Page 53 of King of Lies
“I don’t like it, I love it!”
“I’m glad,” he smiles.
“Can I help you find something?” an older woman appears from the stacks before bobbing into a short curtsy. “Oh, Your Highness. It’s good to see you again.”
“It’s good to see you as well,” he replies. “My fiancée would like a book.”
“She would like lots of books,” I wink. “I only brought three and an e-reader. I’m in desperate times.”
“Well let’s see you out of them,” she says warmly, taking my hand in both of hers. “I’m so glad to meet you.”
“Me too. I think we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other,” I tell her.
“I’m so glad.”
She leads me through the store, and I spot my two favorite sections: Romance and Mystery. I spot a lot of familiar books. I work in a bookstore, after all. Or … I worked in a bookstore? Man, this abrupt life redirection is going to take some time to wrap my mind around.
I bite on the cuticle on my thumb while I ponder which book to get. I’m so torn. There’s a new one by Emma Hart and a new one by KC Enders. Ooooh. And look … Alyssa Kale. Gah! I want them all.
“You can get more than one,” Rhys says from behind me, and I blush. Am I really that easy to read? I turn around and look at him. By the look on his face, I am that easy to read. Fine. Okay. Whatever.
I roll my eyes as I turn back to the shelves and grab the books that I want and a couple more. Who knows how long it’ll be before I get back here again … or home. If I have to be around the queen and her friends, then I want to be able to hide out and read instead. I realize that makes me sound absolutely terrible, but sometimes, you just need to retreat and regroup. I hear Rhys chuckle as I make my way to the checkout counter.
“Did you find everything all right?” the shop owner asks me.
“Oh yeah,” I answer, placing my finds on the counter. “It’s a lovely store.”
“Thank you,” she says, scanning my books and putting them in a canvas bag. “Oh, this one is my favorite. Have a lot of tissues on hand for that.”
“Thanks.” I laugh. “I will.”
I reach for my purse, but Rhys subtly shakes his head. “Put it on the estate account please.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” she says with a smile. “Have a lovely day.”
“Thank you. You too.”
I reach for my bag, but Rhys beats me to it. He carries it to the door and then hands it to Leo, who hands it to the driver. I will never get used to this at all.
We walk past a few more shops and look in the windows. “See anything you like?”
“I’m happy just to get some fresh air and window shop,” I reply.
“You know there’s fresh air in the gardens,” he says.
“Yes, but here, it’s less … crowded.”
Rhys just smiles because he knows what I mean. But I also get the impression that he’s not going to go out of his way to change my circumstances either. I let out a sigh—maybe in frustration, maybe in anger. I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I hate this situation, but I also don’t know that I want to change it either.
“It’ll be okay,” he says for my ears only as he takes my hand in his.
I smile up at him because I don’t want this moment to ruin our nice day out. I don’t want him to think me ungrateful. But I’m afraid the longer we go without talking about the problems with this transition, the more likely it is that we’ll fail. “I know. Let’s talk about it later. Right now, I’m having a nice day.”
“I rather thought the day started nicely, Hen,” he rumbles in my ear, making me blush. A man would think the day is off to a good start when it begins with an orgasm.
“Of course, that’s where your mind goes.” I roll my eyes, and he chuckles.
“Can you blame me?”
