Page 45 of Fit for a King

“Did you?”

“No… Yes. I should’ve.” Noah gripped the back of his neck and spun back around to face me. “Why would you do that? Why?”

“Because I can,” I said, taking a step toward him. “Because I needed one fucking night without the pressure of the crown on my shoulders. Because I needed a moment to just breathe. Gabriel offered, and I took it.”

“And this is why you sent for Baxter instead of me. So you could deceive me too.”

“It had nothing to do with you,” I said, and then stopped, because that was a lie. I shook my head. “I didn’t do this with the intention to hurt you. But I also didn’t want this.”

“This?”

“This…hope I can see flickering in your eyes.”

Noah jerked back as though I’d struck him. “Sir?”

“I’m trying to do what you want here, Bennett.”

“What I want?”

“For me to leave you alone, to forget you.” I spun away from him, unable to stand the contempt creeping into his face. “But there was no way I could go out there tonight and dance with someone else in the same place I’d held you the night before.”

Silence fell. The truth of what we’d both been dancing around was finally out in the open.

“Is that what you wanted?” I said, and slowly turned to face him. “To watch me smile at someone else? Laugh with someone else? Touch⁠—”

“No,” Noah finally said. “I hated it. Every second of it.”

“It wasn’t me.”

“No. But you let me think it was. And I don’t know what’s worse.” Noah swallowed and moved a step closer. “It’s easy for you to do and say what you want. I have to worry about every word out of my mouth. And tonight, you played with me. Like some puppet. Tell me, did I perform to your expectations, Your Majesty?”

His words were sharp, biting, and well deserved. I hadn’t even thought of how this might appear to him. I’d only been thinking of how I could get out of a night of expectation and speculation. Gabriel’s plan had gotten me out of the spotlight and allowed me to imagine a different life for myself for a moment. A life where I could choose the man I wanted to spend the night talking to. Even if he was holding a tray of champagne.

“I never meant for you to feel that way⁠—”

“No, you never meant for me to find out. That’s very different. Why did you speak to me tonight? Why seek me out?”

“Because I couldn’t stay away,” I said, the words falling from my tongue before I could pull them back. “I tried. I told myself whatever this was, is, between us can’t happen. I need to just let it go. But then you walked into the room and every intention I had to stay as far away from you as possible vanished.”

Noah shook his head and took a step back. “Don’t do that.”

“What?”

“Say things like that. You’re the king.”

“I know.”

“And I’m just⁠—”

“Noah.”

“—your footman.” He swallowed, and when I took a step forward, he took another back. “You shouldn’t have come to me.”

“I couldn’t help myself.” I angled my head a fraction, trying to see his eyes, but they were pointed on the ground. “You were watching Gabriel and⁠—”

“Your fiancé?” he said, finally looking back up.

“Yes. And you looked miserable. I wanted to make you smile.”