How to Resist Prince Charming(23)

She looked up to find that his cheeks were red and his eyes moist. Shaking her head, she crumbled. “You didn’t take advantage. You’re drunk too. And I wanted you. I still want you.”

Face contorting with pain, he sank to his knees in front of her. “I’m sorry. I messed up. Don’t cry. I can’t stand to see you cry, and I can’t leave until you stop.”

When she choked on a renewed sob because his words were so sweet and it only conflicted her more, he hugged her waist and sank his face in her stomach. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

She touched his hair hesitantly, then buried her fingers in his inky locks. Leaning down, she pressed her cheek to the crown of his head, soaking in the sensation and committing it to memory so she could always recall how lovely he felt in her arms.

As if reading her mind and knowing this was their last embrace, Braxton let out a depressed sigh. “We haven’t even started and we’re already doomed.”

Lenna tightened her grip on him. She didn’t want to let go. Leaning against him, she asked, “One more kiss before you leave?”

He shook his head. “You really are out to kill me, aren’t you?” But instead of denying her, he lifted up onto his haunches and mashed his mouth against hers.

Their lips clung desperately, tongues curling and tangling. When he took both her hands, their fingers intertwined, and they held each other just like that until a car horn sounded on the street below.

Braxton was the first to pull away. “My cab.”

Lenna pressed her face against his neck. He cupped her hair for a moment and then let go.

“I had a wonderful evening. Everything we did together...it wasn’t a mistake, okay? I don’t regret it. And I don’t want you to regret it, because you just gave me an incredible memory I will carry with me for the rest of my life.”

“There you go again,” Lenna told him as she wiped at her misting eyes. “Being all noble and irresistible.” Typical Prince Charming behavior.

He grinned and shook his head. “If you only knew how tempted I am to forget that cab and crawl back into this bed, You’d run screaming for the hills.”

Well, yes, she probably would scream, but only in ecstasy.

He pushed to his feet and turned away. But when he reached for the door and opened it, he glanced back. Their eyes caught and held.

“It’s probably a good thing we stopped. I think I would’ve fallen a little too hard, a little too fast.” He winced, looking sick. “Actually, I think I already did.”

Before she could respond, he was out the door and gone.

Clutching her stomach, she stared at the closed portal. As his sweet words repeated themselves through her head, she realized she’d already fallen for him too. Too hard and way too fast.





CHAPTER 8




Every Sunday, Lenna ate dinner with her parents. This week, she arrived fidgeting. She couldn’t manage to stay still. Wanting to be useful and needing to show her father she still loved him despite what she’d done with his nemesis the night before, she helped her mom set the table and finish preparing supper.

During the meal, Tom asked her about her job search as he always did. Lenna bit her lip and lied. She told him she’d sent in an application to a corporation seeking a public relations spokes-person. Tom smiled with pleasure and nodded his head approvingly, making Lenna want to sink through the floor. Damn, maybe she really should apply at a stupid corporation.

But Braxton’s advice echoed through her head. Just don’t leap into some career that isn’t what you want merely because it’s taking you too long to decide. Lenna let out a breath, confirmed she was doing the right thing in her job hunt.

She had no idea how it happened, but talk of her dad’s work started. Her brother, Aaron, like the pest he was, jokingly asked how the new boss was getting along. Her heart dropped into her stomach as Tom’s eyes frosted over.

“That kid,” he muttered, “got a plateful he couldn’t handle when he pounced into his daddy’s shoes.”

The rest of her visit with her family went downhill from there. Lenna left as soon as she helped put away the cleaned dishes. Anxiety ate her alive. She slipped out the back door and hurried to her car. When she settled into the driver’s seat, she started the engine but continued to stare at her childhood home.

This was all wrong. She and Braxton had stopped before going all the way. She’d held herself back and made him call a cab, yet that didn’t seem to matter. Her guilt lingered.

Lenna had never kept anything from her dad before. Sure, she didn’t tell him everything. Her personal life was just that. Personal. But she was keeping a secret she knew would wound him if he discovered it. He’d feel betrayed, like she’d gone after the one man he couldn’t stand merely to upset him.

She loved her father with her whole heart, but he wasn’t the forgiving sort. If he thought she’d wronged him, he’d hold a grudge for a long time.

Sick to her stomach, Lenna leaned forward and rested her head on the steering wheel.

“What am I going to do?” she whispered to herself.



As Monday came, Braxton found himself in the meeting room at Farris Industries with a dozen other employees, one being the father of the girl he’d had his mouth all over and his dick inside two nights before.