Page 46 of Kiss of a Hellish Prince

Rune laughed as I went for another potato. “So while you are having a food-gasm over there, I should probably tell you something.”

I motioned with my fork for him to speak. He pushed another plate in front of me with little garlicky sausages.

“Your little sister asked me a question today, and she kind of threw me for a loop.”

“She does that.” Oh my god, this food was amazing.

“I gathered.” Rune scoffed while he picked up a roll from the basket of freshly baked bread. “She asked me what made me good enough for her big sister.” He tore the roll in two and buttered both sides generously before putting half on the plate in front of me.

“What did you say?” I asked, eyeing the bread, wondering if the empty carbs were worth it. I tentatively took a bite and decided they were absolutely worth it.

“I tried playing the whole ‘I am an actual prince’ card. She said that she was an American, so unless the word Disney came before prince, that didn’t mean a thing.”

I tried not to laugh at the confused expression on Rune’s face, but that absolutely sounded like my little sister.

“So, did you give her an actual answer?” I asked.

Rune chewed his roll for a moment before answering, “Yeah, I told her I wasn’t good enough yet. But I will try my hardest to become worthy.”

The heat of a blush covered my chest, neck, and my face. “That was an excellent answer.”

“She seemed to approve. But I have to say, I am not overly worried about her approval. It’s yours I am trying to win over.”

“I think you’re doing a pretty good job there. These potatoes are doing a lot of the heavy lifting for you.”

We spent the rest of dinner eating amazing food and getting to know each other. We talked about books and movies we loved, TV shows we watched, and ones we didn’t. It was like all the stress of finding out what I was and wondering why someone was after me just melted away. For a few hours, it was just me having an amazing date with a boy I liked.

When the waitress came back to ask about dessert, Rune ordered two different desserts to go and a bottle of what I assumed was wine. I really didn’t know. It sounded French. Maybe?

After the waitress brought the bag with our desserts, Rune said, “If you don’t mind, I would like to take you to one more place before the night is over.”

“Sounds good.”

Rune took out his wallet and dropped several large bills on the table before taking my hand in his and walking back to the car where he again opened the door for me. Why did something so simple make me go a little weak in the knees? Was it a return of chivalry, or were my standards that low?

We drove back to the compound, and once inside, instead of going to the areas we had been in before, he took me down a dark hallway that led to an elevator. Using a key, he opened the elevator and had it take us to the roof.

“Where are we going?”

“This is where I go when I don’t want to deal with anyone else. No one knows I come up here. Please don’t tell them.”

“I’m totally telling Sarah,” I said. “Sorry, we don’t keep secrets.” Saying that out loud made my heart drop a little while I thought of the secrets she was keeping from me.

“Fine,” Rune said. “You can tell her I took you to my secret hiding place, but not where it is. Deal?”

“Deal.” I smiled, stepping out of the elevator.

There was already a blanket laid out on the floor and several large pillows stacked on it. Next to them were two wineglasses.

“You planned this?”

“Of course. I told your sister I was going to become worthy of you, didn’t I?” He guided me over to the blanket and sat down next to a pillow before opening and pouring the wine.

Taking a seat next to him, I waited for him to hand me a glass. I felt so nervous I wasn’t sure if adding alcohol was going to help me relax or make it a million times worse.

“What do you do when you come up here? It isn’t like you can really see too many stars with all the light pollution.”

“That’s true.” He gave me a glass, then leaned back on the pillow with his own glass. “But the sunsets up here are amazing. And it’s quiet. I come up here when I need to think about something or think about nothing. I enjoy watching the planes line up in the sky, waiting for their turn to land.”

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