A/N: Hello Readers! I hope you all are having a wonderful time and are staying safe!

I just wanted to let you all know that I am officially on spring break, so more chapters should be uploaded soon!

Hopefully, you all have a wonderful holiday with Easter and Good Friday being in the next week!

Enjoy chapter 27!

Maxon and I rested in our bed late into the morning following the night of the party. I'm not sure how he managed it, to be honest. We were always busy, with not much time to sleep in or rest or waste the morning away, but here we are at 10:30 still in bed wrapped in each other's arms. He also managed to get me breakfast in bed with him. Of course, it was my favorite breakfast of strawberry tarts and coffee with three creams and two sugars. Pure perfection for breakfast if you ask me. Our breakfast had been cleared from our room maybe thirty minutes ago, but we didn't want to leave our cozy bed. Maxon rested his head on my lap as I hummed and softly sang him songs. He sighed as I finished the last verse of the song he requested I sang to him, "Darling, you are so talented."

"Thank you, Babe."

He sits up, but only to inch his body closer to me, and kiss me. His lips taste sweet. I kiss back, but he pulls away.

"Now what is all of this for?" I ask him, referencing the breakfast and later wake-up call.

He turns to face me directly and sighs before responding. "I won the barter, and I-"

"Beginner's luck." I cough out, cutting him off. I clear my throat, "Sorry about that, Love. What were you saying before I interrupted you to cough?"

He chuckles, "You said the same thing last time. Anyway, before you cut me off, I was saying how I won and how I want this date I won in that barter to be special. So, with all of that being said, I am spoiling you today."

"You spoil me every day, Maxon." I remind him. "Me living is being spoiled enough."

"But today, my Darling, you will get extra spoiled." He leans into me to pepper my face and neck with kisses. It tickles, causing an eruption of giggles on my end.

"Alright! I'll let it slide this once!"

He pulls away. "Good. Now, go get changed and get ready. I'll be by in an hour to get you."

"You do realize this requires me to get out of bed and leave you, something I struggle doing. And something you might regret..."

"But what waits in 59 minutes and 14 seconds and counting is even more special than the breakfast I ordered for us to share and the late morning in bed we just had."

"Okay…" I sigh.

I slide out of bed, taking the covers with me. Not because I was naked or anything, just to be extra irritating since he was being extra nice, I have to balance out our moods for today somehow. Besides, I was only sleeping in my panties and his shirt because it was more comfortable. So if I were to drop the bedding, he'd have a great view of my perky little ass as I swayed my hips through the door. Which I did. It received a very loud whistle from him. After I closed the door, I laughed, but I quickly got straight to getting ready with Mary and Kiana. They knew that we only had an hour to get ready because Maxon did extra planning to make sure that the pair knew.

Kiana already pulled out my signature color (any shade of blue, but particularly the light and cool shade) in a gorgeous dress. The sky blue dress was knee length, a-line skirt with all of the pretty pleats in it. It had an elegant wrapped front with a v-neckline and slightly off-the-shoulder cap sleeves. It had a corset closure, which meant not being able to take complete and full breathes for a little bit. I thought it was worth it because after I put it on, it looked fabulous. She slipped my feet into a pair of white stiletto heels. They looked classy with the rest of the outfit.

Mary guided me to the chair so I could have my makeup done. She had Kiana brush powders and creams into my skin, making me feel so pampered. While still in the chair getting my makeup for the day done, Mary braided my hair into a chunky messy braid down the center of my back. After the duo was done, I opened my eyes.

I don't know how these two do it, but they are fantastic. Kiana did a pastel blue eyeshadow on my lids, black eyeliner, and mascara. She applied a nude lip and I looked glowing. My hair was perfect, as well. I couldn't believe that I looked like this.

"You two are so talented. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Your Majesty." There was a knock at the door, "Just in time to get picked up by King Maxon, too!"

Mary pulled the door open to spot my husband waiting for me. He was sporting a black suit with a white dress shirt. His tie, funny enough, was the perfect match to my dress, the shade of blue and everything. He must have asked Mary in advance…

"You, my Queen, are stunning." He said quietly, but still loud enough for me to hear from across the room.

"As are you, my King," I told him. I could see his heart melt a little bit, something that was sort of rare for me to actually see in Maxon (somehow he hides all of those pure moments from everyone).

"Shall we go?" He asked, extending his arm to me.

I nodded and quickly shuffled across the floor to meet him at the door. I grabbed his arm and kissed him quickly. He deepened the kiss foolishly. I pulled apart, "Thanks again, ladies!"

"No problem, Your Majesty! See you later." She closed the door as we began to walk away.

