Ravishing Rapunzel (Passion-Filled Fairy Tales, #6)(21)

Rapunzel felt the heat in her face and set her knife down. She was suddenly too warm and having trouble concentrating on the task at hand. Lewd thoughts, thoughts inspired by Giselle’s books, were clouding her mind. “You know,” she said, her voice coming out a tad breathier than she’d intended, “we can just eat the apples. We don’t even need to cut them up.”

He grinned and watched Rapunzel grab a rag to wipe the apple juice from her hands. “Agreed,” he said. “Why did you want to cut them, anyway?”

Rapunzel shrugged, uncertain she wanted to admit her silliness. But Bradyn wasn’t in the habit of making fun of her. “I just thought …” she said, her voice soft. “I just read in a book once about a royal family whose food was cut up fine for them and their grapes peeled before they ate them, and I wanted you to feel at home.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “I would feel at home wherever you were, Rapunzel. And sometimes the cook slices our fruit and doffs it with glaze and all manner of fanciness, but the cook’s company has never once been as joyous as yours.”

She couldn’t help but laugh with him. “You’re too kind to me, Bradyn.”

“Because I love you,” he said, and his blue eyes sparkled with sincerity

Rapunzel bit her lower lip. “You shouldn’t joke like that.”

“I’m not joking, Rapunzel,” he said. “Do you think I would make this effort if I didn’t love you? That I would climb a tower and respect your wishes that your old mother depart before I came if I didn’t? You think I’d demand peeled apples and grapes as a prince, but not a ladder, if it weren’t for my great love for you?”

She could do nothing but stare at him, handsome as ever, staring right back at her, awaiting some response. But she wasn’t sure what to give. He said he loved her. “But we’ve only known each other a short time.”

“I’ve known since the moment I met you that I loved you, Rapunzel,” he said, reaching out and pulling her closer. “Maybe at that age, I didn’t know exactly what to call it, but I knew that you were the person I wanted, that you were the person that made me feel happiest. I’ve spent half my life searching for you, and now that I’ve found you, I can’t pretend I don’t love you. You may not feel the same, and I understand,” he said, closing his eyes, as if the thought of her not loving him pained him. “But …”

She pressed a finger to his lips and he looked at her. “There isn’t a but,” she whispered. “I feel the same. I’ve met so few people in my life, but I know wholeheartedly that I am in love with you. I know that you are my heart, and my soul. I miss you more than you know when you leave, even though I shouldn’t. Even though it makes no sense for me to miss someone who I’ve spent so little time with. But I can’t imagine not spending more time with you.”

He folded Rapunzel into his arms and held her tight. She felt safe here, his heartbeat thumping beneath her ear pressed to his chest. His skin was warm, and the hairs on his chest soft and comforting.

After a few moments nestled in his arms, she said, “I suppose we should eat our breakfast.”

He smiled at her and nodded. Rapunzel pulled out the biscuits she’d made the day before, and the two ate at the table but said little to each other.

As they were finishing, Rapunzel slipped her finger in her mouth to suck off a sliver of apple flesh. Bradyn watched, his eyes filled with longing.

She shook her head. “You shouldn’t look at me like that,” she said.

“But I must,” he said. “It would be dishonest of me to not share how I feel. And besides, I am being helpful.”

Rapunzel had no idea what he meant. “Helpful how?”

He reached out, took her hand, and pulled it close to his face. “You missed a spot,” he said, inclining his head toward her smallest finger. Sure enough, there was a bit of apple on it. He raised her hand to his lips and licked the apple off.

“You’re very forward, Bradyn,” she said.

He licked another finger, but this one had nothing on it. “I will stop if you want me to, Rapunzel. But if you don’t want me to stop, know that I will show you exactly how much I love you.”

Her heart quickened, and it seemed all the blood rushed to her ears, drowning out everything, the birds singing outside, the wind whipping by, everything but his breathing and his eyes locked onto hers. Did she want him to stop? No, never. “Don’t stop,” she said.

His grin cocked to the side and he stood, pulling her up with him and into his arms. Her heart quickened, a little metronome inside her chest. And though she didn’t think it could beat any faster, her heart slammed harder when he swept her into his arms, carried her over to the sofa, and laid her down gently.

Her breath had managed the opposite task of her heart, slowing to nothing, seemingly having forgotten that its job was to breathe in and out to keep living. But all she wanted was to stare up into his face, chiseled like a fine sculpture, handsome to a fault, with those beautiful blue eyes that watched her as if she were the only other human in existence, like she were the only thing in the world that mattered.

He leaned over, pressing his lips to hers, their mouths mingling in joy for what seemed an eternity, and then she pulled free, her body remembering it did in fact need to breathe.