Page 316 of Sweet Nightmare

“What?”

“My favorite thing in the whole word.”

She narrows her eyes. “Stephen.”

“Princess.”

“What?”

“I’ve written three songs about that twitch.”

Her mouth falls open.

“You’ve what?”

“I also wrote one about the way you fuck me.”

“You’re joking.”

“Nah. I’m not.”

“Stephen!”

“What? I need to write a thousand fucking songs about that puss⁠—”

She puts her hand over my mouth and then she laughs.

Really laughs.

Her shoulders shake, her eyes crinkle, and for one beautiful second, she forgets we’re standing in front of half the fucking country.

The photographers lose their minds.

Because they’ve captured Artemis Volpe in a thousand photographs.

The champion. The fashion icon. The untouchable Ice Princess.

But they’ve never captured her like this.

Laughing and looking at me like I’m the only person in the world who knows how to make her forget she’s supposed to be untouchable.

The Ice Princess melts.

Only for me.

Someone yells my name. Another shouts hers. Questions fly at us from every direction.

“KHAOS! ARE YOU DATING?”

“ARTEMIS! ARE YOU MOVING TO KOREA?”

“KHAOS! IS MARRIAGE NEXT?”

We reach the entrance, with one last stretch of red carpet between us and the doors.

One last wall of cameras.

One last opportunity to keep my intentions to myself.