“Exactly,” he replies.
“I don’t think that’s appropriate for an official engagement photo for royalty, Mr. Benedetti,” I sniff.
Astrid’s lips twitch as she suppresses a laugh. I’m profoundly uncomfortable, holding her in my arms, and she looks like she’s having the time of her life. “Come on, Fred. I won’t bite,” she murmurs, low enough so that only I can hear.
Her voice is light and breathy, and itdoesthings to me. Things I don’t care to acknowledge.
“Are you… are sure you want to kiss me?” I ask, sounding far more like an uncertain fourteen-year-old than the Crown Prince of Ledonia. But around her, I am uncertain. I’m attracted to her, at the same time as unsettled by how easily she slips past my defenses, as though they were never there to begin with. She ignites a panic in me that she has the power to upend everything about me that I’ve created in my life.
The stoic, emotionless prince, always serene and in control.
With Astrid, I could lose that control, and that’s the last thing I want.
“I want to kiss you, Fred,” she replies, her voice soft as she lifts her chin and closes her eyes.
Well, this is happening.
I swallow as I glance at the photographer, who throws me an encouraging smile. I know I need to kiss her now. The room expects it.Sheexpects it. And I want to kiss her, really kiss her, know what it feels like to touch her in such an intimate way.
I can do this.
I lean in cautiously, as though approaching a skittish horse or a ticking bomb. Our lips meet in the softest brush, and for a single second, I feel absolutely nothing.
Then she kisses me back. It’s not dramatic or awkward. It’s perfect, and something warm detonates in my chest. My hand tightens on her shoulder and she makes a tiny, surprised sound against my lips. It is, without even a hint of exaggeration, the most dangerously adorable sound I’ve ever heard.
My brain screams,Back up! Back up!But my lips, my body, my heart? They feel like they’re home.
Somewhere behind us, the photographer breathes, “Wonderful! Hold that!”
Only then do I realize what’s happening. We’re still kissing. In public. Being immortalised for generations of royal biographers.
My brain finally wins. I pull back and Astrid’s eyes ping open. They’re wide and a little dazed.
“Oh,” she whispers, as though surprised by her own reaction to the kiss.
Oh,I echo silently. My pulse is still attempting Olympic-level gymnastics and I really don’t trust myself to speak right now.
Our first kiss, and it was incredible. Soft, chaste enough, but filled with so much more than I could ever have anticipated. Yes, I’m physically attracted to Astrid, but I’m also drawn to her spirit, to her lightness.
Perhaps Lady Letizia wasn’t entirely wrong. In fact, if that kiss is anything to go by, she might well have been 100 percent right.
And the thought absolutely terrifies me.
Chapter Nine
A Love Match or a Legal Merger? The Engagement Photos That Launched a Thousand Yawns
By Penelope Pemberley-Price forThe Ledonian Gazette
The royal engagement photos have been released and we are officiallyunderwhelmed.Remember that delicious photograph of the two of them in Elkevik only last month? Our Crown Prince smiled at PrincessAstrid like she'd just explained the meaning of life. We all swooned. We allbelieved.
So naturally, we expected the engagement photos to deliver a similar kind of magic.
Instead, we've been served four photographs of Prince Frederic looking like he's being forced to pose with his tax attorney while Princess Astrid smiles bravely beside him.
In. Every. Single. Shot.
My personal favorite is photo three, where the Prince is holding her hand like one might grip a briefcase full of sensitive documents: firmly, professionally, with zero warmth.
