Page 123 of Lace 'em Up

“Where are we going?” I ask as we walk under the canopy of leaves, our shadows mixing with the dappled sunshine.

He slips his hand from mine, wraps his arm around my shoulders, tucking me close, enveloping me in the warmth of his body, the spice of his scent. My soul immediately settles.

“Wait just a little longer, princess,” he says softly. “Please?”

I nod, whisper, “Okay.” And maybe it’s not so much that my soul is settling, but rather that it expands a little, as though the tendrils between us are growing, leaving my body, drifting over, clinging to the edges of him.

Wanting to feel him.

Wanting to sew him into my being.

Wow…that’s not creepy at all.

Which is easier to think about than the fact that?—

I want this to be forever.

I clamp my eyes closed.

Which is not a smart thing to do on a path filled with rocks and random tree roots.

Because, yup, I promptly trip.

But I barely move, barely have the sensation of falling before I’m held even more tightly.

Kept safe.

Protected.

“Easy now, princess,” he murmurs, stroking a finger down my cheek, seeming to wait for me to open my eyes.

And when I do, I’m dropped into deep blue pools.

Beautiful man.

“I don’t want this to be fake,” I blurt.

Horror floods through me.

Because…

I. Just. Said. That.

He stills, and I wait for him to drop his hand, for him to set me away from him.

But…

He doesn’t.

Instead, he says the most wonderful thing.

“I don’t think it’s been fake from the moment I picked you up from the side of the road.”

My heart skips a beat, words stoppering up in my throat. “But—” Then I clamp my teeth together, bite back the words that will make me sound like even more of an idiot.

He doesn’t let them stay buried, though.

Of course not.

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