Page 106 of Royal Caleva: Luis

He had just shot holes in her hard-won resistance, but at least he didn’t know that.

“Let me pull up a chair,” she said, glancing around.

“No, here.” He patted the bed beside him with their clasped hands. “Next to me.”

Just a few minutes before, she had fought off the desire to lie down beside him. “I don’t know…”

“Please. Allow me that comfort.” It was part command, part plea.

His naked need destroyed her already disintegrating defenses.

“Okay, but I have to be careful not to disconnect anything,” she said, letting go of his hand to ease herself through the network of tubes and wires until she could stretch out on the bed.

He shifted so that he could drape his arm around her shoulders. “Come closer and rest your head on my chest. I want to see your beautiful, fiery hair.”

She carefully scooted until she was pressed against his side from shoulder to knee. Even through the sheets, the heat and solidity of his body felt so exquisite that she nearly cried. When he stroked his other hand over her hair, murmuring, “So smooth, like silk,” delicious shivers raced across her skin.

She felt his lips against the top of her head, the merest whisper of a touch, but her whole being was so sensitized to him that she could feel every tiny movement. His breath ruffling her hair, his pulse beating against her arm, the rhythm of his heart.

“Ay, Eve, I need this,” he said. “I need you.”

For now. He was weak and ill. He wanted a simple, easy kind of comfort. She could give him that. She snuggled closer, trying to weave her love around him like a cocoon of healing.

After a couple of minutes, the hand stroking her hair went still. His breathing deepened, but it wasn’t until the powerful band of his arm went slack that she was certain he slept.

Yet she didn’t move. It was too wonderful to be in bed one more time with this complex, demanding, brilliant man. Just as a man, not a king. She tried to memorize the masculine scent of him under the hospital smells and the way every part of him felt pressed against her.

Because this would be the last time.

CHAPTER 25

By Sunday evening, Luis had recovered enough to be thoroughly bored.

He had awakened in the morning without Eve in his arms, which he had expected but not approved of. Falling asleep with her soft, curving body pressed against his had been the only pleasure he had known since he had collapsed. He closed his eyes to remember the silk of her hair against his palm and his lips.

And then he snapped his eyelids open again so Raul wouldn’t think he had gone back to sleep. All day long, Grace and Raul had taken turns sitting in the recliners to make sure he did nothing but sleep, eat, and be examined by the doctors. Grace had even chased Mikel out after he had made the bald announcement that Felipe Camacho had been captured and brought back to Caleva. Of course, Mikel followed Grace’s command only because he also believed Luis should rest.

Luis had dubbed his children the royal tyrants, and his heart swelled at the delight of them caring for him.

In truth, sleeping most of the day had probably been the wisest course, but he would never admit that out loud.

Now he wanted Eve. He had not seen her since the delight of having her curled against him last night.

“Raul, I’m tired of sleeping. I want some conversation,” he said. “Can you ask Grace and Eve to come in? And Mikel, if he’s here.”

That would camouflage his real target.

Raul glanced at his watch. “Only for half an hour or so.”

“Who is the king here?” Luis said.

“You are the invalid king. As the healthy prince, I take precedence.” Raul grinned. “Let me get you some entertainment, Pater.”

Luis mock-huffed at his son’s presumption. As soon as Raul closed the door, Luis raised the top of the bed so he was in a sitting position, then straightened the sheets to appear less rumpled. He glanced down at the V-necked teal T-shirt that he wore and decided it looked respectable, even though he had been wearing it since that morning. Not that he could change it anyway. Although he was attached to fewer monitors now, he still needed assistance to unleash himself.

He chuckled inwardly. If he was worried about how he looked for Eve, he was nearly recovered.

As the door opened, he squared his shoulders and lifted his chin to project his return to health. “Good evening,” he said, his eyes on Eve as she followed her daughter into his room.

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