Page 438 of Reign

“My bangs.”

“Your fringe.”

She rolls her eyes.

I tighten my fingers lightly near her scalp and tilt her face toward mine.

“Such a pretty girl.”

Color spreads across her cheeks.

I love that blush. Months of touching her, training her, sleeping beside her, and telling her exactly how beautiful she is—and I can still put that color beneath her skin with two words.

“It frames your face differently,” I tell her. “And the color is richer.”

“I got lowlights. Luciano, you’re being ridiculous.”

I reach into the bowl and retrieve a blueberry with my fingers. The frozen coconut water burns cold against my skin.

I don’t care.

She likes the fruit this way.

I press the blueberry against her lips. She opens for it, but before she can take it in, I lean down and kiss it from her mouth.

She makes a soft, offended sound against me.

I eat the berry and kiss her again, tasting coconut water and the gloss she reapplied after I kissed it off earlier.

“Ridiculous or not,” I murmur against her lips, “you look gorgeous.”

Her blush deepens.

“Thank you.”

I reach into the freezing bowl again.

She watches my fingers disappear into the slush. “You know there’s a fork right there.”

“I know.”

“Your fingers are going to freeze.”

“I’ll survive.”

I bring another blueberry to her mouth.

She takes this one, her lips closing around the tips of my fingers before I can pull them away.

The cold disappears immediately.

I watch her chew.

Then I feed her another berry.

She takes it, then looks toward the bowl rather than at me.

“I’ve been thinking.”