Chapter 11 #2
When he gathered enough courage to meet the other man’s gaze head-on, there was no sign that Nuri had hit a nerve, despite the comment.
Silver stepped back and reached for the body wash, squirting a dollop onto his palm before he captured Nuri’s hand with his free one and tugged him directly under the spray.
Nuri sputtered and turned his head, blinking past the water droplets rolling over his eyes. Strong hands came down on his shoulders, rubbing circles into his skin before traveling down the lengths of his arms and then back to trail over his spine.
The Emperor was bathing him.
Finding it impossible to locate his voice, Nuri could only stand there as those hands explored his body, stroking over his stomach and around his thighs. He didn’t react until he felt fingers dip between his ass, though it was barely a ghost of a touch, there and gone faster than he could blink.
Despite his earlier comments and that one graze the act didn’t come off sexual. Silver stood close enough that Nuri could feel him there behind him, but aside from his hands, no other part of him made contact.
“It wasn’t a tantrum,” Nuri said quietly, brave all of a sudden with his back turned and the soft caresses against his skin. “You crossed a line.”
“I was angry over your refusal to go to dinner,” Silver surprised him by admitting. “I didn’t like watching you walk away from me. It was childish and petty. It upset you this much?”
“I haven’t seen my siblings in years,” Nuri reminded. “They’re disappointed in me enough already and now…” Tears threatened to slip past his defenses and he hung his head and clenched his jaw in an attempt to keep them at bay.
“Should I order Neve back to planet?”
Nuri spun around, almost whacking his face against the other man’s chest in the process. “Don’t you dare. Don’t fuck with my siblings. It’s bad enough Nate is here. They have a good life on Vitality and I won’t let anyone screw that up, not even you.”
“I didn’t mean for it to sound like a threat,” Silver reassured him. “And you’re the only Narek I want to fuck with. Both literally and figuratively.”
So long as Nuri played the role the Emperor set for him, he meant.
“It’s safe for them there,” Nuri stated.
“Because they’re away from me, you mean.” There was a flash of anger before Silver seemed to get it under control and that blank expression was back. “I’m trying to be gentle with you, but it seems like you’re intent on fighting me at every turn. All right, if that’s the way you want it.”
Silver lifted Nuri, securing his legs around his waist before he affixed him to the shower wall.
His mouth dropped to his in a bruising manner, forcing Nuri to part for him with a nip that came close to drawing blood.
His tongue swept in, tangling with his, and the hands he was using to hold Nuri up kneaded his ass.
He wanted to resist, mostly because he was sick of being pulled and tugged in every which direction, but it wasn’t long before Nuri found himself wrapping his arms around Silver’s neck. He held him close, grinding his semi-hard dick against the Emperor’s stomach, and moaned into his mouth.
Everything about this was wrong. They’d been talking about his siblings and he’d been so infuriated just a second ago, but all it’d taken was one taste of Silver’s tongue and now Nuri was a hot mess for him all over again.
Maybe—
A knock on the door had them both pulling back, breathing labored, cheeks red from the exertion and the steam from the shower that surrounded them. The sound came again, a bit more firmly, and with a curse Silver slowly eased Nuri down, careful not to set him too hard on his hurt ankle.
“What?” Silver demanded, stepping from the shower and making his away across the room to the door to yank it open.
He kept his body shielding the entrance so whoever was on the other side couldn’t see Nuri at least, but seemed completely uncaring about his own nakedness or the puddles of water he’d tracked over the tile.
“Pardon my intrusion, majesty,” Falc’s calm voice came from around the Emperor, “but the COO of True Ink placed an urgent call for you. I tried to inform him you were otherwise engaged, but it sounds like it may be an emergency.”
They’d been working on a deal with True Ink for months now and the contract was almost finally secured.
“I’ll finish up here and be there in a moment,” Silver said.
“I can manage on my own,” Nuri interrupted, shrugging when Silver sent him a glare over his shoulder, still careful to block the butler's view. “You saw for yourself I can mostly walk on it.” His ankle hurt and it would take him twice as long as it usually would, but he could do it. “We can’t risk losing this deal.”
Something about that statement had the corner of Silver’s mouth tipping upward and he nodded in agreement. “I’ll take the call in the study, Falc.”
“Of course, majesty.”
The Emperor exited, not even bothering to grab a towel off the rack, and pulled the door shut behind him.
Nuri blew out a breath and rested his forehead against the edge of the shower stall doorway. They’d been about to do it again, hadn’t they? He’d been this close to getting to sleep with Silver a second time. He should feel disappointed in himself for giving in so easily, and yet…
He washed off the remaining suds from the body wash and then stepped out, drying off carefully as he struggled to stand on his injured ankle.
Since he’d agreed to put off his resignation, there was a lot of work Nuri needed to catch up on, despite the fact he’d only missed a day.
There was also the matter of figuring out a loophole and either getting out of this deal or finding a way to beat the Emperor at his own game.
The latter didn’t seem very likely, not when Nuri’s dick threatened to harden at the mere thought of Silver touching him again.
Cursing himself internally, he wrapped the terracotta towel around his waist and half shuffled to the door, opening it only to jolt a little when he saw Falc was still on the other side.
“Forgive me, Master Narek,” Falc bowed his head, “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“Not at all, Falc. Is there something I can help you with?”
“I’ve brought you a new multi-slate and your N.I.M. The Emperor wanted me to let you know he was able to recover all of the data for both, so there’s no need to reprogram anything.”
“Thank you.” Nuri moved toward the bed when Falc motioned that’s where he’d placed the items.
“Your brother is waiting for you in the dining room. You’ve been given leave to join him without the Emperor.”
“Thank you. I’ll be there shortly.” Nuri smiled and then nodded when Falc took his leave, then he perched on the bed and picked up the two velvet boxes that had been left for him.
One was blank and in the shape of a square, the other had swirly golden font imprinted on the cover and was rectangular.
He frowned, recognizing the brand name, and opened that one first, blinking when he uncovered a golden multi-slate.
The model was rare, one of only fifty made to celebrate the company’s twentieth year in business and was worth the price of a small building.
Nuri knew because he’d been in charge of procuring one for Silver.
Matching multi-slates? What was that supposed to mean? Was it a bribe?
By now, the Emperor should know him well enough to understand bribes didn’t work on Nuri. But if it wasn’t meant as one…then what?
Realizing it was a waste of his energy to try and puzzle out Silver’s hidden meaning—if there even was one, and with the Emperor one could never be sure—he switched the power button on and then set the device aside, popping open the second box as he waited for the multi-slate to launch.
Nuri smiled fondly when he eyed the N.I.M. orb nestled securely in black velvet.
He ran the pad of his thumb lovingly across the smooth glass surface and rolled it in his palm, only setting it aside once the multi-slate pinged so that he could quickly turn the N.I.M. on and pair them.
Within seconds of typing in his password, a slew of missed messages, calls, and electronic communications came flooding in, the seemingly never-ending dings causing a spark of pain to flutter to life at his left temple.
Though he’d left Marta in charge, it appeared as though many hadn’t gotten the message and had still tried to contact him first.
Or, perhaps Silver had reached out to everyone telling them Nuri’s vacation had been canceled and to disregard his previous instructions to get in touch with his replacement.
At the thought, he let out a frustrated growl, sending a glare toward the closed bedroom door. Which was when he noticed there was a set of clothes hanging there.
He hadn’t even considered what he’d be wearing after the shower.
Walking around in his pajamas certainly wasn’t an option.
Noting the plain black suit was one of his, no doubt collected from his room, Nuri decided to get dressed and head down to breakfast and deal with Nate before diving into the absurd pile of messages.