The Princess and the Player

Without warning, she flipped to face him and the ravaged look on her face sank hooks into his stomach, yanking it toward his knees.

“Not this. You can’t uncomplicate it because you’re the complication, James.”

Circles again, and they didn’t do circles. Not normally. She shot straight—or at least she had thus far. Had things changed so much so quickly?

“What did I do that’s so horrible?” he demanded.

The little noise of disgust she made deep in her throat dredged up some of his earlier temper, but he bit it back to give her the floor.

“You came in here,” she raged, “and tore down all my ideas about how this thing between us was going to go. You understand me, pay attention to me. And worse than all of that, you made me fall for you!”

The starkness in her expression sealed his mouth shut once and for all, and he couldn’t have spoken for a million euros.

“And I’m scared!” she continued. “I’ve never been in love. What am I supposed to do? Feel? I’m running blindfolded through the dark.”

Too much. Too fast. Too...everything. He blinked rapidly but it didn’t do anything to ease the burning in his eyes. He couldn’t...she wasn’t... Deep breath. Hold it together.

She was afraid. Of him and what was happening inside her. That was the most important thing to address first. Cautiously, he reached out and took her hand. He was so completely out of his depth, it was a wonder his brain hadn’t shut down.

This was a challenge. Maybe the most important one of his life, and after all his claims of being able to uncomplicate anything, now was a good time to start. No buckling under the pressure allowed. Bella needed to feel as if she could trust him and obviously she didn’t.

Heart pounding—because honestly, the freaking out wasn’t just on her side—he cleared his throat. “Look me in the eye and tell me that again. But without all the extra stuff.”

“Which part?” she whispered, searching his gaze, her eyes huge, their expression uneasy.

“The thing about falling for me.” Her nails cut into his hand as they both tightened their grip simultaneously. This was a tipping point, and the next few minutes would decide which way it tipped. “I want to hear it straight from your heart.”

His lungs seized and he honestly couldn’t have said which way he wanted it to tip. What did he hope to accomplish by making this request of her? But he’d spoken the honest truth—regardless of everything, he wanted to hear it again.

“I’m falling for you,” she said simply in the husky voice that automatically came out when she was deeply affected.

Something broke open inside him, washing him with warmth, huge and wonderful and irreversible. And suddenly, it wasn’t very complicated at all. “Yeah. I’ve got something along those lines going on over here as well.”

That something had been going on for a while. And he was quite disturbed that Will had realized it first. Bella was special and admitting it wasn’t the big deal he’d made it out to be. Because the specialness had always been true, from the first moment her body aligned with his on the beach. It was as if he’d been waiting for that moment his whole life and when it happened, his world clicked into place.

“Really?” Hope sprang into her eyes, deepening the blue. “Like a little bit or a whole lot?”

“With no basis for comparison, I’d say it’s something like being flung off a cliff and finding out exactly what maximum velocity is,” he said wryly. “And it’s about as scary as cliff diving with no parachute, since we’re on the subject.”

The smile blooming on her face reminded him of the sunrise they’d just watched together outside, before the birds had prompted this second round of confessions.

“Isn’t it against the guy code to tell a woman she scares you?” She inched toward him and smoothed a hand over his upper arm, almost as if she was comforting him—which was supposed to be his role in this scenario.

“All of this is against the guy code.” He rolled his eyes and she laughed, as he’d intended. The harmonious fullness in his chest that magically appeared at the sound was an unexpected bonus. “Can you at least fill me in on why I had to pry all of this out of you with a crowbar?”

She scrubbed at her face, peering at him through her fingers. “This is not how it was supposed to go. We were going to have a couple of hot dates and maybe I would end up going back to Miami. Maybe you’d jet off to another country like you always do. No one said anything about losing my heart along the way.”

A little awed at the thought of Bella’s heart belonging to him, he reached out and flattened his palm against her chest, reveling in the feel of it beating against his hand. “I’ll take good care of it.”