Page 90 of Falling Princess

I’m so besotted I’ve lost all sense. Over my own appointed knight. Who’spaidto hang around me.

I’m an idiot.

The movie ended.

Raina and Cata were snoring. Lorcan was zonked out. As the only one left awake, there was nothing to do, and I had nowhere to sleep. I got up, turned off the television, then washed up. When I padded barefoot back into the main room the bare concrete floors sent a chill up my legs into my spine. I shivered. Warehouse living is not for me.

Lorcan had stretched out in my brief absence, taking up the entire sofa. Now, I can’t even sit down. I peered down at him over the back of the couch, wondering what to do with myself.

He cracked one eye open. I leaned over him with a ridiculous smile creeping over my face. I’ve been so disciplined around him since we came back to Scotland. This reunion feels like the one last summer.

“Miss me?”

I snorted. My hair slid over my shoulder in a thick curtain, dangling in his face. He brushed it aside. “You know I did.”

We whispered so as not to wake up Cata and Raina, sleeping a few feet away. Lorcan shifted just enough to make room for me between his body and the back of the couch. He took my hand and pulled me down into the scant space. Obediently, I went over, pulse quickening as I landed half on top of him. Being tucked against his body from shoulder to ankle is the most delicious thing I’ve ever experienced. Better this time than last summer because I’m not half-dead.

My heart battered my ribs. I felt his beating fast, too. My breasts were flattened against him. I wanted him to touch me there. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t.

I tugged the blanket up around us. Lorcan tucked it around me, turning a little, cradling me in his arms.

“We’ll be caught,” I whispered. He yawned and shook his head. Hair tickled my face. I reached up to brush it away. Our legs tangled together.

“I’ll sleep better knowing you’re safe,” he mumbled drowsily, draping one arm over my waist. His breathing evened out. I felt him relax beneath me.

Comforting, but not enough. The sensitive place between my thighs pulsed needily. I’m tempted to rub against him, not that I would ever be that disgusting.

I love you. I want you to touch me.

We’re taking a huge risk tonight. I can’t help it. I want him like this too much; damn the consequences. Besides, the only other place for me is on the practice mat, without bedding.

I tucked my face into the crook of his neck and sighed. His arm tightened fractionally around me as though even resting, he was aware of me. I touched my fingertip to my lips and then to the hollow of his clavicles. Gently, wonderingly, I traced the rise and dip at the base of his throat. Warm, even breaths puffed against my temple. Only Lorcan sleeps.

* * *

I awoke to the scent of pancakes. Cata and Raina were still passed out on the sofa. Lorcan was in the kitchen making breakfast—all potential awkwardness neatly avoided.

How can we go back to the dorm suite after this? I don’t know if I’m capable of acting normally around him anymore.

Leaving the safe house involved an elaborate process. Back at Cata’s, a worried Kenton was in the living room waiting for us.

“Where were you?” he demanded with dark eyes narrowed in concern. It’s a sharp contrast to his usual insouciant humor.

“Safe.” Cata threw her keys on the coffee table. “Lorcan will give you the rundown. How did you get here?”

“Bash drove.”

“Where’s Bashir?”

Kenton gestured with his thumb. “Out back on the patio, smoking.”

Cata snorted with disgust. “For fuck’s sake, it’s barely ten in the morning.” She made a show of hanging up coats. “If we didn’t need his presence for muscle and to keep the Mountain Folk happy, I’d have gladly left him back in Auralia.”

“He’s smarter than he seems,” Raina interjected. Cata ruffled her hair affectionately and said, “I know. He’s a good guy. The weed bothers me. I don’t like having him incapacitated when he’s supposed to be part of the team, that’s all. That goes for you, too, Princess.”

Raina stuck out her tongue.

Kenton, Lorcan and Cata disappeared into her private study.

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