Chapter Forty-Four

Crossbody Treats Vince Like a Prince

Crossbody

My heart was rabbiting in my chest as I knocked on the door to the Cerulean Suite, located on the floor below my own rooms. Vince was upstairs waiting for me, and I wanted this conversation over with as swiftly and calmly as possible.

When the door opened and I saw Princess Ianthe standing there, her face vaguely familiar from youth, yet not at the same time, I froze up in panic.

So did she. Her delicate features stiffened, growing tight with apprehension before she schooled her expression into a polite mask and tried to give me a demure smile.

It looked more like a terrified grimace.

“Prince Elvis,” she said, her voice strained. “It’s a pleasure to see you.”

“And you.” I hesitated. “I’m sorry to intrude like this, but I was hoping to speak with you about—” I waved a vague hand. “—all this.”

She went still, her dark brown eyes growing shrewd and assessing as she watched me. Then she glanced around the hall and nodded, stepping back and holding the door open.

I walked inside and kept my distance, stopping beside a navy blue loveseat and resting one hand on its back. Ianthe, in her loose tan linen shirt and flowing trousers, closed the door and walked barefoot across the room to the sideboard.

“Would you like a drink?” she asked, seeming slightly more relaxed after her initial greeting.

“No,” I said quickly. “I won’t take up too much of your time.”

She nodded, pouring herself a small measure of amber liquid and knocking it back, which made my mouth twitch.

I was quite sure that she really was dreading this as much as me.

Just as I parted my lips, she took a quick breath and began to speak before I could.

“I’m going to be frank with you, your highness.” Setting down her glass, she turned to face me and lifted her chin, her dark gaze unwavering on mine. At her back, huge, jagged-edged wings the colours of a summer sunset folded in tight together, signalling her discomfort. “I will follow through with this marriage for the sake of my father’s kingdom, but it will be a marriage in name only. I have no intention of being a loving spouse to you. I have no intention of being faithful to you. I have no intention of living here with you.”

I stared at her in stunned silence for a few seconds. Her face was tight with apprehension as she waited for me to react, and I noticed just how beautiful she was. Heavily lashed eyes just a shade darker than her skin, a mass of tight curls tumbling around her face and accentuating her high cheekbones and elegant neck.

But I still wasn’t attracted to her, and I definitely didn’t want to marry her. She was still a stranger. And she wasn’t attracted to me either. She didn’t want this marriage any more than I did.

When I didn’t say anything, she swallowed and added, “I’m… sorry if that’s not what you want, but I thought it best to get it out in the open before the wedding—”

“I feel the same,” I said quickly, tightening my grip on the back of the loveseat as a grin spread across my face. “I mean I… I don’t want this marriage either, Ianthe. It’s nothing against you—”

“No, it’s nothing against you either,” she rushed out, her entire frame sagging in relief as she stepped forward. “I just… We don’t know each other, and I’m… well, I’m already in love with someone else.”

“So am I,” I blurted, then sucked in a sharp breath when I realised what I’d just said, my stomach dipping with a rush of exhilarated panic.

Before I could process what had just come out of my mouth, Ianthe was hurrying forward to clutch my arm.

“So what do we do?” she hissed, casting a fearful glance at the door. “My father is determined that this marriage will happen. He doesn’t care what I want. I’m the spare—my older sister will take the crown, while I’m just the puppet he uses to bolster his position and his kingdom in the meantime.”

“Yes, it’s the same with my mother,” I said, my voice slightly shaky. “She just wants me to produce heirs, because Presius can’t.”

“I don’t even want children yet,” Ianthe said, sounding terrified.

“And I don’t want to move back here,” I told her. “I live in the human world. I have a life there.”

“I’ve heard.” She offered me a hesitant smile. “And you have someone you love?”

Sheer terror made my stomach lurch again, but mingled with it was a wave of overwhelming pleasure. “I—y-yes.”

He was upstairs, in fact. But I didn’t add that.

