given an inch, she'll take a mile. Trust me on this.”
He rakes his gaze over me, smiling a little sadly. I don't know what exactly he is talking about, but I lift my hand to touch his cheek, the gesture intimate enough to let him know that I hear what he's saying.
He slows down, turning to face me. Then he truly totally surprises me by sliding one hand around my waist and cupping my jaw with the other. He bends me back a little and kisses me so deeply and firmly that I forget everything else in the world.
For just a few seconds, it's just Lars and I. Just two bodies, all alone in the universe. His taste is on my lips, his scent in my nose, his hot hands on my sensitive skin…
I almost forget that we are not actually in a relationship, that we are not the real Prince and Princess. When he breaks away, I look up into his handsome face, my heart beating fast, my breath all but gone. Lars looks at me, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"Should we go talk to our friends, then?"
At this moment, he is irresistible to me. I nod slowly, grinning at him still.
Lars takes me by the hand and pulls me along toward Stellan and Margot. Stellan looks like a much more uptight version of Lars, all dark and tall and buttoned up and brooding. Margot still looks like a little pixie, although she has only recently stopped bleaching her hair. Instead, I see that she has had her hair professionally dyed, and it falls around her shoulders and face just so. She looks at me with genuine delight, raising her arms to embrace me.
I let go of Lars's hand, hurrying into Margot's embrace. I hug her hard, inhaling her cotton candy sent. “I have missed you so much. Where have you been?”
She pulls back, looking at me. “Where have I have been? Where have you been? I've been right here, trying to get the king to relax a little during the holiday.”
Stellan frowns at us both. “Someone has to do the work around here. Keep the lights on, that sort of thing."
Lars beckons to Stellan, drawing him away. I have no idea what Lars is telling his brother, but I am glad for a little alone time with my bestie.
“What are you drinking?” I ask Margot.
She sighs, hooking her arm in mine. She lifts her cup, showing me the contents. “It's some blend of ciders or something. I asked for something hot and something nonalcoholic and this is all that they could come up with other than coffee.” She wrinkles her nose. “One of the less amazing things about being… in the condition I am in.”
I smirk. “Are you two still not telling people?”
“No, we decided to wait another month. Well, I decided. Luckily my husband is willing to bend on the issue at hand."
“Well, you let me know the second you can go shopping for baby necessities without causing a national crisis. Because I will be there with all the bells and whistles that I can carry.”
She smiles up at me. “I'm really very glad that we are friends, Pippa. I mean, looking back five years, would you have imagined that we would be standing right here, with these men as our partners?"
A flash of guilt runs through me. I look away, frowning at an imagined site on the other side of the ballroom. “Is that Annika?"
I feel bad for lying, especially to her. But I am completely certain that she wouldn't be able to conceal the truth from Stellan, and Stellan would come down hard on Lars. So I have to lie to her, for everyone's sake.
Her brow wrinkles as she searches the crowd. “I thought Annika and Erik were on some tropical vacation or something. I think you might've seen someone else.”
I nod. “It's entirely possible.”
Margot sighs. “I think I have to pee again. Will you excuse me?”
I look around as she slips away through the crowd, sucking in a deep breath. To my left, I can see Lars’s grandmother talking to a group of people and sizing me up. I definitely don't want to be trapped talking to her, especially not after what Lars said to her earlier. So I take a sharp right turn, almost plowing into a gorgeous, very thin blonde in a hot pink, skintight dress.