Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
“Your bag,” I said, handing it to her.
“Thank you.” She didn’t take it. Instead, she put her hands up to the vents of the car.
“For someone who loves the winter, you are always looking to escape the cold,” I said.
“I’d rather be cold than hot. I can keep putting on clothes. In the summer, there is no way to beat the heat,” she replied and looked up to me. “Is everything okay back home?”
“Yes and no,” I whispered, reaching over and taking her hands into mine. They were freezing.
“Ah, I get it. It’s one of those if you tell me you’d have to kill me, royal family secrets?” she teased.
I leaned forward, my lips by her ear. “Yes, but as you are going to be part of that royal family, you may know.”
“We are not taking it slow anymore, are we?”
“You do not want to know? Even if it concerns you?”
She looked at me for a long time and then nodded. “Okay, tell me.”
“Once we get home.”
Chapter 20
I would be lying to myself if I said I didn’t feel anything when he said, “Once we get home.”
It was my home. But knowing he considered it part his—not in a bad way, but a place for us both—was kind of nice. However, when we walked inside, and Iskandar and Wolfgang excused themselves, I figured whatever he was going to tell me was serious. He didn’t say anything at first, taking off his jacket and tossing it onto the couch. I was just beginning to get anxious when he turned back to me.
“Before we speak, do you mind helping me get this thing off?” He pointed to the wig on his head. “Your mother glued it down, and it itches like mad.”
How was it that he always made me laugh even when he was not trying to?
“Come on. The oil for it is in my room,” I said, going up the stairs.
“Thank God! I was just thinking of yanking it off,” he said, following me.
It was only when I was outside my door that I remembered I was inviting him inside of my room.
“What? Is your underwear lying on the bed or something? Believe me, I will not mind,” he teased, and I felt the urge to kick him.
“Saying something like that is not very prince-like,” I replied, opening the door for him.
“I will be prince-like back in Ersovia, but here with you, I just want to be a man,” he said as he stepped inside my deep-pink bedroom. Behind my bed was a mural of a garden with flowers and wild peacocks. There were books and song sheets all over the place, but other than that, there was nothing really special.
“Strangely, it is exactly as I thought it would be,” he said, turning back to me.
“Why is that strange?”
“Because I am never correct on what to expect from you.”
“Expect nothing then,” I said, taking my vanity chair and bringing it into the bathroom. “Come in here. It’s going to be a little bit messy. You might want to take off your jacket and...and don’t make any sexual innuendoes.”
“Yes, ma’am, I would not dream of it.”
The look on his face said he already had. Luckily, he kept it to himself as he pulled up his sweater and shirt at once. Every one of his six-pack abs and the deep V that ran into his pants was now on display. I noticed he had a gold medallion-shaped multi-pointed star with an eagle in the center, and on that eagle was some sort of crest.
Unable to help myself, I touched it, running my hands over the groves in the gold. “What is this?”
“An ancestral protection medallion.”
“What?” I questioned, looking back up to him.
“I told you my people are a little bit superstitious, my mother, especially,” he replied, touching the medallion. “It’s been in my family for generations. And usually, it’s given to someone who needs the most luck and protection.”
“And that is you?”
“Apparently.” He snickered. “I’ll explain more after we are finished. Unless you wish to keep touching my chest.”
“Right.” I quickly gave him my soft pink towel. “S-sit down.” Was that my voice? What in the world? I sounded like a chicken.
“I am in your care,” he said gently, taking a seat.
I stopped speaking to give my voice the time it so clearly needed to take care of itself. Taking the oil, I massaged it into his temples first, then back around his ears, and his shoulders went up.
“Are you okay?” I asked, not sure what was wrong.
“I am fine. I just did not realize I was getting a free massage.”
“Who said it was free? I still want to hear all of these secrets.”
He became quiet, and it took a few more seconds before all the glue melted, and I could finally take off the wig. I still couldn’t believe he had gone that far just so he could go out in public. But today, we had gone around town and even went to the street market. Putting the hair on the counter, he wiped away the oil dripping down his face then scratched his head, sighing in relief.