mile High Club was putting it lightly. He fought against sending glares to the flight attendant every minute that the plane was in the air and the fasten seatbelt sign was still lit.

“You know, if we aren’t at full altitude, it isn’t really the ‘Mile High Club’. We wouldn’t want to be cheating now,” Alex whispered at Harry from across the table.

“Don’t care,” Harry grumbled from across the table.

Alex giggled. “Aren’t we Mr. Grumpy Pants?”

Harry raised his eyebrows. “The things that are going on in my pants have nothing to with being grumpy and have everything to do with getting you naked and panting under me on that bed back there.”

Alex’s mouth dropped open in shock just as they heard the ping and the seatbelt sign went off. Harry didn’t miss a beat, bolting up right and grabbing her hand, yanking her out of her seat and pulling her behind him. She gasped but went easily, intrigued at what was going to happen once they hit that bedroom.

Once they got down the hall by the bathroom, Harry maneuvered her so that she was in front of him, pulled tight back against him, his arm tight across hers as he held her against his hardening body as he walked them the rest of the way down the hall.

“Alexandra…do you know how much I want you?” He murmured as they reached the door. He pushed it open with his free hand and walked her through, shutting it behind him and locking it. He leaned back against it, keeping her pulled tight and leaning against him. Moving her hair out of the way he leaned down in her ear. “Not just now either. It’s all the time. I can be sitting in a room with the most powerful men in the United Kingdom and my mind wanders to the way your hair looks spread out underneath you while we make love and I’ll get so hard that I can barely stand it.

Alex moaned and closed her eyes at his words, her head falling back against his chest. His teeth grazed her earlobe and he pulled on it gently before his tongue quickly darted out, swiping hotly where his teeth had just been.

“Harry….” she whimpered as she ground her hips back against him, wanting him…needing him…as much as he needed her.

He had really wanted to drag this moment out, to make slow, sweet love to her in the sky, but he was so desperate for her that this was going to be a different kind of sexual experience for them together. Up until now they had always been passionate and tender and consumed by each other, but this was going to be needy and rough and hard and Harry and Alex both knew it and wanted it.

“Oh Alex, the things you do to me…” Harry chuckled. His free hand ran slowly over her shoulder and down her chest. It passed in between the valley of her breasts, and moving over their arms that were wrapped together around her middle; he came to the waist band of her jeans. He unsnapped them and slid the zipper down before sliding his hand down inside, his fingers moving along her bare skin and under the satin panties covering her.

“Ohhhhh…” she moaned when his fingers slid over her already slick sex. They dipped down low and pulled back up, having gathered her moisture and moving it up to rub it over the tight, throbbing button of nerves at the top of her cleft.

“Alexandra,” he groaned into her neck. He pressed hot, slow kisses there, fighting for some small bit of control, though feeling just how ready she was for him wasn’t helping his cause. He moved on against her though, pressing hard, intense circles against the center of her world. She pressed her backside hard into him, moaning and whimpering as he tormented her body closer and closer to its peak.

Then he moved his hands away, bringing a whimper of protest from her before he turned her in his arms. He pulled her close, front to front, before crashing his lips down to hers. Her mouth opened under his, accepting his tongue, sliding her own alongside it, matching every motion. Her hands went to the hem of his shirt, tugging it up over his head and throwing it across the room. She attacked his chest, using her lips, teeth, and tongue to work Harry into a frenzied state as he alternated between ripping her clothes off and groaning with the sensations she brought to his heated frame.

He had her shirt and bra off and made his way down to her jeans, pushing them quickly down her legs along with her panties. He moved her backward until the backs of her calves hit the low bed. He lowered her gently to the mattress and knelt back, his knees on the ground and looking at her laying there for him, legs spread slightly, lips swollen from his kisses, face flushed, chest rising and falling rapidly. He had a fleeting thought that he would never get used to seeing her like this, completely ready for him and whatever he wanted to bring upon her.

He grabbed her hips, pulling her so that her bottom was on the edge of the bed. She was resting on her elbows, watching him with heavy lidded eyes. He put his hands on her thighs and pushed them wider, his eyes never leaving hers as he leaned down to her, pressing a light kiss on her slit, right on top of the hardened ball of nerves he had been so relentlessly teasing just minutes before.

