Page 59 of The Crowned Garza

“I’ll vet a housekeeper for you.”

“You don’t trust me with your girls?”

“No.”

This pulls an incredulous laugh out of me. “What do you think I’ll do to them?”

“Who knows with you, Tillie.”

Yeesh, am I that bad? “I’ll be good, I promise. And I pay well. I just need them to deep clean every two weeks, that’s all.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Yep, that’s a firmno. I’m slowly getting used to his tones. And that’s the one he uses to be fake agreeable when he wants to shut me up.

Still, time with him is too limited and abrupt to not take advantage of every second. “Will you tell me more about your other life?”

“What do you want to know?”

“Is your remaining sibling younger or older?”

“Older. She’s the firstborn.”

“Are you close?”

“Not really.”

“What’s she like?”

“Cersei.”

I laugh. “You mean fromGame of Thrones?”

“Uh-huh.”

Yikes. “What about your parents? Are you close with them?”

“No. Papa is a narcissistic asshole. Mamma is a workaholic who’s endlessly busy. I’m close with Adamo, my uncle.”

“Adamo’s the one I wanna meet, then.”

A slight smile ghosts his lips. “He would just love that.”

“Will you tell me why you’re hiding?”

“No.”

Eh, it was worth a shot.

I wiggle my feet on his lap. “My calves are hurting, too.”

His hands glide upward, massaging the back of my leg. Slowly up to the sensitive area behind my knee…

After a few minutes of both legs receiving equal attention, I test the waters. “My thighs…they hurt, too.”

A dark glint flits across his eyes when he flicks them to mine, like a quick spark of ember in a dark room. Gazes locked, he wraps his fingers around my ankles and drags me down the bed until my ass butts up against his thigh, my towel loosened and bunched up, my bare pussy sitting like a hot meal on his lap.

Oh, sweet, precious sinner.