That night, Candace got a knock on the door.

It had to be one of the attendants bringing her last minute things to look over before the morning’s craziness started again.

“Hang on, I’m coming.” She threw on a light robe over her night shirt and ran to the door.

‘Relax, it’s just me.’ Byron called out inside her mind.

Candace’s eyes widened.

“Byron!” She gasped and threw the door wide open. Reaching out, she pulled him into the room.

“Aren’t you supposed to be meeting with the bird delegates this evening? At least I think I heard you saying something about that.”

Byron reached out and touched her head.

“I was. I canceled at the last minute because I didn’t wanted to spend the last day of my week with you having to pander to nasty old war birds that are trying to find every single excuse to start more fights.”

“Byron…” Candace reached out and rested her forehead on his chest. “I know. This was supposed to have been your week. We were supposed to spend time together, get to know each other on a more intimate level…”

“I’m not blaming you, Love.” He lowered his head and dropped a kiss on her honey blonde head.

“We’re eight days away from our wedding. Even with all the attendants around us helping with the planning, staging, and execution, it’s such a huge event that it’s still a frenzied time for us.”

Candace closed her eyes and sighed. “It’s still not fair.”

Byron laughed. “I am an illegitimate son who somehow got to be Crown Prince for most of my life. And just when I thought I lost everything, including you, Father allowed me to share the title alongside my other brothers.”

He bent down and picked Candace up. “I thought I had lost you forever and had to leave Erenveil, but then suddenly, I became your legal husband.”

Byron chuckled. “You’re right. It’s not fair. How did I get this lucky?”

Candace looked down into his upturned face. “But you didn’t get your week, as promised.”

Byron’s eyes misted. “It’s just postponed, right?”

Candace nodded vigorously.

“See? I’m not missing anything. We are simply using this time to get our wedding organized.”

His brownish-red eyes darkened. “I want to stand beside you and proclaim with pride that I am your husband next week and I can’t do that if we don’t take the time to organize our wedding.”

He gave a happy sigh. “Nothing wrong with delayed gratification. And besides, I’m already legally married to you. That means we have the rest of our lives together. What’s one week out of a lifetime?”

Candace smiled and pressed a kiss onto his forehead. He was such a generous loving man. Even when things weren’t perfect, he made them perfect simply by looking at it in a different light.

“Give me a raincheck on our week.” Candace whispered. She reached out

“Meanwhile, we still have tonight, if you’ll have me.” She gave him a furtive look.

“Oh my God, Woman. Do you even have to ask?” He growled and began nuzzling at her neck.

“I’ve been lusting after you ever since I first met you, jumping on Leonardo’s priceless piano and trying to bash our heads in with that antique lamp base.” He carried her over to the bed and set her down.

“Over that entire time period, I’ve fallen in love with you so many times, I’ve lost count.” He laughed into the base of her throat as he pressed her body onto the bed. “That never affected the ‘lust’ part though.”

“I never knew. You’ve been such a perfect gentleman through it all.” She reached out and ran her fingers through his soft red hair.

“Only because I was Crown Prince and had to be impartial to all the Avgo Females,” he hissed as his tongue found a beautiful spot in between her breasts where he began licking. “But Love, I have never wanted anyone but you.”

His fingers began to pluck at the individual buttons of her blouse, causing her lace bra to peek through.

“Oh mercy me. It’s a front clasp bra.” He hissed with need. “Are you trying to kill me, Woman?” He breathed as he gently nibbled on the rounded tops of her breasts.

Candace laughed nervously. Why would front clasp bras kill him?

Reaching with eager greedy fingers, he unsnapped her bra clasp and released both her breasts from the bounds of her clothing.

Byron choked in a breath and began devouring her nipples, first one, then the other.

“I can’t believe how beautiful my wife is.” He muttered thickly. “I can’t believe you’ve been my wife for weeks and this is the first time I’ve had a chance to even see you like this.”

“As I said. You’ve been deprived of your time with me. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.” She smiled.

“Hmmm. What are you planning on doing with me, huh you little tease?” He laughed gently as he tore the last of the pearl buttons from the front of her blouse.

The twins were going to kill him for damaging the blouse they made for Candace, but at this moment, Byron did not care in the least.

His little tease wasn’t just lying around either. Her hands were all over his body, reaching through his white broadcloth shirt and touching all of his chest muscles.

“Are you planning on tearing my shirt off?” He chuckled.

“Oh you mean like you just did with mine?” She countered with a grin.

“Go ahead, Woman. I’m waiting for that satisfying ripping sound of you tearing my shirt apart to get at my body.”

“Hmm. You asked for it!” She giggled and reached out with both hands, yanking on the front.

For a moment, nothing happened.

She yanked harder.

One button popped off, but the others remained stubbornly stuck to the broadcloth white shirt.

“Aaarrghhh!!!” She growled, pulling ineffectually on the front of his shirt. “It would actually be faster if I just unbuttoned them and take the shirt off in the usual manner.”

Byron couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing.

As his body heaved with helpless laughter, he helped her rip his shirt by tearing it apart with his own hands and then allowing her to fling it to the ground.

“Now that we’re both naked from the waist up, what do you think is the next step, hmm, Woman?”

Candace grinned and began tugging at his pants.

Without waiting for her to make another attempt at tearing off his trousers, Byron pulled it off for her, kicking his pants to the ground.

Instantly, his manhood sprang into attention, long and hard and eager for her touch.

“Your turn.” He motioned with his fingers at her belly button. With one finger, he pulled at her waist band and in one swift motion, had taken off the soft stretchy material.

“That’s not really fair. My clothes are softer than yours, and much more fragile.”

Kneeling on the bed with her legs between him, Byron reached out and separated her thighs.

“It’s all you will ever need to wear around the palace, Love,” he muttered.

His eyes swept over her entire body, twin flames of desire burning within his pupils.

He opened his mouth and moistened his fingers.

As his wet fingers reached out to touch her womanhood, a knock on the door sounded.