Page 57 of Forbidden Heart

“It’s not about actually washing the floor,” JJ skirts around my question like he skirts around the coffee table with his mop. “It’s about the process.”

Then he breaks into song.

Not for the first time, I think about how amazing JJ’s voice is. He can really sing, and he’s not the least bit shy or embarrassed. He belts out the lyrics across the living room and gestures for me to join in.

When I don’t instantly take him up on his offer, he starts dancing with his mop. It’s so dramatic, and so over the top, that I can’t help laughing. Then he hits the chorus and I can’t help joining in.

And then one day their paths crossed

And it was fate.

A love story for all time

Within the castle gates.

Singing my lyrics and my song, together, feels more like a fairy tale than anything I could have imagined. I imagine my mop is a dance partner, too, and JJ and I circle the living room, repeating the chorus at the top of our lungs.

When we’re done, I naturally transition into a new song, making up words on the fly.

She was a princess

He was her knight

They skated on the floor with all their might

With a tower full of bubbles

And a throne room filled with soap

They washed it all away with water from the moat

“You just made that up?” JJ asks when I finish the verse. At my nod, he breaks into a smile. “See, Roon? I told you this would work.”

“It did,” I tell him with a huge grin. “I really do have a process.”

“You really do.” JJ drops his mop and pulls me into a hug.

He spins me around before setting me down on my feet, and the two of us slip and slide and nearly fall. We both burst out laughing, and then I let out a big whoop. Because it’s the first verse I’ve written in weeks, and I suddenly feel whole again.

“I can do this, JJ,” I cry.

“I know you can,” he says, and this time, I really, truly believe him.

Chapter 22

JJ leaves for his next class, and I take off across the living room with my mop. Soon, I’m completely soaked with sweat, but I have the perfect competition song.

The words, the music, the combination of the two—they’re everything. They’re my life since I ran away from home. They’re all four of the guys, each a different prince, joined together in perfect harmony.

This song is what I’d imagined it would be and so much more. I can’t seem to stop cleaning and singing, singing and cleaning... getting lost in a fairy tale of my own making.

I pretend the mop is a prince and belt out the words, completely oblivious to my surroundings. And the song sounds so beautiful—so perfect—that I actually want to cry.

“That was amazing,” Charles says when I stop to catch my breath.

His loud voice makes me jump. I didn’t even hear him come in!

I drop my mop. It clatters to the floor, echoing through the suddenly silent living room. Then I spin around to face Charles, my pulse racing and my cheeks flushed.