She threw her head back, her hair pooling on the bed behind her. “Harry…please…” she cried out.

He was useless against her plea and gave in, dipping his tongue out to taste her.

Her elbows gave out and she fell back on the bed, her eyes closed. He was so good at loving her with that amazing mouth of his and it always made her completely lose her mind when he did this to her. She reached down and threaded her fingers through his hair, holding him tight against her and he licked and sucked at her flesh, heating her body and pushing her closer and closer to the edge with every passing second.

“I love doing this to you…love how you respond to me…love how you taste…love you…” Harry murmured against her. His voice and its vibrations made her shudder in delight and then…and then he moved, slipping two fingers inside of her, pressing just so, and flicking his tongue and sucking in just the right place and she exploded, gripping the hair in her fingers and crying out into the room. She whimpered his name over and over again as he stayed in place, albeit more gently, while she rode out her climax against his mouth.

And then he was up, sliding his pants and boxers off and moving over her. He pushed her further back on the bed and leaning down to capture her mouth he entered her in one swift move, slamming into her more forcefully than he had meant to. She cried out against his mouth and he quickly moved to soothe her, apologizing against her lips with whispered kisses and stilling his hips.

She pulled her head back from him. “Harry, stop apologizing…please…for the love of God keep moving…” she said frantically against his mouth. She thrust her hips to his to prove her point and the last bit of his control snapped.

With a groan he pulled back and slammed home again and again and again. Alex matched him thrust for thrust, her head buried in his neck, holding on for dear life, whimpering each time their bodies met completely.

It was primal.

It was intense.

It was rough.

It was exactly what they both needed and they both gave everything they had in that moment.

He felt her reaching, wanting, but not being able to get there. Needing to get her there, for her and for him, he slid a hand in the hair at the base of her neck, pulling her back so he could see her. “Alexandra, look at me,” he demanded, never losing pace as her drove them towards the end. She opened her eyes, completely clouded with lust for him, and he held them as he pushed harder against her. “Come for me…” he begged. He was close, oh so close, but he wasn’t going to go without her. He wouldn’t dare give himself the satisfaction unless she had it to.

“I can’t…” she cried.

“Yes, you can…”

She shook her head, her eyes filling with tears at the intensity of it. It was too much, he was taking all of her and she knew it. She wanted to give it to him, but she just didn’t know how to let go.

“Please Alex…I need it…”

And then he shifted just enough and in the right place and it caught her off guard and she finally let go, gloriously, loudly. He covered his mouth with hers, muffling her scream of pleasure, and joined her in her climax, blissfully falling over the edge with her.

**************

A little over an hour later they landed at the airport, which was a little over an hour’s drive from Balmoral. It was late afternoon and the sun was already beginning to begin its descent into the horizon. Even if it was March and spring was beginning to bloom in London, it was still pretty cold way up north in the Highlands, and Alex was glad she had packed as warm as she did.

They slid into the waiting Range Rover and Harry pulled Alex to the middle of the big backseat, buckling her in there and snuggling her under his arm.

After what they shared on the plane earlier they hadn’t been able to stop touching each other. They had cuddled in the bed until they were forced to go back to their seats for landing. He had held her hand under the table, running her fingers through his as they talked and laughed and enjoyed each other. Now in the Range Rover, his hands never left her, rubbing her arm or her leg or pressing kisses to her cheek as he pointed out landmarks along the way.

“Harry?” she asked as it grew dark outside the windows and he was unable to talk very much about the passing scenery anymore.

“Hmmm?”

“Where are we staying? I mean, you said Balmoral, but I’m assuming we aren’t staying at the actual castle.”

He smiled as he looked down at her. Her head was lying on his chest but she her head tilted up towards him so she could look at him. He shook his head, “No, we’re not. Too many tourists around since Granny’s not up there this time of year. We’ll be staying at a small cottage a couple of miles from the castle.”

She smiled but wrinkled her nose at him.

“What?” he asked with a chuckle. “You wanted to stay in the big house with all the servants?”

