Page 15 of Reign of Light
“I don’t know how you saw all of that,” I say.
His lips turn up at the corners. “I watched you for a long time, remember? I didn’t have to speak to you to see all of those things.” He brushes a piece of my hair off my forehead, tucking it behind my ear. “You can’t hide from me.”
“You know,” I say, clearing my throat and blinking away the rest of the moisture in my eyelashes. “If someone were following me around like that, watching my every move, my guard would have taken them out.”
“Well, it’s a good thing I’m your guard then.” He leans in, his lips barely touching mine, before I pull back and drop my chin to my chest.
“There’s nothing for you to guard me against anymore. Dane is gone, and I’ll never be queen. My father will have to find a new heir when I never return.”
He slides his hands up my back, stroking me softly.
“You’ll always be my queen.”
I let out a shuddering breath, and look up at him, finding only acceptance and affection in his eyes.
“There was something else you said.” My voice trails off, and his brows dip in curiosity. “You know what? Never mind. I don’t even want to ask.” I try to retreat and slide off his lap, cursing myself and my overthinking mind as the question that dug its claws in fuels my embarrassment.
His hands clamp down on my thighs as I try to lift one over him, and he only pulls me closer, a devious grin twisting his mouth.
“You’re not going anywhere until you tell me. Captain’s orders.”
I roll my eyes before they fall back onto his smug face. Biting my lip, I try to find the right words that won’t make me sound naïve, or jealous, or inexperienced. Right now, deep down, I’m feeling every single one of those things, and nothing like the confident person he described moments ago.
His eyes fall down to my lip, and darken, before roaming over my face again.
“Tell me.”
Weston has a habit of embarrassing me on this deck, and I refuse to let him see it this time. Setting my jaw and straightening my spine, I look him in the eye and speak as matter-of-factly as I can, just like the years of practicing with Edmond for the future court meetings.
“You said you didn’t know you talked in your sleep because there had been no one to tell you. If that’s true, how are you so good at what you do?”
I cringe inwardly the moment the words leave my mouth. My cheeks are probably inflamed, but I keep my face stoic, a task that grows increasingly difficult when his lips twitch, trying to hide a smile.
“I’m good at what I do, huh?” His eyes sparkle with humor, because I know he sees right through my falsely hardened exterior. He sees the same girl who was embarrassed as she read a love scene in front of him. He’s licked or kissed or touched every surface of my body, yet talking about it is making me feel like I want to crawl into a hole and die.
“See, this is why I didn’t want to ask.” I push his chest and try to slide down his thighs, but he wraps his arms tightly around my hips, keeping me in place.
“You’re cute when you try to hide it,” he says, his smile finally breaking through the firm hold he had on it. “But you don’t have to be ashamed with me.
I stare at his amused face, waiting for an explanation, and he doesn’t make me suffer long before continuing as if there truly is no reason to feel uncomfortable.
“There were…other women, from before. You can attribute my skill set to them. But there were only a few, and all of them knew nothing would come of anything physical between us. You’re the first woman I’ve ever wanted to sleep in my bed.”
“So you just kick them out?” I gasp, a look of shock clearly written all over my face. I ignore the stirring in my abdomen that declaration gives me.
His head falls back as a hearty laugh rings across the quarterdeck.
“No, sweetheart, I didn’t kick them out. My experience with each of them was usually only ever out of pent-up need, or if a woman had her sights set on fucking the First Guard. I wanted nothing from any of them beyond friendship.”
“Did women try that often?” I ask. I can imagine if things were different, and Weston were the young, handsome First Guard in charge of running the kingdom’s defense, he would catch the eye of all the eligible ladies in the kingdom. I ignore the spike of jealousy in me, knowing the same thing would probably happen again if we returned to Blackwood, and he took his place back behind my father.
“Honestly, more often than I liked. But I didn’t fuck every woman who tried. Besides.” His smile widens, and he leans forward slightly, dropping his voice lower. “I didn’t have Tila’s books to learn from.”
I throw my head back with a groan. “I thought you would forget about that.”
“Not a chance. And now I know why you were so flustered reading when I was taking my clothes off to bathe.”
“You came in at the absolute worst time! I thought I was going to die of embarrassment. And then you started taking your clothes off, and—” I huff a breath, and he chuckles as his hands roam over the fabric of my pants, tracing patterns over my thighs.
