“Hey, Princess.” His voice sounded so far away.
“Hmmm.”
“Why did you run away from your wedding?”
I was wrapped in a nice safe cocoon where nothing and no one could get to me. I was even floating…
“Because I was afraid of the man I was being forced to marry.”
Chapter Eight
Isabella
I peeked out the hotel window and soaked in the sunshine blanketing Seattle. Summer was supposed to be long gone by now and the gray days of Fall settling in. Mother Nature obviously had something else on her mind today.
Houston walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, tucking my head under his chin. “Morning again, Princess.”
“Why do you keep calling me that?”
“Because that’s what I thought of the first time I saw you. Wish you could have seen how it looked when you appeared out of the mist and fog on that pier. Big flowing dress, long silky dark hair framing your face. The way you moved and searched the area. I thought I’d tripped and fallen into a movie set.”
His honesty shocked me and warmed my core. But he’d seen someone who wasn’t me. A charade my family put together to parade out in public when it suited my father’s fancy. I turned in his arms and tipped my head back to meet his gaze.
“And now? What do you see? I don’t have a fancy dress anymore or a hairdresser to blow out my hair. Hell, right now I don’t even have makeup.”
Houston smiled, sifting his fingers through the massive length of curls I called hair. I knew what I looked like now. Plain.
“I like you better this way. Your hair is gorgeous like this, especially when it falls across your naked ass. I think it’s been made pretty clear how much I love your fantastic body, and I could give a fuck about make up.”
I smiled. “So hair and ass. Good to know what you like.”
He smirked and pinched my nipple through his shirt. “I like it all, babe. You’re going to always be a princess to me whether you’re in a fancy gown or a pair of tight jeans on the back of my bike. Makes no difference to me.”
My stomach flip-flopped. He made it sound like there was more to this than just a day or two in his hotel room. God it would be so easy to get attached. Except I was currently homeless with few prospects ahead. Not to mention my plan was to get as far away from Seattle as I could.
“Tell me more about this Sultan, Washington. Where exactly is it?”
He grinned. “Have you really never been to Stevens Pass? Or Leavenworth? To get to either of those from Seattle you go right through the heart of tiny Sultan.”
I shook my head. “I don’t travel. Although I do sort of remember that Stevens Pass from my required Washington history class when I was taking high school classes. Something to do with the Northern Railroad in the 1800s, right?”
“Yep. Sounds like you and I need to take a day trip.”
Again, he referred to us spending more time together after today. I wanted to harden my heart from his kindness, but it was impossible. I closed my eyes, preserving this very moment in vivid detail. I had a feeling one day soon I would need the memory. Although I wholeheartedly believed I would never forget him and his kindness.
“I would love to make that trip with you.” Even if I never believed it would happen.
“How about today? Do you have time?” He wrapped one of my curls around his finger as he looked at me with those startling blue eyes.
“I don’t have any clothes with me remember?”
He backed away and grabbed his cell phone from the table. “No problem. We can exchange numbers and when you get home call me and I’ll pick you up. But wear something warm. It’s cooler up in the mountains and when the sun goes down it gets much chillier on the back of the bike.”
He was talking so fast my head spun out of control. None of what he said made sense because I had no home to go back to. If I returned, the least that would happen was a rushed wedding. The worst I didn’t know. I could only imagine how angry my father was and what that might lead him to do.
“I—I can’t.”
He stopped abruptly. “What’s wrong?”
I brushed off his concern. “Nothing, and kind of everything. I can’t go home and change and I can’t go on a ride with you. I’m supposed to leave town today.”
His lips tightened.
I wanted so badly to reach out and wipe that scowl from his face. A moment ago he’d been so earnest in his desire to share his hometown with me and I’d ruined that.
“I can’t go back home because I have no home to go to. When I walked away yesterday, I kind of severed ties. I’ve probably been disowned.”