Page 168

I smiled, turning my head to kiss his bicep. I loved his body—lean and wiry and almost sinewy. Raw strength and restless energy packed into a compact frame.

I had always been lanky, and royal fae weren’t supposed to do exercise that involved brute strength. We were only to partake in genteel activities like horse riding and fencing, so I’d been slim until I’d started secretly training with Corey all those years ago. Now, I outweighed Vince by seventy pounds and I was a good few inches taller, but I knew he could easily overpower me.

Mainly because I’d happily let him.

Encourage it, even.

I loved it.

I loved him.

Vince held back a burp as he leaned over to set down his empty beer bottle and pick up his phone. After glancing at the screen, he grunted. “Shit, should probably call Holt back.”

I laughed, tilting my head to look up at him. “You still haven’t?”

“I was a little distracted.” He smirked at me, making heat prickle up my throat as I smiled back.

When we hadn’t been eating and sleeping over the last couple of days, we’d been fucking. Last night, I’d sucked his cock as slowly as he’d let me while sinking two fingers inside him, stroking his prostate until he was shaking and fucking my mouth. Within ten minutes of waking up this morning, I was riding his cock while he lounged back against the headboard and let his hands roam sleepily over every inch of me he could reach. Smoothing up my thighs, splaying over my ass, thumbing my nipples, until he tugged me closer so he could suck on them while I cradled his head and moaned breathlessly, panting out his name. Then he’d extended that long tongue and curled it around my stiff prick as it bounced against his stomach with my feverish movements. I’d cried out, grinding onto his cock even faster while he lapped at me until I was shaking and spurting onto his tongue.

“Guess I better call him back.” Vince scrubbed a hand over his face, then shoved his messy dark hair back. “I did text him to let him know everything went okay, but he keeps calling. Wait, he’s left a voicemail…”

He tapped his phone screen, and Holt’s voice came through the speakerphone a few seconds later.

“Hi, Vince,” he began pleasantly, “it’s me. Holt. You’re not answering my calls, so maybe you’ve forgotten who I am. Holt. It’s Holt. I’m Holt. Your beloved manager? Your benevolent boss who gave you a week off at the last minute? I’m actually quite eager to find out how Crossbody’s doing and if he’s okay after everything that happened, so if you could just… oh, I don’t know, remove your abnormally long tongue from down his throat for five fucking minutes to call me back and let me know he’s actually well, I’d appreciate it.” There was a rustling sound before his voice returned and he hastily added, “Oh, and just as an aside, Larkin accidentally told everyone that you two are… you know, a thing. It was not my fault. It was Larkin. Blame Larkin.”

In the background of the voicemail, there was a faint whine followed by “What the fuck, boss!”

“I don’t know if you two wanted to keep it a secret for now,” Holt went on, his voice accompanied by a continuous scratchy sound, like he was filing his nails. “But, well, that ship has fucking sailed. Oh, and can you let Crossbody know that FAE BOYZ have delivered all the samples to his address? They said they included some of the new stuff from their masc lingerie range, and that they’re eager to get the photoshoot all booked in, so when he’s back at work we can talk about it.”

Vince was looking at me with an extremely interested expression at the mention of the FAE BOYZ brand and lingerie. I cleared my throat, my cheeks growing warm, and pretended to be focusing very hard on Holt’s voicemail.

“Axel called and let me know it all went well,” he was saying. “And he said you threw a cake at the Spring Queen’s face. Did you actually do that? I don’t know why I’m asking you this over voicemail. Anyway, let me know when you’re both coming ba—fuck, I just spilled an entire fucking bottle of nail polish over my fucking desk. Larkin! Help me! Will you—”

The voicemail finally cut off. Vince put his phone down, took my beer bottle from me to set it on the nightstand, then rolled me underneath him as he grinned down at me.

“FAE BOYZ?” he asked with interest. “The underwear brand?”

I blushed, trailing my fingers up his sides. “I agreed to do a sponsorship deal with them. Holt basically forced me into it.” Nibbling my lower lip, I finally admitted to the secret I’d been keeping from him. “Vince, I need to tell you… I asked Holt to pair us up for that first match,” I rushed out.

“What?” He blinked down at me.

“I went and asked him after I… after that night in the training room, when I…”

“Sucked my dick so good I almost blacked out?” he rasped, leaning down to kiss my neck.

“Yes, but—Vince, focus!” He huffed and lifted his head, so I continued. “I just felt like… I wanted to try and get some control back. But I shouldn’t have manipulated the situation like that. I’m sorry.”

He gazed down at me for a second, then shrugged. “It’s fine. I don’t care.”

It was my turn to blankly ask, “What?”

“I mean, I probably would’ve been pissed if I’d found this out at the time, but…” He shrugged. “How can I get mad about it now? None of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t done that.” Grinning, he dipped his head again to nuzzle my mouth and teasingly murmured, “You just wanted to spend time with me, huh?”

“Shut up.” My face went hot. “I did not. Not then. At least… not consciously. Except I… I have always struggled to stay away from you,” I admitted, tracing patterns on his skin with my fingertips. “And I spent most of my time at work thinking about you. How much I hated you, but still.”

He gazed down at me solemnly, dipping his chin in a single nod after a long moment. “Yeah. Same.”

Gaze drifting over my face, he reached up and gently tucked my hair behind my ear, then cupped the side of my neck and leaned down to kiss me. It was softer and sweeter than his usual kisses—just a light, almost chaste press of lips.