Page 61 of Tall, Royal and Grumpy

I can’t

Esmeralda

Watching your hands is making me feel hot and bothered

Kai

Babble you’re pushing it

* * *

ESMERALDA

By the time night came that day, Kai and I had already exchanged well over a hundred messages. Most of which had been after dinner while we sat opposite each other in a seating room set up with an eighty-inch TV screen and several game consoles.

Squished onto three sofas, Kai, Fay, Adam, Prince Arsh, Princess Dabira of Shah, her brother—the King’s three teenage children, and I had spent a few hours competitively playing video games.

I spent half the time sending Kai frisky messages. Then pretending I couldn’t feel him furiously raking my body all over with his eyes, while struggling to contain a bratty, breathless smile.

That being said, I hadn’t played many games one on one with Kai, so when we met outside my room just over an hour after we all dispersed, I dragged him back to the same room to play.

We were sitting on a makeshift mattress on the carpet against one dark blue sofa that we had made using a blanket and the cushions of the other two sofas. The dark curtains were drawn and the chandelier on the ceiling remained unlit, but the two lamps on either side of the sofa and the TV screen brightened the room more than enough.

“Player two defeated,” emanated from the large TV in a low, overexaggerated male voice.

I giggled as my character did a victory roar on the huge screen while Kai’s character lay flat on his face in the retro street fighter game. For the fifth time in a row. I dared to glance at him.

He was glaring at me through his black-rimmed glasses so furiously his brows practically touched. I was sure I could hear his teeth grinding together with how tight his jaw looked.

“I don’t want to play anymore,” he grumbled, dropping his controller on the blanket over our laps.

I laughed again and Kai glared grumpily at the TV screen, tugging at his ear. So fucking cute! I pushed the fluffy grey blanket off me, scrambling onto my knees to face him fully. “Do you know how adorable you look when you pull at your ear, all grumpy and embarrassed?” I cooed.

He gave me a frustrated side-glance as he crossed his arms over his chest, pulling his grey hoodie taut.

Grinning, I shuffled a little closer to him. “Don’t be mad, Mr Perfect Prince. We can play again, and I’ll go easy on you this time. Hmm?”

The crevice between his brows deepened as his lashes dipped. I followed his gaze.

From the black cotton of my shorts that had ridden up to the very top of my bare thighs. Over the matching cropped T-shirt, stopping where the buttons were strained across my chest—I might have purposely chosen the set I knew fit snuggly.

His tongue pushed against the inside of his cheek before his eyes clashed with mine again. Hot. Angry. Hungry. Perfect. Exactly what I wanted.

I quirked a brow, resting my hands on either side of my knees, knowing the pose would push my boobs together. “Is there something distracting you, Mr Perfect Prince?” I purred.

“You know exactly what has been distracting me, Esmeralda,” he said. I widened my eyes in mock innocence. His arms came loose from across his chest as he glared at me, and excited prickles burst all over my skin. “Did you think sending those messages was funny?”

“Funny?” I echoed. “No.” I reached out and put a hand on one bulky shoulder of his and swung my leg over his thighs, straddling his lap. “I wasn’t aiming for funny.”

“You’re being a brat, Esmeralda,” he growled, his hands finding my waist and clamping down hard.

Maybe that one word wasn’t supposed to arouse me as much as it did, but it was everything dark and sensual inside me that I hid behind the act of a polite, only-fucks-in-missionary princess. It was my escape. My freedom to act how I wanted and be punished for it without losing a sense of control.

Yet all the playfulness I felt was pushed to the back of my mind when something conflicted and anxious painted over Kai’s face before he squeezed his eyes shut.

Curling one hand around the back of his neck and cupping his cheek with the other, I leaned into him. Cradling him with my entire body. “What’s wrong, Kai?” I whispered.

He circled his arms around my back, holding me close. “Don’t think that I don’t want you, Esmeralda, I do. So much.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “But if you ever thought I was using you as a distraction because of today I…”

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