My door was open because I like to feel the breeze when I sleep. “Just because you’re handsome doesn’t mean?—”
“HA!” He slams a fist on the table, rattling my jewelry box and the handful of glass pots of makeup I wear for special occasions. Like balls or parties or Tuesdays. “So you do think I’m handsome. I knew it.”
Rolling my eyes, I hurry over to lock my door and then sink onto my bed, hiding my hands beneath my thighs so I don’t fidget. The last thing I want is for him to realize how nervous hemakes me. “I think you’re too vain for your own good,” I counter. “And that you must have better things to do than come to my tower every Tuesday.”
“Nothing is better than coming to your tower.” He sounds so sincere when he says it, I don’t know what to think.
My body’s reaction, however, is the same as it always is when the prince is near. My heartrate speeds up, my skin goes all clammy, and my head starts to spin.
That day in the market, I couldn’t believe he had spoken to me. When I first arrived, I’d run into a few girls from school. They’d been all aflutter, claiming Prince Senan and Prince Aeron had been spotted in the marketplace. Rumors like that were a copper a pound, so I knew better than to take a blind bit of notice. Yet, I found myself scanning for men with hair as black as midnight and eyes as silver as the stars themselves. That was until one of the girls pointed out that the princes would likely be glamoured.
When Senan sidled up next to me at the lemon cart, I’d nearly expired on the spot. Being the object of his undivided attention is truly a terrifying, wonderful thing. A woman could lose herself in his blinding aura.
But if there was one thing my classmate Scarlett’s woeful tale had taught me, it was that falling for a Vale prince can only end in heartache, so I’d put up my defenses straightaway.
Defenses he has slowly dismantled one disarming smile at a time.
My fingers grip the quilt beneath me. “I will concede that you aren’t hideous.”
He swings his long legs from beneath the table and turns himself so he’s facing me, bracing his elbows on his knees and smirking once more. “I live for your compliments, Allette.” The way he says my name should be illegal. “If I promise to bring you a surprise next week, will you give me another?”
A surprise, huh? I’d be a fool not to accept a surprise from a prince, wouldn’t I? “All right. Let me see… Your height is above average.”
He stumbles to his feet and clutches his chest, catching himself on the corner of my table as if his legs are about to give out. “Be still my heart.”
“And your company is tolerable.”
He weaves on his way to where I sit; my heart pounds that bit louder with each step until the mattress dips and…
Heavens above.TheSenan Vale issitting. On. My. Bed. The two of us are so close, his muscular thigh is pressing against mine, and I can see his pupils dilate as his gaze falls to my lips.
Stars, do I want him to kiss me.
Despite what happened to Scarlett, and who knows how many other women, I still want to know what it feels like to be thoroughly, undoubtedly kissed by this man.
What if he is a liar and has no intention of returning with a surprise next week? What ifthisis actually the last time he comes to my tower? Do I really want Old Allette to be haunted by regret over Young Allette never having the nerve to ask for this handsome, worldly prince to press his lips to hers?
Having him this close slowly steals every bit of good sense I possess until I find myself blurting, “You should kiss me.”
Those quicksilver eyes snap to mine, and Senan’s tongue darts across his lips. “I should?”
Part of me cannot believe he didn’t immediately say no. Better keep going before I lose my nerve. “Yes. One kiss to put us both out of our misery.”
“Misery, huh?”
Why did I say that? Get it together, Allette, or else you’re going to ruin what might be your only chance for this to happen. “I have very high expectations, you see. And when you prove to be terrible at kissing, I will finally be able to break free ofthis spell you’ve cast over me.” Maybe I won’t even want him to return next Tuesday.
Even as the thought drifts through my mind, I know I’m a lying liar. Senan must as well because his teasing grin has turned wolfish.
I grip the covers a little tighter. “Why are you smiling?”
He places a hand on the mattress right behind me and twists ever so slightly, angling himself so that we are only a breath apart. “Because I am a fantastic kisser.”
Arrogant prince. Unfortunately for my hammering heart, arrogance looks good on him. “Men who claim they’re fantastic at something rarely are,” I shoot back.
“Shall we put your theory to the test?”
I lift a casual shoulder even as my pulse skyrockets because he is leaning even closer, his breaths becoming my breaths. His heat becoming my heat. “If we must,” I whisper, transfixed, completely and utterly in his thrall, watching, waiting, anticipating the moment our mouths finally meet as he eases forward and…