Page 69 of A Girl and HER Prince
“I can tell.” He found her mouth again, to show her that he wasn’t either. He had no intention of kissing anyone else ever again.
“Yes, but…” She fidgeted under his arms. “What future do we have?”
The question twisted his already aching gut. “What do you mean?”
“You might be a king someday. Your father wants you to marry a woman from your… uh circles.”
He shook his head violently, remembering his father’s every warning to curb his wild ways. “Take that out of your mind.” This was his life, no one else’s. His father might be fool enough to call Livvy common, but she had more class than any aristocrat he’d met. “My father doesn’t rule my heart.”
He ruled other things, butneverhis heart.
“But that’s why you broke up with Deedee… so why are you kissing me?”
“Luvvy?” He propped up on his elbows, panic stretching his every nerve tight. How could she not know he’d fight heaven and earth to keep her by his side? “Deedee and I just weren’t good together—that’s why it ended, and yes, my fatherdidsay that she was unbecoming to my station in life, but I never would’ve listened to him if I’d even felt a smidgeon of what I feel for you.”
She was silent. His heart raced. Did that mean she didn’t believe him?
“Is it too much of a stretch of the imagination for you to accept that I mean absolutelyeverythingbetween us?” he asked her.
“No, it’s possible…” she finally conceded, but there was definitely a question mark in there. She didn’t seem convinced that his kisses were sincere at all. How could he prove himself?
He found her hand and played with her fingers. “Doyoumean it?”
“What?” She looked flustered. “Mean what?”
He was dead serious, and yet, couldn’t help giving her back a taste of the anguish she was putting him through. “When you look at me with those soulful blue eyes and tell me to kiss you!” he said. “Do you mean it?”
“I…!” She gaped. “I nevertoldyou to kiss me!”
“You sure about that…?” He leaned closer to her, and she held her breath. “Like that,” he said as he touched her neck lightly, “when you get all blushy there and oh, here too.” He caressed her cheek, noticing that her whole face was turning pink. “Oh, lovely, it’s everywhere… and then you close your eyes and push out your lips.” He couldn’t help exaggerating to prove his point and maybe to get her to laugh. “You’re telling me to kiss you.”
She swatted him, but not very convincingly. “I’mnotclosing my eyes.”
“Not this time, fortunately for me, because they’re so beautiful…” He grew serious. “Tell me, Livvy. Do you mean it?”
She didn’t answer right away. He watched her closely, knowing that any answer she gave would be a hard one. He tried to make a joke out of it. “I mean, don’t get me wrong—I get it,” he said. “My face probably feels like sandpaper against your petal-soft cheeks.”
“You’re crazy!” she exploded with a laugh. “No! I mean, yes! I like—I like kissing you.” Her face flared crimson.
That was all he needed to know. A smile touched his lips—herlips would soon follow if he had anything to do with it, but this time he’d let her pick how fast they took this, not that he wouldn’t try to throw some gasoline onto the fire. “You like kissing me, huh?”
She giggled in embarrassment and reached up to touch his jaw again. “Ouch.” She drew back as if pricked. “You’re right. You can cut through diamonds with this beard you’ve got coming in.”
He stilled in surprise, drinking her in. He was mesmerized that such sass also held the sweetest honey. And she was back to looking up at him with those big blue eyes that pled for him to kiss her. Her fingers ran over his arm, tickling the spot above the bandage and capturing him in her dizzying spell. “Why are you so far away?” she whispered.
That did it! Immediately he solved that problem, sliding his arm under her shoulder so that she was only a breath away. She did the rest. Lifting up from an elbow, she pressed her mouth to his in the tenderest kiss he’d ever known.
The loud braying of a donkey shrilled behind them.
His hands tightened over her as she twisted around with a bright smile. “Steve!”
And Steve is going right back into his stall where he belongs…
Venice had unfinished business with his Luvvy.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“No, no, Steve, BamBam, Ronnie!” Venice growled out. “You are not coming inside!”
