Page 65 of The Problem with Princes
I grin. “I bet that’s the first time you’ve ever had to say that.”
He laughs. “Yeah. Sorry. I didn’t realize what I was doing.” He motions me to the next grip. “I have noticed your rather unique curse words. Where did they come from.”
I pull myself up and reach up for the next grip. “My mom would never allow us to swear or cuss. She even made a cuss jar.”
His frown furrows. “What’s a cuss jar.”
“Any time someone said a cuss word, we had to put money in a jar. So my brothers came up with things to substitute for the cuss words. It made my mom so mad, but what could she do if they took the name of the Clark’s baby girl in vain?” I smile at the memory. “My goal was to come up with things that would make her laugh. I think that is where sweet cream cheese came from.”
“Sweet cream cheese? I haven’t heard that one.” He climbs slowly up beside me. My slow pace has got to be driving him crazy.
“I try not to say most of them out loud. People look at you strangely when you start muttering about cheese.”
“Give it to me in a sentence. I’m not sure I understand how to use it.”
“It’s kind of a universal stand-in.” I keep climbing slowly but surely. I’m the tortoise from the fable.
He laughs and I think for a minute he might let go again.
“So you would say something like, ‘Sweet cream cheese, that hurt!’ or ‘Sweet cream cheese, would you look at that?’” I look up and I’m surprised to see that the black handhold is only about twenty feet away. I think I can totally do this.
“I will have to remember that one.” He pulls himself up so we are even again. “And son of a bee. I’m sure they both come in handy.”
“You have the luxury of swearing in Greek when you are in a different country. I think most English swear words are pretty well known around the world.” I keep climbing, eyeing that black grip.
He shrugs. “Probably among the younger generations.”
I reach for the black handhold and pull myself up to the top. There is a bell, like you see at the front desk of a hotel in older movies, fastened to the ledge of the wall.
“Go on and ring it. You made it to the top.” Ty motions to the bell and I slap my hand down on it. I look over at him and it takes my breath away to see the way he’s looking at me. “I’ve never been more attracted to anyone than I am to you right now.”
I swipe a sweaty clump of hair off my brow. “Yeah, I bet.”
He leans over so he is only gripping one hold with his hand and his foot, and he kisses me. It’s quick, and light, but it says so much. “No, really. That you just climbed this whole wall is like the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. I’ve never been prouder of anyone.”
My face is already warm from the exertion, but now it’s on fire. “You may want to hold your accolades. I still have to get back down. And that may not be so easy.”
He grabs a pair of leather gloves from his back pocket and hands them to me. “Put those on. Then when I tell you, you are going to close your eyes and slide down the rope. Just don’t go too fast or you’ll burn your skin.”
I nod as I pull them on. They are still warm from his body heat.
“Okay, now don’t watch me.” I hear the zing of his harness as it feeds the rope through and I know if I look down now, I’ll never make it down. They’ll have to tranquilize me first. And that will not be pretty for anyone. I stand on the grips and look at the wall, my hand clutching tightly to the rope.
I can still hear Ty making his way down and I really want to look, because I’m sure he looks good doing it. But I resist the urge. I just keep hearing him say that he has never been so attracted to someone. And he was speaking to me, in all my sweaty glory. No one has ever said anything like that to me before.
“Okay. Come down,” he calls from below me.
I suck in a deep breath. Closing my eyes, I kick off the wall, white knuckling the rope as my legs wrap around it. I loosen my grip only slightly and feel myself slip. Slowly, I slide then brake, slide then brake. The whole time Ty is shouting encouragement to me.
Finally, just as I feel my toes touch the ground, I feel arms wrap around me. “You’re on the ground, Sweet Cream Cheese.”
I turn around in Ty’s arms so I’m facing him. I look up into his smiling face and grin. “That’s SCC for short.” I glance up at the wall I just climbed, and my stomach jumps into my throat. I bury my head in Ty’s chest trying to hold back the emotion. I can’t believe I did it. Almost as much as I can’t believe I’m Ty’s girlfriend.
But wait, I leave tomorrow. My euphoria wains. What’s going to happen then?
The door opens and Sander steps in. He walks quickly toward Ty, leaning in and whispering to him. Ty grins. “Why don’t you tell her, Sander.” Ty drapes his arm around my shoulder.
“Thanks to you, the palace police just arrested the man responsible for sabotaging Prince Tyrone’s car.”
