Sebastian: That’s not helping me right now.
Me: Me neither. But I swear, I’m not trying to sext you.
Sebastian: Bellamy!
I can’t fight my giggle. He’s so easily riled up by me, but I rein myself in, needing to fix what I’ve started.
Me: Do you want me to keep my distance? I will. I already promised I wouldn’t flirt, and I’ve tried to hold to that. I’m just new at this position and I want to do a good job with it so badly and you’re you and I… I’m going to shut up now.
Sebastian: What do you mean by I’m me?
I sit up in my bed, drawing my knees up to my chest, smiling so ridiculously my cheeks hurt.
Me: I just told you I’m not going to flirt or sext with you.
Sebastian: You opened the door with that.
My eyes bulge out of my head, my pulse climbing as my empty core clenches. I work my lip between my teeth.
Me: I might have. Do you honestly want me to tell you what it means and what I’m thinking? I’m not sure what it’ll do to our boss-employee dynamic if I admit it to you.
Sebastian: On second thought then, no. I think I’ll like the answer far more than I should.
Sebastian: Go to sleep now. No more texting me like this.
Me: Yes, Your Majesty. Good night.
I set my phone on my nightstand and stare at the ceiling. My smile is uncontainable. The flutter in my chest, too. He also feels this. How the hell am I going to be able to sleep now?Impossible with him right down the hall from me when I know he wants me just as much as I want him.
12
BELLAMY
Imust have finally dozed off because suddenly, a piercing sound jolts me awake. My room is dark, my mind cloudy and disoriented. The sound comes again, and it takes me another half-second to realize it’s Zayer screaming. Staggering out of bed, I stub my toe on my nightstand, cursing up a storm as pain shoots up my foot.
Shit, thathurts.
I hop to my door, Zayer’s cries becoming more urgent, and make it down the hall into his bedroom. He’s standing on his bed, tiny hands clutching the safety fence on the edge, eyes big and pouring tears.
“Little man, what is it? Did you have a bad dream?”
He doesn’t say anything, just continues to cry at whatever scared him, so I cross the room, ignoring my smarting toe, and pick him up.
“Shhh. It’s okay. It was just a bad dream. Bad dreams never come true.” I sit us in the rocking chair and start to rock us both while he snuggles into me. My hand makes circles on his back as he cries for a few minutes but quickly calms down. I kiss thecrown of his head. “Are you ready to go back to sleep?” I whisper when I think he’s mostly there.
He doesn’t reply, and after a few more rocks in the chair, I get up and carry him back to bed. Pulling the covers up and over his shoulders, I make sure he’s fully asleep.
“Sweet dreams, little prince.”
I turn to leave only to startle at the man in the doorway. The shirtless man.
Holy hell.
I knew Sebastian had a good body. I mean, you get hints of his musculature under his clothes, and then there’s the fact that he works out for at least an hour practically every day and occasionally goes on runs at night to burn off more energy so he can sleep. But in nothing but low-slung pajama pants and sleep-tussled hair, he’s more than a king.
He’s a god.
Golden skin. Broad shoulders and muscular but not bulky arms. A smooth chest sweeping down into stacked bricks of abs. A trickle of dark hair beneath his belly button leading to the promised land, bracketed between two deep indents on either side that get lost in his pants.
