Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 26177 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26177 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
The hesitation wasn’t there. Samira jerked open the car door, looked over her shoulder with snow slamming against her face and said. “We walk.”
Walk it is.
I said nothing. I got out of the car, took my keys, cell, and started walking. To her credit, she didn’t complain at all.
I could hear her slipping behind me to the point that I grabbed her by the hand and just held it as we continued to go through the trenches.
Hunger.
Thirst.
Hypothermia.
All real things that could happen in nature.
But she held my hand and refused to back down and at the most pivotal moments as we did walk, she gripped my fingers harder and I thought to myself I would never forget how her thumb felt as it rubbed against mine as if to say, We would keep walking and I’d keep obsessing over the way her hands even felt warm through my leather gloves.
Snow started to pile light enough that we could walk through it, but it was so slippery that falling was a huge issue and she had no preparation, she was in tall designer heels for shit’s sake, pretty heels, not that I should focus on that at all, but they had zero chance of making it through the ice and snow, and it kept piling and piling.
“Hey.” I grabbed Samira’s hand again and stopped us. “Get on my back, we’ll be there soon.”
“No.” She waved me off like it wasn’t a big deal, even though she was stumbling in the snow on wobbly heels. “I’ll walk, I’ll—”
She slipped across the ice and collapsed against my chest, her hands gripped my wool coat. “Still think you’ll walk?”
She shrugged away, her hair caught in her pretty pink lipstick. Was it horrible that I wanted it to smudge a bit, so I’d have an excuse to keep touching?
She was insufferable, but she was also strong, and strength was admirable in someone who was always shoved into a spot where she had no choice but to say thank you, please, nod her head, smile, accept a proposal you never wanted and all in favor of your country and how you’ve been raised.
“What?” she snapped. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“How am I looking at you?” Cute. She looked extremely cute, because she looked annoyed and started huffing and tugging at her hair. Crossing her arms, she gave me a small shove against the chest. I wasn’t prepared for that first blow or that it would be my final as I fell backward onto the road and into the snow, pulling her with me.
How cliche.
My heart didn’t stop thudding against my chest despite the lack of warmth on my back—I had it on my front, I had her there, lips parted. I tilted my head. “You make me curious, you’re quite aggressive when you feel insecure, aren’t you?”
“I’m not insecure.” She snapped still on me, me still freezing.
I cupped her chin with one gloved hand. “I didn’t know princesses lied. Better be careful or he’ll hear you.”
Her eyes widened. “Who? Who will? Are we being stalked?” She leaned in, her breath close to my face. “Followed? Who’s he?”
I crooked my finger. She came in closer, then brought her face to mine, tilting the side of her face until I whispered. “Santa. You don’t want a lump of coal.”
“Childish.” She pulled away.
I pulled her back against my chest. “Sometimes we need to play even as adults, and you should let someone do something for you. Just like we need to play as adults, we need to be carried. So let me?” I slowly sat up and helped her to her feet. “Let me carry you.”
Nostrils flaring, her brown eyes suddenly looked down at my outstretched hand. “Nobody’s really ever offered to carry me and truly mean it.”
“Their loss.” I held my hand higher to her. “So? What’s the decision? Can I carry you so we don’t freeze to death?” I didn’t tell her I was already hot down to my core from having her on me.
After a few seconds, she slapped her hand into mine. “If I must.”
Oh, you must be all right.
She helped me to my feet, I nearly tripped turning around, and getting on my haunches for her to jump. “Here you go.”
Her jump wasn’t light, and I loved her more for it, aggressive, clingy, her arms wrapped around my neck, nearly choking me to death. “Don’t fall.”
“Wasn’t planning on it.”
Snow started falling even harder, making me nervous as I lifted her up for a third time and gripped her thighs. “I think it’s getting worse.”
No shit. “Nah, I mean, it can always get worse.”
“Optimism is something you lose while being a part of the monarchy.” She shivered against my neck, probably not realizing that her lips kept touching my skin while she talked. It tickled. “You lose all hope because sometimes you don’t get to make decisions for yourself and sometimes you have dark moments just like right now, wait are we going in the right direction?”