Page 176 of Tormented Billionaire Romance Series

“Of course.” I moved closer. She smelled good, like lavender and vanilla, a scent so soft it couldn’t have been perfume. It had to have been soap, exuding from her soft, creamy-white skin.

“Thanks,” she murmured. She pulled off her headband and gathered all her hair up on top of her hand. “Just hold it up here.”

I placed my hand on top of her head, holding her hair—and my breath. Her hair was so damn soft, like silk between my fingers.

The princess secured her headband and, with extreme reluctance, I let go. She tilted her head around a little and gave a slight, satisfied smile. “Fixed. Thanks for your help.”

“My pleasure,” I said. “So, anyway, I love your dress.”

“Thank you. I made some modifications to it after buying it.”

“Are you a tailor when you aren’t a princess?”

“Oh, no.” She laughed. “I’m a… Well, it doesn’t matter. It’s just a hobby of mine, being crafty, though I’d like to make money from it someday.”

Even knowing she had done work on the dress herself, I couldn’t tell. It could have rolled off the assembly line so crisp and stylish. “In my opinion, I think you could do it.”

“Oh, that’s so nice of you!” She smiled more and scrunched up her shoulders, self-conscious, though not really nervous any longer. “It’s a lot harder than it sounds like, though.”

“Sure,” I agreed. “I happen to be a bit knowledgeable about the art world, enough to know it’s touch. I think what anyone needs to make it is a way to stand out and a good bit of luck. I can’t speak on your luckiness, but you have definitely made that dress stand out.”

The princess turned her head away from me to hide her mounting embarrassment. “What do you do for work?”

Nice deflection.

“A bit of everything,” I said truthfully. “I host galleries and promote artworks I think are deserving of attention. I critique, and collect.”

“My friend does critiques, too.” The princess brightened. “For the paper. She’s a columnist who writes reviews. Books, movies, art, you name it.”

Something clicked for me. “Would this friend of yours happen to be the Mary Jane over there?”

“You saw her?”

“That red wig is a bit…much. It was hard to miss her.” We both laughed. “She picked a costume that was a bit on the nose, then.”

“I’d say so. On purpose, too. Maggie is acutely self-aware.”

I was amused. “That is the strangest compliment I have ever heard one person give another. Not ‘she’s nice’ or ‘funny’ but that she’s self-aware.”

“You don’t know her. She’s unlike anyone you’ve ever known.”

“I don’t need to know her.” I lowered my voice. “I’m talking to someone who is also unlike anyone I’ve ever known.”

The princess licked her dark red lips and swallowed. “You mean me?”

“I do.”

She did that thing again where she turned away, and then she tried to deflect. “Maggie came here to try and find Brian Holt, because she’s very interested in him. I think the costume was more so she could roleplay. Not a lot of investigative journalism going on when you’re critiquing the latest Hollywood film.”

She wasn’t going to let me in if I kept on like this. I couldn’t keep playing it so safely. Sooner rather than later, she would wriggle her way away from me and that would be it. I couldn’t let her go without at least trying.

“Do you want to dance with me?” I asked.

The princess swallowed nervously again, didn’t answer.

“Your friend is busy with that Brian guy. And the friend I came with is also occupied.” I wasn’t going to tell her that friend was Brian. I didn’t want to give her even the slightest hint about who I was. “We’re both alone and available right now, so why not dance? Just one dance. I swear I’m not terrible at it.”

“Well,” she shrugged. “Okay, sure, why not? I’m here and you’re right. Maggie’s busy. I came to support her, but it’s not like she needs me anymore at this point.”

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