Page 64 of Wicked Princess (Knight's Ridge Empire 2)

“This?” I ask, sliding my hand over the table and capturing hers.

Her breath catches at the contact, her eyes jumping to mine.

“I hate to tell you, Princess, but this,” I twist our fingers together, “isn’t stopping. I need this, and I think you do too.”

“I m-meant the revenge. The pain.”

A wicked smile curls at my lips. “You love the pain.”

Her cheeks pink, a smirk appearing on her lips.

“That might have been the wrong word,” she jokes. “Drink up,” she instructs, draining the contents of her mug and pushing away from the table.

“Where are you going?” I ask, watching as she washes it up and heads back toward the bathroom.

“You wanted me to take you somewhere, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” I breathe, a smile twitching at my lips. Maybe we’re already making headway on the trust thing.

* * *

An hour later, she pulls back up to the car park beside the diner we had breakfast in earlier, only now, the sun is starting to drop lower in the sky and the families that were enjoying an early autumn day on the beach have left, leaving the sand almost deserted aside from a couple of groups of kids still playing volleyball.

“The beach is your happy place?”

“Not all of the beach. Only a certain part of it.”

“Lead the way.”

She takes off ahead of me and heads for the sand. The second she’s descended the few steps, she stops and pulls her boots off.

“You might want to roll your pants up,” she tells me when I come to a stop beside her.

“Okay.”

With my jeans rolled up to my mid-calves, we walk side by side, down to where the sea is lapping at the beach.

The warmth of the water surrounds my feet, reminding me that we’re a long way from home right now.

“I could get used to this,” I mutter, thinking how nice it must be to live somewhere you can swim in a sea that’s as warm as stepping into a bath.

“It’s pretty incredible.”

Silence falls between us as we walk, and although we’re shoulder to shoulder, I can’t help myself… when our hands brush, I grab hers, twisting our fingers together.

Keeping my eyes focused on where we’re going, I sense her glance up at me.

“We’re not fighting, Hellion. Not here. Not in your happy place.”

She sucks in a breath that I swear steals all the air from my lungs, but she decides against whatever it is she was going to say, instead nodding her head subtly.

“I can’t believe I’m bringing you out here.”

“Is allowing me to get to know you really that terrifying?”

“It gives you power.”

“How’d you figure that, Princess?”