Page 72 of Royal Crush

My cheeks ached. “I rather like that.”

His ears tinged pink. “I have ugly toes. My little ones have no toenail. And I have scars on my butt cheeks because I had body acne so bad as a teenager that the studio forced me to get laser treatments.”

“The studio was worried about your ass?”

“They had a countdown to my eighteenth birthday in hopes they could get me to do a few nude scenes when I came of age.”

Once again, I wanted to hurt someone for him. But I understood what he was doing. We were all both perfection and flaws. That was being human.

Turning, I rolled ahead of him, through my bedroom without stopping, and into the bathroom. It was the one place that had been fully modernized for me. The tub had a swinging door that I could roll into, and the shower had a bench that curved from the wall to the center so I could enjoy the rain showerhead.

All the shelves had been lowered, and so had the sinks.

Aleric was right behind me and took it all in.

“I’m pretty sure this is bigger than my apartment.”

I wanted to argue, but I didn’t think he was wrong. “Well, it’s all yours to use, though you might have to get on your knees to wash your hands without straining your back.”

He gave me a look. “Just where you like me, right?”

My chest felt hot. “We’ll play with that later when I’m not ill.”

Instead of looking uncomfortable, he just smiled, then turned to the shower and stared at the wall of buttons. “I’m not going to pretend like I know how to work this. You can get it started, and if you’re very nice to me, I’ll wash your hair.”

Biting my lip, I thought of all the ways we could make use of this space when I was better. I wanted to give him some sultry line, make him weak in the knees, but all I really wanted were his warm hands on me and a night of comfort.

“Get undressed,” I told him. I rolled to the shower door and reached in, setting the temperature a few degrees lower than I normally liked. I had a harder time feeling temperature than most people, but I didn’t want to scald him. It might not send him running, but the point was not to hurt him.

When the water began to pour down, I turned and saw him stark naked. My mouth went a little dry, and I cleared my throat. “Ah.”

“Bad?”

“Is that a joke?”

He ducked his head as he shrugged. “I guess I know I’m pretty. That’s why people wouldn’t leave me alone when I was younger, and I don’t think it was reverse ugly duckling or anything.”

I rolled closer. “You are beautiful.”

He glanced away. “Sometimes I wish I wasn’t, but I guess I’m glad I am now.”

“Why?”

“Because I doubt the prince of Caverna would have looked twice at me if I wasn’t.”

Shit. He meant that.

Rolling closer, I snagged his hand and tugged him to his knees. His fat, heavy cock hung limp between his legs, and I fought the urge to touch it. But I knew he didn’t want that kind of attention. I understood what he was craving: he wanted to be loved for him. Not what he did, not what he was to everyone else.

Just him.

Hooking his chin with a knuckle, I forced his gaze up. “I don’t give a shit about pretty people. I never have. Yes, you are beautiful. That’s not in question, but it wouldn’t have lasted if I wasn’t wildly attracted to here.” I pressed a finger to his temple. “And here.” Then one to his heart. “I would have looked twicebecause you were smoking where you weren’t meant to.” He scoffed and rolled his eyes, making me grin. “And I would have looked twice again when you showed me exactly the kind of man you are.”

“What kind of man am I?”

“The one that made me fall for him in spite of all the reasons I had not to.”

His eyes closed, then he leaned in and took the kiss we were both desperately wanting. Curling my fingers in his hair, I held him fast until I needed to breathe, and when I pulled back, exhaustion hit me like a freight train.

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