Page 54 of The Prom King & The Ice Queen

She sputters on a laugh. “All right, well…now I do pity you. Happy now?”

I laugh. So does she. But almost as quickly, she seems to catch herself and she starts to wiggle out of my grip, her hands dropping to her sides. “Look…I don’t know what you think is going on here, but I didn’t sign up for this. I’m not the girl you should be bringing to events like this one.”

“Why not?”

Her shoulders slump a bit. “Because I’m tired, Leo.”

My heart hitches at the way she says my name. Her voice is nothing but genuine, her gaze filled with a pleading that’s so very real.

And so very sad.

I’ve never in my life thought of myself as anyone’s hero, but I want to be hers. I want to slay her freakin’ dragons and ride off with her into the sunset. And yeah, I think I just mixed a ton of metaphors, but that’s how badly I want it.

“What are you tired of, Savannah?”

She sighs and looks up to the ceiling with a shake of her head. “I’m tired of pretending. I’m tired of trying to be something I’m not.”

“Then don’t pretend.”

Her smile is so cynical, it makes her look decades older than she is. And that’s so at odds with this new side of her I’m discovering—the real Savannah—that I’m not quite sure how to reconcile them.

And then it clicks. She wears her image and attitude like armor because she knows full well how unfair this world can be. And with that armor, she’s kept some part of herself safe from the outside world, and that’s the glimpse I’ve been getting. That’s the girl I want to know.

She’s in there, and I see her.

“I don’t know what you want from me,” she says.

“I don’t either,” I say. But that’s a lie. I take a deep breath. “I want you to be my date tonight. Not for show. Not because you have to. But because I want to get to know you.”

“Just for tonight?”

No, not just for tonight.

But she looks wary, so I nod. “Sure. Just for tonight.”

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