Royally Screwed - Lynn Van Dorn Page 0,31

Let’s go to bed.”

Yuri flinched then nodded. “Right, yeah. Good idea.”

Angelo led Yuri down the hall and into his bedroom. Yuri just stood there, looking around the room with a vacant expression on his face.

“Hey. Yuri. You still in there?”

“What?” The owlish look was back on Yuri’s face.

“Are you going to sleep in your clothes?”

Yuri looked down his body then brought his gaze back to Angelo. He looked confused, like he’d forgotten where he was and what he’d been doing.

Angelo sighed. Yuri was pretty much down for the count at this point. Expecting any kind of coordinated movement or coherent speech was futile. He reached for the hem of Yuri’s shirt. “Come on. Help me out. Lift your arms or something.”

After a bit of wrangling and swearing, Yuri stood in Angelo’s bedroom wearing only underpants and socks. It was strangely endearing, especially since his boxer briefs were dotted with cupcakes. Angelo pulled back the covers on his bed and herded Yuri over to it.

“Come on. Get in. There you go. I’m going to put something on the floor beside you to vomit into, so try to hit that and not the bed or my floor, okay?”

“‘Kay,” was Yuri’s sleepy response. His eyes were closed, his golden lashes fanned out on his cheeks. He looked years younger than his actual age.

“Good.” Angelo quickly got ready for bed and slipped under the covers on the other side. Yuri was on his normal side of the bed, but Angelo wanted him closer to the bathroom, just in case.

“Hey.” It was a very feeble protest.

“What?” Angelo turned onto his side, facing the back of Yuri’s head. Because he could, he reached out and lightly stroked the velvety nape of Yuri’s neck. Under his fingers, Yuri shuddered.

“I didn’t know we were going to sleep together. In one bed. Together. In one bed,” he repeated.

“We’ve done it before, princess. Dozens of times.”

“I know, but…” Yuri trailed off and didn’t seem inclined to finish his sentence.

“But what?” Angelo prompted, curious.

“Nothing. Night.”

Angelo gave the nape of Yuri’s neck one last swipe of his thumb, then pulled back. Before he knew it, he was fast asleep. Over the course of the night, both men migrated toward the middle of the bed. At one point, hours later, Angelo roused enough to pull the warm body in bed with him closer. The slim form curled against him and the comforting scent in his nose dragged Angelo back under to where he dreamed of Yuri.

He followed Yuri from room to room of a castle that was not his, or Yuri’s, but somehow a combination of the two, with Oxford thrown in. Every time Angelo was about to catch Yuri’s hand to hold him still, he somehow eluded Angelo and wandered on, Angelo trailing along right behind him.

In his sleep, Angelo pulled Yuri even closer and did not let him go for the rest of the night.

13

Yuri Is So Very, Very Tired

Yuri woke to a dull headache, morning wood, and a hard cock against the small of his back.

That was new.

He assessed his situation. He was in a warm bed that wasn’t his own. Angelo’s bed. That was Angelo’s cock.

Holy shit holy shit holy shit!

Yuri noticed he was breathing too rapidly and consciously slowed it down. He didn’t want to hyperventilate. That would be too humiliating for words. Taking one measured breath after another, his heart slowed to a less heart attack inducing pace. That was good. Behind him, Angelo snored, but it wasn’t terribly annoying. As snores went, it was a fairly considerate one. His arm lay heavily over Yuri’s waist. Experimentally, Yuri pulled away from Angelo just slightly. He was hauled back ruthlessly.

Angelo made a disgruntled sound, shifted slightly, and buried his face into Yuri’s neck and then grunted contentedly. Yuri wasn’t sure what to make of it, but he decided to allow this to go on as long as he could. Angelo would wake up soon enough and they’d be back to being prickly co-prisoners of royal circumstance. Yuri would pine for a man who was always too close and too far at the same time and Angelo would do whatever it was that he did when Yuri wasn’t around.

Whatever it was, Angelo was discreet about it. There hadn’t been the whisper of anything in any of the tabloids. For the moment, they seemed to have slipped off everyone’s radar, and that was fine with Yuri. He didn’t relish immediate marriage and resumption of royal duties at all. In Oxford,