Page 123 of Tabloid Princess

I flushed and his lips turned up at the corners into my favourite smile. “This can’t last for much longer, can it?”

He shrugged, but a fleeting dart of defeat shadowed his features. “My flight is at midday.”

He didn’t actually answer my question, but he successfully distracted me from it. Midday? So soon?

“Oh.”

“I don’t want to go.”

His statement, so simple and understated, poked at that hole in my chest. “You need to. Your job is important. I know I might not have respected that when we met, but I do now.”

“Is it important enough that you would do it with me?” His question blindsided me. What was he even saying?

I tilted my head. “Oliver,” I began.

We were interrupted by Daisy screeching into the kitchen. “I’ve found a ladybird. Come and look, Oliver.”

He smiled at her, holding out his hand. “Sure.” I watched them go knowing that one way or another there wasn’t a single way to go back from this.

Then deciding it no longer mattered, I stepped out after them, throwing my arms around Oliver’s shoulders. His fingers caught my face, pulling me in for a kiss.

This one single moment was all that mattered. I’d deal with the rest later.

* * *

“I’m late, I’m late.” I pushed through the door to the office. Although the air on the street was cooler—the arrival of Autumn’s approach bringing with it a fresh, much needed downpouring of rain—I still needed the air con. “Those bloody buses! Poor Daisy had to walk again.”

I went to my desk, quickly dropping my bag. While I ferreted around in the recesses of the junk I carried daily, I glanced at the small phone. He’d still be asleep. I don’t know why I even looked; it had become an addiction the last few days.

Daisy and I wouldn’t have been so late if I’d gone to bed at a reasonable hour instead of spending the night sending ridiculously emoji heavy text messages.

“You look knackered. What’s with the black bags?” Molly glanced up from her computer, double taking when she took in the state of me.

I wanted to tell her.

As my best friend, she had every right to know about Prince Oliver and me.

But if I said it out loud, it made it real, and if I made it real then it meant it could go wrong. As much as I wanted to share the news with her, I desperately wanted to hold onto the moment for itself.

The days since he’d woken in my bed had ticked by at a painful rate. It felt like a week of restless Sundays, nowhere to go and nothing to do.

In a whirlwind of activity, when the last few weeks had moved so fast— dangerously so—these days without him seemed to take forever.

“I haven’t slept well.”

Her critical gaze lingered on my shirt and jeans. Even I’d noticed this morning that my jeans were slightly easier to do up. “Maybe it’s a virus?” she suggested.

“Maybe.”

I sat in my chair but only for thirty seconds before Janine called me in. “Leia, can you come join me for a moment?”

I glanced at Molly and Paula, who both shrugged, so none the wiser I got up and went to Janine’s room.

“Hey, you okay?”

She waved me in and motioned to the seat opposite her desk. “I’m fine. How are you?”

“Fine. Tip top.”