Up for Heir - Stella Starling Page 0,64

dog with a bone.

“Maybe,” Maja said, sounding like she didn’t believe it either. “I mean… helping his department isn’t really in your job description, is it?”

Edvin sighed, but didn’t bother to answer, because no, it wasn’t, but Maja knew just as well as he did—as well as everyone at the library did—that it didn’t matter.

Back when he’d first been hired by the Royal Library, just a few weeks after his parents had passed and while he still hadn’t even been sure whether he’d be granted guardianship of his siblings or not, he’d been so dang grateful for the job that he’d made a point of going above and beyond in every way possible. It was a bonus that he actually adored the work, but even without that, he would have done anything to ensure that he had a way to support his broken little family and actually look like a stable, responsible adult to the courts… even though he’d felt like anything but. It had worked, though, and over the years, Hans wasn’t the only one from another department who’d realized that Edvin didn’t say no when asked to help with things that were technically outside his job description. In fact, looking back, Edvin had to wonder if Hans had ever really been romantically interested in him at all.

Actually, no. Edvin didn’t wonder. Now that he had a little distance from the relationship, he was pretty sure that Hans’s main interest had been in how much Edvin could lighten his workload, and that—oh Lord, how mortifying—the sex Hans had gotten on the side had just been a convenient perk, and calling them “boyfriends” just a way to keep Edvin pacified. Edvin had been flattered by the attention at the time, but in retrospect, he felt more than a little stupid for thinking what they’d had was a real relationship. He simply hadn’t known any better, though. Not before Leo.

A warm rush of fluttery happiness filled him at the thought of his prince, and it probably would have been enough to counteract the ew-factor of Hans if the man himself hadn’t chosen that moment to saunter over, a predatory gleam in his eye and the director right behind him.

Dang it. No dodging now.

“Vinnie!” Hans said with a wide smile that Edvin once would have swooned to have aimed at him. “We were just talking about you!”

“It’s Edvin,” Edvin said, not falling for the smile. “Y-Y-You know I hate it when you c-c-c-call me ‘Vinnie.’”

Hans didn’t bother to acknowledge that, because of course he didn’t. “I’m going to need your assistance with a project this weekend,” he said instead, all smarmy-voiced warmth, as if he was doing Edvin a favor.

“Told you so,” Maja muttered under her breath before grabbing a stack of archived editions of The Daily Chronicle, the perfect excuse for her to look busy while still eavesdropping.

Hans had never once taken him on a real date while they’d been boyfriends, had never wanted to meet Edvin’s siblings or wanted to be a part of their lives the way Leo did. The one thing Hans had never hesitated about, though, was asking Edvin to help him with work projects. Projects that Hans got all the credit for, of course. It had never mattered to him if that meant Edvin had to stay after hours or on weekends, and when Edvin had explained that his guardianship responsibilities already made his free time feel like it was stretched impossibly thin, Hans had scoffed. Called him boring. And—much to Edvin’s shame, because his siblings deserved better from him—more often than not, Hans had still managed to get Edvin to do whatever Hans wanted anyway. Often, it had been by dangling “having some alone time together” as part of the package, a reward for good behavior that Edvin was embarrassed to admit he’d felt grateful for at the time.

Oh, Lord. It had just been so nice to be wanted. Except now… now he knew what it felt like to really be wanted. Not because of what he could do for someone, but just because of who he was.

“Vinnie,” Hans started, but Edvin was already shaking his head.

“I’m not available this w-w-weekend,” he said firmly, which was true, but which he’d like to think he might have found the backbone to say regardless.

“Oh, come on now, don’t be that way,” Hans said, clapping a hand on Edvin’s shoulder and crowding right up into Edvin’s personal space. He dropped his voice low, a tactic Edvin used to