Chapter 23
Valentina
I cannot believe I’m doing this.
I’m wearing a pair of socks with rubber pads on the bottom of my feet as I dash between soft-padded obstacles, brightly colored enough to induce a migraine. What’s more, I’m clutching a foam gun in my hands while firing large yellow foam bullets at Max.
All the local kids are at school, so we have the place to ourselves, and we’re taking full advantage of it.
It’s immature. It’s childish. And it’s so much freaking fun. More fun than I’ve had in years.
We’ve bounced on the trampoline, slid down the slide into the ball pit, and then declared fully fledged war on one another with the aid of our bright yellow and red foam guns.
Being with Max brings out this side of me. Fun-loving, free-spirited, joyful.
If Judith Giovanni could see me now, she’d fire me before you could say unresolved childhood issues.
I find a foam barrier on the upper level and crouch behind it, my heart hammering against my ribs like it's trying to escape. Through a gap in the padding, I spot Max moving stealthily along the lower walkway, and I have to hold my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
I’m being stalked by a member of the royal family brandishing a foam gun and a grin the size of Ledonia, intent on making sure I have fun.
I take a mental note to write the following video caption: Prince Surprisingly Athletic in Foam Combat.
He catches my eye, and I retreat, my back against the barrier.
He’s seen me. Dang it!
“I know you're up there, Fontaine,” he calls out, confirming my worst fears. “Your royal correspondent instincts won't save you now.”
“We'll see about that, Your Royal Highness!” I call back as a foam bullet whizzes past my ear, close enough that I can feel it.
I let out a shriek before I take flight, dashing along the high bridge. With him hot on my heels, I’m aiming for the slide so I can whoosh down to the ground floor and take cover.
Through the mesh netting, I catch a glimpse of Max vaulting over a low barrier with the kind of athletic grace that makes me want to drop my gun and fall right into his arms.
But this is war. No time for that sort of carrying on.
“You think you’re so clever, Fontaine, but I’m onto you!”
I hide behind a soft pillar. I lean around the pillar, line him up, and fire three quick shots. “Oh, yeah? Take that, Canossa!”
To my astonishment, one actually hits his chest. He comes to a sudden stop, glancing down before looking back at me. His look of mock betrayal sends me into a fit of giggles that the Valentina of just last week would have been deeply mortified by.
But this is the new Valentina, the Valentina who’s shared more of herself with this man currently stalking her than she has with anyone before. The Valentina who understands the prince, who empathizes with him.
The Valentina who can finally admit she’s falling for him.
The feeling is both exhilarating and utterly terrifying.
This should never have happened. And I fought it. Really, I did. Tooth and nail. That initial attraction, mixed with distrust and dislike of the man I thought Max was, has transformed into something so much more. So much deeper.
And I want it. I want him.
He’s made his intentions toward me perfectly clear. He’s allowed himself to be vulnerable with me, to trust me wholeheartedly with who he is.
For my part, I’ve held myself back, frightened that I can’t be who I truly am with him.
But perhaps it’s time to put that to rest. Perhaps it’s time to give him my full story. Perhaps it’s time for me to allow myself to be totally real with this man, totally vulnerable, in a way I haven’t been with anyone in all these years.
He makes me want to stop hiding.
My heart is hammering in my chest, and it’s no longer just because of the game. I’ve been Fabiana Fontaine to the world for years, pretending to be this tough journalist so I can keep the lights on for Nona and me. In some ways, I’ve become her.
But I’m more than the journalist with the inside track.
I’m Valentina Romano, and I think it’s about time I let her shine.
“You can run but you can’t hide. Fontaine. I’m coming for you!”
I let out an excited giggle as I push myself up from my hideout and run like the wind along the bridge. I turn a corner and, to my surprise, there he is, the man I dare to want something more with.
We both stop and stare at one another, panting from the exertion. His lips curve upwards, his eyes sparkling with mischief. There’s only one thing to do.
I dive onto the big slide, headfirst, sailing downwards at a rate of knots, letting out a maniacal scream as I do. I hit the ball pit, balls jettisoned into the air in the soft cage, my belly beginning to hurt from laughter.
The next thing I know, Max is roaring down the slide behind me.
He lands, balls flying about, and as he catches my eye, a grin stretching from ear to ear, we break into fits of laughter, the heady concoction of being chased around this padded play area by the man I’m falling for rolling out of me, my whole body shaking.
Running and laughing with him like this brings back flashes of being children together in the palace gardens, before I had to become someone else. An innocent time, before my world imploded, before I had to become someone else.
And then, something shifts between us, and our laughter evaporates, replaced by something stronger.
Something no longer childish. A muscular arm snakes around me, pulling me against him.
My heart thuds as my body responds, melding to his, and I finally allow myself to give in to my overwhelming feelings for this man who’s captured my heart and mind.
His eyes darken with intensity, and as I drop my gaze to his mouth, he tangles his fingers in my hair, pulling my lips against his.
They’re soft and perfect and just how I’d imagined they’d be, and I breathe in his delicious scent as I kiss him back with the urgency I feel for him, an urgency that can only be satisfied with one thing.
He lets out a soft moan as he deepens our kiss, his big hands holding me possessively against him. Our kiss is nothing short of magical, and I sink into it, full of passion and want, my heart thudding with everything I hold for this incredible man.
I’m lost in the moment, and as everything around us fades to nothing, it's just him and me and the way we feel about one another, finally taking form in the most wonderful, wonderful way.
Eventually, after we’ve kissed for longer than any self-respecting adults should in a ball pit, we pull back, resting our foreheads against one another’s, our breath mingling.
“Max, that was… you are…” My voice is shaking and I'm unable to find the words to tell him how I feel.
“You are,” he replies, smiling at me, his eyes dark. He leans in and places another long, lingering kiss on my lips. “I never expected this,” he says, echoing my very thoughts. “But now that I've found you, I don't want to let you go.”
“I... I feel the same way,” I murmur, and when I look into his eyes, it’s like the whole world disappears.
He brushes another soft, tantalizing kiss against my lips, and makes my whole body quiver.
“If I’d known you felt this way about foam warfare, I would have suggested we do this long ago.”
“Just so you could kiss me?” I tease.
“Absolutely.”
I need to tell him. I need to come clean. It's not fair to him to think that he has feelings for someone I'm not.
My heart is thudding so hard it could burst out of my chest with all the emotion I have for this beautiful, wonderful man who’s holding me possessively against him.
He trails delectable kisses along my jawline, sending shivers down my spine as he reaches my neck, and I want to lose myself once more in this perfect moment with this perfect man.
But everything is screaming at me to finally open myself up to him fully, to tell him who I really am.
Fear is holding me back.
What if he rejects me?
What if he tells me everything between us was based on a lie?
What if he tells me he never wants to see me again?
Telling him the full story, allowing him to see all of me, scares me to death.
As much as I want to, I can't tell him. Not now. Not during this perfect moment. It has the potential to destroy it—to destroy us—and that’s the last thing I want.
I must, and I'm determined to find the right time. Then he can know the real me, and I can hold my breath and hope that he accepts me—loves me—for who I really am.