Page 34 of Broken Prince

“Oh.”

He nodded. “If you want we can switch places; it might be easier for both of us.”

No, I didn’t want to switch places. I wanted him to show me his face freely, left side included. I didn’t mind the scars—hell, I even found them attractive. I’d seen on Google how he’d looked before the accident, all preppy and powerful with an uncanny resemblance with that dark-haired vampire fromBuffy the Vampire Slayer, but the scars didn’t take anything away from his handsomeness—no matter what he believed, what anybody led him to believe.

“No, I don’t think so. I like being here and I’m actually enjoying the view.” I blushed at my words. I was not a forward woman; I never complimented men or flirted. Hell, I didn’t even know how.

His eyebrows puckered in confusion. Probably trying to figure out if I was crazy or a liar. I was neither, his scars were striking but they didn’t take away from his rugged, masculine beauty—at least not to me.

I slid closer to him and removed my gardening gloves. I brought my hand up and brushed the soil from his bearded cheek.

He tensed as if he was made of stone under my touch.

I brought my other hand up and brushed my fingertips across his scarred cheek softly, barely a touch, and despite his frozen state, I saw his pupils dilate. He liked that I touched him.

His small reaction made me bolder somehow and I traced the scars with my forefinger. I traced the one going down in an almost straight line from the side to his forehead, down the corner of his eyes, the corner of his mouth to his chin. It tipped the corner of his mouth in a small pout.

“The scars are not ugly,” I whispered softly, worried that I’d break the spell and he would pull away—retreating in his shell of self-hatred. “You’re handsome. I like both sides of you.” I kept my eyes locked on his—showing him that my words were nothing but the truth. It was not pity talking; it was the attraction I felt for him despite knowing how wrong and hopeless it was to feel something for a man like him.

“You don’t have to say that,” he whispered but remained immobile, letting me trace all the scars.

“I know I don’t. But I mean it, every word. Please don’t hide your face from me.”

I didn’t realize he had moved until he gently brushed his fingers along the seam of my bottom lip. He had removed his gloves while I was engrossed with his face and he seemed as mesmerized as I was.

His face softened, and for once I saw how vulnerable this man was.

“You’re making it so difficult,” he whispered so low I wasn’t sure it was made for me to hear.

“What?” I replied breathlessly as he brushed his fingers slowly back and forth against my bottom lip.

“Staying away from you.”

“What if I don’t want you to?”

“Then you are just as much of a fool as I am.”

I opened my mouth to reply when Dom and another guard rounded the corner.

We jolted back as if we’d just been struck by lightning, the moment definitely gone.

Luca stood up much faster and gracefully than a man his size should have been able to.

“I think gardening is not for me,” he started, brushing the soil on his jeans, avoiding my eyes. “I’ll find you some assistance for the garden.” He looked at Dom and the other man who was watching us with curious interest. “Can I assist you with something?” he barked at them.

Dom shook his head but his eyes were not on Luca anymore. They were on me. They were questioning, speculative… I looked down with discomfort.

“Then keep on going; I’m not paying you to stare.”

I kept looking down as if the bulb in my hand was the most fascinating thing in the world.

I saw Luca’s feet turn toward me and I looked up, meeting his eyes. His face was hard again, his eyes almost accusing—as if he was angry at me for seeing through the cracks in his walls. He could build me up and break me with just one look, one word… His power over me was both exciting and terrifying.

“This won’t happen again.”

“What won’t? The gardening or—” Or what? What did we just share? It was an intimacy I’d yet to experience. It had been different, meaningful even if I couldn’t put a name on it.

“Both, everything,” he replied curtly before straightening his sleeves, then retreating back to the house.

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