AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Because Max isn’t his heir.”
“That’s terrible. Parents are supposed to love their kids equally, no matter what.”
He arches his eyebrows wryly. “Tell that to my father.”
“Have you tried telling him how you feel?”
He lets out a bitter laugh. “Of course not.”
“I don’t know him, and I get that it’s complicated because he’s also your King. But he’s your dad. I’m sure he loves you.”
“I don’t doubt his love.”
“Tell me if I’m stepping out of line here, but you’re worth knowing. Take it from someone who decided not to like you from the get-go and then did a 180.”
His eyes are soft. “You’ve done a 180?”
“Oh, yes. Possibly a 181.”
“181? That’s even better.” He furrows his brow. “Or worse? It’s not clear.”
I nudge him with my shoulder again. “Definitely better.”
“I’ve done a 181 on you, too,” he says, his eyes soft, and my stupid heart jumps for joy. “It would seem we both jumped to conclusions about each other.”
“At least we’ve got it straight now.”
“Indeed. It’s important for our countries’ special?—”
“—relationship,” I finish for him and we share a smile.
“Before you start feeling too sorry for me, my mother is amazing.” A smile claims his face, and the pain in my heart is dulled by the obvious love he shares with his mom. “She's warm and kind and a lot of fun. She's also smart as a whip.”
“I really liked her when we met at the ball.”
“You know, you remind me of her.”
My heart skips a beat. An actual beat.
“Is that too cheesy to say?” he asks, looking embarrassed by his admission.
“Not at all,” I reply with a giddy laugh. Because that’s how I feel around Alex: totally giddy. And hearing I remind him of his mom, a woman he so clearly loves? Well, it doesn’t get much better than that, people.
His eyes are soft as they hold my gaze. “Good.”
“Yes,” I murmur.
A girl could get lost in those deep brown eyes—a girl a lot like me.
“Your ice cream’s dripping,” he says and I notice a stream of creamy brown liquid running down the cone and onto my fingers.
“Oops!” Quickly, I lick the drips from my fingers and the cone, conscious Alex is watching me once more. I shoot him a sheepish smile. “I think I got it all.”
“You, err…yes, I think you did,” he replies, his voice gruff.
I flick my gaze to Vlad and Paulo, standing at a distance, keeping a close eye on us. Time to get this conversation back into the PG range.
“Your dad must have some amazing qualities to have a woman like your mom love him,” I say, because talking about your parents is about the least sexy thing I can think of.
