The Princess and The Jester - A.D. McCammon Page 0,25
thinks?
To be fair, it is deceptive. But that was never my intention. I just hadn’t properly thought this through.
I am not!
I’m not pretending to be someone
else. I’m just hiding who I am.
There’s a difference.
It’s okay. I like being on your hook.
A stupid goofy grin spreads across my face. I miss playful, flirty Cole. If only he could be this way with me. The real me. In person. I get the scowling, wrathful Cole.
Just so you know, that earned you
a hard eye roll.
I bet you smiled though. Just a little.
I huff out a laugh, my smile growing.
Bastard.
I’ve got to get to work.
Have a good day.
Think of me.
I drop my phone on the bed, my face hot as I sink back into my pillow. There’s no doubt I’ll be thinking about him all day. The feeling of his lips on my skin, the taste of his tongue, the skilled stroke of his fingers…
Sweet baby Jesus. I’m so screwed.
I freeze at the sound of a door closing down the hall, listening for Cole’s footsteps. His shadow passes under my door only to return a second later. My lungs refuse to take in air as he pauses there, my heart racing from the anticipation of waiting to see what he’s going to do. But he continues down the hallway without a word. Not even so much as a tap on my door.
Chapter Twelve
Present
COLE
After the chaos that was CMA Fest two weeks ago, things at Brighton seem dull and slow. There isn’t much to do around here on a Monday afternoon. Everyone has either checked out or in for the week. Outside of the occasional package haul or food delivery, I’m left to wander freely around the hotel. Which would be fine, except I could use something to keep my mind off Gwen.
My head is still reeling from last night. I lost all control, and she took the victory. Even as Gwen was telling me she was mine, I was the one who felt owned. There’s no doubt she wants me, but that doesn’t mean she cares about me.
Lust and love are two different beasts.
I tried to get her out of the room before my emotions got the better of me, but she had to go and cry. It broke me, and I snapped. She doesn’t have the right to act like I broke her heart. That’s not how things went down.
“I didn’t want to lose you.”
Her words sounded so sincere, and I wanted to believe them. But she’s still lying to me, still hiding something. She basically admitted there’s more to the story. If she’s so convinced it wouldn’t change anything, why not tell me?
Despite all that, I felt like the asshole. When I stormed down the hall to her room, the plan was to take back the ground I’d lost. Then I saw her curled up in her bed half-asleep. The only thing I wanted to do in that moment was hold her.
The battle hadn’t merely been lost; I’d gone down without a fight. A white flag was waved, revealing my weakness.
I shake Gwen from my thoughts and knock on the closed door to Camille’s office, rolling my eyes at the FRONT DESK MANAGER plaque hanging on it. The woman puts on a good front when my mother or Arwen’s father are here, but she’s quick to shirk her responsibilities as soon as they’re away. Lord only knows what she actually does while she’s locked away in here all day.
“Come in,” she calls, not even trying to hide her annoyance.
She doesn’t bother looking up from her computer as I step inside. The ugly scowl on her face is replaced with a bright smile the second her eyes lift to find me standing there. Camille is a grade A bitch to every other employee here, but she’s overly friendly to me. It could have something to do with being her boss’s son. Though the way she tends to drink me in makes it seem like there’s another reason for it.
If she weren’t such a shitty person, she might be halfway attractive. She’s like an off-brand Scarlett Johansson. Or maybe what Scarlett Johansson would look like in the real world without a professional stylist and makeup artist.
I’m guessing Camille has used her looks to get a lot of things she wants in life. Rumor has it she’s slept with several of the wealthy married men who pass through on business. Usually around the same time she shows up with a new designer handbag or pair