Page 24 of My Dark Prince
But that time wasn’t now.
Chapter Eleven
Briar Rose
Age sixteen.
Another summer, another rose.
“A purple-blue rose. The rarest color of all for a rose. Coincidentally, the color of your eyes.” Ollie dipped his head to kiss the back of my free hand, his gaze never wavering from mine. “Andmy balls all year-round.”
I laughed. “Pervert much?”
“Much. So freaking much, you have no idea. And you’re the pervert’s girlfriend.” Oliver plopped down beside me in a heap of bronze, muscular limbs. “What does that say about you?”
I arched an eyebrow. “That I have questionable taste in boys?”
Ollie’s chest rumbled with laughter as he bent for another quick kiss. I stared down at my plain top and jeans, wishing I had a chance to throw on the cute dress I’d sewn for this very occasion. His first day back in Switzerland. Seb had warned me that his brother would try to surprise me.
Still, Oliver had managed to catch me off guard on the edge of the lake, laying on the grass under the drowsy sun, tracing the shapes of fat, fluffy clouds with my finger. He’d tucked the rose into my hair, as he always did, propping himself on one elbow, staring at me with a dreamy grin.
I plucked it out of my hair and pressed it to my nose. “Where’d you get it?”
“Austria.”
I picked a velvety petal from the rose, rubbing it between my fingers. “Is it naturally blue?”
“Nope. They personally grow the roses with a special dyed water. They haven’t managed to breed this hue of roses yet. Trust me, I’m super invested in this start up.”
“Breed?” I snorted. “You just wanted to use that word.”
He rolled his eyes. “Guilty as charged, smartass.”
“Why are you invested in blue roses?”
“Because once they become a commodity, I’ll be able to send you some every weekend.”
It felt like he pulled the ground beneath my feet, teaching me that I could fly. Like I was floating in the air, under some kind of spell.
Oliver tugged the petal from my fingers and dragged it across the side of my neck, making my entire body bud into goosebumps. “Apparently, blue roses symbolize unrequited love and a deep desire that cannot be attained.”
I swallowed hard, my heart swimming in my chest. “Your love is not unrequited.”
He slid his nose against mine. “No?”
I shook my head, so our noses brushed together in a kiss.
“Good.” He gave me a quick peck on the lips. “Did you fall for anyone else during the school year? Is there anyone I need to kill?”
I almost choked on my laugh. Thus far, my time at Surval Montreux could only be described as challenging, to say the least. I stood out like a burger in a fruit bowl.
For one thing, I had no parents. The other girls smelled that weakness from miles away. Saw that I never strayed too far from campus, always staying during vacations and breaks while they chartered private jets to luxurious condos to spend time with family. My parents barely took my calls, and when they did, they used the sixty or so seconds to berate me for reaching out to our extended family members.
“You have to stop pestering my sisters,” my mother would scoff. “You’re wasting your breath. I’ve told you a thousand times,
I am not in contact with any of them. They’re too jealous of our wealth and success.”
Didn’t matter. No one ever answered my calls. Eventually, I stopped trying.
