“Of course, sir. Give me a moment to dress. I suggest you do the same. There’s press hanging about.”
I glance down at my pajamas. “Yes. Of course. I’ll be back in a moment.”
I stride down the corridor, my hands clenched into fists at my sides. Once inside my room, I pull on clothes and drag a comb through my hair before returning to Tommaso’s door.
He’s already there, phone pressed to his ear, speaking quietly.
“With the security detail,” he says, lowering it slightly as I approach.
“Any news?” I hold my breath.
“The princess is at the train station, sir. Paolo, one of your security detail, escorted her and her lady’s maid there an hour ago.”
My chest tightens. “And Paolo didn’t question it?”
“He did question her, but she insisted. She said she was returning to Villadorata.”
I make a mental note to speak to Paolo later. Right now, I have far more urgent matters to attend to.
Moments later, Tommaso and I are in one of the State vehicles, the engine humming as we pull away. He drives swiftly through the quiet streets of Monteluce, the town just waking up, as we head for the train station.
My mind drifts back to our time together last night. Our kiss was incredible, just as I knew it would be, but even more so, the way we talked. I’m rarely vulnerable with anyone, least of all someone I’ve only recently come to know, and yet she drew my feelings out of me with grace and warmth.
I’d wanted to kiss her for so long. I knew what it was like to feel her lips against mine, to know the softness of her skin, to breathe in her scent. Last night I felt I could lose myself completely with her. That I could be fully me with her.
I had been so close to telling her how I felt. But that kiss undid me in a way I wasn’t prepared for. It struck at something deep and unguarded, and the force of it shocked me to my core.
That was why I pulled away.
I’m not proud about it.
I ran, like a coward, only the worst sort of coward because I was running from both her and myself. I was overwhelmed. One thought kept circling through my mind:I barely know this woman.
I don’t know who Astrid truly is. Not yet. But my heart seems to know what my mind is still trying to catch up with.
She’s good, she’s kind, and her heart is open. She wants more from me than a diplomatic arrangement. I see the truth of it in the way she looks at me. It’s written in her eyes. It’s written in her kiss.
Today, I awoke with such clarity, the clarity I was too afraid of to show her last night. I want to give myself over to her, to let her be the one in charge of my heart.
And now I’ve messed it all up.
I let out a frustrated groan.
Tommaso’s gaze flicks to mine in alarm. “Are you all right, sir?”
“We need to get there. How much further?”
“Almost there, sir.”
He turns the car into the train station and I shove the car door open and leap out even before Tommaso has brought the vehicle to a full stop. I take the steps two at a time and burst into the small railway station, my gaze sweeping frantically from side to side.
There are only two platforms.
The first is empty.
The second has a train.
Hope surges through my chest as I sprint across the concourse, weaving past a handful of startled passengers.
