Page 21 of His Princess Brat
“It’s not your fault,” I muttered, giving the chair a nudge to make sure it was well and truly stuck. “Bethany has that effect on people. She makes a person so crazy that they lose all common sense.”
Azid’s grin widened. “I see you’re familiar with her particular charms.”
“Let’s just say there’s no love lost between us.” That right there was the understatement of the year.
“We should make a pact.” Facing me, he hooked his thumbs in his belt. “How about if we both promise to protect each other from having to socialize with her and, no matter what she does, step in should the other person fall in danger of losing their head.”
Dread slowly killed the roller coaster in my stomach. “So, you’re saying kissing me was you losing your head?”
I tried to sound casual about it, like it was no big deal, but inside, I was devastated.
His brow furrowed. “No, actually. I’ll admit I needed a fail-safe situation that even she would be unlikely to interrupt, but the fact that you were behind that statue at the exact moment I needed you... Well, I consider that a happy coincidence.” He cocked his head curiously. “Which reminds me, what were you doing back there anyway? You got my explanation; fess up, what’s yours?”
I flushed full on panic-hot. “You don’t want to know.”
More like, no way in hell was I going to tell him. What could I even say? Hello, I know I’ve only known you a short time, but I’ve already talked to my mother about you and I think I’d like to marry you and your yoga pants.
I quickly changed the subject. “So, this pact.” I cleared my throat. “What happens if one of us does lose our head, say maybe when the other person wasn’t around?”
“I guess the other would impose a consequence. But if it happens while we are together, the other can do something to interrupt or signal them that it’s not a good idea.”
“And if that doesn’t work, then what?”
“Well,” he grinned. “I guess then I would have to spank you.”
I snorted. “Me? Who said I would be the one to break it? What if you break it?”
“Well, then you can spank me.” He winked.
The idea of me spanking him was even more ludicrous than the idea of him spanking me, and the shit-eating grin on his face told me he was well aware of that fact.
Folding my arms, I raised both eyebrows in a look of unamused disbelief.
“Let’s just agree to cross that bridge when we come to it,” he offered.
“Fine with me.” We wouldn’t come to it. I would make sure of that. I’ll admit I had a bit of a mouth on me, but I had been trained in the ways of a proper young lady. I knew how to behave without losing my head. Most times.
“Let’s shake on it.” Azid stuck his hand out and I took it, doing my best to ignore the jolt of electricity that zinged through my body the minute our skin touched. My need for this man tingled in the peaks of my tightening nipples. My throat got so tight I could barely swallow, but I managed to shake his hand in what I hoped was my best all-business handshake, before I dropped it like a hot poker. Everywhere he’d touched me—not to mention everywhere he hadn’t and yet my body so desperately wished he had—tingled, pulsed, and burned.
“Well...” Gripping my hands primly in front of me to keep from fidgeting, I tried to think of something to say, but the only thing my besotted brain could come up with had to do with him leaving my room, and that wasn’t actually what I wanted. Biting my lip nervously, I searched for something clever, flirtatious, and inviting to say, and ended up sniffling because my nose was still running like crazy. Maybe that’s why I was flushing so hot. Maybe this feeling had nothing to do with his close proximity and everything to do with my running a fever.
“Are you okay?” he asked when I sniffled again.
Mortified, I fled across the room to my bedside nightstand. Grabbing two tissues, I dutifully dabbed at my dripping nose. I desperately wanted to blow, but there was just no way I was going to do that in front of this man.
“You’re sick,” Azid accused, eyes narrowing slightly in an expression that was neither disgusted nor concerned. Rather, it was something new, something I couldn’t place.
“It’s a sniffle,” I dismissed with a wave of my hand.
“Your face is flushed,” he argued. To my growing horror and no small amount of titillation, he crossed the room, bringing himself to stand chest-to-chest with me. He cupped the back of my head and before I knew what he was going to do, leaned in and pressed his lips to my forehead. It wasn’t a kiss, just a lip press, but I’d be lying if I claimed it didn’t make my heart race just a little faster.
“You’re warm.” Even his frown was accusatory, but when he glared at me, my brain was still too caught up in the kiss for me to reply. “I knew this was going to happen. Why aren’t you in bed?” Abandoning me to the flutters of that swarm of lustful butterflies inside me, he vanished into the bathroom, only to return a short time later with a glass of water and two small round pills. “Take these, so the fever doesn’t get worse.”
“Psssh. I’m fine.” I pushed his hand away with a roll of my eyes.
“You’re not fine,” he argued. “You have the sniffles and what feels like the start of a fever. I told you when you got caught out in that storm that you would get sick. Come on, take the pills before your sniffles turn into pneumonia.”
“It’s just a runny nose,” I insisted. “I’m not as fragile as you want to think, and I don’t need to be taken care of.” That certainly wasn’t the first time I had been caught in a downpour, and being as the monsoon hit twice each year, it probably wouldn’t be the last either. Besides, I’d never been one to take ill at the drop of a hat.
