Page 75 of Royals
So I right myself in a hurry, stepping past the waiter and all those glasses, and catching a brief glimpse of Miles out of the corner of my eye as I practically sprint away.
Where am I going?
I have no idea. Just away from here, away from all those eyes and lenses, anddefinitelyaway from Miles.
There’s a barn at the far edge of the field, and even though everything involving me and horses has been a total nightmare on this trip, I march toward it, putting as much space between me and the polo field as I can, as quickly as I can.
When I step into the barn, I realize that it’s not actually a barn at all, but a fancy garage. There are cars parked in here, gorgeous, sleek, expensive cars, and I walk between two of them, letting my fingers drag over the cool surface of a Rolls-Royce as I take a deep breath.
That was certainly a freak-out for the books, and I wait to hear Glynnis or Ellie come in after me, chiding me to get back out there and smile for the cameras.
But it’s not Glynnis or Ellie suddenly casting a shadow from the doorway.
It’s Miles.
He’s just... standing there. His hands are loosely clenched at his sides, his chin is tilted down a little, and he’s breathing hard, like he ran to catch up with me.
“I’m sorry,” I say, and I am surprised to hear how shaky I sound. I’m surprised at how shaky Ifeel. Miles opened the door wide when he walked in, and now in the sunlight I can see dust motes floating in the air between us. “I couldn’t do it.”
Crossing my arms, I cradle my elbows in my palms and go on even as Miles moves closer to me. “I get that that’s part of this whole fake dating thing, but a kiss is... a kiss is special. Maybe not to you, but it is to me, and I didn’t want—”
And then whatever I might have said next is cut off by Miles’s mouth on mine.
He kisses me, his hands coming up to hold my face, and for a second, I’m so surprised that I don’t kiss him back. I just stand there with my arms still crossed, my eyes open.
But then he tilts his head, deepening the kiss, his hands warm on my cheeks, fingertips slightly calloused, and my eyes are drifting shut, my arms coming to drop first to my sides, then lifting up to clutch at his shirt there at his waist.
For a boy I’d once thought was made mostly of tweed, Miles cankiss.
We stand there in the barn, wrapped up in each other, and I go up on tiptoes, wanting to get even closer to him. Wanting to press every part of my body against his as I finally,finally, give into everything I’ve been trying not to feel since that night in the bothy.
When we finally pull apart, I sink back on my heels, staring at him with wide eyes.
“Wow,” I say softly, and he smiles. It’s the smile I saw that night at Seb’s club, the one that first clued me into the fact that Miles might be more appealing than I’d thought.
“A kiss is special to me, too,” he says, his voice so low and rough that I swear I can actuallyfeelit moving over my skin, and I shiver.
“You’re special to me,” he adds, and my fingers flex on his shirt.
He’s Seb’s best friend, as much a part of this world as the horse races and the tiaras and the plaid.
But he’s also funny and kind once you get past the stuffiness, and cute, and he kisses like it’s hisjob.
“So what do we do now?” I ask him, the words surprisingly loud in the empty barn.
“You smile!” a bright voice says, and we turn to see Glynnis in the doorway, the photographer right behind her.
Chapter 33
“This is even better than a kiss near the field,” Glynnis is saying, moving toward us with her hands spread open wide, like she’s framing a shot. “We’ll have Fitzy here shoot from behind one of the cars so the entire thing will feel a little sneaky, a little private.”
I don’t point out the irony in purposely posing for “private” pictures, but then my brain is still too scrambled from the kiss to say much.
Miles, however, doesn’t seem to have that problem. As Glynnis goes on, talking about angles and how many pictures and “hand placement,” he steps forward, one arm still around my waist.
“No.”
Glynnis pauses, her fingers opening and closing in the air like Miles saying no has just caused some kind of system shutdown.
