Page 8 of The King's Fake Bride

I grin at that. “I’m a year older than you, and I know for a fact that I don’t have my life together.”

In fact, if I was willing to tell her the truth about who I am, then maybe she would see that we’re in the same boat.

The closer I get to thirty, the more I feel like I should have life figured out.

With the crown now sitting on my head, that feeling has only gotten more intense.

Amy sighs, tucking a strand of hair that’s fallen loose behind her ear. “You seem like you have everything put together. I mean, what is there to figure out when you’re living on an island and enjoying beaches like this every night?”

“A lot.”

She bites the inside of her cheek, the corners of her eyes crinkling. “You don’t say much, do you?”

“Not all the time.” I stand and reach out a hand down to her. “Walk with me.”

CHAPTER 4

AMY

Idon’t know what I’m doing as I slip my hand into Xander’s and allow him to pull me to my feet.

As I stoop long enough to grab my sandals, I wonder if this is what the start of a romance movie feels like.

Or maybe this is a horror, and he’s the man who’s about to kill me while the audience screams at me for being so dumb.

Xander glances at me, his dark hair falling across his forehead, shifting with the breeze. His ocean eyes seem to stare past the walls I’ve built around myself, whittling me down to the core.

He tucks his hands in his pockets, leading the way down the sandy shore to the wet sand at the water’s edge. “So, if you could be doing anything with your life, what would it be?”

I press my lips together, listening to the crash of the waves. “I want to open my own bakery. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time — before my grandma passed, I promised her that I was going to see it through. It’s been a few years though, and I’m still stuck in a job I hate. It feels like I’m letting her down.”

“We may have just met, but for what it’s worth, I don’t think you’re letting her down.”

There’s a distant look in his eyes as he kicks a small shell, sending it sailing to the water.

Has he lost anyone?

It’s not the kind of question I’m going to ask a stranger, no matter how kind and welcoming that stranger may seem.

The last thing I want to do is scare off the only person who’s willing to talk to me right now.

“What would you be doing?” I ask, shifting closer to him when the waves crash against my ankles, sending a spray of cold water up my legs.

He hums. “I’ve thought about that, and I have to be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever had an answer. It always just seemed like I could do whatever I wanted, and everything would be fine.”

“I’m jealous. I wish I had that kind of freedom with my life.” I smile and kick a small clump of seaweed back into the water when it brushes against my feet. “I thought that everything was going to work out one way or another, but then things just started to spiral. And once you’re in that place, it’s kind of hard to stop.”

“Are you in trouble?” Xander asks, his voice gentle as he looks down at me.

“No. Nothing that bad.” I clap my hands to my cheeks. They feel more like scorched earth than skin right now. “I have savings and a good job, but the job sucks, too. I hate being bossed around and disrespected for the work I do.”

“I understand that. I spend most of my day in meetings where I’m supposed to be in charge, but everyone else around me tells me what I should be thinking or how I should behave. It’s exhausting.”

“What do you do for work?” I ask. He looks too clean-cut to work in one of the trades. His hands are too clean for a mechanic, and his forearms aren’t muscled enough to be in construction. He looks like the type of man who would be in the corporate world, but he’s too young to be high up unless he’s working at a startup.

Xander shrugs, his hands in his pockets. “Human relations.”

“That makes sense.” I gesture to him. “You don’t have the look of someone who spends all day in the sun.”

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