Page 58 of Royal Crush
The moment I saw the look on his face, it would crush me.
I wanted to keep this as long as I could.
Taking the stairs two at a time, I reached the bottom and grabbed the chair, heaving it over my back. His little carrying pack hit me in the back of the head, but I ignored the pain as I walked back up, doing my absolute best not to nick the sides.
It took a little twisting and shoving to get it through the front door, but when I managed it, I found him sitting forward, watching me, clearly holding back a laugh.
“What?”
“It folds, you know.”
I flushed with shame. I did know that. I used a chair just like this on set, but having him here had me all upside down. “Um. I didn’t want to waste time doing that.”
“Mhm.” He lifted a brow as I hit the button that allowed the chair to fold nearly in half, and I pushed it against the wall.
“Unless you want it?”
“I’m quite content here. Though we could move to your bedroom.”
My face heated again. “Uh…no. No, that’s…we shouldn’t do that.”
He tilted his head to the side again. “Embarrassed?”
Crossing the room, I dropped beside him and laid my head back against the worn cushion. “My mattress is secondhand.”
“Oh. That doesn’t bother me.”
“It bothers me,” I told him. “I’m going to order a new one soon. But it felt kind of pointless since I have to move in the next month or so.”
He shifted to the side, then took my hand and began drawing lines along my palm. “Maybe when you move, we can shop together. I can buy you a housewarming gift.”
“You’re warm enough and gift enough for me,” I tried out. God, that was cheesy. No, it was worse than cheesy. It was full cringe.
He was biting back a smile. “Oh. That’s…hmm. Kind of you to say.”
“Shut up.”
He burst into laughter again and dragged me into another kiss. “Would you like to come, my darling?”
Fuck. He couldn’t just blurt shit out like that. I was going to be dead of lust if he kept that up. I slapped a palm over my face and gave a silent scream against it. “Can you not say stuff like that?”
“Not a request I can fulfill, my darling. I’m sorry.”
Dropping my hand, I stared at him. I needed to be honest. I wanted him, but I was not in a good place for sex. “I don’t think I can come right now. I want you so badly, but I’m all…worked up and stressed-out. I don’t know. I’m sorry. It’s not usually easy for me.”
“I understand.” His fingers moved to the side of my neck, pressing against my pulse, which was hammering a little too hard. “This is nice too, you know.”
“Is it?”
“Unless I’m misreading you.” Oh, he looked anxious now. Fuck.
“No. You’re not. I just…wasn’t sure what this was supposed to be. I’m definitely here for how good you make me feel, and I like spending time with you. But I also know you don’t want anything serious, so?—”
“Why do you think that?”
I blinked at him. “Because you said it.”
“I didn’t.”
