Chapter 13
Chapter
Thirteen
“You know, I must say, it’s considered impolite to listen in on other people,” Jack said, like Ashley didn’t already know that fact herself. Like he wasn’t standing beside her doing the very same thing at that moment, the corner of his lips turning upwards as she turned to face him.
She couldn’t deny the fact that she did find him just a little bit attractive. Though his cockiness did mean that she would never fully admit her attraction to him.
When her eyes met his, she felt that spark again, the curiosity to know if his lips were as soft as they looked, to know if the touch of his strong hands would be rough or gentle. She loved the glint in his eyes as he looked down at her, even if the twist of his lips was teasing.
He was handsome in a way that she couldn’t describe, primarily because he never gave her the time to pinpoint it.
He was the sort of man who was always moving.
The kind that you simply couldn’t keep up with.
The kind who made Ashley’s heart race, even though she knew that if Jack was attracted to anyone in this world, it wasn’t going to be her.
If she had to guess, she’d say Jack was likely into the kind of woman that caused just as much trouble as he did and probably broke just as many hearts.
Ashley would have to be stupid to ever allow herself to believe that Jack would be attracted to her.
But she could admire the view. Even if he had caught her causing more trouble, making her wonder if she was Jack’s type after all and she hadn’t realized it until now.
Snooping on your brother and his co-conspirators wasn’t exactly good girl behavior.
“Cat got your tongue, dearest?” He asked, teasing her again, his face still impossibly close. If she breathed too deep, it might be enough to make her lips press against his and he seemed to know that as his eyes dropped down to her mouth.
She knew he could only be teasing her, punishing her for her snooping, even if it was in a fun way. That didn’t stop her from wondering, even if her brother had made it clear he wasn’t her mate. Attraction was attraction in some cases, and Jack? He was definitely attractive.
“Come now,” he said, his voice heavy with teasing, his hand reaching out and barely brushing against hers where it rested on her thigh. “You have to offer me some sort of stunning, witty excuse to the fact that I found you out here, spying on your brother, don’t you, Ashley?”
Ashley loved the way he said her name, but it did bring her back to earth abruptly. He’d caught her spying! But the way he leaned towards the shrubbery, his ear pointed at the group on the other side, telling her that he was spying too.
She felt a giggle bubbling up her throat, but Jack moved swiftly to cover her mouth, as if he knew what she was about to.
All she could think about was how that moved her closer to him, of how good and clean he smelled, like expensive soap she’d smelled once in a mall.
He pulled his hand away and put his index finger in front of his lips before he grabbed her hand and pulled her deeper into the hedges.
“I’m trying to keep you out of trouble,” Jack said, but Ashley knew that being around him was trouble too. She barely knew anything about him or trusted him. He was a new kind of danger, and he was also far too tempting, which was concerning, to say the least.
“You’re not supposed to be out here, either,” Ashley finally whispered back, certain that Jack wasn’t allowed to listen in on her brother either. Even if he looked at her with a patently false look of innocence.
Ashley’s frown deeper. She wasn’t an idiot, she knew he’d been snooping too, otherwise he wouldn’t have caught her doing the same exact thing.
“People are very rarely where they’re supposed to be,” Jack said smoothly, his slim shoulders lifting as the corner of his mouth did the same.
It almost made her laugh it was so comically false.
But it would let her brother know she wasn’t in her room.
Besides, something about Jack’s response irked her, but she wasn’t sure what exactly.
“I don’t suppose my brother would like to find out that we were out here listening in on him,” Ashley said, offering a sort of olive branch to him.
However, she wasn’t entirely sure if she should have because she had more of a right to be outside than Jack Tracey.
Or maybe Jack Tracey did have more of a right to be out there than her, but that didn’t matter.
All that mattered at that moment was how Jack Tracey trailed his hand down to loop into hers, shooting her a boyish smile that silenced all complaints.
He was charming, she had to give him that.
