Peanut Butter Fingerprints

Chapter 4

"His Princess"

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"Deep in every heart slumbers a dream, and the couturier knows it: every woman is a princess."

-Christian Dior

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America

"Queen America! King Maxon! You must get up. It's time to start getting ready for The Report."

Sunlight suddenly pierced through my eyes as Mary whipped the curtains open. In response, I moaned and snuggled Maxon's shoulder underneath the covers. I left a whisper of a kiss on his collarbone before resting my cheek against his warm skin. His knuckles absentmindedly stroked my cheekbone, and then he twirled a strand of my tangled hair around his finger.

With a grimace, I forced myself to open my eyes. Groggily, I blinked a few times against the harsh morning sunlight and unconsciously placed a hand on my stomach. Perhaps to protect the baby, but mostly because I'd just remembered in my half-awake state that I was pregnant. After my talk with Aspen the night before, it all suddenly felt very real. I was having Maxon's baby, and that fact seemed to have just settled in. 

Now that the initial shock of it all was gone, a giddy smile crept over my face. Maxon, protectively, pulled the covers over my head and up to his chin to keep the light from getting in my eyes. I noticed then that he was only wearing a pair of black, fitted boxers. I bit my lip to avoid giggling as a plan formulated in my mind. I slid my finger underneath the waistband, lifted it up, and let it snap back against his skin. 

Maxon, startled awake, flinched and whispered in a playfully scolding voice, "America!"

I giggled behind my hand as he held me closer and kissed the top of my head. A bubbly feeling spread through my fingertips and toes as we crossed our legs and closed our eyes, soaking in the peaceful moment before Mary interrupted us again. 

Mary was, to our dismay, unrelenting. I'd figured that our displays of affection would give her the hint that we wanted alone time, but she seemed immune to it. After all, she'd caught us many times before in the middle of a passionate kiss, so she'd gotten accustomed to looking the other way and pretending it didn't happen as she scurried out of the room. 

"Yes, you're both very cute," she conceded, and I thought we had almost won, but then she exclaimed, "but you must get up! The Report will be broadcasted early today because of the special ceremony, and it will take even longer than usual for you to get ready."

"Mmm, maybe later," Maxon groaned with a yawn and held me closer.

I grinned as his soft hands rubbed away the goosebumps on my arms. I slid my hand down his chest, feeling the tight muscle in his stomach and pecs, then his jutting hipbone. As a further act of defiance, Maxon gripped a handful of the sheets in his fist to secure them to us as Mary tugged on them. 

"Don't make me call in Avery. You know he'll flip you two right off the mattress if you don't get up," Mary warned, surely wagging a finger at us. 

Maxon's shoulder and chest deflated as he sighed. "Alright, we'll get up."

I mumbled something like, "No!" into the blankets, but he didn't hear me. I'd scold him later for giving up so easily. 

"Mary, can you please give us ten minutes alone, please? We have something very important to discuss," Maxon added in a kingly tone.

"Of course, Your Majesty. I will be downstairs in the kitchen."

My heart plummeted into my stomach. He wants to talk about what happened last night, I thought anxiously. I swallowed and mentally prepared myself for the worst. Surely, Maxon was going to drag me down to the hospital wing and have the doctor do over a hundred tests, just to make sure I got a few more hours of sleep. As much as I loved sleep, I didn't want to be a walking pharmacy, and I'd rather not the doctor invade in our personal lives more than he had to.