Page 2 of Escape From Me

I could lie to myself and pretend all this was in reaction to my brothers being paired up, but none of that was true. There was something about this pretty little princess hiding from the party that had me wanting to get closer, so I did exactly what I shouldn’t have.

I shifted my stance and took a step toward her, caging her in between me and the wall.

“Tell me, my little dove, if you aren’t the princess, then are you the villain in this story?”

That got me the sweetest little smirk.

“Dove? Much better than the stupid little flower my mother named me after.”

Flower. Now I was getting somewhere. I raced through my memories of everything I’d dug up about this elite bullshit party. There wasn’t much until I’d hacked their database. Mid-level security protected their elite little guest list. This had all been child’s play to get our names added without anyone being suspicious. But flower? I didn’t remember any flowers.

“Ha, but would a rose be a rose by any other name?”

I was close, here in our dark little corner. I could sniff the air and pull in every sweet nuance of her scent. She was sweet. If money had a scent though, I didn’t really think it would be this.

“Cute, prince asshole. Cute. I hadn’t had that pickup line yet.”

In the light of a full moon eclipsing the strings of expensive-looking fairy lights all over this rooftop garden, I could make out the way her pupils dilated just ever so slightly the moment my body pressed against hers.

If only I didn’t have on this itchy fucking monkey suit.

“Not a pickup line when I have no intention of picking up anything from this party except information.”

Every breath she took pressed her tightly bound chest against me. I didn’t understand fashion or why she would allow herself to be encased in a tight little dress.

The music inside paused and I shifted my attention to what was going on. Voices by the doors.

“Where is that child?” a female voice said.

I didn’t miss the gasp from the little thing hiding behind my body.

“Check the powder room. She needs to embrace that it’s time to come back to reality and stop playing around with her life,” followed a male voice.

There were plenty of footsteps here and there across marble floors. Clinking of glasses and pretentious laughter. Dainty heels clicking away and the tap, tap of slick bottomed male oxfords or whatever other pretentious fashion was so highly coveted. The rich had sounds if you ever stopped to notice and it was my talent.

“I take it that you might be said child?”

She hadn’t taken a single breath until just now. Her chest frozen as it pressed against that dress. Her face paled from moments ago. I added up every little detail.

“What? Why would you say that?”

I wasn’t the guy who got the girl. Hell, I wasn’t the guy that gave a shit about that kind of thing, but with her?

I lifted my hand, curling all but one finger to trace the outline of her cheek.

“I say that, dove, because you seemed to have forgotten how to breathe when that woman’s voice reached us.”

Her skin was soft under my touch. I shifted and moved my fingers until I cupped her cheek, my thumb free to trace over her soft lips.

“Little dove, who are you?” I asked without meaning to.

Every hot breath she exhaled whispered over my thumb until I let my hand slide lower, over her neck where it wasn’t hard to feel the beat of her thundering pulse against my hand.

“Why does it matter? You aren’t the man I was auctioned off to.” She seemed to pause for a single breath. “I’d never get so lucky.”

Lucky? That had my own lips pulling into a thin little line, curving up at the edge.

“Lucky? Now that is not something anyone would ever call being in my presence.”

---