I was asleep, with Tom's peck as my pillow, when the crash thundered throughout the flat. I gasped awake just as Tom flipped us over so I was pinned underneath the weight of his body.

"What—"

"Shh!" he commanded as he hovered over me, listening.

There was what felt to be a long silence before another crash, which this time I recognized as the slamming of the front door.

I felt Tom move to crawl off me and grabbed his shoulder to stop him, but he easily shrugged me off before tiptoeing toward the bedroom door.

"Tom, don't!" I hissed.

Tom held his hand up for me to be quiet before he carefully flipped the lock on the doorknob, securely locking it from the inside. I let out the breath I had been holding but sharply inhaled again at the sound of a man's voice shouting just outside the door.

"Tommy, I swear to bloody Christ!"

He cursed under his breath and mumbled for me to "stay here" before opening the door and swiftly closing it behind him.

I sat bolt right in bed, gripping the sheets tightly around me as I attempted to hear what was happening.

They were shouting, though their voices were muffled through the door so I couldn't make out what was being said. I quickly glanced around and found one of Tom's T-shirts discarded near his hamper.

I got out of bed as silently as I could and slipped it on before padding toward the closed door. Hesitantly, I pressed my ear against the doorframe. It was difficult to parse their words, let alone attribute the muffled voices to their respective owners.

"Unbelievable!" Someone shouted.

"Calm down—"

Tom. That was Tom, I was sure of it.

"Calm down?!" The other roared.

I gingerly placed my hand on the doorknob but immediately retracted it when I heard my name.

"You pine after Emma for weeks!"

"Shut it!" I heard Tom hiss.

I pressed my ear flat against the gap between the door and its frame, trying in vain to better hear what was being said.

"... nightly telling me how much you love her! Making plans to win her back—"

"Charlie, I swear to—" Tom tried to interrupt again, but whoever this Charlie was wouldn't have it.

"—and you throw it all away for some whore throwing herself at you like—"

At the sound of a shuffle, I burst through the door to find Tom and another man—slightly taller and leaner—struggled over a purple item, which I belatedly recognized as my bra.

"Oh, would you stop it!" I exclaimed. "I'm Emma!"

They both froze momentarily with Tom holding Charlie in some sort of rugby hold. Now that I could see both of their faces, I realized they looked so similar, especially in their wide-eyed expression at my sudden entrance. In my panic, I had struggled to recognize the name, but seeing them together, I finally placed it.

Charlie. Tom's cousin, Charlie.

Tom looked me up and down. I blushed under his gaze and attempted to tug his T-shirt farther down my thigh.

In his distraction, Tom must have loosened his grip around his cousin, allowing him to easily slip out of the hold and step two paces to the side.

Charlie looked from my increasingly red face and the garment he still held. "And so this would be your..."

"Do I still have to curtsey if you're holding my undergarments?" I asked, becoming increasingly amused by the situation as the rush of adrenaline slowly receded from my system.

"No," Tom growled as he lunged to snatch it from him. Charlie released it with a sheepish grin. "And he was just leaving."

"I'm Charlie," he introduced himself with a raised hand. "Pleasure to finally meet you. Tommy hasn't stopped talking about you—even when you broke his heart and left for your village."

I opened my mouth in question, but Tom cut in before I could even form the words.

"Bye Charlie, thank you so much for dropping by without warning."

Charlie raised and dropped a shoulder in a passive shrug. "You don't need warning when you're family."

"Apparently not this family," Tom grumbled as he moved to usher his cousin towards the door.

"Emma, dear!" Charlie called over his shoulder, which Tom promptly grabbed and guided forcefully toward the door. "Are you coming to brunch later today?"

"I..."

Tom saved me from responding. "We've already got plans, thanks all the same."

In an instant, Charlie had gracefully spun around, ducking out of Tom's grasp, and taking several steps toward me before Tom managed to recover.

"You're not going to try hiding her away again, are you? You know neither of our mothers would tolerate it."

It took me a moment to process he was referring to his mother, the Queen of England.

Tom merely rolled his eyes. "I'll introduce Emma to the family whenever she wants," he said gruffly before briefly glancing back at me and softening. "Just not today."

"Another time," I practically squeaked.

Charlie's eyes danced between me and Tom, eventually settling back to me.

"Glad to hear it," he grinned.

It wasn't the smile I knew from the papers, which made me feel oddly honored. Like I had passed some sort of test with Charlie and was permitted to see something genuine that he usually kept private.

I smiled back.

"And, uh..." Charlie grimaced slightly as he brought his hand to the back of his head.

A family trait, I smirked.

"Sorry about calling you a..."

Tom cleared his throat, but I only laughed. "I appreciate the sentiment."

Charlie smiled again at that and turning, he clasped Tom on the shoulder before departing.

I glanced away as they exchanged some quiet words, only looking up when I heard the soft click of the door followed by the heavy thud of the deadbolt.

I strode over to where Tom now leaned against the back of the couch and hooked my finger around the hanging strap of my bra.

"Plans?" I asked him with an arched brow.

"With our solicitor," he nodded.

"Our solicitor?"

Tom nodded again as he ran his fingers through what I could only imagine was my wild looking bedhead. "My solicitor soon to be your solicitor, too."

"What for?"

"For notarizing the contract of course." His hand dropped to my shoulder and his thumb ran languidly up and down the side of my neck.

I tilted my head. "I thought we'd just type it up and sign it."

"Well, that doesn't mean anything legally without a solicitor to witness it."

I stared at him somewhat dumbfounded. "And you want us to sign it before I meet the rest of your family?"

"Abso-bloody-lutely," he muttered before kissing me on the cheek and walking into the kitchen.

I turned and gnawed on my lower lip as I watched him as he set the coffee to brew. "But what if they don't approve?"

He was facing away from me, so all I could see where the shrug of his shoulders. While I wished I could see his face to better read his expression, he was only wearing a pair of boxers and I was admittedly enjoying the view.

"They will," he said, "but if they didn't I honestly wouldn't care."

In a way, it felt slightly narcissistic to worry the Queen of England might have an opinion on my relationship, yet in this instance, I thought my concerns might be valid seeing as my relationship was with her nephew.

I sighed. "Tom—"

"Ems, you're going to get on just fine with the lot of them," he assured me as he reached for two ceramic mugs.

I merely nodded silently as I slid myself onto one of the kitchen stools.

"Matilda, my eldest sister, may be a bit cold," he eventually conceded. "But she's been that way since birth, or so I'm told."

I held up my bra, twirling it comically with my finger. "Not exactly how I was hoping to meet your cousin."

"Nor I," he growled.

I laughed and glanced over at the door. "Does he have a key?"

"For now," Tom huffed as he leaned with his elbows on the counter in front of me.

I hesitated, grinning. "So do I get a key, too?"

Tom's eyes shined as the skin around them crinkled in a smile. "Course you do."

With the smell of freshly brewed coffee wafting into the air, Tom leaned forward to kiss my cheek before turning back to the machine. He reached for one of the cups he had set out but suddenly froze.

"Hang on..."

I looked up from the clasp I had been fidgeting with on my bra strap. "What's the matter?"

"You don't have a key."

I furrowed my brow. "But you just said I could have one—"

"Exactly," he said turning slowly with his head slightly cocked. "You don't have one now... and you didn't last night. So, how'd you get in?"

I froze.

"You let me in?" I tried somewhat pathetically.

Tom shook his head. "Into the flat, but not the building. You need a code to get into the building." He hesitated. "Did you bribe someone?"

Clearly found out, I considered my options carefully. After a moment, I leaned forward and soberly nodded.

"I'll tell you, but only if your promise they won't get into trouble."