will.”
I press my mouth into a straight line to keep from laughing. It seems Rex has more than one mode to his personality. Last night, he was sweet and comforting. Today he’s a grumpy bear. “Do you want to come swimming?”
He shifts uncomfortably, crossing his arms. “No, thank you. But I’ll ask you to be careful, Your Majesty.”
“I’ll limit my number of back flips.”
Now he seems to be the one battling a smile.
Rex turns his big body slightly, giving me a modicum of privacy, while still keeping me in his sights to protect me. Quickly, I strip off my dress, fling it into the grass and wade into the water wearing my slip.
The inlet is warm and clear. It welcomes me, beckoning me to sink down beneath the surface, and I do so, coming up to take a breath and let the sunshine warm my face. Yesterday was long, but today was even longer. But this place I used to come when I was a child soothes my grief with its familiarity. My parents and I didn’t have close relationship and they were often busy with political business, but we loved each other in our own way. Fondly. With respect. And I will miss seeing them in their thrones.
I’m about to sink beneath the surface again when I get a cramp in my toe.
“Ow!”
Rex is already throwing off his armor and splashing into the water, sword drawn. “Britta,” he rasps, panicked. “What is it?”
“You called me by my name!” I gasp, shakily.
A vein ticks in his temple. “You cried out in pain. What is wrong?”
“Just a toe cramp.” The kinked sensation promptly moves to my entire foot. “Oh. Ow!”
“Fucking hell.” Dropping his sword, Rex picks me up out of the water, holding me against his chest with his strong right arm, reaching down with his left to massage my foot. “Right here, love?”
I press my cheek to his chest with a gusty sigh. Lord, it feels glorious to be held by this man. The entire world could fall down and he wouldn’t let a speck of dust reach me. “Yes. Right there. Thank you.”
When I sling my legs up around his waist, I swear I do it so his arms won’t have to hold my entire weight. I’m trying to be helpful. But oh God, I don’t expect it to feel so good to have the thick trunk of his body between my legs.
“Oh my,” I whisper, nestling closer—encountering a thick ridge between our stomachs.
Rex goes very still, his breath rattling in my ear. “Ah, love. This isn’t suitable.”
“What is that?” I whisper, shifting my hips.
He hisses through his teeth. “That’s a part of me you’ll never have to worry about. I’m sorry. It’s very difficult to keep it from…reacting…when you’re clinging to me like this. Wet and beautiful and other things.”
It’s an erection. Of course. I’ve been learning about health and anatomy for years. It’s just that the diagram of the male body made the penis look so small. Like a thumb.
This has the thickness of my bedpost. The length of a milk jug.
“W-was it like this last night?” I whisper into his neck, unable to subdue a thrill.
I hear him swallow. “I’m ashamed to say, yes, Britta. I was…very hard with you pressed up against me like that. I couldn’t make it go away, no matter what I tried.”
Pleasure slides into my belly, sticky and hot. “You desire me, then,” I breathe. “You want to put—”
“Oh Jesus. Don’t finish that sentence,” he growls. “I am your guard. I shouldn’t even be holding you like this. I’ve no goddamn right.”
“But I like you holding me.”
Rex pulls back, his expression incredulous. “Why? Don’t you have eyes, Britta?”
My brows knit together. “What is that supposed to mean?”
He shakes his head. “Britta, I look like a beast of the bloody forest. Scarred and heavy and hairy—”
Ha! I knew it!
“And you’re…well, you have a mirror. You’re nothing short of an angel. Do you not see the differences in us?”
As he’s been speaking, his hands have begun to shape my calves, his palms running up and down the curves of each. As if unconscious of the movement. And I’m definitely not going to say anything to stop him, because the scrape of his rough hands is heaven itself, sending fiery tingles along my limbs. “I don’t understand. Are you saying two people have to be the same body type in order to—”
“Do not. Finish. That sentence.” His hands are coasting over my knees now,