a minute before he spoke again. “Take them off.”
“Excuse me?”
“Take the abaya off, Princess.”
“You mean this?” I pointed to the robe.
“Yes.”
“Do you realize what I’m wearing underneath this?” I wasn’t going to wander around the royal stable wearing a little nightgown!
He grinned. “I think I have a pretty good idea.”
I rolled my eyes at him but couldn’t help my smile. “I can’t walk around wearing that,” I shook my head.
“Who said you would?” he asked. He dropped the reins that were in his hand and the next thing I knew, he was taking off his shirt. “Here, wear this,” he offered it to me and I just eyed it. “It’s clean, I promise. I took a shower while you were sleeping.” A grin. “I know you’re desperate to wear it–you were trying to take it off me all the while I was carrying you here.”
“I was not!” I gasped. “I am not!”
“It’s fine, Princess,” he said. “I know you could get on top of Thunder if you tried harder while still wearing the abaya, but you just want to see me half naked.”
“What on earth?” I gasped again, trying to hide my laughs. “You’re not funny.”
“Of course, that’s why you’re laughing.”
I shook my head and grabbed the shirt from his hand. “Okay, turn around,” I told him, making a circle with my pointer finger.
“What?” he protested. “I’ve already seen you in it!”
“Yeah, and you were NOT a gentleman about it. Not at all.”
“Not true! I never said anything impolite!”
“Your eyes did, and your head as well. You had thoughts about me.”
“It’s my head!”
“Turn. Around.”
The prince huffed, “Fine.” Then he grinned but didn’t turn around. “I can close my eyes and see everything I want. Huh!”
I crossed my arms in front of my chest and glared half-heartedly at him. He closed his eyes, still facing me. “Oh! I can see that you’ve already taken off the abaya but mistakenly took the gown with it.” He paused, nodding with his eyes still closed. “Nice!”
“Ugh! Unbelievable!” I took a step farther and put my hand on his shoulders, turning him around myself while smiling wide and big at his playful nature–a side of him that I had just discovered less than two hours ago–wondering how many other sides of him I’d yet to see, and wondering if I’d ever get to see them all, or if I’d like them like I secretly liked this one.
Wait…I like this one?
Ah! Shoot me now, I’m going insane.
“All right, all right,” he chuckled, and I was about to take the abaya off when he stopped me with a “Wait.”
I frowned as I saw him take a step closer to the door while looking up. I looked at what he was gazing at, to see that there was a small camera–with a very tiny red lamp–on the top of the door frame that I hadn’t noticed at all. The prince raised his right hand, motioned with it to the side, then closed his fingertips to each other and left them like that for a moment. I didn’t understand what he was doing until after I saw the camera’s lens as it moved to the side, before the red light disappeared, announcing that the camera was turned off.
He was ‘talking’ to the one behind the camera…Huh!
“Go on, Princess,” he said with his back turned to me. His back that I stared at a little bit longer than I was supposed to, or at all, while I smiled widely as I took the abaya off, then–out of nowhere–brought the shirt to my face and inhaled deeply.
I smelled protection and safety.
“My God! This is amazing!” I said, raising my hands to the sky. Enjoying my ride so much. More than I ever thought I would. “Can he go faster?” I asked the prince, who was walking beside Thunder with the reins in his hand, as we walked around the garden we’d seen when we first came out of the tunnel.
He gave me a look that translated into ‘Duh!’ and then smiled when I rolled my eyes. “I meant, could you get him to go faster than this? I wanna see how it would feel.”
The prince shook his head. “It’s risky, you could fall.”
“Oh, please?” I whined. “I’m going to be fine.”
“No, you won’t. I wouldn’t be able to catch you or stop it if he goes faster.”
I actually pouted like a little kid, then a thought crossed my mind. “Can’t you, like, ride with me or something?” I suggested.
His eyes shot