“I told my father that I was going to marry Chrios,” Ianthe said woodenly. “It’s not even as though he is someone my father couldn’t approve of. He owns the largest vineyard in the kingdom and endless acres of land. He comes from noble stock. But Father simply refused. Said that wasn’t the plan.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” She gestured at me. “It sounds like you were dragged back here for this farce of a wedding yourself.”

I glanced quickly at the door, then stepped closer and lowered my voice. “Ianthe… that’s what I’m here to speak to you about.”

She nodded eagerly. “How are we going to get out of it?”

I took a deep breath. “There is a plan. I will tell you everything.”

—

I was feeling infinitely lighter when I got back to my rooms about half an hour later. Opening the door, I saw Vince on the bed, lounging back against the headboard and watching something on his phone.

He immediately dropped it and scrambled off the bed, striding toward me in a hurry. “You okay?”

“Yes.” I grinned at him, lunging down to press a firm kiss to his mouth the moment he was within reach. “Ianthe is fine. She doesn’t want this marriage either. She’s fully on board with the plan.”

Vince sagged in relief and kissed me again, cupping the sides of my neck possessively as his long tongue dominated my mouth. I went weak, eagerly following his lead, wanting to moan when his hips pushed into mine.

“Vince,” I breathed against his mouth, then kissed him again before trailing more frantic kisses along his jaw and down his neck. The adrenaline from my conversation with Ianthe was still coursing through me, coupled with the immense relief and the edge of unsettled dread that lingered beneath it all from being in the same building, the same world as my mother. That dread wouldn’t go away until we were safely away from Otherworld, and I needed to focus on something else. On Vince. I didn’t want to think about anything but him for the rest of the day.

“Let me spoil you,” I mumbled against his neck, wrapping my arms around his middle to cling to him. “While we’re here. Please.”

He chuckled, looping his arms around my neck. “What do you mean?”

I pulled back to look at him. “I mean let’s take advantage of being in this stupid palace with an entire army of staff who will get us anything and everything we could ever want. Except…” Heat rushed to my face, but I powered through. “I want to wait on you. I’ll do anything you want. I’ll feed you by hand and bathe you and wash your hair and…”

Vince blinked in shock, then slowly grinned. His voice was lower and huskier when he rasped, “And…?”

My blush deepened. “And I’ll… I’ll just do anything you want. Anything.”

His grin widened and grew a little evil. “You’ll do anything I want anyway.” Before I could huff at that, despite how true it was, he leaned in and gave me a soft kiss, adding, “My little slut.”

My cock twitched, but Vince was stepping back again and eyeing the opulent room with a faintly amused expression. Then he grinned at me and shrugged.

“Fuck it. Sure. I can pretend to be all fancy for one day.”

I laughed, which made his grin widen as he leaned in to kiss my smiling mouth. My chest cracked open, and it felt like something warm and terrifying and utterly exhilarating rushed in to fill all the gaps. My stomach spasmed when I remembered what I’d blurted out to Ianthe. What I’d admitted.

What I felt for Vince.

My mouth trembled as we ended the kiss. I knew my emotions were a little wild at the moment, but I couldn’t stop myself from resting my forehead against his and shakily saying, “Thank you for coming with me.”

He paused, then cupped my cheek and kissed me again. “Of course. I wouldn’t let you do this on your own.”

My heart clenched. What did that mean? Did that mean he felt something for me too? Something stronger than just lust and physical attraction?

As if he could sense how unsettled I was, he stepped back and said, “That sounds like a great way to distract ourselves today. Let’s order all the food we can think of, and I’m sure you have a fucking ridiculous bathtub somewhere in here, huh?”

I managed a smile, shaking off some of the wild emotions churning in my gut. “Yes. Of course.”

“Nice.” He casually nodded at the four-poster bed. “And I hope that bed isn’t too old or creaky, because we’ll be fucking like animals in it for most of the night.”

My breath caught. “I—It actually does creak somewhat.”

A wicked grin stretched his mouth. “Then I guess some people might find out what a hard-working butler I am, huh?”