"You look so beautiful. How in the hell did I get so lucky?"

"Thank you." I look down, slightly embarrassed by his constant compliments.

"Are you embarrassed by me giving you a compliment?"

I popped my head up, "Not in the traditional sense of the word."

He laughs, "You still don't like getting compliments from me. How?"

"It's not that I don't like it. I just… I don't like too much of that attention."

He sighs, "Oh my, America. What do you mean 'that attention'?"

I shrug, "Trust me, Babe, I appreciate every compliment. Every single one makes me feel like the luckiest woman in the world, but you know that I am weird about that kinda stuff. I'm not the prettiest or the most attractive woman there is and sometimes it makes me feel weird knowing that you view me that way sometimes."

"We are going to have to fix that, Darling."

"Excuse me?" Fix it? What the hell does he mean when he says 'fix it'? Like, make me prettier so he had a reason to look at me the way he does? Oh jeez. I can't even think of that… I mean, I'm not the prettiest, but I don't think I need too much fixing. Nothing worth fixing at least.

"We are going to make you think you are the most beautiful and stunning woman ever."

Oh, thank God. But I don't think there is anything worth fixing. I'm just me, plain and simple. "Yeah, right. I just… I don't like to be complimented endlessly."

He chuckles a little bit, "You, Darling, are being so funny about this."

"Haha." I roll my eyes. We start to descend the stairs together. I grip onto him tighter so I don't lose my balance and fall.

"For real, Darling. You are being so funny about this. I will never understand it, My Dear."

I playful hit his arm. He laughs again. "You are still cute when you're mad, My Darling America."

"You say that yet I still don't believe you," I tell him sarcastically.

"Believe it, Darling. I think you are so cute when you are mad."

"You won't think it's cute when I'm actually mad. You think 'Mad America' is cute because this isn't 'Mad America'. You haven't seen her in a little bit."

"Maybe that's the case, nonetheless this 'playfully mad America' is rather cute, and I love every version and every mood of America no matter what."

"And I love you."

We start to descend the second set of stairs to go to the garden, where our date will take place. "So… what do you have planned for us besides walking the grounds?"

"Well, I was thinking that we would walk the grounds, maybe have a picnic. If the time comes, maybe something more…"

"More, you say?"

"That depends on you, Darling."

Oh. I think I get it. He means sex. Duh! "I believe that will work out then. Especially since you have been deprived of it for so long."

"Ain't that the truth."

I laugh. His laugh joins mine in quiet chuckles. It's rather adorable. We walk past the Women's room to the garden. I don't know why I wear shoes when I don't even like them when we go outside. The second that the guard opened the door for us, I left Maxon's side to run into the yard.

My heels sunk into the ground a lot. This obviously isn't what Maxon had in mind, but I couldn't help it when I was met with the rush of fresh air from the ground. I giggled as the breeze met my skin, giving it a slight chill and raising goosebumps up my arms. He chased after me, trying to stop me so we could continue our date. I, reluctantly, slowed down as Maxon started to catch up to me. I was having fun just running in the grass, despite slowly sinking in and throwing off Maxon's date plans.

He slowed down as he met my side, guiding me off the grass and onto the safety of the path. His arms slid around my waist to pull me into him. He kissed my neck lightly. I giggled which made him chuckle a little before asking jokingly, "Why do you always run away from me, My queen?"

I laughed, "Not away from you. Just into the fresh air."

"I see. The fresh air is much more desirable when you live in a cage."

"Maxon Schreave! Oh my God!" I hide my face in my hand, "I was wrong. Our home is beautiful and I love it here because it means I'm with you."

"I'm glad because you are stuck here forever."

I giggle, "And there is nowhere else I'd rather be."

He offers me his arm, which I gladly accept, "Good. Shall we begin this walk around the grounds?"

"We shall."

We begin to walk the path leading us around the grounds, and eventually to the wall that rounds in and back to the other side of the garden area.

"My queen, how did you sleep?"

"Fantastic. Your bed is so comfortable."

"I'm glad you enjoy it."

"What about you? How'd you sleep?"

"Well, I slept well. The whole night I had the most beautiful woman in my arms, so I think I am rather lucky."

"Really… I didn't know that Marlee was in our bed, too."

"America…" He groans out.

I giggle at the fed-up look on his face, "Oh, Honey. I'm sorry. I'm messing with you, thank you. For the compliment, I mean."

He sighs, "Obviously, I know that. I just want you to know that I do think you are the most attractive woman I have ever seen."

"Thank you, Maxon." I blush looking down. I told him that I have a certain distaste for excessive compliments, but here he is with all of these compliments again… I swear...I love him, I do, but god damn it. Too much is too much!

