Page 17 of Some Like It Royal

“Hang on.” The blankets rustled. “I’ll come with you.”

He pulled the door open to let the low light from the hallway in, but was a little too late as her knee hit the corner of the bed. He winced in sympathy.

“I’m fine.” She hopped. “Ow. That smarts.”

“Next time we’ll just turn on the light.” He flipped the wall switch and gave her an apologetic smile.

“S’okay. I’ll live. After you.” She motioned for him to precede her and they trundled down the stairs. “Why can’t you sleep?”

“No idea.” He finished the answer with a jaw-popping yawn. “I’m tired.”

“Me too. I don’t suppose you have any ice cream?” The question surprised him and awakened a mild craving. Ice cream did sound good.

“Let’s find out.”

In the kitchen, the freezer air was too damn cold on his bare chest, but he pulled out a tub of chocolate chip. “Aha.”

“Excellent.” She grinned and disappeared into the pantry, returning with chocolate syrup. He set the tub on the counter and went in search of bowls. “Where’s the ice-cream scoop?” she asked, opening one drawer after another.

“Two to the right of the dishwasher.” Setting the stoneware bowls on the counter, he paused to open the top on the ice-cream container. “I think we’ve got whipped cream too.”

“If you have nuts, I may die of happiness.”

“Noted. I won’t tell you there are dessert toppings in the cupboard to the right of the fridge.” He found the can of spray whip in the fridge and shook it. Alyx skipped over and pulled the cupboard open. He leaned past her, shoulders brushing, to grab the nuts. “See, no nuts.”

She laughed and pressed a hand to his chest as she hopped to try and snag the plastic bag, but he swept it away, grinning. She pursued him and grabbed the ice-cream scoop. “Surrender the nuts or I’ll keep the ice cream to myself.”

“Ha, you play mean.” He squinted at her. “How about I give you the nuts and you give me the scoop?”

“At the same time?” Her brows rose. “Hmm… Can I trust you?”

“To give you some nuts? Why not?” The corner of his mouth curled upward.

“Because you’re sneaky.” She eyed the bag, a look of longing softening her face. “Okay, at the same time. We both put them down.”

“Right. On three.”

“One.” She grinned and stretched the scoop toward the counter.

“Two.” He lowered the nuts.

“Three.” She darted forward and snaked the bag right out of his hand, but he caught her on the escape, one arm banding around her middle and dragging her back against him. She squealed with laughter and he took advantage of her full hands to tickle her sides.

“That’s cheating,” he warned her and she squirmed, trying to evade his hands, and only managed to rub against him. His cock roused, half stiffening, and he grabbed the scoopandnuts before forcing himself to release her.

She danced away, eyes sparkling and her hands covering her bright smile. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”

Yeah, neither can I.

“You first,” he offered graciously, sweeping an arm toward the counter and retreating behind it so she couldn’t see the wood tenting his shorts.

No sex. No sex. No sex. If you break the damn contract, she’s out and then we’re screwed.

Martin thought his drive to make this deal—to pursue this contract with Alyx and use her royal connection—was about pride, and partially it was—but if Spherecast didn’t grow, if it didn’t stay at the forefront and ahead of his competitors, then his bigger contracts might switch out and the whole house of cards tumbled.

“Such a gentleman.”

If she only knew, but he contented himself watching her scoop two generous balls of ice cream into her bowl and grinned when she added some to his as well.

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