have, trying to memorize the way sleep softened his features, because it was the only chance she’d ever have? That situation?
“It could be better. He’s trying to get too close,” she admitted, and with a hole the shape of dread in her chest, added, “But I have a backup plan.”
That night, Frankie sat next to Kris at the bar of the Bearded Bunting, braced against his short-fused mood. Her team was positioned at all the entry-exit points, including both ends of the laneway behind the venue, and casual-clothed guards had been instructed to blend into the gathering. Frankie and Philip had pounced on Kris’s theory, arranging their own investigation into the attack on Tommy and Jonah, but in the meantime, Kris couldn’t so much as turn his head in a public place without half a dozen guards clocking the movement.
The bar was booth-lined with a packed dance floor, while the rear courtyard was even more crowded with brightly dressed locals coming together at the end of a hard day. The whole place was loud and lively, filled with people laughing, calling out and telling stories at the tops of their lungs. No wonder Kris liked it here. The throng absorbed his status and he could sit at the bar like any other guy in a black tank, unbuttoned plaid shirt and jeans. Which, to Frankie’s continued bewilderment, was a lot of them. This cowboy-chic fashion trend worked in his favor.
He’d just accepted his second drink from the bartender, and was rolling his shoulders, stretching his neck, eyeing the room like a fighter in the ring spoiling for an outlet for his surging testosterone. It was dangerous. Every time she looked at him, her temperature rose, and when he’d leaned in earlier to ask what she wanted to drink, he’d smelled so sexy that some delirious instinct wanted to rub his scent all over her naked body. The man was practically vibrating with a sinful energy.
Holding her breath, she leaned in and spoke under the noise. “You’re acting volatile.”
His answering grin was utterly wild.
Christ.
He got this way when he felt out of control. Attempting to balance out the scales by being out of control.
“Get out of predator mode,” she told him firmly. “We don’t need trouble.”
He drew challengingly from his beer, eyes locked on her. “You could handle it.”
“What?”
He slid a forearm along the counter toward her. Edgy, magnetic. “Trouble.”
“Your Highness,” she said, nodding at the bartender as he set a bowl of hot chips between them. “I recommend you dance this off.”
He stayed close, eyes on hers, so she picked up her glass of lemonade and bit down on the straw. She wasn’t sitting next to gentle Kris, who gazed into her soul and murmured words she’d never forget. She was sitting next to Kris who had stress pent up inside him like a caged beast clawing to get out. And he wanted to let it out, with her as the closest target.
“Your hair drives me crazy,” he said, voice coarse, eyes too intense for so few drinks in.
She scarcely bothered to raise a brow. For the sake of her prince’s privacy, her earpiece wasn’t broadcasting this conversation to the entire security team, but for the sake of his safety, it was being received by Hanna and Peter. Peter lurked near the dance floor and Hanna laughed easily as she fended off unwanted attention farther up the bar counter.
“You keep it so short at the sides.” Kris’s attention moved across her scalp. “There’s no opening for me to tuck your hair back.”
“If you paid attention to the look on my face,” she said, “you’d see there’s no opening for you to do a damn thing.”
His attention slipped to the side of her neck. “Will you dance with me?”
“No.”
“Will you storm onto the dance floor and haul anyone off me who gets too close?”
Frankie scanned the room, feigning distraction. “Possibly.”
“What if they put their hand on my ass?”
“Depends if it looks like you want it there.”
“What if they take me back to their place?” His question was quiet, but not careful. Proof that she was another contributing factor to this mood. “What would you do then?”
“Scout their home before you go in, make them sign a nondisclosure agreement, and wait in the car out front.”
Scowling, he pulled back and drained his beer dry. Not the answer he wanted. He signaled for another drink, grabbed a handful of chips, and turned to talk to the guy on his other side.