That had Blythe looking at him, her eyes widened when she noticed his growing erection.
"But…" She paused and then she fisted her hands on top of the comforter. "I don't like hiding things from her."
"So, you tell her every time you hook up?" He didn't believe it.
"No, of course not."
"Then, what is the problem?"
"This is a little more than a hookup."
He was glad she thought so. "We're friends too." Or they would be. He thought their talking tonight had definitely put them both more firmly in the friend than acquaintance category. "You don't have to hide that from her. That we're adding sex to the mix is no one's business but ours."
"So, you think friends with benefits could work for us?" Blythe asked, sounding hopeful.
"What else? You're not interested in a relationship with me." She'd made that clear enough.
"It's not that I'm not interested in you. We're just…too different."
"And it's not worth you risking anything, I got the message."
"You don't sound bitter."
"What would be the point?" He'd learned a long time ago not to rely on others emotionally.
The only one who had never let him down was Else. His life would be so much simpler if he could be as attracted to his childhood friend as he was to the woman in his bed.
But he understood friendships feeling like family because Else was like his sister and always would be.
"Okay." Blythe swallowed and then added, "But we need to be discreet."
"Not least of which because right now I cannot afford to be seen with a woman other than Else," he agreed.
Even once the Palace's PR team got Lisette's fake tell all story squashed, the rumor would be out there and if Tor was seen dating someone else, gossip would lead to scandal and embarrassment for the Royal House. Something Tor had never brought onto them and never planned to.
"That too," Blythe said with a nod. "But I don't want Janne finding out. She'll think we have something more than sex between us. No matter what I tell her."
And Blythe wasn't risking her best friend's opinion of her. Not for him. Not even for mind blowing sex.
Tor ignored the strange twinge in his chest that thought elicited.
She shifted restlessly. "I supposed I should get going. Spending the night would be too risky."
He agreed, but that didn't mean he was ready for her to go right that minute. "I don't know about you, but I'm not nearly done."
With that he returned to the bed and had fully penetrative sex for the second time in his life.
Unbelievably, it was better than the first time.
Tor's family was growing.
He watched his first nephew's baptism into the Lutheran Church, the official religious affiliation for the Royal House, smiling when the baby didn't even wake as the trickle of water was poured over his tiny head. A symbolic crowning would happen for the heir to the throne following the christening.
Prince Bjorn would have another adjacent ceremony when he turned twenty-one and became the Crown Prince, Heir Apparent, where he would actually wear the crown and hold the scepter of office.
Looking at the way Tor's father stood so close to Lady Ingrid in the church, Tor thought the House of Asgersen would expand by one more soon.
Blythe stood beside Janne in the family section, though that was certainly not protocol. The press had gotten used to seeing the Travel Vlogger with his sister-in-law and often referred to her as a friend as close as a sister.