Page 33 of Stolen Princess

I take a hearty glug of my latest pink fun and smile at Masters. “Thank you. This was wonderful and everything I needed.”

He doesn’t quite understand me, but he doesn’t need to. I pull money out of my bag and stare at the bill on the counter. I have no clue if I’m doing this right, but Rhys helps me along, and with one final wave, we leave.

“That was great!” I exclaim. “Where to next?”

“How drunk are you?”

I shrug. “I have no frame of reference to go by. The most I’ve had to drink before was a glass or two of wine with Mother.”

“Is the world spinning?”

I scrunch my nose. “No. Should it be?”

He tugs on my braid. “You’re smiling.”

“I know.” I giggle. “I’m not sure I can stop. This is the best day ever.”

Rhys smiles in return, and it’s a different smile than the ones I’ve typically gotten. It’s genuine and without motive. His eyes flicker about my face, and after a moment, he simply shakes his head as if something isn’t adding up for him.

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing. I’ve just never met anyone like you before.”

I snort. “You mean a girl locked away in a tower?”

“Something like that.” He stares up at the sky that’s gone gray and dull. “I want to get some clothes, so let’s do that fast before it starts to rain.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Rhys throws me a side-eye and rubs the top of his head as if he doesn’t know what to do with me. I don’t care. I’m having so much fun. I skip forward only for my left foot to snag on something, making me trip. Rhys jumps in front of me and pushes me back by my shoulders before I faceplant onto the road. A car whizzes by a second later, and holy shit!

“Whoa. Careful. You’re drunk.”

“You saved me.”

His eyes track back and forth between mine before they dip to my lips and hold. For a moment, I can’t breathe. I can’t think. He’s staring at my lips, and now I’m staring at his, wondering what it would feel like to kiss him. Would it be soft and sweet or rough and hard?

Which one would I prefer?

I sort of like the notion of his hands all over me, his mouth consuming. My mother doesn’t get me a lot of spice in my romance books. They’re also all fantasy, but I take what little there is and often let my imagination run wild. But never in my wildest fantasies did I ever picture a man like Rhys. The way he’s looking at me is making my heart pound. There’s a fission of energy blooming in my stomach. Does he feel this? This… tension.

His eyes slowly crawl back up to mine, and he tucks a random flyaway behind my ear before his thumb grazes my cheek. My skin prickles, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I lean in. I don’t know why, because I don’t think I actually want him to kiss me, or maybe I do. I don’t know.

He makes a noise in the back of his throat, shakes his head, and murmurs something in what I think is Danish before he releases me. That’s that. Moment over.

“Do you think you can manage this?” His tone is short.

“I’m sure I can,” I snap in return.

Annoyed with all things me, his hand goes to my lower back, likely to make sure I stay upright, and we cross the street and into a shop. I’ve seen cars. I’ve ridden in them. I’ve been in stores and have some mild memories of them.

I’ve spent far too many hours replaying everything I remember from my before life. I was a little girl, and the memories are warped—some I wonder if I made up over the years—but little things are coming back to me faster than others.

The bell chimes overhead, and I don’t ask permission. I simply head right toward the women’s section. Rhys doesn’t follow me, and I’m grateful for the break. When you spend most of your time alone, you both want people around and tire of them quickly. Or at least that’s how it’s going for me with him. This hot and cold, back and forth stuff is a lot.

The last time I was in a store like this, I was holding the hand of the woman who kidnapped me from my mother when I was a baby. It makes me shudder, but I push all that aside and focus on the clothes and shoes in front of me. It’s incredible. I haven’t gone shopping for myself before. My mother brings me everything, and I have very little say in it.

The idea of shopping is thrilling.