Nonetheless, I lean into him as we walk. He kisses my head. I unlatch from his arm only to put my hand around him on his hip, pulling him closer to me unintentionally. He does the same thing, except on my hip. We walk the grounds together, every once in a while, Maxon will kiss my head. At some points during our walk, I pointed out flowers that reminded me of different things, such as his smile or the way he smells just by how the pretty nature looked. He thought I was a little insane by that, but he agreed with most of them.

"Maxon?"

"Yes, Darling?"

"I just wanted to tell you that I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Darling."

We continued to walk until we were out of the sight of guards and cameras (if there were any to be found). My head thought that this could be like our first date… He could try to sleep with me and I could hurt him. But, I am his wife and I want to sleep with him. So, as he checked to make sure that we were out of sight, I thought of him kissing me and loving me the way he does. Chills washed over me but not because of the chilled air meeting my skin.

We stopped walking as he asked me, "Are you sure you want to do this? If you're not comfortable with this, I can wait till you're more comfortable or whatever you need."

I thought for a moment. As much as I wanted this… I couldn't go through with it. As much as I want to sleep with him out here as he planned, I just… can't. Not yet. "I love that you check with me, thank you. I feel bad, but I can't. I just…" I shook my head.

"It's too much for you?"

I nod and fall into his embrace. "Sorry, love."

"No worries, Darling. I know that you will make it up to me later, no worries." He kisses my head.

I pull away. He smiles at me, I return it. He kisses my forehead quickly and pulls away, "Wanna eat instead?"

I smile even wider, "You know me so well. Of course, I'd love to eat lunch!"

I grab his arm. We turn around and walk back to the main section, by our bench to eat lunch. When we arrive, there is already a light blue gingham blanket with a cute little basket for us. I see two glasses and a bottle of white wine. I smiled at him. He smiled a cute little smile back. We walked into the grass to get to the blanket and basket. I sit down first and then Maxon joins me on the ground. He opens the basket for us, pulling out two sandwiches that look homemade.

"These sandwiches look homemade. Did you make these?"

"I wish I could say I did. I must confess, I had your mom make these sandwiches when I found out the day for our date. She said that you love her baked ham and cheese sandwiches, and I had to try them."

"I do love her sandwiches. It was an easy lunch for a long day of performing ahead back in Carolina." I kiss his cheek, "Thank you."

We unwrap them, and he takes the first bite. I smile as his face lights up in pure joy over the homemade sandwich.

"Fiths is phenomenal… uh-ma-zin." He says with a mouth full of food.

I giggle, "That good, yea?"

He nods and takes another bite. I join in by taking the first bite of my sandwich. He was right, it's pretty damn good. My mom did know how to rock out a pretty fantastic sandwich. We continue to eat in silence, listening to the wind rustle the trees and bird chips around us. He hogs through his sandwich before I've even gotten halfway through mine. He smiles when he finishes it before looking at me.

"Sorry, I was hungry."

"Was the strawberry tart breakfast and coffee not enough for you?"

"It helps if you share!"

"Hey! I shared!"

"I requested twenty tarts. I had six of the twenty, America." He tells me bluntly.

"You didn't say I had to share all of them!"

"I didn't expect you to eat fourteen of them!"

"You underestimate my love for tarts!"

He laughs. "I don't think I do. May I remind you how you moaned the first time you had one?"

"That is not a fair attack! I was a Five eating real food for the first time!"

He laughs, "My apologies, Queen America. You're right."

I giggle, "You are forgiven, King Maxon." I smile, "Care to hand me a glass for the wine?"

"Why of course." He does as I ask, putting the glass flute in my hand before popping the cork of the wine and pouring it into the glass.

He does the same quickly with his glass. "Here is to you, My Queen. For having terrible skills at bartering."

I laugh, "And here is to you, My King. For hoggin down homemade food faster than I ever could."

"Here's to your strawberry tart addiction."

"And your addiction with over complimenting a simple woman."

"Here's to sleeping in late."

"And cute picnic dates."

"Here's to loving the most incredible woman."

"And to loving the most amazing man."

"To us?"

"To us." I clink our glasses before taking a drink from the glass. Maxon sips on his. I can't believe we toasted Maxon's bartering skills, eating quickly, my strawberry tart problem (I will admit it is a little bit of a problem), the ability to over compliment someone, sleeping in late, picnics, and each other. It is all so… surreal… but all very vivid as well. I feel like I'm living a fairy tale.

We continue to eat and laugh during our date. Jumping from our individual jobs are going to how things for the country are going to be like then to what we like to do for fun when we aren't with each other.

