Page 15 of The Princess Trap
As soon as she saw him, Cherry smiled. Not the charming, dimpled grin she unleashed like a weapon, but something softer, almost involuntary. Her round cheeks plumped and her red lips curved, and Ruben allowed himself to imagine that she was as pleased to see him as he was her.
“You’re here,” she said. As if anything could’ve kept him away.
“Of course I’m here. Come on.” He took her hand, trying to hide the way even that small touch affected him. Trying to act like it was normal, casual, when really he felt like cheering when she didn’t pull away. “How was your day?”
She slid her eyes over to his. “Are you trying to be all thoughtful and charming and whatever?”
“I don’t have to try. It just comes naturally.”
“Really,” she snorted. But he saw the laughter dancing in her eyes, even if she wouldn’t let it pass her lips.
“Yes, really. I hope you’re taking notes.”
They came to a stop in front of his car. The door was now shut—Hans’s doing, clearly. Hopefully he’d let himself out while he was at it. Cherry might have figured out the bodyguard thing, but he didn’t know how she’d react to sharing the back seat with one.
She stared at the car. Then she frowned, pursed her lips, cocked her head and her hips to one side. “Is that a Hummer?” she finally asked—with the same tone she might use to say,“Is that a cockroach?”
Ruben raised his brows. “You don’t like it?” Most women liked the Hummer. Why the hell wouldn’t she like the Hummer?
“It’s very.... large,” she said finally. “Are you compensating for something?”
He smiled. “I absolutely am not.”
Cherry’s eyes slid down his body, bold enough to make his balls tighten. “You would say that, though, wouldn’t you?” she murmured.
“It’s true. Get in the car, and I’ll happily provide hard evidence.”
Her dark eyes danced. But her voice was serious when she said, “What aboutmycar?”
“I can have someone handle that for you.”
Her brows shot up, and too late, he realised his mistake: shedidn’t know who he really was. And she certainly had no reason to trust any of his staff with her car.
But all she said was, “No, I don’t think so.” And then her face lit up. “Oh! I know what we’ll do!”
“What?”I’ll do anything as long as it gets me where I need to be. Alone. With you.
“We’ll take my car,” she said. “Someone canhandleyours. Right?” There was challenge in her wry smile, in the soft kiss of those dimples.
And that was so fucking sexy to Ruben, he didn’t even think before saying, “Whatever you want.”
It was only when she led him to her old, rickety Corsa that he realised: Hans was definitely going to kill him for this.
Chapter Six
The journey was fast and silent, a ten-minute drive thick with tension. The air between them swelled like ripe fruit: ready to burst, lush and gleaming—but beneath the sweet anticipation, the threat of something rotten. Something too far gone.
The rotten thing was Cherry’s growing anxiety. As they pulled into the square of tarmac that served as her little flat’s carpark, her arousal deflated like a balloon. She parked up and dropped her keys into her lap, staring straight ahead. Right at the bare brick wall of her little building. She probably looked like a zombie. Didn’t matter. She was thinking.
Ruben sat beside her in silence. Maybe he was waiting patiently, maybe he was freaked the fuck out, or maybe he’d been abducted by aliens while she was trapped in an internal battle. She didn’t know and she didn’t care.
Was she really doing this?
The first voice in her head was, unsurprisingly, Rose’s. Notan imagined response, but a memory of the words she’d said when Cherry casually mentioned that she’d be seeing Ruben again—that very night.Don’t do anything silly, darling.
Bringing an almost-stranger to her flat meant that she was already doing something silly; Cherry knew that. Men who were delicious enough to make you lose your head should be imbibed sensibly. Like rosé or Lemsip. She was not imbibing sensibly.
The next voice in her head, her mother’s, agreed. It screeched,Are you trying to kill me, child? Or are you trying to kill yourself?And then, because Dad was never far from Mum, she heard his voice too:Be sensible, Cherry Pie.
