Up for Heir - Stella Starling Page 0,46

“Wait, did you just imply that you’re mooning over this guy?”

“I just implied that I’m leaving,” Leo said, patting his pockets to make sure he had his… oh good, he did. Hugo had handed it to him earlier.

“Wait,” said Jules, scrambling off the bed when Leo turned to leave.

“I’ve got to go get Eddie,” Leo said, pulling out his phone and checking the time. Then he looked up with a smirk, unable to resist adding, “But I’m sure Dante’s looking for you.”

“He’s busy painting,” Jules said, waving off the joke as he darted in front of Leo.

Leo raised an eyebrow. “So go pose for him.”

That got him another eye roll and a faint blush—interesting—but Jules was like a dog with a bone. He put a hand on Leo’s chest to stop him when Leo tried to step around him.

“You called Eddie your ‘fiancé.’” Does that mean it’s official, then?” he asked, cocking his head to the side.

“No,” Leo said after a moment’s hesitation. “It’s not… officially official yet.”

Because technically, he hadn’t asked for or gotten Eddie’s agreement to the engagement, only his agreement to test out their suitability. But they quite clearly did suit, and since Eddie and his uninhibited emotions really were an open book, Leo was entirely sure that they were on the same page on what the next step would be.

And yes, it would have been nice to have the approval of his family before taking that next step, but not having it wasn’t going to stop him any more than it had in any of his other life choices.

“But it will be,” he added firmly, because he was going to marry Edvin Blom.

His family would either come around, or they wouldn’t. But he hoped… well, he hoped that at some point they’d see that what mattered wasn’t that Eddie was a commoner. His qualifications to be the heir’s consort had nothing to do with who he was or wasn’t and everything to do with who Leo was when Eddie was by his side.

And that was, quite simply, better.

Leo had never before been with anyone as delightfully and completely without artifice. And being able to read Eddie so easily was… well, it was addicting and wildly attractive, yes, but it wasn’t just those things. It also motivated Leo—who had never been particularly selfish, either as a lover or a person, but who had definitely failed to feel all that invested in anyone else’s needs before—to not just settle for reading Eddie, but to also want to learn… to discover…to master the art of making Eddie happy. The art of wringing eager gasps and desperate sighs out of him in their most intimate moments, of making him blush on demand and then being the one to soothe away that sweet embarrassment, of earning an unlimited supply of those heady, intoxicating smiles of his, and above all, of claiming the right to spoil Eddie the way he deserved.

In short, Leo wanted to master the art of being everything Eddie needed. Of being a man—not just a prince, but a man—worthy of inspiring the kind of fierce familial loyalty and devotion that simmered just underneath Eddie’s shy surface. Of becoming necessary to Eddie, the way that already, Eddie felt necessary to him.

“I have to go,” Leo said again, suddenly impatient to get to him.

Treble appeared out of nowhere to pounce on Leo’s shoe, clearly in on the conspiracy of delaying him, and Jules scooped her up and frowned, absently scratching her behind the ears as he gave Leo a piercing look and made no effort to get out of the way. “But this Eddie… Edvin… you’re talking about marriage, Leo.”

Leo raised an eyebrow. “I’m aware. In fact, Mother and Father have made me very aware. It’s my duty to marry, remember?”

And yes, he wanted to marry Eddie… but he’d be lying if he said that ultimatum hadn’t left some simmering resentment in his heart.

“Duty or not, how well do you really know him, though?” Jules asked. “You can’t have that much in common—”

“Because he’s a commoner? Did you just come here to parrot the king and queen’s concerns?”

If so, it stung.

Jules just rolled his eyes, though. “Of course not. And for the record, I think Mother and Father are more concerned about your compatibility—I mean, on a personal level—than about this guy’s common birth.”

“No, they’re not,” Leo said flatly. “They’re worried he won’t have what it takes to rule by my side.”

It was what he’d concluded, because class existed in