Return of the Reborn Princess novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: Separate Rooms

Eden's POV

I opened the door with a pear core still in my hand.

Conroy sat in the hall in the light from my room.

He had not slept either.

His shirt collar was open, and his hair was pushed back from his forehead.

"Lacey," he said.

"You knocked."

"I did."

"Is it the terms?"

"Yes." His eyes did not leave my face. "I came to tell you that I wrote them badly."

"Which one?"

"I don't know yet. Possibly all of them."

I put the pear core in the bin by the door.

Then I stepped aside and held the door open.

He rolled in and stopped in the middle of the room, and I shut the door behind him.

The lamp was on, and the bed was turned down.

The window showed the pear trees going pink at the tops.

"You said no touching in the house," I said.

"I did."

"You said separate rooms."

"I said both of those things."

"You're in my room."

"I am aware."

"Is that a breach?"

He breathed out through his nose, almost a laugh.

"It is a breach," Conroy said. "You may call it."

I crossed the room.

I stopped in front of the chair, close enough that my knees touched his, and looked down at him.

"Done," I said.

His face went still.

I watched what he thought I meant go across it, and then I watched him understand.

"Done, as in a taunt," I said. "I'm not ending anything. I wanted to hear how it sounded."

"And?"

"I hate it."

I put my hands on his shoulders.

He didn't move.

His shoulders were hard under the shirt, and I could feel them rise and fall.

"I'm going to touch you," I said. "In the house. I'm going to break every term you wrote. Tell me to stop."

"Lacey."

"Tell me to stop and I will."

"I can't."

"Can't, or won't?"

"I cannot say it," Conroy said, low and rough, "and I do not want to."

I took the strap off his wrist and put it on the table.

Then I swung one leg over the chair and sat down in his lap, facing him, with my knees on either side of his hips.

He made a sound in his throat.

His hands came up and hovered at my waist, not touching.

"Where can you feel?" I asked.

"Everything above the waist," he said. "A little below, in places. It comes and goes. What I feel the most is whatever I am looking at."

"Then look."

I took my shirt off over my head.

I had nothing under it.

← Chapter 11 · All chapters · Chapter 13 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend