Page 67 of Tall, Royal and Grumpy

I shattered into a million pieces within seconds, so hard that my mouth opened on a silent scream as my back flew up from the blanket. I trembled so much for so long but then I sagged just as quickly.

With a few quick, shallow thrusts between my thighs, Kai followed me over. His groan vibrated through my entire leg as he sank his teeth into my skin and spurted in long, warm jets over my belly. When his hips finally stopped giving little jerks, he slumped forward, completely weak, sweaty, and spent. So fucking beautiful.

In the perfect, panting silence that followed, Kai carefully dropped my legs around either side of his body and collapsed over me. One forearm landed on the blanket by my head while his other hand cupped my cheek. “Are you okay?” he rasped, wiping away the dampness around my eye.

I nodded tiredly. “I am.” And curled my arms around his shoulders. “Are you?”

He pressed his damp forehead to mine and nodded. “I am—I am, I just…I need to know I didn’t hurt you. That these tears aren’t bad tears.”

I squeezed him close. “I’m not hurt,” I whispered. “And these aren’t bad tears, Kai.” I stroked a hand down the back of his hair repeatedly, slow and soothing. “You were so good.” Stroke. “So perfect, Kai.” Stroke. “And I wanted everything you did to me.” I pressed a light kiss to his lips and the tension seeped out of his shoulders. “You made me feel so good, I can’t even begin to explain—”

He moulded his lips around mine, swallowing my words, with a kind of need that made my heart clench and warm in my chest. It was passion that wasn’t heated but was an entirely different form of affection. Just as intense and raw and blinding, and still unbelievably incredible.

“One more,” he whispered against my lips. “Come for me once more, Esmeralda.” Kiss.

I blinked. Wait—what?

He lied.

It wasn’t once more. It was twice more.

Chapter Twenty

ESMERALDA

My eyes shot open with a hard snap of my body when a loud sound shattered my sleep. Fear stampeded through my heart, and I blinked and blinked, trying to figure out where I was.

Pillow, mattress, blanket. A bed. And a black wall of warmth and muscle.

Said wall moved and I numbly realised I had one arm around it and a leg tucked between it. It instantly drew me closer with a heavy barrier over my waist until I was wrapped in a protective circle. That was when I finally thought to look up.

Kai.

I was in Kai’s arms, completely safe and secure. He was squinting and scowling drowsily through the dim room at something over my head, his hair effortlessly mussed.

“Bloody Neves,” an awestruck male voice said from behind me. “You have got to be kidding me…”

“Fay?” Kai said, his voice so rough and deep I felt the vibrations in my belly.

Kai lifted his arm off me, patting his hand searchingly above our heads. He picked up his glasses, and I tipped onto my back to look at Fay, dazed and confused as to what was going on.

Fay stood in the open doorway with light streaming in from the corridor. His wide eyes flicked between me and Kai, but my gaze narrowed on his clothes. Where were his pyjamas? Why was he dressed up in the middle of the night? If three AM counted as the middle…

“What the fuck, Fay?” Kai growled at his brother, leaning up on his elbow. He dropped his other arm protectively over my torso. “What was that for?”

Fay blinked his surprise away and quirked a brow. “What was that for?” he echoed, then scoffed and shook his head, looking somewhere between disbelieving and amused. “Dammit, Kai. This whole time! And you two have been snuggling in the TV room, bloody sleeping.” He gave a stunned chuckle. “I knew something was going on, but you have some fucking explaining to do, asshole.”

I stared blankly at Fay, then glanced to the eighty-inch TV opposite us, and down to the cushions Kai and I were lying on.

Apparently, somewhere during our quiet chattering as we cuddled after all those mind-blowing orgasms, we fell asleep instead of going back to our rooms.

I blinked. Hold on…we fell asleep?

Kai and I had been sleeping? As in actually sleeping.

Warm understanding landed on my torso with the grace of a feather but the weight of an elephant. My gaze searched for Kai’s, and I found him looking at me, reflecting back the realisation I felt.

We had fallen asleep together. Just drifted off while talking.

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