Page 57 of Monster Among the Roses (Fairy Tale Quartet 1)

“And let me guess,” she said, her eyes filling with tears as she spilled out another bitter laugh. “He finally clued you in to your true duties here. Oh my God.” Pressing her hands to her face again, she choked out, “All this time. I thought we were actually becoming friends.”

“We were! We are.” I reached for her hands, but she pulled them away.

“Friends?” she said in a small, distraught voice. “But you were forced to spend time with me against your will.”

“No, not against my will. You’re making this out to be more lurid than it really was. Nothing was forced or unwanted. I was desperate, Isobel; I would have done any number of unpleasant, maybe even illegal things to pay back my mother’s debt. So when he said he just wanted me to spend time with you, I thought I’d hit the jackpot.”

But she shook her head. “You just don’t get it. He’s tried to buy me friends before, and it—”

I grabbed her hand before she could keep it away from me and I pressed it against the center of my chest. “I know. But that’s not what he did this time. He told me from the beginning I didn’t have to try to befriend you. It wasn’t like those other times before.”

She looked at me, her eyebrows pinched as if doubting but maybe, finally ready to listen to what I had to say. “Then what exactly was it like?”

I smiled. “I believe his exact words were for me to break up the monotony of your day. I could make you mad or make you laugh, as long as I made some kind of contact to force you into a little human interaction.”

Her expression grew thoughtful. She was trying to decide if she wanted to buy my story or not, if she liked my story or not.

I sighed. “He knew it was wrong to try to buy you friends before; he admitted that to me. He realized he wanted people to like you because of who you were, not because of how much he could pay them, so his instructions to me were actually not to become your friend.”

Shaking her head, she admitted, “That doesn’t make sense.”

With a smile, I admitted, “Yeah, it didn’t make much sense to me either. But he thought…” I winced.

“What?” she urged. “Just say it.”

I groaned away before admitting, “He thought you’d be attracted to me, and it’d help distract you from how lonely you felt.”

Her lips parted. She stared at me for an uncomfortably long time. Then she licked her lips and said, “So…my dad bought me eye candy?”

I shrugged, my face flaming hot. “Pretty much, yeah. I think.”

“Oh my God.” She groaned and covered her eyes with both hands. “This is so humiliating.”

It had to be as embarrassing for her as it was for me, but I couldn’t handle her feeling discomfited. Shifting closer, I touched her shoulder, trying to comfort her, make it better. “What I don’t think he counted on, and hopefully he still doesn’t know, is that I was attracted to you right back.”

“Don’t,” she whimpered, shaking her head. “Please don’t say that. That’s just the Stockholm syndrome talking.”

With a laugh, I shook my head and pressed my forehead to hers before gently easing her hands away from her eyes so she’d look at me. When I got a peek at blue heaven from between the longest eyelashes ever made, I confessed, “No, that’s my heart talking.”

She sucked in a hard breath, but I knew she couldn’t believe me. Not yet.

“Think about it, Isobel,” I urged her. “I just had to make sure I was in your presence during a scheduled time. I didn’t have to come in early to run with you, or stay later to build bookshelves with you. I didn’t have to open up to you and tell you about my life, my biggest dreams. I didn’t have to fall in love with you. I did because…because I couldn’t help it.”

“Wait. You did what?” Her eyes grew big as if horrified. “What did you just say?”

I couldn’t repeat the words. My hands were already shaking and my voice was beginning to wobble. “I went further than he asked me to go. Got closer than I think he wanted me to get. And the fact of the matter is I’m worried as fuck what he’s going to do when he finds out just how close I’ve gotten to you. He told me he didn’t want me to befriend you; what the hell is he going to do when he learns I’ve fallen in—”

I shook my head and gulped for air. “What if it pisses him off and he fires me, breaks our deal and takes back all the loans he paid off for my mom? Hell, what if he tells me I can never see you again? Because that’s what freaks me out most. My mom and my own livelihood are at risk here, and all I can think about is how much I don’t want to lose you. Christ, I’m so messed up right now, I don’t—”

“Shh.” She pressed her fingers to my lips, stopping the flow of words.

I lifted my gaze to her. She gave me a gentle smile.

“Don’t worry. I’ll never let that happen to you.”

I kissed her fingers. “You believe me, then?” Worry still choked me, but hope was beginning to spring eternal. “You believe that this thing between us is real and has nothing to do with your dad?”

She swiped a piece of hair tenderly across my forehead and stared into my eyes. Then she nodded. “Yeah. I believe you.”

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