Page 25 of The Princess and the Pizza Man

“I can’t hear them.” She sighed and slapped a hand back on his arm. “Looks can be deceiving. Like right now… if someone were watching us, they may think we like each other.”

A thrum went through his chest cavity, and he lifted an eyebrow. “How’s that, exactly?”

She titled her head. “My hand is on your arm. You’re constantly smiling. We keep leaning in to talk to each other even though no one is around.” Her hands flew outward in a circle, and Will started to laugh only to catch himself and force his lips straight. Had he been smilin’ tonight? He hadn’t noticed.

“A’right, you got a point.”

A victorious grin fell onto her face, and he’d be darned if it wasn’t the cutest thing he’d ever seen. “Perfect. Then let’s go.”

She didn’t need to pull him this time to get him to follow. Will found his feet falling into step next to hers almost naturally. Her pace was probably fast for her, normal for him with their height difference, and he stopped his smile yet again before he let it crawl back onto his face at just the small, unimportant things he kept getting amused by with her.

“There’s a light sensor out the back door, so we’re going to have to take a side—” Winter’s voice was cut off with a guttural oof! She’d run straight into a wall, making Will bolt out a laugh he felt deep in his gut.

“Even you don’t know your way around your own house.”

She frowned and rubbed her nose. “There’s usually not someone standing in my way.”

Will’s brow furrowed and on closer look, apparently Winter hadn’t just face-plowed into a wall, but a wall of a person.

“Sorry, Princess,” Michael said, stepping out of the shadows. There was a slight grin on his lips, but his eyes looked defeated, sadness etched into every line of his face.

“My fault,” Winter said, her head tilting to the side. “You okay?”

His sad smile grew to something forced and, if possible, more upset. “Yep. Just enjoying the gardens.” Then something changed entirely in the air, Michael shaking off whatever was going on and looking up at Will. “Hope you’re treating her well,” he said with a nod toward Winter. “I never should have let her go.”

Winter snorted. “Stop it.”

Will’s shoulders relaxed. For a good while there, he’d forgotten he was surrounded by actors. This little improvisation here was only that—an act. He silently laughed at himself for almost getting jealous over an ex-boyfriend of someone he barely knew.

Michael plucked Winter’s hand up and kissed her knuckles. “Have a lovely night, Princess.” Then he strolled past and up the stairwell, his shoulders back to slumping when he was nearly out of sight.

“So…” Will said, eyes turning toward Winter again, “was that all part of the act, or you guys really got somethin’ goin’ on there?”

She bobbled her head back and forth. “I don’t know what you mean,” she lilted, and then kept moving out toward the gardens. Will only chuckled, deciding not to push it.

Winter slid open the sliding glass door slowly and carefully, only leaving enough room for her body to slither through. Will gave her a look and pushed it all the way open so he could fit. A tinkle-like sound came from her nose, and it took him a minute to realize that her laugh had transformed from cathedral bells to hungry mice. That must be her stealth mode, which was better than he could’ve done, for sure.

“Okay,” she whispered, “they are on the other side through the hedges here. Stay on the path until you hear her, then jump behind something like your life depends on it!”

He gave her a thumbs up, not trusting his voice to come out at a low enough volume. Getting caught spying on his sister while she flirted with some guy was not high on his wish list.

Winter crouched as she walked under an archway that led to a giant fountain of a mermaid and fish singing or something. Will pursed his lips together, begging his comment to stay inside his throat though it nearly pained him not to be sarcastic right then.

“You are so loud,” she said over her shoulder. Will put his hands up.

“I haven’t said anythin’.”

“Your feet are talking enough.”

He looked down at his shoes thunking against the ground and tried to make himself lighter footed. After a couple of different tries, Winter’s laugh brought his attention back to her.

“What?”

“You look like you just got off a horse.”

He stopped in his tracks. “I’m gonna just head back, then, Princess. You can fill me in on this escapade tomor—”

Her hand flew to his mouth, her body instantly a breath away. Will tried to figure out what she was listening for, but his mind was suddenly a mud pit, his thoughts slogging through to try to make their way out. Her face was so close to his, but how? She was so short… Maybe she was on her tiptoes? A cinnamon and vanilla scent wafted through the air—a perfume that was making thought process that much harder. The icy gray swirls in her eyes was so captivating, it took him too long to realize that it was panic.

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