Page 5 of Innocent Princess

"How about you try introducing yourself? Maybe I have to get to know you before the smolder is effective on me."

Uh, maybe she's right. I'm going to have to work my magic later on some random chick to ensure I haven't lost my smolder mojo.

Shaking off the confusion, I get my head back into the game. "Hi, I'm Ryker Stone."

3

Zella

"Well,it's nice to meet you, Ryker Stone. I'm Zella Raps." I should probably leave my perch on the window, but nothing about this greeting is formal.

"Are you new here?" He eyes me like he's trying to figure me out.

"I am... a transfer student. Third-year," I say, knowing it would be his next question.

"Really? Third-year too. Why haven’t we run into each other before?" He crosses his arms but still remains casual. The tension in his shoulders constricts, and his back straightens, like a thick board down his spine. He was trying to distract me, keep my mind off the fact that I caught him doing something inappropriate.

"You mean, how have you not laid eyes on the girl with the hair for days?" Smiling softly, I pull my knees to my chest. My hair has never not been a topic of gossip.

Ryker chuckles around a "yeah" and the sound does something to me.

Small, tiny tingles work their way up my feet to my legs, all the way to my hips and into my belly. Little sparkles of something I've never felt before break the surface, causing my heart to race. Well, at least he's honest.

I shrug a hint of disappointment off, wishing one day I'd meet someone who didn't notice the hair. "So, it's not my stunning looks and chipper personality?"

"Actually, it's all of those things. The hair drew me in. The looks made me pause, and the personality, well, it's the cherry on top." He ends his sugary-sweet compliment with the smoldering look he attempted earlier.

This time, it does affect me. I don't want him to realize it, but the knowing smirk on his face has me fighting to reach up and cover my heated cheeks.

Traitorous cheeks.

Gathering my wits with the help of a good-natured eye roll, I bring the subject back on him. "So, are you a Peeping Tom or something?"

He lets out a snort. "Uh, more like ‘or something’."

"Hmm. So, what exactly were you doing then?"

He studies me for a moment, contemplating the truth. His pupils dilate just before he lies. "Meh." He casually lifts a shoulder. "I was stealing a password from a Post-It note."

What?I glance to the window he stood at and drag my eyes back to him. There's no way; clearly, he's pulling my leg here. He doesn't know me, why would he trust me with the truth?

"Ha-ha. Right. Well, you don't need to worry about me. I never saw you. You were never here." I wiggle back into my original position in the window and wink.

He stares at me in wonder for a beat then clears his throat. "Well, I gotta run. It was nice meeting ya, Blondie. Maybe I'll see ya around."

Heat floods my cheeks at the nickname. "Just look for the hair," I add as he salutes me and then slips back out the door as quietly as he came.

My eyes blur as I stare at the door for several minutes.

What the hell just happened?

* * *

The next day,I still can't seem to shake that oddly entertaining meeting with Ryker. I really want to know what he was doing. Whatever it was, he probably doesn't want people to know about it. Maybe he would get in a lot of trouble if he were to get caught.

That thought has led me down the path of wondering what he does in his spare time. Does he do unsavory things a lot? Or was yesterday, whatever he was peeking in on, a one-off?

No, something tells me he's probably sneaking around doing things he probably shouldn't more often than not. Consider my interest piqued. I've never meant someone "bad" before.

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