Last night, she’d lain across his chest, her heart filling in the beats between his own, her hair tickling his cheek. An untouchable moment. He’d wanted to tell her then, but she’d looked up at him with sleepy brown eyes, and suddenly he wasn’t so sure what would come out if he opened his mouth.
I would’ve destroyed your kingdom to save my own.
The frost was my fault.
I’m falling in love with you.
I might have to leave you.
Somehow it seemed safer to keep his mouth closed. He’d wrestled with himself until Adeline’s eyes fluttered shut and the decision was made for him. He would tell her in the morning, he swore to himself. He would tell her.
But the morning came, and Kai woke to Adeline’s voice in his ear, her teeth grazing his lobe, and he could think of little else but the hand that swept slow, taunting lines down his abdomen. His body was thrumming with want and tension already, accustomed after just a few days to starting every morning this way. He reached for her, but Adeline leaned away, climbing to her knees. She pulled the sheet away from him as she moved, and settled between his legs with a smirk.
“Good morning,” he grinned, crossing his arms behind his head.
She smiled sweetly. “It will be.”
Her hair spilled over his hips as she bent over him, and Kai couldn’t see her, had no warning before her tongue suddenly swept the rigid length of his cock. He groaned, the entire world around him narrowing to the wet heat of her mouth.
By the time she was through with him, Kai could barely move. Adeline laid her head down on his stomach, smug and satisfied, and caught her breath.
“I need a few minutes to recover.”
She raised her head to look up at him, eyes glinting mischievously. “And then?”
He reached down and took her chin between his thumb and forefinger. Maybe he’d need less than a few minutes. “And then, Adeline, I’m going to lay you down on your front and –”
Thump thump thump.
A knock at the door sent Adeline scrambling for the sheet, and together they dragged it frantically over their naked bodies. She wiped her mouth with the back of one hand, and behind it, Kai could see a suppressed giggle lifting her lips.
“Adeline? Can I come in?”
“No!” Adeline yelped.
On the other side of the door, Imogen muttered something they couldn’t hear. “Well you need to come out then, if you want my help. You’re going to be late for the banquet.”
“Bollocks,” Adeline sighed.
“It’s barely an hour past dawn, what banquet?”
He’d been speaking to Adeline, but Imogen answered. “Adeline’s birthday banquet. It’s breakfast with the court.”
Kai stiffened. “It’s yourbirthday?”
But Adeline was already up, scrambling around for the nightgown that Kai had thrown somewhere over his shoulder last night. She disappeared under the bed and came up with the shift already halfway over her head, chucked Kai’s trousers onto the bed, then called out to Imogen to wait for just a moment.
He followed her frantic lead, dressing as fast as he could. “It’s your birthday?” He asked again, as he buckled his belt. “You didn’t tell me.”
Adeline spun with her robe half on and landed a hurried kiss on Kai’s forehead.
“I’m sorry, I honestly forgot! You’ll be there though?”
Disorienting as this morning was becoming, he nodded without a moment’s hesitation. Of course he would.
Adeline beamed at him, flushed and beautiful.
“Family dining room, in about an hour.”
