Ruthless Empire (Royal Elite #6)(75)

“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?”

“Why are you asking?” I pretend my core hasn’t been tingling since he started reading. Only, it has less to do with the scene and more to do with his voice.

“This is your form of porn, isn’t it?”

“Shut up and read.”

“The sex could use more intensity, like, let’s say, ropes?”

“Not everyone is into kink like you.”

“They should be. They’re missing out. After all, I converted you, Miss Prim and Proper, to the dark side. Admit it, you’ve been thinking about it since you saw that picture on my phone.”

“I have not!” My voice is too defensive.

He chuckles but goes back to reading. I fall asleep listening to his soothing voice, hoping that tomorrow I’ll find a solution to this whole mess.





30





Cole





A perk of being observant is having the element of surprise.

If you can predict everyone’s moves before they make them, it gives you the chance to take them out at their own side of the battlefield.

The disadvantage is if someone knows you’re observant and hides from you.

Like what Silver has been doing the past couple of days.

She doesn’t avoid me, but she’s been cautious around me, immediately pulling away any chance she gets. She’s been spending nights at her mother’s so I don’t sneak into her room.

Then I heard her whispering to Frederic yesterday to ask if there’s a possibility someone outside her father’s team might have her phone number.