Page 106 of Gemini Queen
Then he peels out of his pants, and I just stop thinking.
About anything.
Dear God, he isn’t even wearing briefs. He has the most sculpted ass, and that ringed piercing I glimpsed a few times in thethermaewhile I was pretending not to look at his junk is definitely a thing. He isn’t hard or anything, but—oh damn—hehasjust totally caught me staring.
I’m busted.
He goes still before the fire, with no sound at all to fill this superheated silence except the crackle of the flames and Zara’s cute little snores and my own heavy breathing. I yearn for something to do with my hands and my big clumsy body, but the only thing I can think of is to undress too, which will just make this entire encounter a thousand times more awkward.
“Take a breath, Red,” he says, and I’m deeply thankful he sounds kind and not mocking. “Seriously, mate, no one here’s going to do anything but sleep tonight. All three of us together in that bed, yeah?”
“Yeah. Okay.” That statement frees me up enough to pull the Academy sweater over my head and start working on the buttons of my shirt. Which in turn lets me duck my head so my hair flops over my face. “You don’t, uh, need anything? For your heat?”
“Nah, I’m good for a bit yet. But thanks for the thought.”
I glance up through my hair and he spares me a slow grin that heats me all the way through. Thank goodness for the dark, because I’m pretty sure even my eyebrows are blushing. This is the curse of having a fair complexion.
“Don’t mention it,” I mumble.
Ronin drops his clothes on the floor and pads across to the massive bed. He climbs in, graceful as a panther as he slides under the heavy blankets, careful not to disturb Zara’s sleep. He does lean over my adored one to stroke the wild hair gently away from her face. He’s usually so hard and feral that I love seeing how tender he is with her right now.
Our mate.
If he really meant what he said about Zara claiming both of us, maybe that means he can help me take care of her and make her happy. That scenario makes me feel warm all over for an entirely different set of reasons. These reasons too center in my chest.
I’ve been into him so long, yearning for him so long, that it wouldn’t take much for me to fall in love with him.
And I’ve always been in love with Zara.
Now that the warm spot by the fire is vacant, I could undress over there, but I’m still grateful for this darker corner near the door, so I strip down here in the chilly air and fold everything neatly over Zara’s chair. I keep my briefs on, since I usually wear them to sleep anyway, and I’m way too self-conscious to take them off with the unattainable Ronin Pendragon lying there in our soon-to-be mutual bed just watching me.
He’s rolled on his side toward me and propped his head on his hand, his silky hair pouring over one shoulder and pooling on the pillow, his eyes gleaming like a demon’s in the firelight.
I spend a lot of time in the gym and I know physically I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of, but I feel too big and too awkward for Zara’s pretty bedroom, like I’ve got too many arms and legs, under Ronin’s knowing gaze. He can have anyone in the whole school he wants, even Zara, so why would he want anything to do with an awkward twenty-year-old almost-virgin like me?
In guy terms, I actually am a virgin, because no one’s ever… I’ve never… I can’t even finish that thought. If he wants Zara, though, he’ll have to put up with me at least in a platonic sense, because I’m definitely not going anywhere—
“Neo,” he murmurs. “Stop thinking so hard and come to bed. You’ll bloody freeze to death over there thinking and worrying like that.”
“Right.” I steel myself and cross the icy flagstone floor. He’s definitely watching me, because I can feel the heat of his stare, but I’m carefully not watching back. He’s left me plenty of room, he even holds the blanket up for me.
I scramble in as quick as I can, so I don’t let the warm air out from underneath.
But I’m completely aware that he’s naked in this bed, and I’m almost naked, and we’re here in bed together with our mate.
He could be lying on her other side, but he’s chosen to stay on this side with me. Though maybe it doesn’t mean anything. It’s totally possible he really doesn’t want a total virg—
“Fuck,” Ronin sighs, and rolls toward me. He props himself up on one elbow and frowns down at me. “There’s only one blooming way to stop you thinking and worrying, isn’t there?”
“I’m sorry that I don’t know how to stop thinking—” I begin, feeling pretty frustrated with the whole situation.
He leans over me and stops my words and my breath with a soft kiss. It’s such a tender kiss, so unlike that desperate sex-charged one we shared in the gazebo, that I forget how to breathe at all.
“Listen, love,” he sighs against my mouth. “Have I got your attention?”
“Yes,” I whisper, my pulse racing and my lips tingling. Because how could he possibly not?
I open my eyes and gaze into his.