“No,” she laughed, shaking her head. “It’s just…odd. You know, your family has houses that people pay to go into and look around.”

He raised his eyebrows. “You mean everyone’s family isn’t like that?”

She giggled. “Certainly not mine.”

“Is that weird for you, Alex?”

“I imagine it would be weird for anybody, Harry.” Her eyes were earnest, open, as she answered him.

He grinned. “That’s true. Now tell me something, Alexandra…have you ever done any of the tours of the family homes?”

She blinked. “You mean, like as a tourist?”

“Yes, like as a tourist.”

She blushed and tried to hide her grin. “Yes.”

He threw his head back and laughed. “Alex, you don’t have to be embarrassed. Loads of people do those tours.”

“Yes, but they don’t have to tell their boyfriends later that they paid money to tour their family estates.”

“Okay, fair enough,” he conceded with a grin. “Now, which ones have you been to?”

She groaned. “Harry…”

He ran his fingers down her side then, digging in just a little bit, testing the waters to see how ticklish she was. She immediately wiggled in his arms, giggling in surprise.

“Did you just tickle me?” she asked, her cheeks flushed as she tried to move away from him. He kept a tight hold and nodded, a smirk playing on his lips.

“I’ll do it again to if you don’t fess up,” he said in a low voice.

“I am not telling you. Keeping dreaming Your Highness.” She folded her arms over her chest to prove she meant business.

“Did you just seriously ‘Your Highness’ me, Alexandra? Ha! If you think that got you out of anything you are so wrong. In fact, that just made it worse,” he said, fighting back the laughter as his fingers dug into her sides again. Alex squealed as fought to get away from him, but he wasn’t letting go.

“Fine!” she finally huffed, and he relented, letting her slap his hands away before smirked at her and wrapped her right back up in his embrace.

“Fine what?” he asked with an eyebrow raised.

Alex rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll tell you which tours I’ve taken.”

He grinned. “Go ahead…”

“Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and Holyrood.”

Harry nodded. “All great choices. See, was that so hard?”

“Yes,” Alex said with a laugh.

Then Harry’s attention turned all of the sudden and an almost faraway look came over him as he looked out of the window.

“What?” Alex asked as she sat up, looking for what Harry was seeing.

He turned and smiled at her; a slow, sweet smile that made her heart thump in her chest.

He pointed. “We’re here. The cottage is just up over that hill.”

********

Alex loved the cottage. It cozy and warm and everything she imagined a cottage in the Scottish Highlands to be.

The best part though was the pictures that were hung on the walls and placed on bookshelves and end tables throughout the cottage. They were all candid shots, or at least not taken by professionals of Harry, William, their father, and the rest of family. Alex was enamored, going from room to room looking at every single one she could find while Harry gave instructions the small staff that had prepared for their arrival.

It was in their room for the weekend that Harry found her, a picture that had been sitting on the dresser in her hands, her fingers lying lightly on the glass. He came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and setting his chin on her shoulder.

“You look just like her here,” Alex said quietly.

“Thank you,” Harry said, turning his head to kiss her cheek softly. “I don’t often hear that. I like it.”

Alex leaned her head into his, loving how he seemed to just wrap himself around her at times. It made her feel so warm, so protected.

“All of these pictures in this house…they are so wonderful. But this one…of you and her…it’s just beautiful,” Alex murmured, the emotion evident in her voice. “You had to of been what? Eleven?”

He gulped. “Twelve. That’s the last…” He stopped and took a breath. “It’s the last picture we took together.”

“Harry…” she whispered softly, reverently. Her fingers still lightly stroked the picture of him and his mother. “Why is it here? Why don’t you have it at home?”

He smiled. “I have copies of that picture everywhere. In my rooms at every house we have, my office, when I’m in Army training and…on deployment…it’s always with me.”

“Oh…” Alex murmured as she leaned forward and set the picture back on the dresser, adjusting it so it was just how she found it. She turned in Harry’s arms then, and his heart dropped when he saw the tears in her eyes.

“Hey…” he said as he reached up to catch the tear that escaped with. “Don’t cry for me.”

