Royally Wild (Crazy Royal Love #2) - Melanie Summers Page 0,1
little sister. Now, not so much, I’m afraid.”
Oh, bollocks. That’s not good. “He’ll get over it when he sees how happy I make you.”
I let my lips hover over hers for a second, then give her a slow kiss in hopes of putting an end to her line of questioning, because truth be told, some of this bravado is indeed on the false side. I’m actually more nervous than I’ve ever been, but since part of my charm is this whole confident, adventurous, nothing-bothers-me thing I’ve got going, I can’t exactly tell her that, now can I?
I’ve made my career as a professional adventurer/nature show host, meaning I managed to convince the Avonian Broadcast Network (ABN) to pay me to do all the insane stunt stuff I love in the most remote places on the planet. And Arabella is a princess who has had one of the most sheltered, dull upbringings of all time. But you know what they say about opposites attracting each other…
“You’re always so confident. It must be so nice to be you,” she says, trailing her finger down my abs.
I give her a naughty grin. “At the moment, it is very nice to be me.”
Her smile widens, then she gives me a thoughtful look. “No, but seriously, nothing ever rattles you. How do you do it?”
I pretend. “It’s simple, really. I only do what I like, and since worrying is absolutely no fun, I don’t do it.” I lean over and kiss her again, trying to loosen the knot in my stomach. The truth is, there’s about a ninety-percent chance her family is going to hate me on spec, and about a two-hundred-percent chance they’ll hate me when they find out Arabella wants to go Megxit so we can have a life of adventure.
“I wish I could do that. Everything worries me.”
“Hmm, I think I can help you with that,” I say. “Did I ever tell you I have a superpower?”
“Other than that thing you do with your tongue?” she says, her smile returning.
“I’m pleased you enjoy that so much. Very gratifying. And yes, I have one other superpower. You tell me what you’re worried about and I’ll make you forget all about whatever it is.”
“You’re just going to do that thing with your tongue, aren’t you?”
“Maybe. But you have to admit, it’ll work for a few minutes anyway.” I brush my lips against hers. “But in all seriousness, tell me what’s on your mind.”
Her eyebrows knit together, and I know whatever it is must be big. “I’m scared the show might come between us.”
She means because I used to host a one-man show with me as the star, and now I’m sharing the limelight. In fact, they’ve renamed it Princess in the Wild from its former title The Wild World which frankly did sting at first, but now that I’m a man in love, I want to put her out front and centre so everyone will know how incredible she really is. I’m about to reassure her I’m fine, but she continues talking so, like the good boyfriend I am, I zip it.
“I know you’re fine with the new title and all, but I can’t help worrying about how they’ll spin things we said and take them out of context to make us sound bad,” she says. “I mean, two people getting along nicely isn’t exactly compelling television.”
“Well, I’m sure there’ll be a bit of that. Especially the first couple of days out in the jungle.”
“And that giant fight near the end…”
“That too,” I say. “But none of it really matters, does it? You and I know what we’ve got together, and we know exactly how we got here. Nothing they do or say can get in between us. Not if we stick together.”
“Which we will,” she says firmly.
“Of course we will.” I cup her cheek with one hand. “This is us, Belle. You and me. Think of everything we’ve been through together in such a short time. When things went horribly wrong out there in the jungle, we took care of each other. And that was life and death. This is just…” I shrug. “… a 2D-rendering of what we’ve already lived through.”
She nods. “You’re right. We know the truth of what happened, even if they try to make it out to be something it wasn’t.”
“Exactly. It’s five one-hour episodes—a tiny fraction of our actual time together. I’m actually looking forward to reliving it all with you.”