I burst out laughing. “Except I’m going to be doing the hard work, remember?”

“Oh yeah.” His grin widened. “I haven’t forgotten, your highness.”

—

An hour later, Vince was lounging back in the enormous bathtub filled with rose-oil-scented hot water and drinking champagne from a pale pink crystal coupe while I hand-fed him figs drizzled in honey, spiced nuts, an assortment of berries imported from the Summer Court and rhubarb stewed in rose water and sprinkled with pistachios.

When he said he was full, I set down the platter and topped up his glass, which made him grin. He’d been stiff and uncomfortable at first while I’d run the bath for him, ordered the food and champagne and insisted on undressing him myself. But once he got in the tub, it hadn’t taken long for him to relax.

In fact, I could tell that he was enjoying himself immensely.

“It’s a little too easy to start getting used to this kinda treatment,” he admitted with a chuckle, reaching over to grab another strawberry off the plate and bite into it. As he chewed, his lips tilted into a smirk and he held out the rest of the fruit until I obediently leaned forward and ate it.

“Is there anything I can do for you now?” I asked after swallowing, resisting the urge to trail my fingertips over his bare, pale skin, gleaming with oil.

“You can get naked and get in the tub with me.”

My belly lurched with pleasure, and then heat rushed to my face as I stood to obey, because waiting on him hand and foot had made my cock achingly stiff, and he was going to see it.

He already could.

His smirk widened as his dark eyes locked on the erection jutting under my trousers while I retracted my wings and fumbled to take off my tunic. I breathed a sigh of relief after I got the stiff fabric away from my skin, because I’d begun to sweat from the steamy air in the bathroom. When I pulled down my trousers and stepped out of them, my cock bobbed, already leaking. I was almost unbearably aroused from being at his beck and call. From doing whatever he wanted without question.

It made me wonder what, exactly, he was going to get me to do.

I couldn’t wait.

Once naked, I carefully stepped into the hot, fragrant water and sat at the opposite end of the tub, our legs tangling together in the middle. Vince handed over his glass so I could have a sip of champagne, then sat back with a contented sigh as I lifted one of his feet and began to massage it.

“Fuck. I’m kind of pissed at how much I’m loving this.” He lazily swirled his fingers through the water. “I should hate how decadent and shit this all is. But goddamnit, it feels really good.”

I chuckled, smoothing my thumbs over his arch and making him shudder with pleasure.

“And I didn’t realise this is what champagne is actually supposed to taste like,” he added, leaning his head back against the lip of the tub.

I chuckled again. “Are you getting drunk?”

He lifted his head with a grin. “Nah. Takes a scary amount to get a ghoul drunk. Unless we do something stupid like not eat for a day beforehand, which is what Rafe did that time we went to Gargy’s.”

“Oh yes.” I nodded with a smile. “I remember seeing him dancing with that… hat on.”

Vince laughed, curling his toes against my palm. I lifted his foot higher to press a kiss to the ball of it, just beneath his big toe, and I saw his eyes grow even darker as he watched me from the other end of the tub, his skin wet and gleaming, hair sticking in damp tendrils to his neck and chest. My stomach practically cramped with arousal, cock jerking in the water.

“I know what I want next,” he said, voice low and throaty.

My breath caught. “Yes?”

His lips tilted into a tiny smirk. “Come over here so I can suck you off.”

My fingers tightened on his foot, my prick growing even harder and leaking into the water. “I-I’m supposed to be spoiling you—”

“Yeah, and what I want is your dick in my mouth.” He raised a stern brow at me. “So get over here, your highness.”

My breaths had already grown shallower as I carefully lowered his foot back into the water and got to my knees, shuffling forward until I was straddling his hips. He grinned up at me, tipped his coupe to gulp down the last of his champagne, then set the glass aside and slouched a little lower against the side of the tub as he grasped my hips and urged me to lift them out of the water.

