Page 57 of The Princess Trap

“You’re the most annoying person on earth, do you realise that?”

“You literally ran off to a foreign country to marry aprincewithout warning. You won’t tell me shit about him, and I had to use Biblical quotes about judgement to stop Mum from Googling him, andI’mthe most annoying person on earth?”

Cherry winced. “Okay, fair.”

“Right.” Maggie paused. “So he’s had it kind of rough, huh?”

“Wait—didyouGoogle him?”

“Of course I did. And you should thank your lucky stars I got there before our parents, cuz Jesus Christ—”

“What? What did you find?”

There was a slight pause. Then Maggie said, clearly shocked, “You don’t know?”

Cherry stiffened. Her sister meant well, but the incredulity in her tone was threaded with something else—something dangerously close to concern, worry, pity, as if Cherry was in the dark. As if she was a fool. She wanted to say,I know what I’m doing. She wanted to say,You don’t even realise how in control of this situation I really am. But she couldn’t, and not just because she’d signed a non-disclosure agreement.

She couldn’t say either of those things because she wasn’t sure that they were true.

So instead, she said, “Oh, I know about all of that stuff. Just, I heard it from him. I didn’t want to invade his privacy.” She sounded casual, unconcerned, totally confident.

It worked. She felt her sister relax through the phone,through the miles between them. “Fair enough. Honestly, I feel really sorry for him. I mean, that Kathryn bitch…”

Cherry paused Netflix. She remembered the headlines she’d seen, the one and only time she’d Googled Ruben.

Prince’s Perversions Exposed: View Kathryn Frandsen’s Social Media Live Stream!

Pushing the memory away, Cherry shut her laptop with aclick.

“I should go. I’m getting a migraine.”

“Oh, God, really? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I think I’ve spent too much time looking at screens today. I’ll probably go to bed early.”

“Okay.” It was a flimsy excuse, but Maggie seemed to believe it. Probably because Cherry didn’t lie. Usually. “Hope you feel better in the morning, sis.”

“I’m sure I will,” Cherry said. “Love you.”

“Love you. Bye.”

Cherry put the phone down and stared at her laptop for a few minutes. It felt like an hour.

But she wouldn’t do it. She couldn’t. Of course, she probablyshould; Maggie’s reaction proved that. Researching Ruben would be the sensible choice, and she could do it while avoiding headlines like the one she’d seen.

But when she thought about his smile and his sweetness and the warmth of his hands against her skin…

She sighed and turned away. It was time for bed.

He crept into her room like it was a habit. Two nights, and they’d fallen into some kind of illicit routine. Cherry lay on her back, staring into the darkness and wondering if she was weak for wanting a man she hardly knew. Maybe. She wasn’t concerned about the fact that she wanted his face between her thighs, because that was simply to be expected. He was… Ruben.

But she also wanted him to lie here and tell her everything. Anything. All of it. Like they had that kind of relationship—like they ever could, in this sort of situation.

Yeah. She was probably weak.

She’d never had a chance to be weak before. Maybe she should enjoy the freedom of it while it lasted.

His weight made the mattress dip, and she allowed herself to roll towards him—just a little bit. As if she couldn’t help it. But he didn’t touch her. He lay down, close enough for the sensation of almost-feeling to prickle across her skin, like that sense of wary excitement before a summer storm, when the air became hot and electric.