“A bookmark. It has a wolf on it. See?” I pointed to the etching. “I bought it earlier. But I want you to have it.”
“Why?”
“You like to read,” I said, recalling all of his books. “So now when you sit down with a book, you’ll have this, and maybe you’ll think of me and won’t feel so alone.” I cringed. “Okay. Saying that out loud sounds cheesy. You don’t have to keep it. I—”
“No,” Lake softly interjected, clutching the bookmark to his chest. “I’ll treasure it. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Thank god it was dark because my face got hot. Lake called to a part of me, like he’d already wormed his way into my chest. Not as deeply as the two men I loved but deep enough that I was sad at having to say goodbye to him.
“Blushing beneath the moonlight,” Lake whispered, closing the gap between our bodies with one step forward. Hesitantly, he reached for my cheek and grazed his fingertips across my heated skin. “You’re so beautiful you make my chest ache.”
He thought I was beautiful?
Lake dipped his head and leaned in, slow and unsure. His breath fanned against my lips. My scalp and the tips of my ears tingled as a weightlessness came over me, like I was being drawn into his gravitational orbit.
And then, Lake kissed me.
My brain stopped working as our lips met; the gears jammed, and the machine malfunctioned. The heat from my cheeks radiated to my chest and shot outward, sizzling as it blazed through my veins. One pressing of his mouth on mine was all it had taken to ignite a powerful force in my core, an intensity I knew couldn’t be bottled back up.
Several guys had kissed me in my life, but only three of them had ever made me feel like this. Briar, Maddox, and now… him.
I hadn’t even kissed him back yet. I was too stunned and confused. Through the confusion and jammed clogs in my brain, a bit of sense returned.
“W-Wait,” I stammered, drawing back from his lips. I slapped a shaking hand over my mouth. “I can’t do this.”
Lake touched his lips, the shock I felt washing across his face too. “I’ve never done that before. I… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…”
Then, he took off running toward the shadows, dashing between the trees.
“Lake!” I started to go after him, but of course, my boot caught between two rocks, and I stumbled forward, catching myself on my hands and knees. Rocks and fallen thorns dug into my palms and pierced through the material of my pants, and my ankle twisted at an odd angle.
I was too focused on finding Lake to register any pain. But he was gone, already out of sight. No sound reached my ears.
Kuya rushed over and dropped down beside me, alarm in his eyes as they roamed over me. He whimpered and grabbed my hands. “Evan’s bleeding.”
“I’m okay.” I winced at the sharp sting. Well, so much for not registering the pain. I definitely felt it now. “My gracefulness holds no equal.”
“Kuya will take Evan home.” He helped me to my feet.
He allowed me to lean on him as we started a slow walk out of the forest and back toward the main road. When I put weight on my ankle a while later, it didn’t hurt nearly as much. That’s where the good news ended.
The beating of hooves against the lane came from ahead of us before men appeared on horseback. They had just left the castle gates.
“Oh no,” I mumbled, recognizing the one in front riding the black stallion. “I’m a dead Evan walking.”
“Kuya is dead too,” he said as a white horse galloped forward. The blond-haired man atop it was unmistakable. “So, so dead.”
“Kuya!” Prince Sawyer pulled on the reins to halt the horse and dismounted. As he rushed toward us, his personal knight, Noah, followed close behind. Sawyer pulled Kuya into his arms. “Thank the gods you’re safe.”
It seemed my men weren’t the only ones who overreacted. Then again, neither of us had told anyone about our day out, and we’d been gone all afternoon and late into the evening.
My gaze shifted to Maddox. A very grumpy Maddox, who, if looks could kill, would have me rotating on a spit over a fire and then serve me on a silver platter as the main course, a muffin in my mouth instead of an apple.
I’m so dead.
Chapter Seventeen
Cuteness is the Ultimate Power (I Hope)
