Page 94 of The Stolen Princess
Myka was unlike every other girl Drake had ever known. On any given day, he felt wholly outmatched by her. He liked her confidence, how she didn’t let fear or embarrassment get in the way of who she really was. She kept his mind and his heart racing, and all he wanted to do was hold her in his arms like this forever.Things felt different with Myka than they had with Lizanne or any other girl he’d spent time with. What he felt for Myka ran deeper into his soul than anything he’d ever experienced. And it wasn’t because she was part of a bet. It wasn’t for pine nuts or to find out where the weapons were. None of that mattered anymore. He was here with her because he wanted to be, but maybe she didn’t feel the same way.
Could she get over the fact that he had kidnapped her? Was her hatred for him more powerful than anything else she might be feeling?
Myka took one deep breath then cracked open her eyes. She lifted her chin, meeting his gaze. Her eyes widened, like she was surprised to wake up in his embrace. She bit back a shy smile. “Hi,” she whispered.
“Hi.” He took a lock of her brown hair and pushed it away from her face.
“This escalated quickly,” she said.
Drake smiled. “I have no complaints.”
She pushed her body up, letting her brown hair fall over her shoulder. Her pink lips pressed into a smile, and Drake’s breath went ragged.
He wanted to know everything about this girl...just because.
“Myka, when we get out of here, will you go on a date with me?”
She raised an eyebrow. “A date?”
“Yeah, the pre-Desolation thing you told me about.”
She smiled, and an adorable blush crept up her face. “A date is so that you can get to know someone better.”
“Yeah,” He nodded, not even trying to hold back his smile.
She shrugged. “Well, you already know me.”
Drake scrunched his nose. “Are you going to go on a date with me or not?”
“I’ll have to check my schedule.” She smiled wide, and her blue eyes glimmered.
Drake was hopeless now.
Myka
Myka shook her kneeup and down, glancing across the fire to where Drake sat. His eyes met hers, and he didn’t even bother looking away. His gaze was full of passion and some kind of electric energy that made her entire body turn inside out. Heat rose inside her chest, and that was just from alook.
A look!
She was in trouble, because if Drake’s gaze made her feel this way, his touch was going to break her.
Maybe he wouldn’t touch her. He hadn’t touched her that entire day. She’d woken up that morning in his arms—a mistake she hoped to repeat every day from here on out—but then the day had moved on like normal. Notnormal.It wasn’t normal to feel this nervous and this excited over stolen glances. But Drake’s heated stares all day had ignited a feeling inside of her so intense, it drove her to knee bouncing and hand fidgeting. It was like she couldn’t stop. The buzzing charged her to life, channeling into her limbs.
“Are you cold?” Drake gave her a big smile like he knew he was responsible for her nervous shaking, not the cool night air.
Myka stomped her foot, stopping her bouncing knee. “No.” She raised her chin. “Are you?”
“Uh-uh.” He shook his head, throwing a peanut into his mouth. If someone had asked Myka a week ago if eating a peanut could be attractive, she would’ve laughed in that person’s face. Now, she had a completely different answer.
“I’m cold,” Grady chimed in, pulling his jacket closed around him.
Oh, yeah. The other five men were there, too. Perhaps, that’s why Drake hadn’t touched her all day. Portlend, Grady, Winslow, Kase and Dawsick would not go away. They were everywhere. And trying to find a moment alone with Drake had turned into the most difficult thing anyone had ever tried to do. So difficult, in fact, that Myka had failed…miserably. She didn’t understand it. Every other day the men had ignored her, and suddenly today, everybody wanted to do everything together.
Drake smiled at her again, flipping his hair back from his face at the same time.
She had to turn her eyes away.
She wassointo him. It wasn’t even fair.
