Her Secret Prince by Madeline Ash Page A

there.”
    Oh. She slunk down, keeping her eyes on his feet. They were bare below the worn hems of his jeans.
    “You’re crying.” He sounded dismayed as he stepped back tolet her out. “Is it—I should have been your first?”
    Dee shook her head, running a hand beneath her eyes again.
    “Then what’s upset you?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Don’t give me that.”
    Sniffling, she made herself meet his concerned stare. “I just ruined my chances of being with you and that makes me want to cry and never stop because I hate how I always wreck these things, and I can’t believe I’ve done itwith you.”
    “Hey.” He stood close, confused. He took the kettle from her hand and ran the backs of his fingers down her cheek. She turned her face away. His hand dropped. “How could what just happened possibly ruin anything?”
    “It was too soon. It’s like some default setting I can’t rewrite, I always end up falling head over heels and not being caught at the end of it because no one ever realizesthat I want to be caught. Moving fast means getting dropped fast, but I keep doing it.” Another tear ran hot down to her chin and she choked on a sob. “I keep doing it.”
    He frowned. “Why does moving fast mean getting dropped?”
    “You think I only want a fling.”
    “No.”
    She sniffled again. He was just saying that. “What do you think, then?”
    He shifted closer, voice lowering. “I think you’re comfortablewith who you are. You know what you want, and so you take it. But you’re not fickle. You don’t get bored. Moving fast doesn’t mean moving on fast, and if there have been men who think that, you’ve been with the wrong kind of men.”
    Dee stared at him. Her inhale was shaky.
    “I mean it,” he said, reaching out and tucking her hair behind her ear. His fingers grazed down her neck, falling over herbreast and stopping with a pistol grip on her waist. His eyes were steady, serious. “I know you. What just happened—I know what it meant to you.”
    She swallowed. “Then you know I want to be with you forever.”
    Shock struck the warmth from his gaze.
    “See?” Her chin buckled under the threat of tears. “You don’t know.”
    “I—hang on, Christ,” he said, and startled her by laughing. “You expect me totake forever in my stride?”
    She lowered her face. Lowered her voice. “I’m pushing, aren’t I?”
    Her skin tingled as his grip tightened. “There’s some unspoken social understanding that makes most people wait before mentioning forever. But you wouldn’t be you if you felt something and didn’t shout it out.”
    Uncertainty clogged her throat. She waited.
    Jed pressed his forehead against hers. “I wantto be with you, Dee. I can’t say forever, because I’ve never thought that far, but I want you for every minute of the future I’ve actually considered.”
    “Stop pretending.”
    “I’m not pretending.” He tilted his head, holding her gaze. “Stop trying not to believe me.”
    Hope clambered up her ribs, but she threw it off and crossed her arms. “How are you imagining us working out? I’ve lived in two placesmy entire life and both are in the same state, same country. I don’t move around. I don’t want to move around. I like having a home. You won’t stay with me. You always move. It’s what you do.”
    She watched his features fall and knew she’d struck an old wound. “I’ll stay,” he said quietly, but his forehead withdrew from hers.
    “I don’t want to move to Melbourne.”
    “I’ll stay,” he repeated. “Withyou.”
    “How can I believe that?”
    He looked down, the line of his mouth serious. When he met her eyes again, he said, “Because I’ve never had a home anywhere. The closest I’ve ever felt to contentment is being with you. Wherever you live is where I’ll be at home. And that’s where I’ll stay.”
    Disbelief caught in the lungs. For several seconds, she stared at him. Then excitement rushed throughher, too much, too quickly,