Page 68 of A Girl and HER Prince
He found her hand—ah yes! It was deliciously warm after her shower. The relief that washed over him that he’d somehow protected her from getting even more bruised and broken after their misadventures overwhelmed him. He’d do everything to keep it that way. “We need to stay close to each other.” Anyone could come after them. This place wouldn’t exactly keep back trespassers—they were the evidence of that.
He wondered if the donkeys made for good guard dogs.
Probably not.
Feeling despondent, he led her out into the patio outside. It touched all the back rooms in a semicircle. His eyes went to the glass sliding doors, each providing another opening into this fortress. The clouds rumbled darkly. What pale light they’d experienced from the day was starting to get swallowed by another storm.
How much time did they have before they were hunkering down from another disaster in the making? Two hours? Three?
He studied the Jacuzzi. “We should take a dip,” he said.
“Absolutely not!” she cried. “Not in your condition.” She tried to tug him back to the house. “You need sleep.”
Patio furniture poked out from the surprisingly clean water. He broke away from Livvy and grabbed the end of a wicker chaise lounge, seeing it was all set up for them… if they didn’t mind getting wet. “Let’s take a nap in the middle of that.”
“Don’t you dare!”
And now he was feeling reckless. He stuck his hand in the water. Strangely, it was hot. It boggled his mind to discover what still worked in this broken little Paradise in the Clouds. He could smell the strong stench of chlorine. “You never did beat me at basketball, Luvvy.”
“Forget it! That’s not happening!”
He tried not to laugh. She was getting so riled up, just like she’d been during their first match. Of course that same anger had worked for him when she’d smashed that oxygen tank into his attacker’s face.
He grinned and dipped his toe in the heated water to see how bossy she’d turn when he went against the “doctor’s orders.” To his delight, her eyes flashed. Searching for the control box, he flipped the switches that turned the bubbles on and lowered down to the edge of the pool. “Let’s take a soak.”
Her hand went to his shoulder. “Don’t make me drag you back inside.”
“You won’t have to… if you join me. C’mon, put your feet in.”
She made a sound of helplessness and settled down beside him. “One lightning strike and we’re going in,” she said. “You won’t fight me on this.”
“You bet.” Some devilish side of him enjoyed how much his Nightingale cared, and his hand went over hers. Her fingers grew very still under his as they stared over the cliffs into the viciously churning sea below them. It was strange how peaceful he could feel in the eye of the storm. “I wonder if this was how Odysseus felt stuck on these islands?” he breathed.
Livvy didn’t answer.
He glanced over at her, unable to stop himself from drinking in her beauty—it burst from her, both inside and out. He decided to tell her the story of Scheria Island. “He was just coming in after being stranded on an island with Calypso… who had distracted him from his duties at home.”
She shook her head. “I’mnotCalypso.” Smiling mischievously, she turned to him. “I’m the man-eating giant.” She pretending to come at him… and he didn’t move, daring her with his eyes to follow through with her threats.
She grabbed his arm and pretended to chomp on it, making sound effects while she was at it. Her bracelet jingled over her hands.
Luvvy was so cute!
He burst out laughing and grabbed her with his own growl, throwing his arms around her, taking her down with him against the coarse travertine stone against the poolside. He honestly didn’t know how he managed it with his hurt arm, but she was going easy on him and his instincts had a strange way of helping him get what he wanted—her, her, and her!
He noticed her gaze sharpening on his makeshift bandage before it ran to his face. “You be careful,” she said.
“Or what? You’ll eat me?”
“Something like that.” She shifted, turning all business. Her elbow dug into the ground as she pushed herself up. “We need to change that bandage again.”
“Later.” He watched the fading light play with the curly ends of her dark hair, almost turning it red. It was like she was one with nature, like it couldn’t leave her alone, likehecouldn’t.
Her expression sobered as she watched him in return.
“Later,” he whispered again before he pressed his lips against her sweet, angelic ones. He kissed her like she was meant to be kissed, and by him alone, and they would do so for the rest of their lives.
She let out a soft sigh. Her hands reached up to support his chin with gentle fingers, running them down the coarseness of his jaw. He’d grown quite the unintended beard over the past few days and she was turning him to molten hot lava. “I’m not the playing type.” She sounded stern.
