Page 49 of Royal Crush

I bristled at my title and spun in my chair to see a tall woman with thin brown hair and eyes that looked almost comically wide behind her thick glasses. I vaguely recognized her.

“Mr. Elrich wants to know if you could spare a moment for him.”

Elrich…ah. Christoph. The director of this farce. I’d been dealing mostly with the producers, and Christoph rarely spared me a glance, which I was grateful for. I wasn’t sure I had the willpower to keep my mouth shut if he asked me any difficult questions.

“Is it important?”

The poor thing was so terrified by my tone she actually curtsied. Fuck, I wish Aleric could have been here to see that. “I…believe so, Your Ro—your—ah…”

“Camillo is fine.”

Yeah, I could see from her face there wasn’t a chance in hell she was going to use my given name.

“Lead the way,” I told her, putting her out of her misery.

She was polite enough to keep a normal pace instead of slowing down like I was a toddler just learning to walk, and I did appreciate that she held the door for me because my arms were aching from what Aleric and I had gotten up to.

Of all the reasons to need extra help, jerking off the most gorgeous man I’d ever met until I pulled a muscle was high on my list.

“This way, sir,” she said.

That was better thanYour Royal Majesty—which I’d heard twice this week.

The woman held a second door open, which led to a very wide, very posh-looking office. Or was it a bedroom? There was no bed, but there was a sofa that could have doubled as one. Was…fuck, was that a casting couch? My stomach crawled into my throat.

Then I realized who was sitting on it. Aleric looked a little stunned and scared as our gazes met. He gave me an imperceptible nod as I rolled closer, and I had no idea what to do. Part of me wanted to leap from my chair and protect him with my body from any memories he might be dealing with.

Which, of course, was absurd. This was definitely not the couch, and he’d probably sat on plenty of them since that moment. He didn’t look scared of Christoph. He looked terrified of me.

“Thank you for joining us, Your Royal Majest?—”

“Camillo,” I interrupted. “Or sir, if you must,” I said.

At the word “sir,” I saw Aleric’s cheeks go pink. Interesting. Something we could play with later. For now, I had to deal with this pompous asshole.

Christoph was the sort of old cinema that showed in the lines the Botox could no longer freeze. He looked a little stretched and pulled and fake tanned, which gave off mannequin vibes. Iwondered if Aleric thought the same thing or if he was used to seeing people like this all the time.

“What can I do for you?” I asked when the room remained quiet.

“I wanted to introduce you to a couple members of our CGI team,” Christoph said. He waved his hand at a woman and a man sitting in the corner. I hadn’t realized they were there. “This is Sophia and Marcel.”

I was entirely confused as Sophia and Marcel half stood, managed something like a bow, then awkwardly sat back down like they weren’t sure what to do with themselves. If I could have dismissed all ceremony just to ease the way, I would have.

I glanced over at Aleric, who looked like he was trying to hide a smile, and my heart gave a triple beat in my chest. God help me. I liked him so much.

“Can I ask what CGI we’re talking about?” Aleric finally said, breaking the silence. “You’re not planning on having monsters attack the city, right?”

Christoph looked unamused and jerked his chin toward the sofa Aleric was on. “Your Highness, feel free to have a seat.”

I rolled a bit closer to Aleric. “I have had a seat. In fact, I always have a seat.”

Aleric gave a choking cough into his hand, and I could see his eyes sparkling.

At least he appreciated my humor. Christoph looked like I’d just offered to serve him a plate of raw insects for lunch. “I…of course.”

Rolling my eyes, I wheeled my chair closer and did the smoothest transfer I could manage. I hated doing this in front of people I didn’t know. I’d had the skill down for years, but it was inelegant, made worse by the fact that this particular bit of furniture lacked the support my custom ones did.

I sank a little too far into the cushions, but before I could panic, Aleric shifted his body next to mine, providing me a ballast. I wanted to smile at him. Hell, I wanted to kiss him. Instead, I gave Christoph a steady look and waited for him to tell us why the fuck he’d interrupted my afternoon.

---