His gaze roves the world in front of us again. “Come on. Everybody knows where we are. We should make a run for it. And I think there is a good hiding spot this way.”
He takes off at a crouched run. I’m left trying to follow, beaming at him. We reach a large oak tree and he slows to a stop. He glances at my face, putting a finger to his lips. Then he holds up a hand, gesturing for me to wait.
Just on the other side of the tree, the earth falls away, leaving a good deal of the roots exposed. I lean over and look down as he jumps about five feet to the bottom.
He’s graceful, I’ll give him that.
But I’m not expecting what he does next. He just turns to me, looking up at me expectantly. “Come on. I’ll help you.”
He holds his hands up, waiting. I definitely don’t trust him not to just drop me. Biting my lip, I take his hands. But instead of jumping into his arms, I sort of awkwardly try to hit the ground beside him.
Stellan’s eyes widen as I launch myself down toward the ground. He tries to correct the course of both of our bodies with the weight of his… but he fails.
Instead, he just staggers a little, catching me as I crumple of top of him.
Shit.
My chin hits his collarbone, my knees hit the hard flesh of his thighs. The breath is knocked out of me by running into the density of his chest.
“Oof,” I squeak.
He grunts. Picking my head up, I realize that I’m face to face with him, close enough to kiss. I gaze into hisstunning blue eyes, gulping. My eyes drop for just the barest second to his perfect mouth.
Should we… should I…
His mouth twists with a sour expression. When he whispers, his voice is low and intense. “You make things awkward. You know that?”
I catch my bottom lip between my teeth. “I’ve heard that, yes.”
“Let’s just…” He stops, shaking his head. “We just have to get through this month, okay? Then you are free to live your life. You’ll never see me in person again.”
That isn’t what I wanted to hear, honestly. I don’t want to spend time with Stellan, but no one wants to hear that they are bad company. “Just like that, huh? When we spent the night together?— “
He shoves me away, taking a full step back. “We don’t have to talk about that, Margot.”
My face darkens. “You know what, Stellan? You?— “
I hear the paintballs being fired only a second before my thigh bursts into flame. It hurts to be shot with a paintball! Looking down, I see the spread of neon pink paint on one leg of my yoga pants.
I make a strangled noise. Whatever argument I had planned falls away. I look back up and realize that Stellan and I both got pegged by someone who likely heard our arguing.
He grits his teeth, pinning me with an annoyed glare. “Great. Just great. Come on. We should go back to the center of the game and wait until we’re reset.” His expression is just short of a sneer. “I definitely want a different partner next time.”
I roll my eyes. “Whatever.”
And just like that, our truce is ended. He starts trudging around the bottom of the tree, letting me trail in his wake.
Chapter Twelve
Stellan
I’m sitting at my desk, looking at a stack of financial papers that are awaiting my signature. Cracking each of my knuckles in turn, I look down at the figures presented to me. Each of these documents is important because they are from charities that I patronize; nearly every single one of them is asking for a significant raise in the money that is allocated to them this year.
Money doesn’t grow on trees. I know that as well as anyone. So I’m trying to ascertain what monies go to which charities. The whole thing is enough to make my temple throb.
When a footman comes into my study, I’m relieved to be able to focus on anything else for a minute.
“Her Royal Highness,” the footman announces, backing out of the way with a bow.
