“Your secret is safe with me.” She stands, her feet wobbling before she gains stability. “I might want to put another disclaimer out there.”
I stand, having the same issue at first, although I think my ankles just cracked too. “What’s that?”
“It’s been years since I’ve ice skated. Eighteen years to be exact.”
I take her hand. “No worries, a prince always takes care of his lady first.”
We reach the edge of the ice, and her hesitation is clear from Sierra’s rigid stance. She doesn’t even smile at what I said, so I step out first, holding out my hand for her to take.
“Ever have that hunch that you’re about to end up in the hospital?”
“Where’s the firecracker who was talking all that smack?” I joke, but she’s pale and obviously unnerved about what was her idea in the first place. “It’s like riding a bike.”
My skates slide and I lose my balance for a second but luckily recover so I don’t end up on my ass.
“Yeah? Tell me, do you know how to ride a bike?” she asks.
She eases her hand into mine and I skate backward, welcoming her onto the ice as I guide us to the side of the rink. “You assume I can’t ride a bike?”
“I figured you always had someone drive you anywhere you wanted to go.”
I shrug. I did. I can’t lie about that. “My mom was pretty set on us having as normal of a childhood as we could. We learned to ride in our backyard.”
“I’ve seen your backyard,” she says.
I feel the line between my brows appear. “You have?”
“In pictures. I’m not sure I’d refer to it as a backyard.”
“Sure, it is.”
She raises her eyebrows. “It’s bigger than all of Manhattan.”
“Nooo.” In truth, she may be right. And she’s only been able to see where the press snaps pictures they’re authorized to.
“Let me ask you something? Are you modest, ignorant as to how you grew up, or just trying to lie to me?”
“Do you realize you’ve skated half the rink already?”
She looks behind her then meets my gaze. “Don’t dodge the question.”
I let go of one of her hands as she gets the rhythm of skating down. “Just like riding a bike. You’re doing great. Even in that dress.”
“I had to hike it up,” she says.
“You think I didn’t notice?” I grin at her.
A blush creeps into her cheeks and my dick takes notice. This woman, with her red hair and her blushes, is like a damn siren.
“You’re still dodging the question,” she says.
“I’m conversing.”
“Answer the question.”
A kid whizzes by her side and Sierra’s arms flail, but she catches the side of the rink.
I stop right in front of her, ready to start over, but she shoos me away. “I can do this. Distract me by telling me the answer to my question.” She smirks and one foot slides out while her other foot joins in. She’s not smooth, but she’s getting the job done.
I sigh, ready to bare the truth to who is essentially a stranger. “I know I’m privileged, and I abuse that privilege. Just my name alone gets me things. Things you can’t even imagine. But lately I’ve wondered what it would be like to live a normal life.”
She huffs. “Trust me, it’s not what it’s cracked up to be.”
“Like right now. If anyone around here recognized me, they’d take pictures and wonder who you were. They’d do almost anything to find out. Misconstrue what’s happening here and before dawn, your whole life story would be in the paper.”
“Yes, but you get to vacation in exotic places. You have servants and bodyguards. Have you ever had to worry about parallel parking in the city? How far of a walk you’d have in four-inch heels after you got off the subway? How you’d make ends meet?”
“You speak from experience?”
She stares at me with a blank expression. “Yeah. I do.”
“I guess there’s the good and the bad, but lately all I’ve seen is the bad.” I shrug.
“Ever wonder what it would be like to run away? Start fresh? Just hop on a bus to the first city it took you to, find a job, and start a brand new life?”
I observe her while she continues to concentrate on getting her footing correct. Truth is, she’s doing awesome, but her last statement concerns me. Is her life so bad that she wants to run away? Then again, my life isn’t bad per se, and I’ve had thoughts of disappearing too.
“A bus? And give up my private plane?”
She shakes her head at me. I’m glad she gets my humor because that moment was way too serious for me.
“So just me, huh?” The corners of her pink lips turn down.
I could be a douche and lie so that tomorrow she won’t report that during her dream date with Prince Adrian, he admitted to being done with his royal obligations, but something tells me that what Sierra and I are doing tonight isn’t her interviewing me to give the scoop to anyone.
“No. I’ve had those feelings ever since I was ten and realized the cameras weren’t all that cool and the photographers behind them were assholes only out for themselves.”
A look of remorse mixed with pity mars her beautiful features. “I’m sorry.”
I hate that look, so I recover quickly. “Don’t be. I’m a prince, remember?” I wink to show her everything is cool in my book.
Then a group of kids pass by and one of them smacks her ass, turning around and laughing after he passes. I’d go after the little jerk and ream him out but Sierra stumbles and grabs my jacket for support, which makes me lose my footing and all I can do is try to cushion her fall. I allow myself to go down first, my arm swinging around her waist so she falls on top of me.
Her head falls into my chest and she peeks up, her hair in her eyes. I brush it out of the way, and for a moment, our eyes meet, and it feels as if we’re going to kiss. She laughs, her chest vibrating along my stomach.
“What’s so funny?”
“Did you plan this? Saving me from falling down on the ice? What a princely thing to do. Are the cameras somewhere nearby?” She searches the area as she crawls to her feet, but she’ll find nothing.
“Just like a fairy tale,” I say.
She shakes her head as we skate off the ice. “There’s no such thing as fairy tales.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Chapter Five
Sierra
We return our skates and end up grabbing a taxi to drive us to the Brooklyn Bridge.
“You’re different than I thought you’d be,” I say after he pays the taxi and we head toward the pedestrian walkway.
He smirks, turning in my direction for a second. “How so?”
“More down to earth maybe?”
He nods as though he gets that a lot. “Did you expect me to be in my royal attire and force you to bow?”
“No, but for some reason I expected you to be crazy wild.”
“How so?”
“I didn’t think a night in New York with you would constitute you wanting to walk the Brooklyn Bridge and ice skate at Rockefeller. Especially after ditching your security.”