Page 18 of The Royal Gauntlet

He’s sitting up in bed, eyes glued to my every move. I want to jump him, but I grab a taco instead, leaving him with a full view of my bare body.

“I know,” he says, eyes on my lips even as I chew. “How is it that you can make eating a taco look like porn?”

“It’s probably my naked body,” I tease, digging into my second taco.

“No, it’s all you, my love. You’re tempting me to get between you and your next taco.” He throws off the sheets and climbs out of bed. His impressive erection creates a tent in his boxers, and he comes closer but doesn’t stop me as I grab the third one. He cages me in from behind while rubbing my small bump. “I can’t wait to watch this grow.”

“Get me some more tacos, and it’s going to grow faster than you expect.” I lean against him, dropping my head back on his shoulder as his hands move up to fondle my breasts. “I’m taking Cat and Zara to the mortal realm tomorrow, and you can either come with me or stay home, but there is no third option.”

CHAPTER6

“You arenottaking this off,” Essos tells me as he slides me into a brown vest with sheer sleeves. It’s hardly the height of fashion, but I can feel magic pulsing off it.

“What does it do?” I ask as he zips me into it. His hands coast around my sides as he checks the fit.

“Tink made it to repel anything that could harm you.”

I search my memory for a Tink and hate that I come up blank.

Essos must catch the look on my face because sympathy flashes across his own features. It’s all over the softness in his eyes and the small downturn of his lips. “Tink is the God of Craftsmen.”

This jogs something, and I snap and point at Essos. “He made those weird rollerblade-type things, and you broke your elbow playing on them when Kai clotheslined you.”

I’m sittingon a blanket in the grass while Kai, Essos, and Tink stand on a paved path. Essos hasn’t looked over at where Helene and I are drinking with Dion and another woman. My fiancé’s hair is windblown and he hasn’t even strapped on these odd shoes yet. I can’t help but laugh as he gestures for Tink to hand them over.

Tink is a tall man—almost a full head taller than Essos—and while he’s brought us to the park to show off his latest invention, his gaze keeps floating back in our direction…no, not our direction, the direction of the woman sitting beside me whose bare legs go on forever.

“I wouldn’t do it,” I call in warning, and Helene snickers.

“He’s going to do it,” Dion hedges, refilling our glasses.

Kai glances at Helene, who she shakes her head, and the giant sticks out his lower lip in a pout.

Tink helps to strap his inventions to the bottom of Essos’s shoes. Essos looks psyched as he kicks off with one foot then leans into the motion, the power in the gadgets propelling him forward. He does a few loops before Kai throws his arm in Essos’s way. The action is so unexpected that he has no time to brace, and he winds up flat on his back.

We all jump up and rush forward. Essos is laughing while cradling his arm. “I would have given them to you if you justasked.”

“I did ask. Four laps ago!”

I scowl. “It was only two laps, Kai.”

“Looks like I still have some kinks to work out,” Tink says, stripping the skate-like things off Essos’s feet.

“I think I broke my arm.”

“Let me look,” a seductive female voice says as she moves to kneel beside me. Callista, Galen’s new girlfriend, takes Essos’s arm as gently as she can. The mile-long legs belonged to her. Tink invited her along, trying to be a good friend, and insisted we get to know her. She didn’t suggest inviting her boyfriend, so we didn’t offer.

I move to Essos’s other side and give him a brief upside-down kiss. “Don’t scare me like that,” I scold.

“My love, I’m immortal. I’ll heal eventually.”

“You’ll heal even sooner than eventually, since you have me here,” Callie tells him with a grin. “You did break it, but I’ll have you fixed up in no time.”

“In no time—you hear that, Daphne? Nothing to worry about. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

“Despite what my brute of a husband might try.” Helene bumps Kai with her shoulder.

“I didn’t mean to. How was I supposed to know the shoes would propel him into the ground once his feet were in the air?”

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