It took us a second to figure out what the fuck the buzzing sound was, before I realized it was my cell phone, tucked into my discarded tux jacket.

Isla was still curled in my arms, her hand tracing my muscles and her lithe little body so warm against mine, and I scowled at the distraction of the phone. My teeth gritted, and the red anger came bubbling back up.

Fuck.

For one fucking second, I was pretty sure I’d been cured. For one moment, with her, laying in the afterglow of that moment of making her come and spurting my seed cross her belly, I’d been me again. No rage, no anger, no beast lingering beneath the surface. The phone brought him back though. The distraction killing whatever break in the clouds I was starting to see.

I almost tossed the fucking thing over the railing, when I noticed who was calling.

Cade.

“What,” I snarled.

“Logan.”

“Yes?” I hissed.

“Your presence is missed, my friend,” he said, his voice low and measured.

“Deal with it. I’ll catch up with you later—”

“Your disappearance has been noticed,” he hissed. “As has Princess Isla’s.”

My jaw tightened.

“Logan.”

“Yeah?”

“Have you doe something supremely stupid?”

“How much time do I have?”

I could hear Cade swear under his breath. “They may or may not be going room to room at this very moment.”

Fuck

“I’ll meet you by the main entrance in ten.”

I could hear my friend blowing air through his lips. “Lucian isn’t the forging type, buddy. If you’ve been screwing around with his daughter and just trying to get your dick wet—”

“It’s nothing like that,” I roared, startling Isla almost off my lap. I quickly locked eyes with her, my arm holding her tight. “Sorry,” I whispered into her ear.

She just smiled. And again, that light came through the clouds.

“Get moving, Logan,” Cade hissed. The line went dead.

“Isla.”

I met her eye. “We have to move, now.”

“What’s going on?”

“Your father’s guards are looking for you.”

Her eyes went wide, the color leaving her cheeks.

“For us actually.”

“Oh my God!”

She stood, quickly, trying to straighten her dress. I hated that this was ending this way. Hell, I hated that this was ending at all, actually. But I knew the reality. If I was caught out here with her, like that?

I’d be leaving in a bag, without my cock, I was betting.

I yanked my pants on and glanced over the railing. Two stories. Fuck it. I turned and suddenly grabbed her, pulled her against me, and kissed her.

Hard.

I kissed her with fucking everything, melting into that damn kiss like it was my last breath of air.

“Stay here,” I said urgently. “If they find you, just tell them—”

“I was just getting some fresh air.” She said it coyly. “Dad knows I hate dances.”

“You hate dances, huh?”

“This one’s seriously turning my opinion.”

I grinned, kissing her again and holding her little body against mine.

“I’m not done with you.”

She blushed, her eyes wide as she nodded and looked up into my gaze. “Good.”

“Tomorrow,” I growled. “Fuck, no, tonight. Put a green light in your bedroom window or something and I’ll climb up and—”

“It’s at the top of the west tower,” she said with a wincing look. “Trust me, you’re not climbing that.”

I growled.

Suddenly we could hear a door banging open nearby, and voices barking her name on a neighboring terrace.

Shit.

“You should go,” she whispered.

“I will see you again,” I said tightly my eyes fiercely burning into hers. “And soon.”

“I know you will,” she breathed.

“Remember, Princess.”

I swung a leg over the side of the balcony and grabbed ahold of the ivy.

“You’re mine.”

I grabbed her, kissing her. “These lips are mine.”

“All yours,” she whispered.

“This,” she gasped as I cupped her pussy through her dress, making her whimper.

“This is mine.”

“Yes,” she husked.

“Soon, Princess Isla.”

There was a bang on the door, and with that, I was gone — over the edge, hand-over-hand and half jumping down the two stories to the ground. I was just behind the hedge as a light shone down, my pulse pounding.

Not from almost getting caught

From leaving her.

* * *

“The fuck were you,” Cade hissed, stepping down the front steps of the main palace entrance to meet me.

I nodded subtly at the two guards standing post at the bottom of the stairs before shrugging.

“Just came out for some air and a smoke,” I said casually, ignoring the fact that my bow tie was gone somewhere and my shirt was half untucked.

“You don’t smoke,” Cade muttered as he approached. He glanced sideways at the guards. “They see you leave, buddy?” he growled lowly so only I could hear.

“Leave it,” I hissed back.

My eyes suddenly dropped to the collar of his shirt, and I smirked.

“You fucking hypocrite.”

His eyes narrowed. “What?”

“What is you’ve got some of her lipstick on your fucking collar, dick. Whoever her might be.”

He stiffened.

I liked busting one of the Charmings doing something bad. It reminded me they weren’t actually Ken dolls. It also was fun as shit to witness that took on their faces when you caught them with their hands in the cookie jar.

“Leave it,” he growled.

I chuckled.

“Well, at least you’re laughing now.”

I smiled. “Indeed I am.”

“We should go back inside. C’mon, the ball is still going.”

I eyed him. “We should get the fuck out of here, believe me.”

He scowled. “No, we shouldn’t, because it looks guilty.” He raised a brow at me. “Not like you’ve got anything to be guilty about since you were just out here enjoying the wonderful Avlion night air.”

I sighed.

“We go back inside, we mention that you were out here smoking or whatever. It looks better.”

“Fine, you’re the good boy.”

He frowned, and I eyed his collar again with a smirk.

“Well, or maybe not.”

He grinned before quickly hiding it.

“That was quite a stunt,” he muttered as we headed back to up the stairs. “You really run out of one of King Lucian’s exclusive balls with his fucking daughter?”

I didn’t say a word. Because I had. I’d run off with her alright, and I’d found something I never thought I’d ever find again. And now I was running back to her.

Because I’d gotten a taste, and I wanted more of that.

Hell, I needed more of her everything.