“You’ve got more of a chance than I do. There’s been no one since Jackson left.”
“Jackson?” I all but screech. “I thought we were to never mention his name in polite company?”
“The way you looked when you told me about kissing Ashton suggests there’s nothing polite about this company.”
I chortle with laughter and hit her witha cushion.
“Jackson is a story for another time,” she promises. “I want dirt on Ashton.” She curls her legs underneath her. “Tell me everything.”
“He’s a billionaire,” I say simply. “And I’m not.”
“And I dated a prince,” she points out, because yes, some still believe that Kate, not my sister, was the love of Prince Gunnar’s life. “So I refuse to see the significance of Ashton’s father having a bit of money in the bank. Details. Now.”
So I tell Kate everything she wants to know.
36
Ashton
“How’sthefoottoday?”I demand when I get to Sophie’s room.
“About the same,” Sophie says, turning over a card. She starts out every morning with a game of solitaire. Sometime I bug her by picking out matches that she hasn’t seen yet, but today I don’t go over to the table.
If I do, I’m going to want to kiss her.
It’s a problem I’ve had since our little exchange last week. I find myself staring at Sophie’s mouth at odd times, focusing on what her lips look like when she’s speaking, smiling, and even eating. I can’t stop looking at her mouth, wondering how I can get her to kiss me again.
Something inside me tells me that she needs to initiate another kiss. Maybe it’s the threatening conversation I had with Duncan in the car. Maybe it’s the idea that I think Sophie will kiss me back regardless if I kiss her, but I want her to mean it. I want her to want it.
I don’t want it to be because she pities me because of a stupid first kiss story.
“Feel like an adventure today?”
She looks up at that. Once we explored every floor of the castle, plus the dungeons, we started outside. We trudged out to the greenhouse one afternoon to look at the flowers.
One of Kalle’s security team gave Sophie a piggyback there. I could have carried her, but there’s the whole wanting to kiss her thing going on. As well as kissing her, I want to touch her all the time.
Could be awkward, so I try to keep my distance.
“What kind of adventure?”
At first glance, it may look like I’ve been entertaining Sophie since her injury. I try my best to amuse her—playing games, reading and watching TV to keep her occupied. But what people don’t know is that it’s Sophie who has kept me from being completely bored while I’m in Laandia.
She’s like the cool babysitter.
She’s the coolest one I’ve ever had.
And while I’m here, there’s no one else I’d rather be with. Sophie has kept me in Laandia for weeks—an unheard of record. I don’t remember the last time I stayed anywhere for that long, let alone a country with freezing cold temperatures and where I’m not even skiing.
I stayed for Sophie—not because my father told me too, but because of Sophie.
“My favourite kind. The shopping kind.”
Sophie shakes her head and lays another card down. “Didn’t you do enough of that with Fern yesterday? Fifi? Is that just a friend thing? What am I supposed to call her?”
“You can call her whatever you want,” I say, finally moving to the table to help Sophie finish the game. “Or don’t call her anything. I think you got introduced because Lyra wasn’t here.”
“Does everyone know her except for me?”
