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She lunged He bobbed and weaved And so it began again A feeatythrough her veins, with her foot resting gently on his windpipe “I’ a chick flick in your future”
He rolled, and she tuainst the vinyl mat that smelled of Dom—a trademark-worthy coht as the ti, and it won’t be some crappy movie about bridesmaid dresses or missed trains”
She pushed herself up on her hands and knees, sucking in a deep breath, and glanced at hi up?”
His gaze ski as his touch “You’ll have to wait to find out”
Giving in to the urge to play with fire, she stretched into doard dog, staying there aposition His body tensed, and he fisted his hands as he stared at her, hunger co off him in waves that battered her
Three steps That’s all it would take to be close enough to run a pal,” she said, the words referring to more than her curiosity about what movie he’d pick
His shoulders tightened, and he took half a step forward before stopping abruptly The heat left his eyes, and his gaze went away from her and over her left shoulder as a neutral mask replaced the flirty smirk he’d had only a heartbeat before
“In a few days, when you’re queen, you won’t have to anymore” He dipped his chin in deference and walked out of the sparring circle
The cool breeze of dismissal chilled her skin, sank underneath and cooled her to the bone Queen That thing she’d never wanted or planned to be The sooner she could shake off whatever was holding her here, the better She’d give herself one , he’d find hiuilt left her stohosts she saw in his eyes when he talked about the coup, not to live up to the standards her father had set, not to protect the Elskovians unknowingly supporting a farce of a govern And the more she repeated that to herself, the more likely she was to finally have it sink in and take root But somehow, no matter how many times she told herself that, she couldn’t shake the realization that she was only wasting ti to herself
“I’rabbed a hand towel and wiped her face to cover her own confusion and indecision “This better not suck”
“Don’t worry,” he said “I never disappoint”
With any luck, she’d find out the truth of that statement herself
Chapter Eight
This wasn’t a date
Doh the stack of sweaters he owned but never wore for a minute before he found it Dark blue, it reminded him of the sweater Elle had offered up for him to try on at Dylan’s He hadn’t lied; he didn’t do casual The tags were still on the da, and he’d owned it for at least a year But he also didn’t do hts or days on end of only his hand for company instead of a woman He yanked on the sweater with more force than necessary and looked at the result in the floor-to-ceilingjeans and a sweater It was like he’d turned into an ad for casual laers called out to hi to the inevitable She’d gotten under his skin, and now the overner before the first day of school