He laughs, extending his hand toward me. I slip my palm against his, and a zing of heat flows up my arm. Tingles fly through my body, making my face flush as he curls his fingers around my hand.
“You shouldn’t be scared of me,” he says softly, glancing over at me.
My heart jumps.
I’m not scared of the Prince. Not even a little bit. Not even when Hunter told me to stay away from him, or when the newspapers say he’s been volatile and angry since he had his spinal injury.
Not even when he’s dragging me away from my brand-new job at the castle to take me to Farcliff-knows-where.
The only thing I feel when I’m around Prince Luca is excitement. It’s a deep, pulsing excitement that starts in the pit of my stomach. It sends waves through my whole body, until I can’t keep the smile off my face.
The Prince squeezes my hand.
“I like you, Poison.”
“Thank you.”
“That’s it? Just ‘thanks?’”
I shrug, fighting to keep the grin off my face. “If I told you I liked you now, it would seem false. It’s like when you compliment someone and then they respond by saying they like your shoes, or something. It’s not usually true.”
The Prince chuckles, and the sound sends flutters through my chest.
“Plus,” I continue, “the jury’s still out on you. I wouldn’t want to lie by saying I actually like you.”
I love making him laugh. When Prince Luca smiles, he looks like a different person. He loses the harsh lines on his face. His eyes soften. He looks so much more human.
Every photo that I’ve seen of the Prince, he’s scowling. Every news story talks about his accident, and his miraculous recovery. None of them talk about his smile, or his laugh, or the magnetic energy that seems to draw me to him.
Not that I’ve obsessively Googled him for the past two days, or anything.
My heart rattles against my ribs with every step we take. As we wind our way through the Farcliff Castle grounds, the wind rustles through the trees and carries the Prince’s scent toward me. I inhale, feeling almost drunk as I walk beside him.
Drunk on him.
On his presence. On his aura. On the irresistible pull that draws me closer to him.
The path veers to the right and starts to climb. The Prince lets out a soft sigh, shaking his head.
“After my accident, they told me I’d never walk again. The thought of spending the rest of my life in a wheelchair nearly killed me. It all comes down to the mind.”
The path narrows, and the Prince lets me walk ahead of him. I can feel his body behind mine, sending pulses of heat coursing through my veins.
Gulping, I try to take a full breath. No one has ever had this effect on me before.
“How did you learn to walk again?” I force myself to ask.
“Sheer determination, luck, and lots of physical therapy.”
The Prince’s hand drifts to my waist, and he nods to a small pathway which intersects the one we’re on. My skin tingles where he touches it through my shirt. My breaths are shallow, but not because of the climb. It’s because of Prince Luca.
I step onto the small pathway, holding a tree branch out of the way for the Prince to step under. His chest brushes mine as he walks across, his eyes meeting mine. There’s a fire burning inside him, and in the silence of the woods, I can hear it crackling.
When his hand reaches up to brush a strand of hair off my cheek, I close my eyes and lean into his touch. Everything he does makes my heart skip a beat. My stomach clenches, and I force myself to glance at the narrow forest pathway.
“Where are we going?”
Prince Luca grins. “Well, ever since I learned to walk again, I’ve made a point to do it every day. I’ve been exploring the royal grounds, and I found this spot just last week. Being in nature, on these paths that would have been unavailable to me. Being here makes me feel alive.”
He turns down the path, jerking his head for me to follow him. A lump forms in my throat as I stare at the Prince’s broad back.
I’ve judged him harshly. I’ve thought of him as nothing but a player, a bad boy, a sleaze. But what if there’s more to him than meets the eye?