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As his lips coaxed mine to open, as his hands tightened around me and pulled even closer, and as my arms wrapped around his neck, I realized that even the greatest words of the most romantic writers could not compare to the sensations that assaulted me. I opened up for him, allowed myself a moment to feel like a woman. Only a woman and nothing more.
But the princess, the propriety that came with being one, was too strong in me and I made a small sound of protest, gripping his shoulders once again, this time not for support but to push him away. He gave my bottom lip a nip and a pull before stepping away.
"You are looking beautifully mussed, my princess." His smile was indulgent, likely smug that his were the hands that had caused the mussing. I reached up to try and salvage my hairdo. He grabbed my hands, gentle, but firm, nonetheless. "No, don't. You are beautiful just that way."
"I—" I could not find the words to reply to him as I simply looked down. "Please, we should head back."
"Of course." He nodded, eyes cooling as he offered me his elbow to hold once more. Like a gentleman. He led us back through the garden, and I felt his guards trail us discreetly. We walked down the same hallway but somehow it felt different, looked different.
Or maybeIwas different.
We walked right back into the ballroom, and I tried to avert my eyes, because I knew what everyone would see when they looked at me. At the way my lipstick had been smudged off and my hair was less than perfect. And then my eyes landed on Aric. It took all the restraint I possessed to stop myself from running to him like a child.
Not to mention the fact that he seemed otherwise preoccupied arguing with a petite woman with rich red hair. I didn't recognize her but raised my eyebrow at the fierceness of the emotions that crossed over my brother's face.
"What say you we dance and pretend we are proper once and again, my caged princess?" Reece's voice whispered over my ear as he leaned closer.
I startled. I hadn’t realized he was listening so closely to the words I spoke only for myself. I didn't want to dance with him again and invite the looks of everyone in the ballroom. But somehow the prospect of leaving him, of being parted from him, was even more unbearable. "I—"
But I was saved from answering at the sound of a voice behind him.