"What do you like to do?"

"Depends," I tell him. "If I'm with Marlee, I like to talk to her and check up on her. We have pretty funny conversations."

"Like our sex life?"

I laugh, "Very rarely, actually. Yesterday we were talking about the types of animals we could be. Of course, that was when I rather hopped up on two glasses of strong red wine and she drank some of that addicting scotch."

"So under the influence is when the really important conversations are. What else?"

"If I'm all alone, I try to work as much as I can. But if I can't concentrate, I sing to myself and write music. That's why we have the piano in the Women's Room."

"I see."

"What about you?"

"Hmm… for fun when I'm not with you… I read."

"Lame! You have to do more interesting things."

"You are my more interesting thing! I do you all the time!"

"Maxon!" I gasp but soon transition into laughter, "Come on. There has to be something else."

"Alright, when I'm not with you, I think about you." He sighs, "Like an unhealthy amount. You are my whole world, it's hard to not think about what you could be doing or thinking. Remember the love letters and how I told you that I didn't realize I couldn't live without you until you were already gone… that's how it feels during the day."

"I love you." I kiss him before he can say another word. It ends up knocking him over. Now I'm on top of him, leaning over him to kiss him passionately. He meets me with the same energy, though. His hands find my legs, pulling me so I sit on top of him. It works. My legs give in and I straddle his hips as I kiss him. My hips rock unintentionally over him.

He mutters into my lips, "Shit…"

I pull away, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. You just have a very good effect on me…"

"You mean… you, um- you are… excited?"

He nods, sitting up a little bit as I adjust myself back. "So that means the way we get upstairs is going to be creative. That also means that you can't move until we figure this out."

I sit back a little. He stifled a moan, "America… watch yourself. Please. For the sake of me."

I giggle, "Here. Move the basket and wine. And then wrap the blanket in front of you while I carry the basket. We can take it to our room and no one will bat an eye."

"This is why I love you."

I smile. He moves the basket and I roll off of him. He quickly stands up to adjust the blanket over his bulge and try to cover his very evident erection. I smile inside. How do I have such an effect on him? I will never understand it. I grab the basket after shoving the wine in it and we walk to the doors, side by side. He looks so deeply uncomfortable by the situation.

I whisper out, "You can do this. Then you'll be inside me."

He chuckles, "That better be the case or we are going to have a big problem, Darling."

I giggle as we walk inside. "This is when you wish the palace had an elevator, right?"

"More than you could ever know."

I laugh a little as we trek up to our room. Maxon is moving at a very fast pace, almost running. He urged me along as I carefully walked up the stairs. Heels make it damn hard to walk up the stairs urgently, and despite having loads of practice at it, I'd rather take it slow and be careful than rush and get hurt. Unfortunately, Maxon has something else on his mind and cannot accept my safe conclusion.

"This is taking too damn long." He stated impatiently as I rounded up the stairs to the second floor.

"Is that so?"

"Yes ma'am, it is. Come here."

I listened to him and went up to him as I cleared the last step. He grabbed me and pulled me up so I was hanging on him. I wrapped my arms and legs around him like I was a koala, then we were off. He flew up the second set of stairs with me holding on to him for dear life. I don't know how he held me and the picnic blanket at the same time, but he did. Before I knew it, he set me down because we were at our door.

Don't be fooled though, he quickly opened the door and practically shoved me in. I set down the basket and started stripping immediately, which I managed to get the corset closure by myself. He closed the door, dropped the blanket, and then stripped as well. That horny man…

When we were both naked, he grabbed me and pushed me into the bed. I almost fell back onto the bed, but didn't. "Eager are we, King Maxon?"

"Mer…" He said testingly. That nickname, Mer, sounded so weird in his mouth. Like it was spat out of his mouth on a whim. I hated it. That name was attached to Carolina. That name was attached to Aspen. It couldn't be used by him here. Not in this space. Not when we are both butt-ass naked and he wants to have sex with me.

"Ooo," I hissed for a second while standing up to switch our positions, "I don't think you can call me that, Darling… Better just stick to my name. What is it again?"

He sat down and leaned back on the bed. "America…" He practically mumbled out.

I straddled over him and grabbed his wrist and held them above his head. "What was that? I couldn't hear you?"

"America."

I nodded, "Yes, Love?"

"Please?"

I thought about the power I hold in this situation. So similar to yesterday at the party. He is begging me; I love the power that I have. I sighed, "You may fuck me."

"Good." He reaches down between us and pulls up his dick to position it. He nods to me when I'm ready to go down. And slowly, I do.

"Oh, Maxon…" I rise up and go down again. I am pure bliss again.