Ruthless Empire (Royal Elite #6) by Rina Kent

“Damn. You’re really not you when you’re hungry.”

I throw him a dirty look over my shoulder, still chewing on my bar.

He chuckles, the sound like music in the quietness of the car. I pause chewing to listen to it and memorise it as if it’s a piano sonata. Will there be a day where I won’t stop and stare when he laughs?

“What are we going to do now?” I ask to distract my brain.

“We’ll wait until you’re warm, then we’ll go back home.”

“Right.”

He raises a brow. “Unless you want to stay the night here?”

I don’t want Papa and Helen to see me like this, and I don’t want to feel the guilt I do whenever I stare at them and realise I’m letting them down. Besides, I’m in no mood to explain the wet clothes and the bruises.

“I want to stay the night here,” I whisper.

His eyes widen a little. “I was only throwing it out there, but wow, it worked.”

“Remove your clothes, though. You’ll catch a cold.”

“Just admit you want to see me naked.” He unbuttons his shirt, and then his trousers, throwing them amongst the wet clothes in the back seat.

Water forms a sheen on the smooth ridges of his abs and thighs. His dark blue boxer briefs tighten around his semi-hard cock.

“That’s not true.” I clear my throat, pretending I’m not ogling his half-nakedness. “So what are we going to do?”

“What do you want to do?”

I think about it, and an idea hits me. “Read to me.”

“Read to you?”

“You’ve always read quietly, even when you were a child. I’ve wondered how it would be like if you read aloud.”

Or rather, I’ve fantasised about him reading aloud to me.

“What do you want me to read?” He reaches into his glovebox. “I have a few books here.”

“No. Not one of your boring philosophy books.”

He raises a brow. “Boring, huh?”

“Yeah, well, you can read me those when I want to sleep.” I reach into my bag, retrieve my phone, and open my Kindle app. “Read me this novel.”

“I don’t read from e-books.” He stares at my phone with distaste as if he wouldn’t touch it with a long stick.

“Stop being a paperback snob. Besides, the Kindle app has all your books in one place. You don’t have to carry a few tons with you whenever you want to go somewhere.”

“I don’t carry tons with me. I only take the ones I want to read.”

“Come on, try it.”

“I did and the answer is no.”

“Just this time.”

“Still a no.”

Smirking, I use his own tactics against him. “Are you a coward, Cole?”

He narrows his eyes on me but snatches the phone from between my fingers. As soon as he sees the text, his snobbish expression withers away, making way for a smirk.

“What do we have here? Erotica?”

“Nope, erotic romance. There’s a difference.” Okay, fine, so maybe I went overboard with that, but I wanted to see his expression.

“This is a sex scene, Butterfly.”

“So?”

He raises a brow. “You want me to read sex to you?”

I nod, wrapping the towel tighter around me.

“Why read it when I can perform it? I can even do a lot better than what’s written here.”

“Stop being an arrogant bastard and read.”

He taps his thigh. “Lay your head here.”

“Why?”

“Do it or I won’t read.”

I pretend to grumble as I rest my head on his hard thigh. The view from below is ethereal. The way his face turns serene whenever he reads has always been one of my favourite sceneries. I thought it’d appear somewhat disturbed when he reads a sex scene, but it remains the same.

“Their clothes lay in a heap on the floor beneath them. He pulled her by the waist, slammed her back against the door, then lifted her up so her legs wrapped around his hips. He started to thrust into her heat and she moaned in pleasure as he hit her womb.” He pauses. “Can he do that? Hit her womb, I mean.”

“Cole.”

“I’m asking an innocent question. I’m genuinely curious.”

“Well, you don’t get to be. Read without commentating.”

He goes back to his cool narration voice. “She writhed against him and all she could think about was his cock ramming into her over and over again until she couldn’t breathe. He was taking her to lengths she didn’t know were possible. At that moment, everything turned clearer and she knew she would take the next step. Her decision was made.”

He pauses again.

“Why did you stop?” I frown at him.

“Do all women think too much about things during sex?”

“Which part of no commentating do you not understand?”

“Fine.” He focuses back on the phone. “His hands grabbed her waist and he picked up his pace until the whole building could hear his grunts and moans. That’s when she knew she’d orgasm.”

Once again, he stops.

“Now what?”

He stares down at me with a gleam shining in his dark greens. “Does this turn you on?”