Page 63 of The Prince and the Puck
“We don’t have much time, Lizzy,” he said. “They’ve got me in fittings this afternoon. And tomorrow.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked.
Declan gave me a look. “Only that they’re pretty set on me being king.”
I exhaled sharply. “All right,” I said. “Then we’ll have to work fast.”
CHAPTER 33
DECK
FINDING THE RIGHT TREE IS IMPORTANT.
For a moment,neither of us said anything, and we both sat still, our backs to the palace, the warmth of the Murdan sun beating down on our skin. There were so many things I wanted to say to her, so much I needed to say. But I wasn’t sure she’d want to hear any of it. Still, I thought about my brother, about his confidence and security about the woman he loved. I had to try.
“I remember you, Eliza,” I began, turning to face the woman I loved. Her hair was pulled back into the tight ponytail she favored when she was working, and her dark expressive eyes caught mine.
She looked confused. “I mean… I would hope so. We came out here together. It’s only been a minute or two. Are you feeling okay?” She squinted at me, and I couldn’t tell if she was kidding or not.
“I remember you from when we were kids.”
“Oh. That.”
“Yes, that. I remember all of it. And I remember how I felt about you then,” I continued.
“Oh.” Lizzy dropped my gaze, her fingernails suddenly catching her attention.
“I remember that with you was the only place I felt like a regular kid, a guy with other things to think about besides all of this.” I waved my hand at the extensive grounds and the building behind me. “You were fun and brilliant and sweet,” I went on. “Man, I had the biggest crush on you.”
Lizzy looked up at me through her lashes. “Yeah?”
“Totally. That’s why I kissed you. Do you remember?”
She straightened. “A girl always remembers her first kiss, Declan.”
I grinned, I liked believing she’d replayed that moment over the years. It was pretty chaste, just a peck on the mouth really, barely a graze. But it had come from the heart of a nine-year-old kid who had no idea what he was doing. But who really, really liked the girl in front of him.
“It was right around here somewhere, wasn’t it?” I asked her, standing and striding toward the tree I thought was the one beneath which I’d given her that kiss.
She shook her head, sending her ponytail flying. “It wasn’t that one.” She grabbed my hand and tugged me to a different tree a few feet away. “It was here.”
Lizzy stopped and looked up at me then. We stood almost chest to chest, and I found that my breathing was coming quicker as my heart rate accelerated at the look in her eyes.
“This tree? You sure?”
“What did I just tell you? Girls don’t forget these things.” She stared up at me, a challenge in those dark irises.
I waited a beat, giving her a chance to change her mind, and then I answered the challenge. My lips met hers softly at first, testing, being certain this was what she’d meant. And then I gave her a real kiss, pulling her against me—hard—and tasting her tongue with my own. A soft moan escaped her, and the stiffness in my pants grew harder. I pressed it to her for the tiniest hint of relief, and it elicited another breathy sound.
“Nine-year-old me didn’t really know what he was doing,” I said, taking a break to regain my self-control.
Lizzy’s hands were grasping at the skin beneath my shirt, pulling me closer almost desperately. “I’m glad, or I would’ve been pregnant by eleven,” she breathed, fusing her mouth to mine once again.
Things escalated, and as I cupped her bottom and Lizzy lifted her leg to wrap around my hip, I remembered where we were. Who we were.
“Not here.” I pulled away, keeping her hand firmly in my own, as I tugged her toward the palace doors. We went back inside, and I ducked through the first doorway I recognized, into the guest suites I’d occupied last time I’d visited. I locked the door behind us, then spun Lizzy around, pinning her against the door.
“Lizzy, I don’t want to lose you.”
