Page 30 of Lily and the Billionaire Prince

“It’s just that, their attention doesn’t seem to bother you.”

“I see. And you think it should?” His grin had too much delight in it for her comfort. He was teasing her again. The rascal. She’d thought he was different. She’d thought he wanted to be here with her, not seek anyone else out. But she wasn’t going to admit that either.

“Why do I bother? You don’t need one more woman fawning over you.” Not when he had them in droves. Whether Lily liked it or not, being close to Henrik had unraveled her like a loose thread. Little by little, every soft-spoken word, every touch, every breath had unwound her that much more, and the fact that she’d seen him dote on countless others through magazines and entertainment news only made her more disgusted with herself for falling for his antics.

She didn’t want to be just another one of the crowd. She wanted his touch, his gaze, his affection tomeansomething. She wanted the kiss they hadn’t shared on the beach. Not as something to prove, but as a token of his genuine adoration of her.

Henrik’s fingers found hers. The touch was a lit match, sparking off the tips of her fingers. Lily pulled away. She didn’t want his attention, not if it didn’t mean to him what it meant to her.

“Why do you pull away from me?” he asked.

“What else am I supposed to do?”

“Those other women are just women,” he said by way of explanation. “I don’t even know their names.”

“Yet, you let them lay their hands all over you.”

“I couldn’t get away. Why do you think I texted you?”

“Come on. You could have gotten out of there.”

“I tried many times,” he said. “Each time I was surrounded.”

Lily leveled a glare at him. He lifted his hands. “It is a selfie battle. All they want is a picture with a prince.”

“Don’t tell me you don’t enjoy the attention.” Lily had seen it so many times since meeting Henrik.

He gave a little half-hearted shrug. “Usually, I do like the attention.”

“But not tonight?” He was unbelievable.

“No. Tonight I’m surrounded by other women, but I wish only to be with you. Why else do you think I asked you to be my date?”

Lily waited for his playful little smirk to emerge, for him to dart his glance or add in some other little joke. But he kept his gray eyes focused solely on her.

She was transfixed, caught in a state of in-between, wanting his words to be real, dreading the reality of them. Fairy tales weren’t real, she reminded herself. She couldn’t get swept away thinking this was the exception. Men weren’t reliable. They spoke pretty words and then used those words to get back at her.

The inner argument didn’t pack as much punch as it usually did. This wasn’t entirely true. Ethan wasn’t like that. And neither was her dad, prideful as he was. Just because one man had treated her in such a horrible way didn’t mean they all would.

Henrik had been a flirt and a playboy, but he was never cruel. Louise cared for him in a way she wouldn’t if he treated her unkindly. Louise had even warned Lily not to hurt him. On the plane, Lily had been certain Henrik could be more than the persona he’d given off. Maybe she needed to show him she believed what she’d said.

“I have had enough of crowds, haven’t you?” he asked. “We can go back in, but I suspect it will only be more of the same.”

Lily was slow to respond. “Why?” she finally asked. “Why me?”

“I can be myself when I am with you. You don’t like me because I am a prince. You like me for me, otherwise, you would not have invited me home to spend Christmas with you.”

“I never said I liked you.”

Henrik’s hands slid around her waist. She released a gasp at the unexpected spark in his touch. His barely-there grin deepened. “I believe you just did.”

All arguments fled, including her ability to form any kind of coherent thought. The music drifting from the ballroom magnified, filling Lily’s ears with thunderous sound as she became nothing more than beats and pulses in Henrik’s steady arms.

“The walk on the beach,” he said, “your brusque manner with me. You treat me as any other man.”

She knew it wasn’t entirely true. Inviting him home for Christmas had been common courtesy, though he’d clearly taken the offer to mean more than it had. That didn’t mean she was unaffected by him, by his lonely plight.

Henrik had also helped her with Damon, whether he’d known it or not. While those had been her initial reasons for her offer, something in her heart softened toward him, a locked-away crevice where impossible was transforming into possible. Maybe fairy tales didn’t come true, but this one could.

---