"You know me too well for that." Caught, Damen leaned back and tried not to look as stung as he felt. He'd just told Laurent his deepest vulnerability as King, and all Laurent could do was assume he was trying to get in his tightly-laced pants.

He sighed, eyes rolling eloquently. "Because you explicitly asked to climb in my lap and put your hands on me, of course. All right then, Laurent. Let's negotiate. Must I ask for every touch when you are clinging to me like a barnacle?"

The retreat had pricked at his pride more pointedly than he'd like to acknowledge. Laurent had been warming up to him, and he'd responded in kind. Every other partner he'd ever had would be under him by now, and he'd barely laid a hand on his husband. His husband.