Page 68 of Royal Charmer
“No.”
“What will you be doing?”
He looks over his shoulder at me. “I agreed to interview employees for the spa.”
“It really is business.”
“I swore to be honest with you.”
My eyes sting. “Yes. I appreciate it.”
He turns and wraps me in a hug. “I’ll miss you too.”
I press my cheek to his chest, surrounded by his strong arms, warmth, and love. Why can’t this be enough?
I look up at him. “Let’s just enjoy what we have now, okay? No expectations or talk of the future.”
He pulls away and turns off the shower, his movements jerky as he grabs a towel and hands it to me without a word. I shiver despite the warmth of the steamy space. He’s impatient and holding himself in check. It’s only a matter of time before he decides to give up on me. I can feel it in my bones, yet I can’t seem to get there. The scars are too fresh.
He wraps a towel around his waist and steps out of the shower, his muscles taut with tension.
“Lucas?” I whisper.
“I’m not angry,” he says without turning around. “Just give me a minute.” He gathers his clothes in one swoop.
“It’s not you, it’s me,” I say urgently. I can’t bear to hurt him.
He stills for a moment and then shakes his head. “Don’t.”
I swallow hard as he strides from the room.
~ ~ ~
Lucas
I’m wide awake at three a.m. Alice is sound asleep, curled on her side, her back cozied up against my side. I’m pushing for too much, I know, but it’s impossible for me to contain myself. I’ve never felt so strongly about anyone before, and the uncertainty of the future is making me crazy. I need to know she’s mine. I want to marry her. If I could just havesomeindication that she will ultimately commit to me, I could ease up.
My eye catches on her laptop sitting on the desk across the room. I asked her earlier if I could read her story. I was the inspiration for it, after all, along with our fake engagement. She told me she didn’t want to share her first draft.
But it’s about me.I’mthe scoundrel. If I read it, I’d know how she secretly sees our future. The future she’s too vulnerable to voice out loud will surely play out with her characters.
I cannot believe it’s come to this. It’s wrong to pry.
It’s also wrong to push her too hard and scare her away.
Slowly, carefully, I slip out of bed, snag the laptop, and take it with me into the adjoining living room. It’s chilly out here in just my boxer briefs. I don’t want to wake her, trying to find my clothes from where I last tossed them, so I pad back into the bedroom, swipe the throw blanket off the bench at the foot of the bed, wrap it around my shoulders, and check one last time that she’s asleep. She’s out cold. I know she’s been working around the clock to finish this draft, going to bed late, hanging with me, and then getting up early to get right to work.
Back on the sofa with the laptop, I lift the screen and tap a key. It’s on, but it’s password protected. I type “password” in case it’s that easy. Nope. That was dumb. She loves words. She’d use a favorite word. Badass? No, that’s a recent thing, I think. Regency? Nope, not that. I rub my beard, thinking hard. Something with love.
Suddenly I know. Besotted. She loves that word. She made me her besotted fiancé.
I type it in and the screen unlocks to a wallpaper image of a man in a loose flowing white shirt with tight breeches. Yes! No idea who that man is, probably a book cover model. I click over to her files, and there it is, right on top. She named it simply Scoundrel-1stdraft.
I click it open and begin to read my future.
Chapter Eighteen
Lucas
