Page 46 of The King's Fake Bride

“Fine.”

He scowls and gets up, going over to a decanter on one of the shelves and pulling down a bottle of something amber. He pours a large glass and comes back to the desk, setting it to the side, although he doesn’t take a sip.

I sigh and try to get comfortable, but it feels like the walls are closing in. “The housekeepers were talking to the chef the other day when I went to the kitchens to work on some recipes. They’re talking about you sleeping in the study.”

“I’ll come to our chambers at night, then. Is that all?”

“No.” I get up and tie the robe tight. “Let’s go for a walk. I can’t think straight in here. It feels like you’re the one holding all the power and I’m coming for a meeting with the king. I hate it.”

I glare at the portrait of his family staring down at us from over the fireplace.

Xander sighs but gets up, catching sight of the ink on his cheek in a mirror near the door and wiping it away.

We walk through the empty halls out to the stables, passing the barn and down the landscaped path to one of the fields in the back with a massive tree.

“Yorgos and I used to play out here all the time when we were younger.” Xander tucks his hands into the pockets of his slacks.

“Were you two close?”

“We were, even though Yorgos was a good few years older than me.” Xander points to a little stream that cuts between the field on the ground and the forest, the fence that surrounds the castle just barely visible. “We used to climb that wall there and take off into the woods.”

Chuckling, I look up at him. “Security must’ve loved that.”

“I keep thinking about what he would say if he were here right now.”

“What would he say?”

“He would probably try to race me to the tree.” His lips quirk to the side.

“Last one to the tree has to tell the other what’s on their mind.”

Before he can respond, I take off running, knowing that he’s going to outpace me in seconds. His longer legs and what I suspect is a desire to keep his emotions to himself have him running past me.

Xander leans against the tree, hands in his pockets, crossing his legs at the ankles as he gives me a smug smile. “So, what’s on your mind?”

“You’ve been avoiding me for weeks, and I hate it. I hate that I came here and decided to agree to marry you, thinking that maybe we could be friends. But then we gave each other these mixed signals, agreeing to be adults one minute and then dodging each other the next.”

“Let’s be fair about this. I know that I’m the one doing the dodging.”

I nod and lean beside him against the tree trunk. “You are, but maybe I’m not making this easier on you either. I know I spend a lot of time learning how to be a queen, more so after those pictures of us at the club went public.”

“We knew that was going to happen.”

“And Jorge gave me quite the dressing down about it.” I nudge him. “I should’ve pulled out the orphan card. It might’ve been a good time for it.”

“Wouldn’t work. The man is in his sixties and still hasn’t found his heart.”

Laughing, I scuff my toe in the soft grass at my feet. “I think you want out of this, but you don’t want to admit it,” I say.

“No!”

I pause, lips pressing together in a thin line.

Butterflies erupt low in my stomach, beating their wings as that familiar feeling of falling for someone races through my body.

As difficult as he can be, and as avoidant as he is, there’s no denying that the sweeter moments with Xander I share have him worming his way beneath my skin.

The harder parts only make me like him more.

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