Page 47 of Entangled

“Della.” As in, Della-croix. I throw him a bratty smirk, basking in my cleverness. “Or Princess, the power of it has kind of grown on me.”

“Della.” He rolls the name over his tongue as if testing it out. “Is that even your name?”

“In part.”

“Fine. Next rule.”

“No talk of our pasts or deep emotional conversations. This is strictly a fun summer thing.”

He arches a brow at me. “I’m starting to feel a little used over here.”

“You volunteered as tribute,” I remind him with a light laugh.

“True. Any more?”

“One.” I take a deep breath before laying the last rule out there. “The minute either one of us starts to really fall… we call this off, right then and there.”

I meet his gaze across the car. His eyes brimming with questions as he looks away from the road for probably longer than he should.

“What if I already like you?”

“Liking is fine. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t like you too. But anything more than that, anything deeper and this has to stop.” My tone is resolute. I won’t budge on this. I have to protect myself or else the danger of falling will become a reality.

I watch his ridiculously full lips tighten as he thinks it over.

“One question.” His night-forest eyes flick to mine. “And I’ll go along with your rules.”

I feel my shoulders draw up with tension, but although he pursued this… I agreed to come. The least I can do is answer one question. “That’s fair.”

“Why?”

I know what he means without asking for clarification. Why the need for the rules? Why is all this necessary? Why keep him at a distance?

I give him the only answer I can.

“Because you’re dangerous too.”

A minute passes before he nods. “Okay.” His lips ghost up. “We’ll play it your way… Princess.”

My lips quirk and I exhale a deep breath of relief at his acceptance.

“Okay,” I echo, yawning through the word, my mouth stretching wide.

“You tired?”

“Yeah, I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“Sleep,” he orders, the demanding tone of his voice in full force. “It’ll still be a few hours before we get there. You might as well get some rest.”

“While I can, right?” I tease, cocking a brow and feeling far more relaxed now that there are some clear boundaries to our little arrangement.

That low, dark laugh leaves him. “Exactly.”

I lean back, getting as comfortable as I can in my seat and close my eyes. Falling asleep to the steady sound of his breathing and the low drone of Taylor Swift. The last thought running through my mind is that although I just met him… I feel incredibly safe.

***

“Sleeping Beauty.” A hand trails lightly through my hair and down the side of my face, tickling me awake. “We’re here.”

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