Chapter 140: Chapter 140: Enjoy
Liam froze.
The bedroom went very quiet.
The distant hum of the city suddenly became too noticeable.
Liam turned back toward the window. "That is not what I said."
"No," Arik agreed. "That is what you avoided saying."
Liam’s face heated.
The bond, traitorous and luminous, warmed with Arik’s amusement.
Arik adjusted his hold and whispered, his warm breath brushing Liam’s ear. "I just wanted to sleep in the same bed with my running mate."
He paused.
A wide grin grew on his face, felt more than seen against the back of Liam’s neck.
"But if you want it..."
Liam froze so completely that even the bond seemed to pause out of secondhand embarrassment.
The bedroom went very quiet.
Outside the darkened smart glass, Alexandria continued moving in pale blue lines, entirely indifferent to the fact that Liam Sienna Canmore had just been cornered by a sentence, a body behind him, and his own traitorous curiosity.
"You," Liam said carefully, "are enjoying this too much."
"Yes."
"At least hesitate."
"No."
Arik’s hand remained over Liam’s waist, warm and steady, the kind of possessive weight that made it difficult to remember why he had intended to be offended. His thumb moved once, slow enough to be deliberate, not low enough to be improper, but close enough to remind Liam that Arik had chosen restraint.
Chosen it.
That was what made the entire thing worse.
If Arik had been indifferent, Liam could have been insulted. If Arik had pushed, Liam could have sharpened himself on principle and turned the bed into a battlefield. Instead, Arik wanted him, was amused that Liam knew it, and still seemed perfectly content to hold him like this until morning.
The dignity of the situation was rapidly deteriorating.
"I did not say I wanted it," Liam said.
"No," Arik agreed. "You asked if we were sleeping with the intensity of a man investigating a suspicious energy report."
"That is not the same thing."
"It was a very suggestive energy report."
Liam turned his head enough to glare at him.
Arik’s face was much too close.
That had been a tactical error.
His black hair was slightly loose, his golden eyes half-lidded and warm with open amusement, and the faint smile at his mouth made him look less like the Crown Prince of Agaron and more like a man who had trapped his favorite person in bed and intended to be insufferable about it.
Liam’s gaze dropped to his mouth.
Only for a second.
Unfortunately, Arik saw.
His smile deepened.
Liam turned back toward the window with great dignity. "I am reconsidering sleeping here."
"No, you are not."
"You cannot know that."
"The bond is currently disagreeing with you."
"The bond is biased."
"It has excellent taste."
"It also likes you, which calls its judgment into question."
Arik laughed quietly.
The sound moved through Liam’s back where their bodies touched, low and warm and unfairly intimate. His arm tightened around Liam again, with the satisfaction of someone bringing something valuable closer.
"Liam," Arik said, and the teasing softened around the edges. "Look at me."
That tone again.
Not command exactly.
Not request either.
Something in between, molded by authority, and made gentle on purpose.
Liam considered resisting for the sake of balance.
Then he turned.
Arik moved enough to give him space, but not enough to let him go. They ended up facing each other on the bed, close enough that Liam could see the faint exhaustion still beneath Arik’s eyes, the trace of amusement at his mouth, the warmth that remained even after the teasing quieted.
It was very annoying that Arik became more difficult to argue with the more human he looked.
"You do not have to decide anything tonight," Arik said.
Liam stared at him.
"About this?" he asked, because apparently he had misplaced caution somewhere between the hot chocolate and the bed.
"About anything." Arik’s voice was quiet now. "Agaron. My parents. Children. The engagement event. The suite. This bed. Me."
Liam’s throat tightened, and he decided that the perfect answer to offense was attack.
He reached for Arik, threading his fingers through the dark hair at his nape. Liam lifted his head and brushed his lips against Arik’s.
Liam felt Arik go still under his hand, the amusement in the bond cutting off so abruptly that it almost made him smile.
Arik had been insufferably composed all night. Warm, amused, controlled, and far too pleased with himself for a man who had choked on fish less than an hour ago. Liam decided he liked him better when that control cracked.
He brushed their mouths together again, slower this time.
Arik’s hand at his back tightened.
The room changed.
The amber ether lights along the walls seemed to dim another shade, the smart glass turning Alexandria into a distant blur of blue transit lines and tower lights. The suite’s quiet hum faded beneath the sound of Liam’s own breathing, the faint shift of fabric, the low intake of air Arik made when Liam’s fingers tightened in his hair.
Then Arik smiled against his mouth.
Arik’s hand moved up from Liam’s waist to his jaw, fingers firm but gentle as he tilted Liam’s head just enough to make the kiss deeper. The light brush of lips became more deliberate and demanding. Arik’s lips moved against Liam’s with a confidence that bordered on arrogance, as if he’d been waiting for this moment all evening.
Liam’s free hand found Arik’s chest, palm pressing against the steady rhythm of his heart. He could feel the heat rising between them, their bond pulsing with what felt suspiciously like satisfaction. Arik’s thumb stroked along Liam’s jawline, a slow, deliberate movement that sent shivers down Liam’s spine.
When they finally broke apart, both breathing heavily, Arik’s golden eyes were dark with desire. "You’re still reconsidering sleeping here?" he asked, his voice rougher than before.
Liam’s fingers tightened in Arik’s hair. "Shut up."
Arik’s grin was immediate and devastating. "Make me."
Liam didn’t hesitate. He closed the distance between them again, this time with more urgency. The kiss was hungrier now, all pretense of control abandoned. Arik responded in kind, sliding his hand from Liam’s jaw to his neck and pressing his thumb against the pulse point.
The smart glass continued to display the city lights, but the room felt like it had been sealed off from the rest of the world. It was just them now, just the heat between them, just the bond that hummed with anticipation.
Arik shifted, rolling them until Liam was beneath him, their bodies aligned in a way that made Liam’s breath catch. "Still think I’m enjoying this too much?" Arik murmured against his lips.
"Yes," Liam managed, though the word came out more breathless than he’d intended. "But I enjoy it too."
