Page 31 of Eye Candy

“And your teeth are… they’re a little scary.”

Every nerve in my body practically screamed. It took every ounce of willpower inside me to not be all over her right now. “So, you think I’m scary?” It wouldn’t be the first time my teeth had made someone uncomfortable and frightened.

“I didn’t say that.” Laina held my stare after that, unflinching even though she’d started to lean a bit closer to me. “I think you’re,” she paused, biting her bottom lip and drawing my gaze to her mouth, “trouble.”

It was like our bodies were magnets, like we couldn’t help but be drawn to the other. That’s why fighting it was pointless.I much preferred the way animals did things; if you liked someone and they reciprocated, why wait?

“Oh, I am trouble,” I agreed. “Trouble for everyone… except you. I’d never be trouble for you, Princess—unless you wanted me to be.”

Laina’s lips puckered a bit. “If I wanted, how much trouble are we talking?”

She walked a thin line, didn’t she? I loved it.

Where had this girl been? Well, kidnapped, obviously, but I seriously meant where—because if I got my hands on her kidnapper, I’d take a page out of my brother’s book and tear him apart.

“If I went into detail, I’m afraid we’d be here all day, and I don’t think those two downstairs would appreciate that very much.” Even though it physically pained me to pull away from her, I stood up and took a step back. “They’re probably already chomping at the bit to get in here, especially that one—not Big Mike. What’s his name?”

“Kieran,” she spoke his name with a sigh as she stood up. “He’s actually my step-uncle now, since his sister married my dad while I was gone.” Laina didn’t sound too happy about that. Not one bit. “He’s very protective.”

A step-uncle, huh? Well, that didn’t make him off-limits, or her off-limits in his eyes. If I felt like this after one meeting with her, I couldn’t imagine what Kieran felt. It had to be hard, resisting her day in and day out. Perhaps he was a stronger man than I’d realized.

Or perhaps not.

“I’d be careful with him,” I told her. “Something about him isn’t right, Princess.”

She chuckled, but when she saw I was serious, the laughter died. “What? How can you tell that after seeing him for like ten seconds?”

“I saw it in him,” I whispered, stepping closer to her even though it was a mistake. “Just like I see it in you.” One of my hands lifted to her face, drawing down the side of her cheek softly. Her eyebrows came together, and I could tell she wanted to fight me on it, argue with me, so I added, “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. We are who we are, and the sooner you accept it, the sooner you can start living your life the way you were meant to.”

Pulling away from her, I walked around the couch. “I’ll sketch up a few things. Come see me in a week.” I didn’t want this meeting to be over, but we’d made Kieran and Big Mike wait long enough.

She trailed after me, walking through my place in a hurry to catch up. “Does it matter when?”

“I’m always here.” I gave her a smirk before opening the door to the stairwell. “Princesses first.”

Laina rolled her eyes. “I don’t know why you keep calling me that. I’m no princess. I don’t think anyone in this city is a princess.” She walked past me, starting down the winding stairs.

“You can be my princess, then.”

She stopped on the landing between floors, turning and looking up at me. The stairwell was dim, but I could see her well enough. She was on the shorter side, around five feet tall. Thinner than she should be, so it wasn’t a wonder why she’d been so weak after climbing up five flights of steps. Even in the shadows, she was a cotton candy daydream.

“Why would you… you don’t even know me,” she spoke, faint traces of suspicion in her voice. And yet, I could tell she was still curious, curious as to what being my princess would be like.

I shrugged. “I know you well enough.”

“Do you?”

“I do. We may have just met, but I think I know you better than most people out there. Take, for instance, how you act. You want everyone to believe you’re fine, but you’re not. I can tell you’re not. Anyone who really knows you knows you’re struggling. Maybe you even wish you’d never escaped your captor to begin with.”

It was like my words hit her physically, because she took a step back, her mouth falling open. “I don’t wish that,” she declared, holding her head high.

“You might be able to fool others, but you can’t fool me. Regardless, the offer stands. If you ever want to be my princess—”

But she wasn’t listening to me anymore; she was stuck on what I’d said before. Laina let out a harrumph and turned to walk away from me, hurrying down the stairs as if she couldn’t wait to get away from me, which I knew wasn’t the case. If anything, she fought to resist the same pull I felt toward her.

I kept pace with her; her short legs had to work overdrive to hurry along. Her hurrying was my normal pace. We emerged out of the stairwell, into the dark hall of the ground floor, and she turned the wrong way, marching off.

“Uh, Princess, if you want to leave, you need to go that way.” I tossed a thumb over my shoulder as I grinned at her, watching as she froze, turned around to face me, and huffed in silence.

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