Page 146 of The Re-Proposal

“Every king needs a queen by his side.”

Her eyes spark with a challenge. “We’d have to be married for me to be called your queen.”

“Princess, then.” I whisper the word in her ear and watch her shiver with a feral grin on my face. “After you.”

16

THE PAST

CLARISSA

If Cody Bolton,the hottest guy on campus, is dating me because of a prank… then this is the longest prank in college history.

We’ve gone on several dates.

All of them have been wonderful.

Which makes me even more uneasy.

I’ve been thinking that this has to be a joke. Even my roommate, who sulked for weeks after she saw me and Cody out to dinner together, swore that was the only thing it could be.

But if it’s a joke, I’m still waiting for the punch line.

Cody walks me up the path to my dorm. He has his hands behind his back and seems lost in thought.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“Me? Yeah.” He flashes that perfect Disney prince grin. “You?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

“Good. And thank you. For the food.”

“Sure.”

Tonight, Cody took me to a nice restaurant. I saw the prices on the menu and asked if he wanted to go somewhere else—somewhere the food wasn’t half my savings.

‘I’ll take you to nicer restaurants than this when I start my own business’, he said.

Tonight was the first time he talked about a future with me in it. And sure, he turned red in the face and ducked behind his menu to hide it.

Maybe it was to laugh.

Or maybe it was out of shyness.

I don’t know. Cody confuses me.

Does he really like me?Me?

The girl from the soup kitchen?

The girl from the women’s shelter?

The girl who’s here on scholarship and hanging on by a thread?

I want to believe in him. I want to believe the fairy tale. The prince who swoops in to save you. The one who sees through your rags, through the dirt and grime and calls you worthy.

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