Up for Heir - Stella Starling Page 0,55

carpeted posts. Once she’d scratched it into submission, she leapt up to a little shelf-like section, scampered across a balance beam thing, and disappeared inside a cave-like boxed bit.

After a moment, her nose poked out, that, two glowing amber eyes, and a purr turned up to maximum volume the only proof that she still existed. It was adorable.

Leo grinned, then caught Edvin looking and tried to pretend he wasn’t. Too late, though. Edvin knew his secret now.

Leo cleared his throat, waving a dismissive hand in Treble’s direction. “It’s best to keep the little beast entertained, otherwise we’d have to sell off the Crown Jewels to pay for all the furniture she’d damage.”

“Mmhmm,” Edvin said, loving Leo just a little bit more now that he knew for sure what a closeted softie he was. “Very st-st-strategic of you.”

“Exactly,” Leo said, brushing some cat hair off Edvin’s collar and then letting his hand linger, stroking his throat and sending a little cascade of delicious shivers racing through his body. “I’m well trained in strategic thinking,” Leo added with one of those sexy winks he was so good at. “In fact, I’ve got quite a few… skills.”

All those tender, sweet feelings Edvin had just been having transformed into something much more immediate and… and urgent when Leo’s voice dropped low like that, and he swayed toward Leo without meaning to.

Clearly, Edvin wasn’t the only one who’d just gotten turned on, though. Leo’s eyes were suddenly roaming over him like he was the cat toy, and the low thrum of want that had been humming in Edvin’s blood all evening flared into something a thousand times hotter under that look, coming on so hard and fast in the wake of his heightened emotions that it made him almost dizzy with it.

“Um, skills?” he mumbled, really glad Leo had locked the door and desperately wishing they were both naked.

Leo’s eyes flared with heat. “Shall I show you, darling?” he asked in a low purr, both hands coming up to interlace behind Edvin’s neck as Leo turned him and started walking him backward toward the bed.

It wasn’t really a question, was it? In fact, Edvin was very much hoping that the rest of the night would turn out to be one of those dates, the kind where Leo freed Edvin from the responsibility of having to make any of the decisions and just told him what to do. Still, he nodded, because yes, please. He wanted Leo to show him everything, and he would gladly be Leo’s cat toy if Leo wanted to use those skills to play with him now.

Edvin stumbled, his cheeks bursting into sudden flame. Because… oh Lord. That thought had been a little filthy, hadn’t it?

“What’s making you blush like that, darling?” Leo asked with a wicked smile, catching Edvin before his stumble took them both down.

“Um,” said Edvin, tongue-tied for a moment because, other than that kiss in the hallway earlier, he’d never initiated anything sexual in his life. He wanted to, though. He wanted a lot of things with Leo… and dang it, if he was honestly going to work for that happily ever after, he was just going to have to get over feeling shy about asking for them, now wasn’t he?

His eyes darted toward the side table where a dish of strawberries sat waiting, along with a bunch of fancy little bowls with various sweet things to dip them in.

“Y-Y-You said something about… about d-d-dessert?” Edvin asked, his cheeks burning even hotter. He really, really hoped Leo knew he didn’t mean actual dessert. Although… was it wrong to want Leo to do dirty things to him when Treble might be watching? Would she be traumatized if they got naked? Oh Lord, could Edvin even perform, knowing there was… there was an audience?

“Anything you want, Eddie,” Leo murmured, starting to unbutton Edvin’s shirt.

And okay, that answered the could-he-perform question. The minute Leo’s hands brushed his skin, Edvin’s already-very-interested-in-the-proceedings penis swelled to full hardness, straining against his pants as an involuntary and embarrassingly needy sound tumbled out of his mouth.

“Strawberries?” Leo teased him with a predatory smile that made all Edvin’s worries about leaving lasting emotional scars on Treble’s tender feline psyche go up in a puff of smoke. If that made him a horrible, selfish person, then he’d just have to atone for that later.

He shook his head. “That’s… that’s not what I want,” he whispered, a hot thrill shooting through him at his own boldness.

Leo opened the last