Still kneeling, I straightened and gripped the edge of the tub on either side of his head, breathing fast as I looked down and saw my stiff cock bobbing just in front of his face. Vince leaned in and sucked my cockhead into his mouth with a low groan, making my hips jerk as I loosed a shaky breath.

My head tipped back as pleasure trickled through my body, flowing out into my limbs from the hot, wet suction of his mouth on the tip of my cock. His tongue emerged and slid around the shaft before he plunged his mouth deeper, sucking with long, deep draws.

It wasn’t long before I was shuddering and whining plaintively, trying not to thrust into his mouth as my thighs quaked and my cock leaked a steady stream of pre-cum onto his tongue. Vince sucked me hungrily right up until I began to shake, my limbs stiffening with my impending orgasm, my fingers clawing at his damp hair and my moans growing more and more frequent. He slowly slid his mouth free with a satisfied moan and looked up at me with a sly grin while I shuddered from unfulfilled lust.

“I’m ready to get out now,” he said casually.

It took a few moments for the words to sink in, and when they did, I swallowed down the urge to plead with him to make me come. This was about what he wanted, without question or argument.

And if he wanted to make me wait, make me desperate and mindless, then I would happily oblige.

I would love it, in fact.

Legs trembling and breaths still unsteady, I nodded and clumsily clambered out of the tub, trying to ignore my throbbing cock as it twitched. I heard Vince huff in amusement, and could feel his gaze on my wet skin as I grabbed a thick towel for him and turned to hold out a hand.

He grinned and placed his hand in mine to climb out of the tub. My throat bobbed when his hard cock emerged from the water, and my teeth raked over my lower lip as he gave it an absent stroke, his pale grey skin wet and gleaming from the rose oil in the bath.

“Thanks,” he said when I wrapped the towel around his hips and reluctantly hid his hard cock from view. I’d hesitated, hoping he would order me to get on my knees and suck him off, but all he did was give my cheek a brief kiss before picking up the champagne bottle and wandering into the bedroom.

“I’ll pour you some more.” I hurried to cover myself with a towel, grabbing his glass and the platter of food to follow.

When I got into the bedroom, Vince was sipping champagne from the bottle and crouching beside our open suitcase to sift through it. He looked up and grinned, hiding something behind his back as he straightened.

Clearing my throat, I asked, “What can I do for you now?” as I set the glass and food down on a side table.

“Take the towel off.”

His tone was blunt and rough, his voice getting deeper and huskier with his arousal. I’d heard Vince turned on enough times by now to recognise it. Nodding quickly, I fumbled to loosen the towel around my hips without a word and let it fall to the floor.

“Turn to face me, your highness.” I could hear the smirk in his voice.

Cock jerking where it jutted out in front of me, I lifted my chin and turned. Vince’s black eyes flared with heat as he took me in, gaze raking from my face to my chest and stomach, lingering on my stiff prick for a long moment before wandering down my legs and back up. His throat bobbed, cock jerking under his towel.

“You know how ridiculously fucking beautiful you are, don’t you?” he asked, voice rough.

I swallowed and quietly admitted, “Yes,” partly because I wanted to agree with him, but also because… well, I did know that. And I was proud of how I looked. I worked hard to look the way I wanted.

Vince huffed in amusement at my answer, his lips curling up in one corner. With his free hand, he reached down and tugged on the knot in his towel, letting it drop to the ground. His long, pale fingers skimmed up the length of his cock, making my stomach tighten with a rush of want.

“Get on your knees, your highness,” he rasped. In the next second, I was dropping, not even questioning it despite the fact that he was across the room. But then he said, “Come over here.”

I hesitated, brows twitching with confusion, but as I went to stand back up, he quickly shook his head.

“No. Don’t stand up.” A smirk stretched his gaunt, handsome face, his dark eyes in shadow against the backdrop of the bright sunlight streaming through the windows behind him.

My breath caught, knees digging into the soft rug beneath me, and my belly dropped in a rush of arousal when Vince spoke again.

“You’re going to crawl.”