Page 37 of The Prom King & The Ice Queen

It’s a rhetorical question, but she nods.

“So, yeah, I guess you could say it worked.” I shift my hands on the wheel. “Their marriage is more of a business arrangement, but it works for them for the most part.” I don’t really think before I continue. “I wish she hadn’t had to do that for me though.”

Savannah’s silence freaks me out.

“Why are you telling me this?” she asks.

I lift a shoulder and turn to face her. Because I don’t want you to hate me. Because I want you to smile at me the way you smile at your friends. Because I want to see you smile. Period. Because…

I shake my head. There are too many reasons and I don’t think I’ve even hit on the most crucial one.

My non-answer is apparently answer enough, because she glances away from me, takes a deep breath, and then she straightens like a general heading off to war as she turns back to meet my gaze. “Thank you.”

I arch my brows in genuine surprise.

She wets her lips and my gaze drops to follow the movement.

I grip the steering wheel again as a surge of heat floods my veins. I’ve always known that Savannah is gorgeous. Everyone knows that.

But lately it’s like…I don’t just know it. I feel it. I can’t avoid it. And when she licks her lips and meets my gaze without anger and without a shield five miles thick, it feels like the most basic of all scientific principles.

Savannah Winters is the most beautiful girl alive.

And the strongest.

And definitely the most terrifying.

She clears her throat. “For the ring,” she finally blurts awkwardly. “Thank you for taking the blame for the ring.”

She deflates a bit like it was physically painful for her to say that. I stare at her for a long moment and then I burst out laughing so hard that she gives me side eye like I’ve just lost my mind. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, just…” I do my best to imitate her stilted, formal tone. “Thank you for taking the blame.”

I crack up again and her lips twitch up slightly at the corners.

So close to a real, genuine smile that I feel an actual ache in my chest. A yearning sensation that hurts.

I am freakin’ dying to see a real smile. From the real Savannah.

The girl back at the party, that’s the one my mom’s seen. The one Callie and Willow know. My mom and the princess troupe…

My brain starts racing ahead of me. I get now why my mom thinks Savannah is so great. She’s seen the reliable, levelheaded young woman I saw today.

That’s exactly the type of girl she wishes I’d date.

“Are you working my family’s dinner party on Thursday?”

“What? No. Why?” She frowns. “Are you worried I’m gonna steal or—”

“No. Don’t be an idiot.”

Now she’s really glaring. Fine. Maybe I deserve that one.

“But I know a way you can make it up to me.”

She eyes me oddly, shifting uncomfortably, one eye on her home like she’s afraid her mom’s gonna make another appearance. “How?”

“Be my date.”

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