Page 82 of Royal Crush

Laughing softly, I shook my head. “It’s fine. It’ll test negative. I don’t care about that. But I miss you. So much.”

“I’m sending a car tonight. I need you.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? What if?—”

“No what-ifs. I need you,” he repeated.

“Okay.”

“Yeah?” He sounded unsure, like he wasn’t the one putting all the distance between us for so long. I almost laughed.

“Yeah. If you’re asleep, I’ll sneak into your bed and spoon you.”

“I’ll be awake,” he vowed. And goddamn if I didn’t believe him.

“…and kissing you might have been the best thing I have ever done.”

Otis’s voice rushed over me. I was dissociated from myself, the way I always was when I was in character, only this time, it wasn’t so easy. This time, I was in the skin of the man I loved—the man who wanted me.

I kissed Otis though. I cupped his jawline and drew him down and pressed my lips to his. On and on it went until I felt Otis stiffen like he was concerned.

“Cut!”

“What the fuck,” he whispered. “Why the fuck did they have that go on so long?”

“I don’t know.” Rolling back away from him, I turned to see Christoph smirking at me.

“I want to get that again from a different angle.”

“No.” I blinked in surprise as Otis spoke, straightening and folding his arms over his chest. “I know I haven’t been doing this a long time, but you don’t need forty-five minutes of footage of a single kiss. And I came back as a courtesy, but I’m not entirely convinced that making Raul the main love interest for season two makes a lot of sense.”

Christoph raised a brow. “As you said, you haven’t been doing this a long time, so I’m not sure your opinion is welcome.”

Otis looked down at me. “What about Prince Camillo? Has he been consulted on this?”

“He signed his rights to us, and everyone understands that there is some level of fictional storytelling involved in these shows. They’re not meant to represent a minute-by-minute experience. Otherwise, we’d have to shoot some scenes of Aleric shoving tubes up his limp dick.”

Otis’s eyes widened as I felt those words like a punch to the chest. “Is…is that meant to be a joke?”

Christoph, for the first time, looked a little uncertain.

“He’s the prince of Caverna, and you’re speaking about him that way?”

“We’re going to shut down for the night,” Christoph declared loudly. He stalked off without giving Otis a real answer.

“Is he for fucking real?”

I laughed as I stood, stretching my legs. My fingers ached to pull my phone out and text Camillo, letting him know I was ready for him, but I needed a moment. “He’s gunning for the both of us. I’m not entirely sure why.”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Otis glanced off to the side, then leaned in and said, “My publicist put me in touch with this guy who claims he’s the real Raul.”

My entire body went cold. “What?”

“He said he was working on a book about his experience with the prince and asked me if I could give him some information regarding his character. He was…I don’t know. I couldn’t put my finger on it. Creepy, I guess.”

My stomach rolled with nausea. “What did you tell him?”

“Nothing,” Otis said with a laugh. “I didn’t want to get fired. He told me Christoph wouldn’t mind, which I thought was really fucking weird because how would he know? Anyway, he told me that I could expect a bigger role in the future. That he and the prince had a secret thing that went on for a couple of years.”

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