She smiled then. “I’m not…I’m crying for her…”

“What do you mean?”

“She never got to know the man you’ve become, Harry. She never got to see how wonderful you are; how full of life, how fun, how loving you are. She never got to see you with children, and here I am, and I get to watch you with my daughter and…” She stopped and looked for the way she wanted to say the words. Eventually she just took his hand, pressing it to her heart, letting the action speak the words she couldn’t find. “Listen, I know about as much about your mother as the next person, but I do know that you couldn’t have become the person you are if she hadn’t of been at least a small percentage of how amazing everyone said she was.”

Harry was beyond speechless. Most people felt sorry for him, for losing his mother so young, but Alex…she got it. She got Harry’s feelings at her loss; that his mother would never get to see the good he did in her name, the good that she ingrained in his heart.

“Alex…” Harry stopped, swallowing the lump that was threatening to force its way up.

“No, Harry. Don’t cry,” she said, cupping his face with her hands, forcing his eyes to hers. “I love the man you’ve become and she would have too. That’s the answer to any questions you could possibly raise from this conversation.”

He nodded then, and then making the biggest effort he could possibly muster, he forced the lump back, focusing back on Alex. “Okay. You’re right,” he said simply, leaning down and kissing her softly. “Are you hungry?”

She smiled. “For food?”

He laughed. “Yes, for food. I’ve got something set up for us. You game?”

She leaned into him, staring up into his eyes. “For anything.”

“I knew you would be. C’mon, let’s go.” He pulled back and reached for her hand, threading his fingers through hers as he led her out of the room and downstairs. He stopped by the door and pulled her coat from the rack there, holding it out for her.

“We’re going somewhere?” she asked, surprised.

“Not far. We will be outside though and it’s pretty chilly. Is that okay?”

She shrugged as she put her arms through the coat, turning back to him. “Sure. I trust you.”

He grinned and buttoned her up and then wrapped a scarf around her neck. He bundled himself up similarly, grabbed a flashlight from the table by the door and led her out into the cold night air.

He found the path easily and kept a tight grip on her fingers as he walked them down it. It wasn’t a long walk, just a few minutes, but she loved it all of the same. It was so quiet, peaceful. It was just them, the POs not needing to join them on this adventure, and as they moved through the trees, the half frozen ground crunching under their boots, Alex felt so connected with him. She loved that she got to share something with him that he obviously enjoyed so much.

Finally Harry slowed just a touch, coming to a break in the trees. Alex saw the light and the smoke before they even stepped out into the open space and her face broke into a smile. Then sure enough, a small bonfire came into view. There was a thick blanket set up a little bit away from it; a basket sitting there which Alex was sure contained their dinner.

“Well, what do you think?” Harry said as they walked towards the fire.

“I love it,” she said excitedly. She threw her arms around him and kissed him soundly on the lips before taking his hand and pulling him closer towards the warmth.

He laughed, letting her pull him along to the blanket. He let her sit first and then joined her, sliding in behind her so her back was against his chest and his legs spread out on either side of hers as they looked towards the fire.

“Why don’t you break open that thing over there?” Harry asked, motioning towards the large wicker basket near her foot. She leaned forward, pulling it toward her and opened the lid, pulling items out. There was two bottles of her favorite wine, two glasses, and a selection of sandwiches and small finger foods that would be easy to eat without plates and utensils. There were also some small chocolate cakes for dessert.

“This is perfect,” Alex said. “And I’m starving.”

Harry wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tighter against him. “Me too,” he growled in her ear.

She giggled. “Food first, then we get to enjoy the fire, and then, if you’re lucky, you can make love to me again.”

He smirked. “I’m always lucky, Alex; especially when it comes to you.”

“Yeah, yeah…” she said with a laugh. “Food first, I’m not kidding.”

Harry relented, and they ate, talking and laughing, cuddled up together in front of the fire. They made their way through every bit of the food and all of the wine.

And then…very full, very content and a lot tipsy…Harry got very lucky and Alex let him make love to her for the second time that day…this time wrapped up tight in a blanket right in front of a blazing fire on the grounds of Balmoral.