Page 7 of His Fairytale Princess
Chapter Five
Can I be any more humiliated? What is with me that every time I see Preston I’m embarrassed beyond reason?
I smack Lola in the bicep. “I didn’t think it was relevant. Sorry about my friend; she’s a little weird when it comes to hockey players.”
Preston chuckles at my explanation and Lola sneers at me with a half-hearted snort.
“Whatevs. You and I are going to have a talk later,” she demands, giving me the pointed look, complete with eyebrow quirk. “But right now, we have to go start setting things up.”
Shifting the bags in my arms, I nod in agreement. Lola and I have been assigned one of the haunted house rooms and we stopped by at the party supply store today to gather up some decorations. You know, the usual gory décor – bloody heads, body parts, creepy clown faces. But we took it a step further. Our room will be a scene from a bloodyAlice in Wonderland.
Lola loves the classics and is going to dress up as Alice in the Looking Glass. She’s in theater studies and is always overly dramatic and entertaining. Except right now, she’s a pain in my ass with her over-the-top reaction to meeting Preston. Who I may have just mentioned on our way out of the house as my new tutoring student, although I didn’t tell her his name.
Only that I kind of thought of was cute.
And then BOOM. Speak of the devil.
My cheeks must be a five-alarm fire red right now with the mortification I feel at running into him like this. What if he overheard what we were laughing about?
I would die!
Thankfully, Preston seems to breeze over this and jumps in.
“Where ya headed? Can I help with anything?”
Lola stops in her tracks and gets a huge, cat-that-ate-the-canary smile across her face.
“Why yes, Preston,” she purrs sweetly, the brat. “We have several bags up in our room that sure could use a strong pair of arms to bring down. Brin, why don’t you show Preston the way? I’ll head over now, and you can drive over with Preston if he’s not busy.”
She turns to Preston. “You’re not busy right now, are you, Preston?”
I hide my eyes with my hand, shaking my head in horror.
“Uh – sure. I’ve got time.”
Lola slaps him on the top of his shoulder briskly. “Great. Thanks, dude. I’ll see ya over there.”
She steps forward, and from behind Preston’s back she shoots me a salacious wink, before heading toward her parked car.
“Toodles,” she calls after us and then she’s gone, and I’m stuck looking like an idiot in front of a college hockey player.
I cross my arms under my breasts, but then his eyes track my movement and I drop them to my side. Not like I don’t like his attention there, but if he is observant at all, he’ll likely notice my erect nipples indicating my excitement over seeing him.
I wave my arm dismissively. “Listen, Lola’s just kidding. You don’t have to do this just because she pressured you into this. I’m fine, really. I’m sure you have other things to do.”
Preston reaches in and plucks the bag from my hand, lightly brushing his fingertips to the skin of my forearm.
“Absolutely not. Here, let’s get this in your car and we can go grab the rest.”
He stands there a moment, possibly rethinking his offer to help. But then again, his gaze doesn’t hit me as if he’s annoyed with being suckered into this. He kind of seems pleased. His smile is warm, and his hazel eyes sparkle with a genuine interest. In me.
My car is parked behind the house in the small eight-car lot that I was lucky to get a spot in earlier this afternoon after filling up with gas. I open the trunk and he sets it down, eying my Audi A3 convertible with an appreciative gaze.
“Nice car.”
I shrug. “My mother’s idea. Safe, practical yet has a little giddy-up.”
He nods as he follows me in the back door and up the rear stairway up to the third floor. I lead the way up to my room and open the door, stepping aside so he can come in.
