Amara Meadows has always placed her job first, but with her journalism career slowly failing, she seems lost.
Although when she ends up spending a month in the palace covering the coronation of White Bridge's prince, she finds more than herself.
F...
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Placing down the pillow I watch as Xavier folds the blanket from the sofa where he slept last night and the very knowledge of what happened before we went to sleep makes my fingers sneak up to my lips. The memories of his lips on mine still playing with the tingling in my stomach. A gesture that came so naturally and ended too soon. An action that left us lost for words, drifting away in silence. A terrible little moment of total confusion and for the first time in what seems like forever, I don't know what's next.
"I can't tell if something is different. " Xavier folds the other end of the blanket into the square before placing it down on the sofa and a subtle sigh fills the air. The soft exhale fades into a smile that calms every possible nerve in me.
"I think that's a good thing, Amara. It means what happened didn't change things between us." He steps forward and as a result, I step back. The pure idea of us being in touching distance screaming out as a warning.
"What happened..." Trying to hide the thousands of questions his words awoke in my mind, I crouch down to pick up the two towels from beside the bed. Although it simply reminds me of the reason they were dropped.
"Me kissing you and you not stopping me." A deadly expression dances on his lips and I have to breathe a little slower to control the stirring that forms because of it. Ignoring my attempt to put space between us, Xavier walks over to me and takes one of the towels. His eyes are cryptic and I can't use them to tell me what he's thinking, to tell me what he's feeling and I wish for just a second he could just talk without planning every word. I wish he could just stop me from assuming the worst from his silence. I wish I could forget every ounce of magical emotion he made me feel last night.
"I did warn you, Xavier. " He takes the other towel from my hand as well and places them down on the bed next to me, leaving them unfolded.
"I know, but I'm honestly not very upset that you didn't."
Maybe he should be. Hell, maybe I should be because if you think about it, this could ruin everything. Every part of our relationship was dependent on us, well me, ignoring the weird pull I felt towards him. Ignoring the way his gaze made me feel like art and his voice made my name sound like poison. Ignoring the way his lips tasted like coffee and pretzels and how I wanted to kiss him at least a thousand more times. That's why I warned him, isn't it? Not because I wouldn't stop him from kissing me, but because I wouldn't stop him from making me fall in love with him once he did. Because it was just the start of a disaster that could only end with me being heartbroken.
"Do you think I should have stopped you?" I sit down on the bed which I literally just made. "Do you think we should forget that I didn't?"
"I don't want to forget it, Amara." His words are precise and spoken with such certainty, but it's the same type of democratic response that he would give any other reporter asking him something he doesn't want to answer. He says it even though he doesn't want to, even though he can't do anything about it. Even though the fact that he wants it won't mean shit as soon as we get in that car. Even though it's exactly what I'm afraid of.
