Unconditional (35 page)
Authors: Cherie M. Hudson
I nodded with a slight dip of my head and closed my eyes.
“The Crown Princess of Delvania is a snobby, pretentious, spoilt little cow with an ego bigger than Ayres Rock. Worse still, she doesn’t believe in global warming.”
Opening my eyes, I frowned up at him. “
You
don’t believe in global warming,” I pointed out. “At least, not its effect on koalas.”
He chuckled, trailing his thumb over my lip. “But
you
do. And a couple has to have something to argue about into their twilight years, right?”
Exasperation threaded through the conflicted joy trying to overwhelm me. I shook my head, frowning at him some more. “You need to think about this, Raph,” I said. “You can’t be romantic. You need to be realistic. Think about what being with a princess could be like. And now think about what life will be like with—”
“Bloody hell, woman,” he murmured, cutting me off. “I just flew halfway ’round the bloody world to make you realize I’m not going anywhere.”
I swallowed. “You did.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because you love me?”
He gazed into my eyes, his arms wrapping tight around me. “And?”
And it was then I realized it was more. He was
never
going to give up on me. I’d shown him my worst. I’d shown him the coward I could be. I’d shown him my deepest fears, and he was here, in Plenty. He was never going to give up on me.
And God, I loved him for that. More than I could ever express.
No, I
could
express it.
I looked up at him. Smiled at him. “I believe in you, Raph. And because of you, I believe in me. I trust you like you trust me. And I know I’ve probably made you question that trust with the ridiculous way I’ve been behaving, and you have every right to be furious at me, but I know, I really know, you will never give up on me.”
“I won’t, Maci,” he murmured. “I promise.”
Heart thumping fast, I drew a slow breath. “And I promise I will never give up on you. Never ever again.”
A soft, lopsided grin pulled at his lips. His dimple flashed at me from his right cheek. “I know you won’t.” He brushed his thumb over my bottom lip. “Now will you shut up about some boring princess, tell me that you love me and let me kiss you? Or do I have to spank you, right here in front of your—”
I kissed him. It was, after all, the only way to shut him up. And to let him know he was right. He wasn’t going anywhere. He was mine and I was his and that’s the way it was. I’d even shake on it. See what I did there?
“That’s my girl,” I heard Mom say behind him with a delighted laugh as Raph wrapped his arms around me and yanked me to his body. “Told you Australian men really know how to make you feel alive.”
Epilogue
He proposed to me two years later. It was incredibly romantic and sweet. And it happened in the men’s public restroom at LAX. Of course.
And in case you’re wondering, I said yes.
Of course.
(Raphael and Maci’s HEA will be a part of
Unforgettable
, Book Two of the
Always
series, in which Brendon Osmond finds himself back in the United States and in the arms of the woman who always regretted not following him back to Australia…)
Thank you for reading
Unconditional
. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please help other readers find this book:
1. This book is lendable, so send it to a friend who you think might like it so she can discover me, too.
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More information can be found about Parkinson’s disease at:
http://www.parkinsons.org.au
(Parkinson’s Australia)
http://www.apdaparkinson.org
(American Parkinson’s Disease Association)
https://www.michaeljfox.org
(Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research)
About The Author
Cherie is happily married to the man of her dreams, is a busy mum of two little girls, a proud cat owner (although she suspect the cat thinks
she
owns her) and an insanely manic writer. She has written over forty erotic romance books under the pen name Lexxie Couper. A long time ago she gave up trying to suppress the stories in her head constantly trying to escape and has been blissfully happy since.
Unconditional
is her first New Adult story.
Table of Contents
The Argument about Copulating Koalas
When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Shaky
Four Days and Counting. Damn it.
Give Me a Home Among the Gum Trees.
The Royal Family, Photographs and Getting the Fuck out of Dodge-AKA Australia
