Page 9 of Beauty Sleep

I just don’t know what he’s into yet.

“What is, then?”

I step right over the low wall and sink down to sit on it, and Beauty gasps. Then he starts squirming with excitement, wrapping his feet nervously around the legs of the chair—and, in the process, spreading his legs.

God. The things I want to do to him, right here and now…

“Um…” Beauty stutters.

I grin and lean toward him, bracing my elbows on my knees. “If you’re too embarrassed to say it, you can whisper it into Daddy’s ear.”

He makes this adorable little squeaking noise, and then he shakes his head slightly. He just turns in his chair and looks at the open window behind himself, and then at me, and then back to the window, and then the ground again.

“I—I like—I mean…”

Come on, I urge him mentally, trying to swallow my impatience.Tell me what you want. You can do it just this once. It’ll get easier next time.

He bites his lip. He’s looking up at me slowly, so shyly that I want to wrap him in my arms and hold him until his nervous jitters fade away. But I hold myself back and wait a little longer… and then he clears his throat.

“You know Sleeping Beauty?” he murmurs. “I, um… I leave the window open. So a prince can come.”

Then he ducks his head and stares at his lap, twisting his hands together firmly.

I lean back, resting my hand on the wall next to me. As I think, I walk two fingers along the wall beside me, down my thigh to my knee.

He likes to go to bed early. He likes anonymity, but not big parties. And he’s waiting for a prince to come…

“Oh,” I breathe out, becausenowI get it, and it all seems stunningly obvious.

Beauty makes a tiny sound of embarrassment and peeks up at me. I just grin slowly at him, leaning forward to let my fingertips hop over to his knee. It’s warm and electric under my fingertips… and I wantsomuch more.

“Yeah?” Beauty breathes out softly. His whole body shivers at the touch. His thighs spread even further apart as he goes perfectly still. He even closes his eyes most of the way, turns his cheek away… like he wants to pretend he’s sleeping.

That’s what he wanted to tell me at the bar. Oh, yeah. It all makes sense now.

“So, what does this Beauty dream about while he sleeps?” I murmur. His eyes fly wide open as he stares at me. I slowly but mercilessly let my fingertips walk up his thigh, not even giving him a chance to answer. “A prince who steals what he wants in the moonlight?”

The hard line in Beauty’s shorts tells me that I’m on the right track—and so does his face. He doesn’t say a word, but he’s glowing with hope and delight and nervous excitement.

“To sleep, perchance to dream...” I grin wickedly.

Beauty looks almost ready to leap to his feet and flee inside. He makes a tiny little sound. Then he reaches down to pinch his own thigh, like he’s checking if he’s dreaming.

It’s as sweet as it is hot.

“Mmhmm?” I grin, sliding my fingers up to pinch him in almost the exact same spot.

“Ow! I already did that,” he pouts at me.

Whew. This boy really hasn’t had anyone take charge properly before. He’s got a lot to learn.

“So?” I ask with a laugh, and Beauty’s cheeks go red.

He stutters wordlessly. The way he folds his hands between his thighs and gazes down is the very picture of excited submission. It’s adorable how excited he is. He can’t contain himself—even his toes are wriggling in his flip-flops.

Looks like tonight is going to turn out well after all.

“The night is young, and I have a lot to do,” I tell Beauty. “I think you should head inside before you catch a chill. Get some sleep, while you can.”

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