Without realizing it, my feet stopped midclimb.
“What is it?” Felix’s voice sounded unsure. “Lio, if you don’t want to…”
I turned to look at him, our hands still clasped together. His gaze had darted down to the floor, and I could see the pink tips of his ears. He thought I’d changed my mind and didn’t want him anymore.
I reached out with my free hand to tilt his chin up.
“Oh, I want to, Felix,” I murmured in a low voice. “Never doubt how much I want to. I’m just wondering if you’d be more comfortable in your own room.”
I leaned in and distracted him with a line of soft kisses to his jaw to keep him from overthinking why I’d changed our direction so quickly.
“Oh. Ohh. Yes, that’s… oh.” He began to tremble under my touch as I slid both hands to his hips and moved him back against the heavy wooden handrail of the massive staircase. “So good,” he groaned. “Please don’t stop.”
“I love the noises you make, Felix,” I grumbled. “You’re making me hard as a damned pipe.” I grabbed one of his hands and held it against the front of my pants so he could feel me. His sharp intake of breath made my cock even harder as his slender fingers tested the hard length under my fly.
“Fuck,” he gasped, hot air wafting over my ear. “Oh fuck, Lio.”
“Invite me to your room, Felix,” I coaxed as my hands slid down to cup his firm ass through his soft wool trousers. “Want to see you naked. Want you underneath me. Want to make you come screaming my name.”
His entire body shuddered as he groaned again. I moved my mouth back up to his and nibbled hotly on his lips. They were full and warm, perfect for spending hours licking and teasing.
“Mm-hm,” he hummed against my skin. “My room.” His mouth opened for more kisses before continuing. “My room and the naked. And the screaming,” he murmured. I wasn’t sure he was quite with me any longer. He seemed fucked out already, and we hadn’t even taken the first stitch of clothing off.
I released him and stepped back, keeping my hands on his hips to steady him. “Lead the way, Trouble.”
When we passed back through the kitchen on the way out the side door, Jon’s head snapped up in surprise from where he sat by the fire trying to warm up.
“Where are you going, sir… Certainly, you’re not heading back out now?”
The rule for the royal guard on my watch duty was that as long as we were in the same building and it was deemed safe, he didn’t have to stay in the same room with me. He could hang out nearby and wait until I needed to leave the house before joining me.
But Felix’s guest quarters were across one of the gardens and above the carriage house.
Fuck. This was going to be a problem.
“I’m fine. I’ll see you in the morning,” I tried.
His eyes narrowed as he began to sit up straight in his chair. I felt Felix tense next to me, and I scrambled for a way out of the confrontation that was brewing with my bodyguard. I could ask Jon many things, but I could not ask him to break protocol. He could lose his job.
“Jon, why don’t you walk with us to the carriage house? There’s a… a really interesting chair you might want to see there.”
After the words were out of my mouth, I felt my back teeth clack together in frustration. A chair? Really, Lio? Christ.
“Sure thing, Lio,” Jon said with a smirk. He reluctantly unfolded himself from the cozy chair by the fire, causing me to feel a twinge of guilt for making him get up. I reminded myself that there was a very comfortable sitting room in the carriage house that he could hang out in and do… whatever it was he did when he was waiting around for me. It wasn’t like waiting on me was anything new for him, but I still felt guilty about it.
After entering the small stone building and leaving Jon on the main level, we made our way upstairs to the guest apartment.
Once the door to the small suite closed behind us, Felix turned to me with wide eyes.
He was nervous.
I reached out to cup the sides of his neck gently and rubbed my thumbs along the angle of his jaw. “Hey, if you’ve changed your mind, that’s okay,” I told him softly. “I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
His nostrils flared and his eyes heated up. The sudden pique made my heart speed up. The man was adorable anyway, but when he was annoyed? Fuck, he was irresistible.
“What makes you think I’ve changed my mind? I’m not a kid, Lio. Just because I’m smaller than you are and… and… I don’t know. But don’t treat me like a stupid farm boy from some… some…”