Page 55 of Christmas off Script
As if sensing her watching him, he stirred and opened his eyes, his full lips parting in a lazy grin. ‘Morning, Princess. How did you sleep?’
She smiled back, her heart lighter than air. ‘Like a log, Prince Leo. And you?’
His grin got bigger. ‘Like an even bigger log. Vanquishing dragons is hard work.’
‘Is that why I slept so well?’
‘One hundred and ten per cent. The floor around your bed is littered with their scaly corpses.’
‘And are you going to clean them up?’
There was a mischievous glint in his eyes. ‘That’s Bridget’s job.’
‘Leo!’ Pushing up to sit, Ella poked him. ‘Your mess, your problem.’
He laughed. ‘But I don’t know where the vacuum cleaner is, remember?’
She prodded him again, and he flinched, his laugh getting higher in pitch.
Her fingertips hovered above his ribs. ‘Are you ticklish, Prince Leo?’
‘No?’
‘Really?’ She pounced on him. ‘So you won’t mind if I do this, then?’
‘Nooo!’ He rolled onto his back, batting at her hands.
Leo could have overpowered her in an instant, but his attempts to stop her had as much power behind them as a butterfly’s wings, and his laughter was so joyous that Ella couldn’t help but join in.
Straddling him, she continued her assault, not realising how much of her enjoyment was derived from the hard muscles of his body under her fingertips and the feel of him between her thighs. But then he raised his palms in a gesture of surrender and she finally stopped.
There was a beat as her eyes locked with his and the air around them changed, becoming heavy and charged with energy. The realisation that she’d never been in a position like this with him before hit her like an electric shock, pulsing through her cells and flickering across her skin.
What are you doing? Get off him!
Leaping away, she headed for the bathroom, her heart thudding painfully and her hands tingling. ‘I need to take a shower. See you in fifteen mins for breakfast?’ She didn’t wait for a reply, closing the bathroom door behind her.
Ella blinked as she stared at her crimson cheeks in the mirror, double-checking the person in the reflection was actually her. She looked… alive? Happy? Aroused?
Oh my god, no!
Turning away, she sat on the toilet, her hands on her face as if they could absorb the heat radiating from it.
He’s your best friend, not a sex toy!But as the thought popped into her head, her body reacted, blood rushing between her legs and her nipples tightening to aching points.
At the sound of drumming water on the far wall, she glanced up. In the bathroom next to hers, Leo was in the shower.
Stripping off her pyjamas, Ella stepped into her shower, gasping as the cold water hit her sensitised skin. She didn’t turn up the heat. There was far too much inside her as it was.
Do NOT think of Leo naked a few inches away!
But her mind inconveniently removed the word ‘not’ from the instruction, and whether she squeezed her eyes tightly shut or focused on the tiles in front of her, all she saw was him.
Shivering, she quickly washed, not allowing her hands to linger where they wanted, then dressed and left the room.
Leo entered the corridor at the same time as her, wearing a Roger Hargreaves ‘Mr Christmas’ t-shirt. He laughed as he clocked her ‘Little Miss Christmas’ one. ‘We are definitely telepathetic.’
‘You realise you’ve jinxed it now?’
