“Of course you don’t. You don’t trust anyone.”
“With good reason,” he muttered darkly, setting Trink down. “I’m going to organise additional security for the next few weeks.”
“If that will make you feel safer …” I was already focused on the script that would spit out a comprehensive list of every Tickle creator within a day’s drive of Sydney.
… the princess was lonely. And frightened. She did not dare leave the palace for the beautiful gardens, not after what had happened to her last time. But staying inside, with no one to talk to, or play with, or even acknowledge her existence, was boring.
Until he arrived.
Her evil uncle had a son. A son who was pulled out of boarding school. It was no longer safe, she’d overheard one of the servants muttering, for him to be outside of the palace compound, with everything that’s going on out there. Whatever that meant.
The princess didn’t think he would be much safer inside the palace, either, but of course, she was supposed to be invisible, so she had no one to share her opinions with.
Stefan was three years older than her, and he was nothing like his father. Inside the nursery, he talked so frequently that the princess was sure he must know everything there was to know about the world.
And he wasn’t afraid of sneaking around the palace to get up to mischief with her.
The first time they snuck into the indoor pool together, she told him, shyly, that she was afraid of drowning. Waiting for him to laugh, or mock her, or call her a baby, she winced. But he did none of those things. He simply stripped down to his underwear and stepped into the shallow end of the pool.
He demonstrated using his hands and feet in a pattern he called a ‘dog paddle’. And then he told her to strip down too, and he would help her to learn so she wouldn’t be afraid of drowning anymore.
Stefan showed her that she could love the water that had almost killed her.
CHAPTER FIVE
Definitely Viral
IRINA
“Honey, I’m home!” Kat called out sharply.
“Shit!” Gus hissed, leaping away from me, my arousal dripping from his chin. His cock bobbed against his stomach as he frantically searched for his underwear. “You said your housemate wasn’t going to be home!”
“Are you home early? I thought you were working a double shift!” I called out, panting because I’d been so fucking close to orgasm I could almost taste it in the back of my throat.
I barely registered her response because Gus grunted, knocking over the tripod that had been recording what was hopefully going to be my first ever Tickle post.
“Oh God.” I jumped to my feet, throwing Gus’s shorts at him while I snapped my phone out of the tripod and quickly shoved it under the lounge as Gus disappeared down the hallway.
I was still naked, and the mess he’d made of me with his tongue was dripping down my legs. Not to mention the oil on my skin from the sexy massage we’d started out with.
“Hi there!” Kat’s amused voice rang out from the hallway. I winced as Gus called out an awkward, “See you at training tomorrow, Irina!” before the front door creaked open and closed again.
I quickly pulled on my lacy knickers, grabbing the matching bra from the back of the lounge as Kat appeared at the end of the hallway, her eyes questioning.
“He couldn’t have gotten out of here fast enough!”
I sighed. “He only came over because I promised him no one would find out.” I turned from her so she wouldn’t realise how much I was keeping from her. I was not ready to tell her about Tickle, yet. Not when I hadn’t even finished filming my first post.
“Why the hell are you involving yourself with guys who want you to be a secret?” Kat demanded from right behind me. I opened the fridge door, like I could use it as a barrier.
“It isn’t like that. I’m not involved with him. I mean, I’m more than happy to fuck him, he’s utterly stunning. And his tongue, Kat!” At least that part was the truth. Gus gavegreathead.
“So, why does it need to be a big secret then? Jesus, Ri, he’s not cheating on someone with you, is he?”
“Do you really think I’d do that?” I demanded, slamming the fridge.
“Well then, what the fuck are you doing that needs to be so clandestine?” Kat hissed. I wilted under the intensity of her stare, pushing past her out of the narrow galley kitchen.
