"You've been in a bad mood all evening," Lightning said. "What's going on?"

The crown prince of Eden lay beside her on the bed. His eyes were closed, but she could tell by the sound of his breath that he was still awake. She rolled on top of him and straddled his waist.

"Hey. Don't ignore me." She began to trail kisses down his neck, using just the slightest bit of teeth the way she knew he loved. Soon enough, she felt his hands in her hair, urging her on. She immediately pulled back.

"Tell me what's going on, Hope."

He opened his eyes and finally looked at her. The intensity in his eyes made her heart skip a beat.

"What do you think?" he said in a low voice before flipping them over. He looked her in the eye for a moment, and then he gently pressed his lips to the big, round bruise on her chest right above her heart.

"Do you have any idea how scared I was?" he continued. "I saw when you took the bullet for me, Light. I saw when it hit you in the chest. I saw . . ." He let out a long, shivering breath. "I thought you were dead. I saw you collapse and I thought you were dead."

She thought back on the evening and the attempt someone had made on Hope's life. It had happened quite a lot lately, but thankfully, all the culprits had been amateurs. She was still a bit angry with herself for letting the culprit even get close enough to point a gun at Hope, but she'd had it all under control. The bullet had been stopped, and the culprit had been arrested.

She cupped his face in her hands and smiled. "I'm okay. I always wear a bulletproof vest. It was just the shock from the impact that made me lose my balance." She gingerly touched the bruise on her chest. "See? I'm fine, Hope. No wound or anything. It's okay."

"It's not okay!" He tangled his hand in her hair and kissed her hard on the lips. "Promise me you'll never do anything like that ever again." His other hand wandered down her body and caressed her inner thigh. "Promise me."

She knew what he was trying to do, but this time, he wouldn't succeed. "You know I can't promise you that."

"Light. Please." His fingers brushed over her core. "Promise me."

She stared up at him with all the mental strength she could muster. "You can't always get what you want, your highness."

His eyes hardened, and she moaned loudly when he slipped two fingers inside her.

"Don't call me that," he said. "Not like this. Not when we're in bed."

"Then don't act like . . . like I'm supposed to obey you," she panted. "If you want to me t-to treat you like a normal boyfriend, you're . . . you're going to have to act like one." She was having a hard time thinking coherent thoughts now. He was dangerously good at what he was doing.

His eyes softened again. "I'm sorry. It was never meant as an order."

He pulled out his fingers, and before she could complain about the sudden loss, he'd already pushed himself inside her. She gasped and her toes curled into the mattress. They both paused for a moment, staring at each other.

"I just want to protect you," he whispered, once again pressing his lips to the bruise on her chest. "Why can't you just let me protect you?"

"Because protecting you is my job. It's my duty." She smiled up at him. "I'm your bodyguard, Hope. I would give my life to protect you, and that's how things are supposed to be. There's nothing you can do to make me change my mind."

"Fine," he muttered under his breath. "I hope you know that I'd give my life to protect you too."

Before she could argue with him, he'd already started moving, and she had soon forgotten everything she'd wanted to say.

The next morning, Lightning put on her blazer and pencil skirt and prepared for another day of work. Hope had a lot of meetings to attend to, and she had to keep him safe the whole time. She had to admit that she was a little bit nervous about Hope being out in the open like this, considering that someone had tried to shoot him the day before. She'd tried to convince him to hire more bodyguards, but he, just as usual, had said that she was the only bodyguard he'd ever accept.

"You have a meeting with your father back in Eden at ten, a conference with the government at one and a ceremony over at Lake Bresha at four," she told him, holding up the door to the limousine. Hope nodded and stepped inside the car. I hope he doesn't get any weird ideas, she thought as she took a seat next to him. She could still clearly remember what happened the last time they were in a limousine together. And the time before that. Maybe I should make sure we take a car with windows you can actually see through next time.

About twenty minutes later, the limousine came to a stop outside the king's mansion in Eden. Lightning got out of the car first to check the perimeter for threats. When she'd made sure they were alone on the parking lot, she walked back to the limousine and held up the door for the prince.

"I thought you'd be more reluctant to this," she admitted to him. "You always try to get out of these meetings."

He smiled and shrugged. "This time, I actually have something I want to talk to him about. I . . . Watch out!"

