Annihilation - Book Three

Chapter 23 (M)

I leave our friends to sneak off after my warlord, only to find him in the bathroom, lathering his jaw to shave. I wrap my arms around him from behind, marveling at the feeling of his sculpted stomach under my fingertips. 

Slowly, I slide my fingers through the spattering of chest hair to grope his chest, kneading the muscle, sighing contentedly at the mass my arms encircled. "Maybe you should leave it?" I ask, distracted as I brush my nose against his back. My lips part, dragging my teeth over his flesh with summons a chuckle from him. 

"Since when do you like facial hair?" Though I can tell his tone is light and edging on playful, truthfully, I hardly knew the man to be clean-shaven. Marcus has facial hair, and the whole time I've known him, he's not been bothered by the state of his beard, so one would assume the desire to be different prompted the need for the razor.

He'd gone through changes from stubbled to nearing a beard, though I don't recall ever seeing him allow it to get to a full with any sort of length. Clean had been reserved for when he'd had a spare moment, and that wasn't often. I peeked around him to look in the mirror, a rare commodity, I don't think I've ever been around mirrors so often in my life. 

His hair had almost grown out past his ears again, and it made me smile. The extra length is always more inviting than when he shortens the sides, less 'viking' in appearance, less wartorn. 

"Penelope calls it a sex sponge," I say with a yawn, pressing my cheek against his back. 

"That's vile." Verando sounds amused; I seem to have finalized his decision as he shaves it off with a straight razor. "Do you even grow facial hair? I don't think I ever see you shave."

 I resist the urge to bite him for being witty but I don't have the energy, I'm exhausted. "Not really. I'm not a very hairy person, actually. Unlike you." I tug playfully on the trail of hair leading down his abdomen. Though he's not the hairiest man I've been with, I've grown to appreciate the masculinity the man boasted.

 "Thankfully, most of your hair is on your head. A daddy complex is enough; I don't think I'm into all the body hair that comes with it."

 Verando rolls his eyes at me, and I relish my small moments with him. Before, he was always running off, tailed by a barrage of generals and upper ranks giving him reports and asking for commands; I remember walking with him in a sea of conversation and wondering how he could keep up with it all.

 There were times when I could only feed him a single meal before he was off again. 

The more I'm with him, the more I like him, and at times, it worries me how fast I'd fallen for the man who conquered my country. It wasn't lost on me that, realistically, we hardly knew each other personally, and yet I felt he knew me better than anyone else. Of course, he's always had his redeeming qualities, but it never ceases to surprise me how funny and charming he can be when I get past his rough, outward personality.

 "What're you thinking about?" Verando asks me casually as he dries off with a towel. 

"That I really like you." I close my eyes, listening to him breathe, to his pounding heartbeat. "That I want to get on my knees and worship this body, and that if Penelope ever looks at you like that again, I'll gouge her eyes out."

"Did you not like me before? Your Highness, I might start thinking you only want me for my body with words like this. Also, pay Penelope no mind; I have no interest in her." 

I shrug, unashamed, as I fondle him. "I did, and I do. It's complicated." I don't want to put it into words just yet. I don't have the proper vocabulary or comprehension to describe what he does to me; I'm still trying to figure it out myself. Freeing him from the weight of our conversation, I move to palpate his shoulder. "You did at one point, if you recall, you were bedding her. "