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A few seconds later, the guard who was leading me raps on a door without stopping. Then he keeps walking as the door opens and my wrist is caught in a powerful grip. I’m tugged inside, close to losing my balance and tripping from the force of it, which is no surprise. What does surprise me is the soft smile on Kaz’s face when he shuts the door behind me and folds his arms.
“Well?” he asks, his hair damp from a recent shower that did nothing to dull his scent. If anything, it’s stronger than ever this close to him. The wetness only serving to infuse it with a hint of something like petrichor.
Once again, my clit lights up like a homing beacon. I have to press my legs together as I run my gaze over our crown prince who’s in nothing but black sweats and a gray t-shirt. I know I’m not meant to feel this way. I took one and a half times my heat suppressant a few hours ago, but at the sight of him, I want to whine with need. I want to cuddle up with him and feel that hard body pressed against mine. I want to feel him purr and purr into him in return.
Stop it, Maddie.
His feet are bare, his expression strangely smoothed out and relaxed as he regards me. I’ve never seen the prince like this before, but he seems a touch…too relaxed.
“What’s up with you?” I ask before I can stop myself.
To my utmost surprise, he simply smirks and cocks his head at me. “Nothing. What’s up with you?”
“Nothing,” I say, but then I squeeze my eyes shut and shake my head. “I mean, it’s not nothing, obviously.” I look at him again, trying to ignore how much I want to know what he was doing before I came here. “We haven’t established what kind of information you want or how often you want it. If I’m wasting your time right now, then I’d like to apologize in advance.”
He shakes his head. “You’re not wasting my time. What happened?”
Curiosity gnaws at my insides, so intense that it certainly can’t be healthy. It’s none of my business what he was doing. Plus, just thinking about how he might’ve ended up so relaxed isn’t helping the situation in my panties.Snap out of it and report, Darling!
“When I walked back into our quarters earlier, Rachel was being awful to Antonio. She was talking about how his family business was in trouble and how he shouldn’t even be here.”
Kaz exhales heavily, a light and easy smile blooming on his wicked lips makes my heart skip a beat. “Thank you. Rachel has always been perfectly cordial to me, but she’s the daughter of a diplomat. With them, you can never be too sure. She’s been in media training since she was about four, so she knows how to put a nice spin on things.”
“Will you choose her?” I ask, thinking maybe he didn’t hear me. “She’s a bully, Kaz.”
Kaz’s smile morphs, quirking up at one side in a way that seems…almost curious.
“I don’t know,” he replies after a moment. “Probably not. Neither of the others are too fond of her, and we’re making this decision together. Thank you for coming to me with this. It’s good to know that what we suspected about what she’s really like is true.”
“What about Antonio?” I ask even though I know I shouldn’t. “Is it true what she said? I don’t mean about his family’s financial difficulties, of course. I’m talking about how he will never be chosen because of it.”
He stares at me through those immensely dark eyes before he rakes a hand through his jet-black hair. “Antonio is a prime example of who we should choose. His family has made a name for themselves over the last few decades. They’re affiliated with Spanish royalty. Bonding with him will be akin to marrying into the modern version of royalty, I suppose. Financial troubles or not. Likely, the crown would put an end to those rumors and even right whatever financial mess they’ve gotten themselves in.”
Gaze clouding over as he contemplates it, he shrugs. “Antonio’s sister is an influencer. His brother is an entrepreneur who’s revolutionizing medical testing equipment. His mother is the picture of a wholesome maternal figure, but she kicks some serious ass from behind the scenes.”
“But they’re okay?” I ask cautiously. “The way Rachel was digging into him, it looked like she was going to make him cry. I thought…”
Kaz reaches for my hands and takes one, squeezing it quickly and gently before he lets it go and wipes his palm on his sweatpants. Again. He’s nice enough to me when we’re talking, but he clearly doesn’t want my scent on him.
“They’re okay,” he assures me as he shows me back to his door. “Last I heard, they fell on some tough times in the past year, but it was a difficult one for everyone. Rachel’s family included. But that stays between us. Is that all?”
“That’s all,” I affirm, but before he opens the door, I take a quick look around his chambers.I mean, who wouldn’t?
This is my first time in a real live prince’s living quarters, and I’d be stupid not to at least look. What I’ve read in the press about his love for reading is obviously true. There isn’t a spare inch of wall not covered by bookshelves. The spines of his books are all worn, telling me that they’re not just there for show.
Actually, it doesn’t look like anything in here is just there for show. His space is much cozier and more appealing than I thought it would be. We’re in some kind of sitting room where comfortable couches hold rumpled throws on the back. A fire roars in the fireplace even though it’s spring—but to be fair, it is pretty cold in their stone fortress—and in front of one large window is a telescope.
Excitement coils in my belly when I spot it. “It’s true, then. You’re an amateur astronomer? Funny, I thought the tabloids wrote that to make you seem smarter. More scientific.”
A smile curves on those beautiful, full lips as he shakes his head. “Trust me, the tabloids would never do me any favors. They wouldn’t report something to make me seem smarter. Dumber, definitely, but smarter? Never.”
“That must be terrible,” I say, glancing back at his telescope. “If I tell you how sorry I am that they won’t do you any favors, will you do me one?”
“A favor?”
I nod, swiping my tongue across my lips and wondering if I’m about to go too far. When his smile widens and his brows lift to let me know I can go ahead, I decide to ask him regardless of whether he might think I’m pushing the boundaries of our newfound quasi-friendship.
“I’ve always wanted to look through a telescope, but I’ve never had the opportunity. May I?”
