roaring fireplace, fine rugs, ornate furniture, and vast window. “It didn’t take you long to live like a lord.” He strode toward the window and swept the rippling silk drapes aside to admire the ocean view. “You always had it in you.”
Niko had a thousand insults ready to speak, but all of them had lodged in his throat. He just walked right in like it hadn’t been months since they’d seen each other, like he hadn’t written a letter confessing his feelings?
He pulled the tie at his neck, and the cloak slipped from his shoulders. A loose ponytail, tied off with a simple strip of silk, over the crisscross laces of his grey-and-white lace-lined corset. He looked… good.
Shifting firelight glinted in his three earrings.
He looked more than good.
Niko blinked. Had he fallen asleep and this was another one of the Vasili fantasies that had haunted him since leaving the palace? “How did you find me?”
“Roksana told me which room was yours.” He turned to face the room and, folding his arms, leaned back against the sill. The breeze teased his hair.
Niko swallowed hard and hoped the prince stayed by the window because there were parts of him that were more than substantially pleased to see Vasili again.
“I thought you were in Loreen?”
Vasili’s lips parted and his brows inched up slightly. “Ah… you received my letter.”
“Roksana fished it out of the fire.”
The soft laugh that rippled from the prince did nothing to soften Niko’s cock.
“I was high when I wrote it.” He fluttered a hand. “Make of that what you will.”
Of all the raging demands needing to be answered, the questions to be voiced, the lies and deceit and betrayal, there was one thing that was absolutely true between them. The one thing Niko was struggling to think around. Need.
Vasili’s gaze lingered, unblinking. He’d stilled, as though waiting.
Niko wet his lips, and Vasili might have tracked that movement, though it was difficult to be sure from across the room. And then Vasili was approaching, boots striking the floor with precision. He moved with smooth seduction, as though he was absolutely aware of every inch of his body and how to use it to steer Niko’s thoughts deep into the gutter.
He rested on the side of the bath and stroked his fingers through the water. When his gaze drifted lower, his eyebrow lifted at Niko’s obvious desire beneath the water.
“Why are you here?” Niko asked. His voice had gained a gravelly undertone, the kind that dragged.
“Why do you think?” His fingers swirled, his gaze low, lashes hiding his eye from Niko’s attention. Gods, he wanted to tip his chin up and taste his lips, to feel the prince soften beneath his kiss.
“Will you ever answer truthfully?”
His lips ticked. His gaze flicked up, locking with Niko’s. He lowered himself to his knees, still meeting Niko’s stare, and sank his hand beneath the water. Strong fingers effortlessly wrapped around Niko’s hard cock, and the sudden thrill stole Niko’s breath. He gritted his teeth to keep from groaning and clutched at the sides of the tub. The prince’s fingers stroked, finding just the right amount of friction to splinter Niko’s thoughts. His body quickly forgot every terrible thing Vasili had done.
There was no use in begging to touch him, he’d refuse, and so Niko stayed rooted in the bath, pleasure sparking in his lower back with every single one of the prince’s rhythmic strokes.
He breathed too fast, giving himself away. Vasili watched his face, reading, assessing, controlling the pace with every twitch Niko gave him. The intensity was both the worst and best part. Pink heat bloomed across Vasili’s cheeks. His soft lips parted, so ripe for Niko, and by the three, if this was a dream, he didn’t want to wake up.
Gods, he was going to come.
Then Vasili—prick that he was—let go and stood up. He casually made his way across the room to the bed, dripping water from his fingers. His absence left Niko gasping, desperate to take his cock in hand and finish all the good work Vasili had started.
Vasili reached behind and unlaced his corset, letting it slip down his arms. He turned on his heel, facing Niko again, and discarded the garment on the floor. His fingers popped his shirt fastenings open next, exposing his lean, pale abs beneath, like an invitation.
What was this? Some trick to have Niko salivate for something he couldn’t have?
Vasili—half-undressed—leaned against one of the bedposts, folded his arms, and waited.
By the three, the temptation was