Page 5 of The Autumn Prince

Again, I could sympathize because it sounded like he’d been working hard to make everything better for his people. Oh. Maybe that was the problem.

“Which of the changes have been about you?” I selected another sugar-covered thing because it was like a tangy fruit gummy on the inside.

“About me?”

“Mm-hm.”

“How do you mean?”

Uh-oh. “Like what have you done to change yourself? You said the curse was about making you change, not your court or your people. You.”

He blinked at me.

“Did you used to hide away and let an evil tyrant take over? Make everyone else do the work, while you had fun? Did you have your armies fight everyone, while you sat safe and happy in your castle?” I raised my eyebrows at him. “What have you changed about you?”

A blush started creeping into his pale cheeks until his whole face was blazing red. He made a sad little sound as he tucked one arm across his chest and covered his eyes with his other hand.

Poor guy. I drank some more of my tea. “Maybe I’m here to be your life coach,” I said, thinking out loud. “I don’t know anything about breaking curses, but I’ve been known to give good advice to folks looking to better themselves in various ways. Yes, I feel like that’s where I could help you.”

He peeked at me over his hand. “What should I do?”

I glanced over at the bed, but that wasn’t appropriate at the moment. “I can’t say yet. I’ll need to observe you first.” I gestured to the window and how dark it had gotten out there. “We can officially start in the morning.”

“Oh, yes, of course. I had been preparing for bed when you…arrived.” He cleared his throat, his blush not gone completely yet. “I’ll have them prepare a room for you.”

Before I could stop myself, I said, “Any chance I could stay here?”

“Stay…here?”

I nodded slowly. “You already know that I don’t like lying. Well, I also don’t like games.” I reached over and slid my fingers across the back of his hand. “Incendis, you are absolutely beautiful in the sexiest ways, and I would like nothing better than to spend the night in bed with you.”

His mouth popped open, his blush renewed, and I wasn’t sure if he was still breathing.

I chuckled at him. “Come on, you must get propositioned a hundred times a day. Are you really so surprised that I’d make a play for you?”

“I…I’d hoped. I just didn’t…” He cleared his throat and seemed to give himself a little shake. “I didn’t think it would happen so soon.”

Smiling, I lifted his hand and brought it to my lips. I felt him shiver as I kissed his knuckles one by one.

“So is that a yes?”

He gulped and nodded. “Y-yes.”

Very happily, I stood, threw a leg over his thighs, and slithered down his torso to sit on his lap. He exhaled hard when I ground my burgeoning erection against that bulge of his. Maybe he didn’t get seduced much on account of being royal because the poor dear seemed absolutely overwhelmed and I hadn’t even kissed him yet.

I remedied that, claiming his full lips with a devouring kiss. He moaned like a desperate man and slid his hands up my thighs and around to cup my ass. I’d thought being here was a dream come true, but now I was going to get to actually fuck a fae prince. And not just in my imagination! This was awesome.

Running my hands up into the soft wavy locks of his fiery hair, I brushed by his ears. When I came back and caressed one from lobe to pointed tip, he broke the kiss to take a shaky breath. I smiled. “Sensitive?”

He gulped and nodded. “Very.”

Feeling wicked, I stroked that ear again. He gave a broken moan and his hips bumped up. Part of me wanted to find out if I could make him come from an ear-job. But not without getting him naked first.

Standing from his lap, I took his hand and pulled him up, too. He seemed shy now, blushing even though his bulge was fast becoming a baton and his lips were already swollen. It was absolutely endearing.

“You should probably know that I, um, haven’t ever…” He gestured to the bed and stared at me like he was hoping I wouldn’t get upset.

I looked at the bed. I looked at him.