Page 38 of A Royal Obligation

“Wadsworth!” she cried out. “I’m so glad to see you. I have been wandering the halls trying to find the way back to my room. Would you mind showing me the way?”

“I was actually looking for someone, and you would do the trick. Would you mind taking a trip down to the kitchen for me? I believe I left a box of herbal tea down there that I would love to have back. I’m getting old and try to take as few trips up and down the stairs as possible.”

“Oh, of course. If you point me in the right direction, I would be glad to get that for you.”

“Wonderful. You are a dear.” Wadsworth pointed the way she needed to walk and explained the directions to her with a sly grin on his face. He walked away before she could ask where she was supposed to take the tea once she had retrieved it.That was weird.

Jules shrugged her shoulders and set off down the path Wadsworth had explained to her. In no time, she had arrived at the kitchen. She walked through the doorway and headed to the pantry, assuming that would be where the tea was kept. As she rounded the corner, she collided with someone stepping out of the pantry. She let out a squeal and the other figure let out a manly yell as they both were covered in a cloud of flour.

Jules laughed as she wiped the flour from her eyes and coughed away the particles that had landed on her lips. She looked up at the figure towering over her, and a warm tightness pulled at her chest as her eyes connected with the bright green eyes she could get lost in forever.

“Your Highness!” She gasped and then busted out laughing after seeing the Crown Prince of Wistonia covered from head to toe in flour. “We have to stop running into each other like this,” she teased.

Barrett let out a hearty chuckle. “We do seem to have a habit of running into each other, don’t we? And it’s Barrett, remember?” He ran his hands over his face and then tousled his short, sandy blonde waves, sending a dusting of flour around him.

Jules stared and held her breath as she watched, wishing it was her hands that were having the pleasure of running through those beautiful locks of hair.

Barrett noticed her staring and a playful glint shone through his eyes. “What? Do I have something in my hair?” He leaned toward her and messily ran his hands through the top of his head, showering her in another spray of flour.

Jules laughed and playfully pushed his shoulder, causing her laughter to come to an abrupt halt and a warm heat to climb up her neck.

“So, uh, what are you doing down here in the kitchen at this hour?” she asked, her eyes dropping to the floor.

“I could ask you the same thing,” he teased.

“I’m grabbing a box of tea Wadsworth left down here.”

“Ah.” He nodded. “I was really stressed so I came down here to bake, or at least attempt to bake, some apple crisp.”

“So you’re stress-baking.”

“Do I dare ask what stress-baking is?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It just means you’re baking something sinfully sweet and devouring it when you are really overwhelmed. Mind having some company?”

“That would be a big help because I’ve never actually baked before.”

“Well, you have a stress-baking pro in your midst. Now, I would ask if you have any aprons, but I think we’re past that at this point.” She looked down at their shirts and giggled.

Barrett let out a laugh that Jules could listen to for the rest of her life. “I think we’re going to have to burn these clothes to get all of the flour out.” He headed back into the pantry and grabbed a new bag of flour along with the rest of the ingredients. He set everything on the counter and then headed to the industrial-sized fridge, retrieving butter. Finally, he grabbed some of Wistonia’s famous, homegrown apples.

“I’m so excited to try this dessert with the Wistonian apple. They’re the national fruit, right? I bet it will be to die for.” Jules smiled at Barrett.

“You will never be able to go back to a normal apple after you try one of these.” Barrett threw one up into the air and caught it. He handed her his phone. “Here’s the recipe I found. You said you used to stress-bake a lot?”

“Mmm-hmm,” Jules murmured as she measured out the ingredients from the recipe.

“What was your favorite thing to bake?” Barrett asked while chopping up the apples.

“Oh, that’s easy. Pumpkin muffins were always my go-to. My nickname in my family is actually Pumpkin because of how obsessed I’ve been with everything pumpkin flavored since I was little.”

Jules poured all the dry ingredients into a bowl while Barrett mixed the wet ingredients.

He smiled up at her. “That’s really sweet. It sounds like you are close with them.”

“I am. I miss them. I was able to see them when we were back in Findorra, though.”

“I’m sure they were pleased to see you.”

---