Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 44113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
“Thank you.”
She frowned. “What?”
“The words you’re looking for are thank you.”
“I didn’t—” I could see that pretty little brow furrowing, like she thought thanking me was giving in or something. Finally, though, she sighed.
“Okay, fine. Thank you,” she muttered as she raised her face into the light to glare up at me. “But I can take care of my—”
Her words stopped, and her eyes went wide with recognition as she locked her eyes on me.
“Oh my God, you’re…”
And suddenly, the recognition light went off in my eyes too.
Holy shit.
I hadn’t noticed in the club with everything going on. I hadn’t seen it with the way the neon bar sign half illuminated her face. But when she looked up at me, and I got a clear, full-on look at her, suddenly it clicked. This wasn’t just some chick. She wasn’t just some pretty young thing in the wrong club.
“You’re Faith LaFleur.”
Princess Faith LaFleur, as in, daughter of King Alfonse LaFleur, of Devoney. But if you were me, you knew him as something else too. Because currently, King Alfonse was one of the men trying to put me in jail and strip me of my crown and titles.
…And I’d just fallen head over fucking heels with one look for his daughter.
“What the hell were you doing in there?”
She blushed, quickly glancing around as the words left my mouth.
“I think you’re mistaking me for someone e—”
“No, I’m not,” I growled. I moved closer. Fuck, I knew every single survival instinct in me should have had me moving the opposite direction. I knew self-preservation and common sense should have had me running the hell away from this pretty little trouble in a white dress.
…But that was not going to happen. Because with her, the rest of it disappeared. Common sense, self-preservation — all of it came second to her, and all with one damn look.
“You’re Prince Cole.” She blushed as she said it, like even saying my name was a dirty word her pretty mouth wouldn’t normally dare utter.
“Guilty.”
“Well, what were you doing in there?”
I glanced down at myself — the jeans, the leather jacket, the tattoos — this wasn’t exactly that far from my usual garb at least when I wasn’t playing the part of prince, which I knew I had to play, especially lately. But her? I glanced back at the princess in the short white dress, the strappy heels, and the long hair loose and tumbling down her back. The fucking picture of innocence in that place.
“I think we can agree that one of us was slightly out of place back there,” I muttered. I moved closer to her. Her breath caught, but she didn’t back away. She just swallowed thickly as she looked up into my gaze. “So tell me, Princess, what exactly were you doing in that place?”
“Nothing,” she spat back. “Maybe I just wanted to listen to some music.”
I smirked. “You a big Vengeance Overload fan?”
“Vengeance what?”
I smiled, and she immediately blushed seeing the trap she’d just walked into.
“Look, I just wanted to…” She shook her head. “Look, forget it. Thanks, okay?” She turned on her heel, and started to march away.
…Yeah, not a chance I was letting her get away that easy.
“And what if I don’t forget it?”
She paused, taking a breath before she glanced back at me.
“What if I’m pretty fucking curious what the famously ‘good girl’ Princess Faith LaFleur was doing at a club called Death Notes watching a slam-punk band with a crowd full of those assholes back there.”
She turned fully, chewing on her lip like she was mulling something over.
“Well?”
She frowned. “I’m thinking, okay?”
“I’m waiting.”
She sighed loudly, rolling her eyes. “Did anyone ever tell you that you’re kind of a prick?”
“All the time.”
She grinned, her cheeks going red and her eyes sparkling before she quickly looked away.
“Look, I was…” She frowned and kicked the sidewalk with her toe. “I just wanted to do something different.” She sighed as she looked back up at me. “Haven’t you ever just wanted to be someone different besides a Prince for one stupid night?”
All the fucking time.
She shook her head quickly as she started to turn again. “I’m just gonna go. Thanks again for—”
“You gonna give up that easy?”
She turned back to me, frowning. “What?”
“I said are you going to just give up that easy?” I shrugged. “A couple of dipshits in a crappy club scare you off your mission just like that?”
Her frown deepened. “I’m not scared, it’s just very clear to me that I’m not who I was trying to be tonight.”
“Bullshit.”
Her jaw dropped, but when I moved closer, it snapped shut. I moved on autopilot, moving into her and sliding my hand over her hip. She didn’t fight me. She didn’t pull away. Actually, she pulled into me.
“Still want to try something different?” I murmured, pulling her closer and loving the way her soft gasp fell from her lips. Our eyes locked, and I saw the fire in hers that she was desperately trying to hide.