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She wanted to share the bed.
Maybe the hardest one to forget, even more than the knowledge that she touches herself and likes it, was what she said earlier.
Maybe it won’t matter to the king who I fall in love with.
I scrub a hand over my face.
She’s a very smart woman. She knows nothing between us could ever be permanent. Even if she thinks she wants one night, or a brief fling, I have to be the one who’s strong. I’m the one who understands that emotions can quite easily get mixed up into all of that. I’m the experienced one. It falls to me to keep this from becoming more complicated.
But I’m already fucked.
There are already emotions.
It’s already complicated.
A sound drifts to me and I frown.
I still my breathing and listen more carefully.
What is that?
Then a horrible thought hits me.
That is a buzzing sound.
Only a few things make a buzzing sound like that.
And it is definitely coming from Linnea’s bedroom.
Oh, hell no.
I take a deep breath and make my voice as calm as I can.
“What are you doing, Duchess?”
I hear her give a little squeak and the buzzing stops. There’s no sound for a few seconds, then she asks, “You could hear that?”
“I could hear that. It better not be what I think it is.”
There’s no answer for a long moment. Then she says, “I’m trying to think of other things that would be making this noise. What do youthinkit could be?”
She’s killing me. “You could tell me it’s a handheld massager and you’re using it on your neck.”
Another long silence, then she says, “It’s not.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and curse under my breath. “You can’t even lie to me about it?”
“I don’t think I want to lie to you about it.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m curious about your reaction to knowing that I have a vibrator.”
I groan and dig the heels of my hands into my eye sockets.
Is it her innocence that is making her talk like this? Or is it because deep underneath, she’s actually a siren who wants to torture me?
Very likely the latter. She knows what she’s doing.