Page 49 of The Prom King & The Ice Queen

He gives a little snort of amusement. “Probably because you’re the first date I’ve brought to one of these boring parties.”

I stare at him for way too long, and he doesn’t look away.

“You look gorgeous tonight,” he says.

I shift warily. I normally have a decent sized ego. I’m not an unattractive girl, and I know it. But tonight I feel raw. Okay, fine, I’ve been feeling raw all week. But tonight that raw, exposed feeling is multiplied by the fact that I so obviously do not fit in here.

I mean upstairs. Down in the basement? That’s where I fit.

I am the help, not the date.

But Leo and his parents have not gotten the memo.

“This is the part where you tell me that I also look nice,” he adds with a lopsided grin that has me glancing away quickly.

It’s not the smirk that I hate. It’s not the weirdly serious glare he’s been hitting me with ever since the ring incident. It’s something else altogether…and I’m not sure what to make of it.

“You know you do,” I say with a sniff.

He chuckles. “You say the sweetest things.”

“If you wanted sweet, you should have asked someone else to be your date.” My tone is mild, but it’s the truth. Also, I’m still trying to make sense of the fact that I’m the first girl he’s brought to an event like this.

My belly does this weird fluttering move against my will.

He only invited me because he’s trying to make his mother believe he’s turned some corner. Which is why I’m here.

I straighten with resolve. Having a job here does away with some of my unease.

“So, do you think your mom bought it?” I say.

He arches his brows and snags a couple sodas from the bar, handing me one. “That you’re my date? Uh, yeah. I don’t think she’d expect me to lie about that.”

I roll my eyes. “No, you dope. That I’m, like, some good influence on you.”

“Oh yeah. She loves that it’s you I brought. I’m telling you, she thinks you and the others in that princess troupe are paragons of virtue just because you have a work ethic.”

His smile lingers and his gaze moves over me like he’s never seen me before.

Granted, he never has seen me like this. I’m wearing my nicest little black dress. I save it for special occasions, because it’s Ralph Lauren and fits like a dream. I got it at the Salvation Army for fourteen dollars, but that’s a fun fact no one here needs to know.

I smooth a hand over the tight skirt.

“Good,” I murmur, still avoiding his gaze. “I wouldn’t want you to feel like you’re not getting your money’s worth.”

He gives a snort of amusement. “You make it sound like you’re my escort.”

My lips twitch against my will. “You know what I mean. This is just returning a favor.”

And I don’t know why it’s so important that I spell that out. I’m not sure if I’m trying to remind him or me, because the way he’d looked at me when I’d walked through the front doors…

For the first time in my whole life, I’d blushed.

“Yeah, about that…” He moves in closer. “I’ve been wanting to have a word in private with you all night.”

I shuffle back a bit, which is not easy to do in these heels. “Have a word in private,” I repeat, summoning all of my school armor, even though it’s hard. It is so freakin’ hard to keep up that act when I’m alone with him. “Seriously, you really sound like a rich kid sometimes, you know that?”

He shrugs. “I am what I am.”

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