It wasn’t until I noticed some of the light in the room was coming from a crackling fire in a stone fireplace that I realized I wasn’t alone.
Chapter 5
Lio
I’d been dozing in the comfortable chair by the fire when a slight draft brushed across my neck. I opened my eyes just wide enough to confirm the windows were closed before letting myself drift off again. Not a moment later, the draft grew stronger.
It was the doorway to the State Salon letting in the cooler air of the castle, and I didn’t need to wonder how it had opened.
A man stood just inside the open panel and stared in wonder at the treasury glass.
He was slender and young—possibly midtwenties at the most—dark-haired with round tortoiseshell glasses, and cute as hell. Whoever he was, the man was clearly mesmerized by the Gadleigh glass on display in the room. His sudden intake of breath, the pink flush of his cheeks, and the slow rise of his fingers to his lips all came together to make my heart thump. There was something about him that stopped me from calling out to tell him I was there.
I wanted to watch him for another moment before he realized he wasn’t alone. Once he saw who I was, he was bound to get all weird around me, and I hoped to put that off as long as possible.
He took another tentative step into the room and glanced across the small space to the round windows beyond. His eyes seemed to take in the craftsmanship of the carvings on the lintel, and his hand came out as if to run fingers over the wood. Something must have alerted him to my presence in the room, however, because he turned and noticed the fire in the fireplace and me sitting in a chair next to it.
“Oh god!” he cried, jumping back and knocking over a small side table behind him. “Oh fuck!” He scrambled to right the table and began babbling apologies.
“I’m so sorry. Oh god, I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t mean… I, uh, I was startled by your… and… oh shit.” His anguished tone made me want to either laugh or wrap him up in my arms and reassure him it was okay.
His hands seemed to shake, and his breath sped up. He held his arms in front of him like a shield, as if I was going to come at him.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered before stepping sideways toward the State Salon again. “I’ll just go.”
“Wait,” I said. The man froze. “I don’t even know who you are.”
His eyes widened as he stared back at me, all the color leaching from his face. “Felix. Felix…” It was as if he was going to tell me his last name but thought better of it at the last moment.
“Come here, Felix Felix,” I said, unable to stop from teasing the man. “It’s okay. Nothing’s broken. Relax.”
He was wound up as tight as a top.
“I shouldn’t have intruded on your privacy. I was admiring the glass in the floor and accidentally pushed the jewel.”
Ah, now I understood. I felt my face relax into a grin.
“And were you surprised or freaked-out when the wall opened?”
“Um, both? And terrified?” he admitted with a small chuckle. “I thought for sure I’d broken a five-hundred-year-old masterpiece. I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to explain it to Mari.”
His face retained the blush, but it was nice to see his lips relax into a slight grin. As much as it shamed me to admit, my first thought at the sight of those lips hadn’t been pure. Those are dick-sucking lips. Red, full, luscious… biteable.
I swallowed. “She’d skin you alive,” I assured him. “Good thing you didn’t actually break it.”
His horror returned, and I noticed his Adam’s apple raise and lower with a gulp.
“I’m kidding, Felix,” I said softly. “Why don’t you have a seat and warm up? If you were on your hands and knees in the State Salon, you could probably use a moment by the fire. It’s pretty drafty in there.”
My words replayed on a loop in my head, getting dirtier with every echo. Just the thought of him on his hands and knees mere feet away from where I sat sent all kind of blood rushing south.
Dammit, this was exactly what I’d run off to Gadleigh to get over: my attraction to men. The whole purpose of coming here was to man the fuck up and figure my shit out. And avoid being recognized. So why the hell had I asked this random stranger to join me in my hiding spot?
A faint reminder of my wish to have thinking time and sexy time whispered through my thoughts. Hmm, it was enough to get my mind racing.
Felix’s dark eyes glanced at the chair next to mine. “Are you sure? It does feel good in here. Nice and warm. And the glass… it’s exquisite.”