King of My Heart

27. Believe

Lucy felt light kisses being pressed into her neck and down to her collarbone. Before the warm mouth on her skin could travel any further, she woke up with a gasp. "Tim," she breathed.

"Morning, baby," he said in a low voice and reached his hand under the hem of her shirt to gently caress her bare skin.

"I have a very busy day today, and you will NOT distract me," she insisted even though he is a great distraction.

"Your day doesn't start until Zoe comes in to brief you, so technically your busy day hasn't begun, which means..." he left the sentence unfinished so that he could continue dropping kisses everywhere.

A knock at the door made Tim groan. "I'm so glad she at least knocks now," he whispered.

"I think she learned her lesson pretty quickly," Lucy smiled as she recalled the many times her assistant REALLY regretted barging into her chambers. The queen sat up in bed with a smile. "Come in."

Zoe strolled in with a staff member holding a tray right behind her.

"Good morning. You have a packed schedule..." the assistant started listing the queen's activities while Tim distributed the items on the tray, so Lucy was handed a mug of coffee, and he looked at the newspaper.

"Front page news!" He announced as he scanned the coverage of Chris and Ashley's trial- they had officially been convicted of attempted regicide with lifetime sentences. "I still wish I punched Chris."

"An arrow to the foot wasn't enough damage?" Lucy asked.

"He tried to kill you! If I ever got him alone in a room..."

"Okay, enough of that, fierce protector," she reached out to touch him in the hopes of calming him down. "But, speaking of alone time, I say we have dinner brought up to our chambers tonight."

OUR chambers. Tim had moved into the queen's quarters within a day of returning to the palace, and he was still getting used to the fact that he lives with Lucy. "Sounds perfect." He kissed her forehead. "But first, our dog needs to be walked."

Zoe had to admit that she much preferred seeing Lucy so happy in the morning, and she would leave her chambers with the couple's laughter and quiet conversation in her wake. She unapologetically glanced out the window every morning to watch Tim and Lucy walk along the palace gardens with their troublesome dog as the sun was still rising- it was picturesque and sweet. Though she only rejected the idea of Tim because she wanted Lucy to keep her throne, now the assistant did not at all object to their relationship. How could she when they are so adorable?

Tim had to tug gently on Kojo's leash to avoid getting too close to the rose bushes during their walk. "You're being ridiculous."

"No, I'm not! The Queen of England claimed all the corgis in her kingdom as her own, and I want to claim all the rescue dogs as mine," Lucy explained.

"That's not a breed."

"It's MY country, and I make the rules, so it doesn't have to be about the breed it can be about making a statement. I want everyone to know that even the lost souls have a home here in Wilshira."

"Even IF you wanted to ceremonially own all the rescue dogs in this country, we can't adopt anymore of them."

"Why not, babe? They're so cute!"

"If they're anything like Kojo, we can't handle any more chaos right now."

"Right NOW," Lucy smiled. "In a few years, we can adopt another one or maybe two. And then, we'll adopt a new one for each grandkid."

"We've got grandkids now? Nice," he grinned in agreement, which made her chuckle.

♔ ♕ ♔ ♕ ♔ ♕ ♔ ♕ ♔ ♕ ♔ ♕ ♔ ♕