Page 14 of Love and Chaos

“Because you might smile for everyone to see, but your smile doesn’t reach your eyes when you’re sad. What was bothering you?”

Jin shook his head. “Nothing. Just feeling selfish.”

West snorted. “I don’t believe that for a second. Crown Prince Jin Long Wei doesn’t have a selfish bone in his body.”

“After that orgasm, I don’t feel like I have any bones,” he joked, but West didn’t let him off the hook as he continued to stare at him. With a weary huff, Jin rested his head against the door and grabbed his fiancé’s wandering hands. “Because until now I’ve been excited about everyone learning that you’re my fiancé, and soon you will be my husband. Now that it’s happened, it’s hitting me that we’re going to see each other less. I’ll have more obligations governing, and you’ll have more obligations as my consort. It feels like we’ve had so little time together, and what time we have going forward is going to shrink. I…I don’t want to let you go. Don’t want to share you now.”

The beautiful man in front of him grinned, his eyes sparkling in the glaring overhead light. He leaned closer and gently kissed Jin’s lips. “You don’t have to let me go. Yes, as your fiancé and future consort, I want to go out into Gaoxing as your representative and do things to support our people, but my first job is to be Long Wei’s husband. And eventually, father to our children. That means that I want to share a bed with you every night, have breakfast with you every morning, and have dinner with you every night. Even if that means sharing our dinner with your cabinet of ministers, so be it. I’ve already talked to your father, expressing my wish for you to have a minimum of one full day a week with no meetings. We will carve out our private time, and I will defend it like a dragon with his hoard. We will have our time together, and no one is going to take it.”

A lump grew in Jin’s throat at West’s words and fierce tone. He believed with all his heart that West would fight for them. “I love you so much, Westin St. James.”

“And I love you so much, my darling prince.”

Jin leaned in for another kiss when a very soft knock shook the door. “Dianxia?” Qin inquired, his voice almost trembling. “It’s been ten minutes. Please come out. If you’re late, the emperor will be very cross.”

He rolled his eyes. He doubted his father would be all that cross if they were a few minutes late to the festivities.

West chuckled and bumped the tip of his nose against Jin’s. “Let’s go ring in the new year and start celebrating the next phase of our new life,” West murmured.

“Yes. I can’t wait.”

1 Dianxia – (Mandarin) Your Highness

2 Baobei –(Mandarin) baby, used here as an endearment

WAKING UP IN MYKONOS: A SOREN & ALEXEI SHORT STORY

Alexei’s hands trembled.

It was all the same. His uncle Gabriel had kept everything looking the same as it had been more than ten years ago. Not a stone or flower looked out of place. The walls were brilliant white, and the door was the same Mykonos blue as all the other doors and windows on the island.

A breeze swept past them, carrying the scent of sea salt from the ocean and a hint of cooked meat from someone’s open window. It stirred up old memories he hadn’t expected to hit him so hard. His palms grew sweaty, and he couldn’t get his feet to move from where they were now permanently locked to the paving stones.

A firm hand landed on his shoulder and gently squeezed. The loving touch seemed to have the power to free his lungs, pushing out the air trapped there. He drew in a fresh, ragged breath and flashed Soren a shaky smile.

“There are hotels all over this island. We can spend the night somewhere close by and come back tomorrow. After you’ve had some sleep. It was a long flight here. You’re tired.”

His boyfriend was right. He was exhausted, and maybe that was making him more emotional than normal, but that wasn’t all this was. Alexei could feel his mother here as if her ghost were clinging to these few happy memories.

“No, I’m okay. I want to stay here,” Alexei argued. He thrust the hand clutching the keys at Soren. “Just…could you…could you open the door for me?”

“Not a problem.” Soren pried the keys from his fingers and pressed a kiss to his forehead before walking past him to the bright-blue entrance.

Alexei watched him approach the house, the past and present merging in his mind.

Ten years…

It had been at least ten years since he’d last stepped foot on Mykonos and in this house. It used to be their hideaway from the world. Their escape. Not that they were crazy enough to believe they’d truly escaped. His grandfather had always been watching, but it felt like when they were on Mykonos, he’d watch a little less closely than normal. Nadia had allowed him to dress however he wanted and to wear makeup. He’d never had to tone down his personality or monitor how he spoke. He’d been free to be himself.

The door creaked loudly as Soren pushed it open; the sound jerked Alexei free from old memories and ugly emotions and sent him racing to the present, where his loving boyfriend smiled at him with worried eyes.

They’d been together for a few years now, but they’d not shared a lot about their past. And that felt wrong. Alexei wanted to know more about Soren, yet it felt unfair to ask questions about Soren’s family and past if he wasn’t prepared to share similar information about his past.

Talking about Nadia and the Krestyanov family was a tricky thing, but returning to the first safe, happy place he’d ever known felt like the best decision. Digging into the past demanded a safe spot to exist in for a while.

Soren turned toward Alexei and extended his hand, patiently waiting for him, always ready to be at Alexei’s side no matter what. And there had been a lot of crazy that he’d thrown at Soren since they had first hooked up. The man never ran. Didn’t even fucking flinch.

Finding his joy again, Alexei lunged at Soren, throwing his smaller frame at the older man to wrap him up in a tight hug.