The Snow Prince - Raleigh Ruebins Page 0,27

his eyes focused on mine. “I needed to apologize, firstly.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” I said. “Gift baskets or apologies or sex. But thanks, I guess.”

“I don’t owe you sex, no,” he said, focusing his eyes on mine. “But I at least owe you an explanation as to why I… came on so strong, and then didn’t show up.”

I raised my arms in an exaggerated shrug, then let them fall. “Sure, Sebastian. Why not.”

I crossed over to the living room, plopping down on the worn-down, olive green couch. Sebastian sat across from me on the recliner, perched with perfect posture.

“God, you look so out of place in here,” I said.

He puffed out a small laugh, shrugging off his peacoat to reveal a simple, heather-grey T-shirt underneath.

“That better?” he asked.

“A little,” I said.

I could see so much more of his skin now. His biceps filled out the sleeves of the T-shirt in a way they never used to be able to. He still looked… polished, and poised, but no longer completely mismatched to being in a small cottage.

“Don’t tell my mother I was out in town in just a T-shirt, and we’ll be fine,” he said.

I rolled my eyes. “Never understood why you cared what she thinks so much, but sure,” I said.

He sighed. “It’s not so much that I care what she thinks,” he said. “I just agree with her that I want to be the best prince I can be. I want to do things the right way. People need someone to look up to.”

“I don’t think anyone gives a shit about seeing a prince in a T-shirt, Sebastian.”

His lips pressed together tightly. “It’s about maintaining a public face,” he said.

“I bet,” I said.

He pulled in a sharp breath, sitting up a little straighter again. “In any case,” he said. “I apologize. I started something I shouldn’t have, back at the castle, and I accept the blame for that. It won’t happen again.”

“Definitely won’t,” I said, shifting on the couch. “Because I’m not stepping foot in that place again.”

“You aren’t?”

“It gives me the creeps,” I said.

He nodded once, his gaze somewhere far away for a moment before he snapped back to the present. “Right,” he said, reaching over and feeling around in one of his jacket pockets. “I also came to give you this.”

He handed me a sheet of the royal-letterhead stock paper. A long list of phone numbers and names was written on it, in incredibly neat cursive handwriting.

“Genoveve prepared a roster of all of the best contractors we’ve had to work on the castle over the past five years,” he said. “The top three are exceptional, and Gen has already called them to put in a good word for you.”

“This is great,” I said softly, looking at the neat list.

“I assume the man I saw in the red truck leaving your house was another contractor you’d been speaking with?”

“That was Norm, yes,” I said. “I think you can still find some of his burger grease if you look at my countertops.”

“I see.”

“I think someone on this list here will probably be a lot better than him,” I said. “Thank you, Sebastian.”

“It’s really my pleasure, and the least I can do,” he said. He looked around the room a little more, as if he was fascinated by every detail, before finally standing up. “I should be going. I don’t want to interfere with your plans.”

I watched as he shrugged on his peacoat and I could see the hint of something in his eyes that I hadn’t seen in a long time. He had the same expression on his face that he always used to have, right before he had to go back to the castle for the holidays.

He used to hate it. It was like going back to the castle—leaving me—tore him up inside, even if he knew he’d see me again soon.

That look annihilated me. No matter how angry I’d been at him, no matter how much I thought he was a snobby prick these days… seeing that look on his face made me want to tuck him into the biggest bear hug I could manage.

“Don’t suppose you’ve eaten dinner yet, have you?”

He glanced up at me. “No, I haven’t,” he said. “Well, the princess is in the car right now, actually. Along with Genoveve.”

“They came down here with you?”

He nodded. “Emma is very interested in town life around here,” he said. “She grew up in a castle in Beloria, and she’s never seen normal life. She’s