Lightning looked around and noticed a sniper on the other side of the wall surrounding the garden. She prepared to move past Hope to cover him, but Hope was faster. He grabbed her shoulders and threw them both down on the ground to take cover behind the limousine. A couple of shots went off, and then there was only silence.

She stared up at him. "What the hell did you just do?"

It was a stupid question, because they both knew exactly what he had done. He'd made sure that she got out of the way first, and then he'd covered her with his body—which happened to be the exact opposite of how that situation was supposed to have been played out.

"What's the meaning of this?" a stern voice suddenly said.

"Hi, dad," Hope said. He got up from the ground and held out his hand to help Lightning up. She took it, but she couldn't even bring herself to look him or the king in the eye. Her cheeks heated up in shame. This was why bodyguards could never fall in love with the person they're supposed to protect. The person they're supposed to protect just might love them back, and because of that, they might do something stupid. He could have died, she realized. He could have been shot, and it would have been my fault.

"I want that woman out of here immediately," King Bartholomew said. "I'll make sure you get a new bodyguard. This is simply unacceptable. And would someone please chase after that shooter?"

"Just wait!" Hope took a step towards his father, but Lightning stopped him by grabbing his sleeve.

"He's right," she said. "This really is unacceptable. I apologize. I'll resign immediately."

"But you didn't even do anything!" Hope turned back to his father. "I need to speak to you in private about this. Please, Light, just wait right here. I'll make this right."

She watched as the king and the prince entered the mansion. I should have seen this coming, she thought. I should have known better. She thought back on her time with the prince. The job itself had been pretty boring, but she'd really loved working with Hope. She'd tried to stop herself from falling in love with him, but it had been impossible. What's going to happen to us now? she wondered. As long as she'd been his bodyguard, no one had found it all that strange that they'd been spending so much time together. If she continued to spend time with him as an ordinary person—an ordinary woman, too—people would definitely talk. This might be the last time I ever see him, she realized, and the thought almost made her cry. No, she wouldn't miss the job all that much, but she would definitely miss him.

The door to the mansion opened. Hope walked down the stairs towards her with a wide grin playing on his lips.

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "What on earth did you two talk about?" She lowered her voice. "I'm still fired, right?"

"Yeah, no, you won't be working as my bodyguard anymore," he said, looking surprisingly happy even as he said it. She felt somewhat offended.

"I told my father that I would accept whatever bodyguard he sees fit, but only on one condition."

"Okay?"

"I told him I'd do it if he allowed me to marry you."

She stared at him. "What?"

He smiled and pulled out something from his chest pocket. Then, he went down on one knee.

"What . . . what are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" He opened the velvety box, and inside it was, of course, a ring. "I know this is a bit sudden, but . . . will you marry me?"

The ring was gorgeous. She didn't even want to think about how much it might be worth. Holy shit, she thought, finally realizing what the proposal actually meant. He actually wants me to be his queen.

Hope had always talked about it, but she'd never really considered it as an actual, possible option. Do I really want that? Do I really want to be queen?

She glanced at him. He was looking at her expectantly, still smiling widely. His silvery hair was still pointing in every direction from their little tumble on the ground. It looked ridiculous, but she loved it anyway. She loved him. Even if she wasn't sure about the whole queen thing, she was definitely sure about him. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.

She finally returned his smile. "Yes."

"Hey, did you plan all this?" she asked him later that night. They were once again lying next to each other on the soft silk sheets in Hope's bed.

"What do you mean?" he replied, playing absentmindedly with her hair.

"You were going to talk to your dad about something. Did you set this whole thing up?"

"I was going to talk to him about marrying you, yes." He grinned. "The shooting was just a bonus, though."

She frowned and flicked him on the forehead. "You need to take this more seriously. You could have died!"

"But I didn't. Instead, I'm getting married to the most beautiful woman in the world." He grabbed her hand before she could flick him again, kissing her fingers one by one. "You're going to make a wonderful queen."

"Maybe." She smiled and rolled on top of him to give him a kiss. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

She knew she was going to have to suffer through a lot to get married to him, but it didn't matter. As long as she got to spend the rest of her life with him, she could suffer through anything. Even becoming a queen.