He was far more charming than any of the southern boys she had grown up with, who spent so much of their time taunting her.
Jack Tracey had a magnetism that made just about everyone look at him.
That made just about every girl’s heart stutter if Ashley had to guess.
The second that he’d taken her hand, she felt like she could barely breathe, which wasn’t a good thing. But it was good that he pulled her away from the hedges and back towards the castle. It distracted her from how attractive he was.
“You and I are both capable of keeping secrets,” Jack said, pressing her against the hedge as he came to a stop.
“Look, I know you want to escape this place, but you need to listen to me. You won’t tell anyone what you heard out there.
Understand? If you want to keep your pretty head on your shoulders, you’ll be quiet about it all. ”
Ashley didn’t like to be told what to do, but she couldn’t help the way her heart skipped when he said she was pretty.
She liked the idea that Jack Tracey was paying attention to her, but she needed something more.
She would never forget that he had been the one to show up and bring her to this place, changing her entire life without even asking what she wanted.
And now, something about how he was striding with her hand in his made her feel like he would change her life once more if she gave him a chance.
However, she wasn’t sure if it would be for the better this time.
She’d been whisked away to a magical land filled with castles where she’d found out she was a dragon shifter and a long-lost princess.
“Come on, we can’t have the king finding out his sister is walking around spying on him,” Jack said as he pulled her deeper and deeper into the garden, his tugging hand forcing her to walk behind him.
It was probably for the best. She didn’t want her brother or his friends to find out what they’d been up to.
Her brother’s recent behavior told her all she needed to know about what would happen if he did find out.
And if he found out about her blossoming friendship with Jack.
He’d probably lock her in her room and throw away the key.
Bar the windows, and all of that. Ashley could only roll her eyes at it, even if she knew it was true.
But maybe Jack would answer some of the many questions she had, since he seemed determined to hang onto her hand. Jack pulled her further and further into the dense woods beyond the yard.
“My brother and his friends were talking about you throwing away your kingdom. But nobody has told me why. What did you do to get disowned, Jack, and why would you do that?” Ashley asked, wishing she was more eloquent, but she’d grown up in a town that said ‘far’ when they wanted to say ‘fire’. Eloquence wasn’t exactly her forte.
“I assume that you’ve heard how I refused to marry my fated mate and all of that,” Jack said, casting a self-deprecating smile her way and yet making little to no effort to back down from the topic.
“Figures that everyone would go around telling you too much,” Jack elaborated with a roll of his eyes.
“No, nobody’s told me much of anything, really. Why did you refuse to marry her?” Ashley sank down to the grass as Jack finally came to stop in a grove of trees.
“Hm. Nobody’s told you that, huh? I guess your brother has told everyone to keep you ignorant. That figures. He is the world’s biggest asshole, after all.” Jack looked away from her, back the way they came, checking for anyone that might follow them.
Ashley dearly wanted to trust Jack, he knew so much about what was going on here, but would he tell her the truth? Or would he keep answering a question with a question of his own?
“What were you doing out there?” Ashley asked. The way that a sly smile pulled at the corners of his mouth pretty much reminded her that he might be dangerous. She couldn’t ignore the way that he took a seat beside her and leaned towards her, his eyes on her lips.
“Is asking me questions what you really want to do right now?” Jack asked, leaning closer, his eyes narrowing on her lips, but his eyebrows lifted in a way that made his features remain soft.
Her breath caught in the back of her throat as she realized how close he was. She should jump up and run away but couldn’t remember why that was. But she wasn’t totally stupid, she did remember why she was there with him.
“Maybe you should answer why you were out here, to begin with,” Jack said, suddenly pulling away from her.
Ashley scowled as she leaned away from Jack, wishing she had more power, if only so that she could remind him that she was the princess and he was the servant.
But she didn’t know much about this society and she couldn’t make assumptions.
All she could do was allow her back to fall against the thick tree bark behind her.
Her breath caught in the back of her throat, her whole body thrumming with life as she looked at the man, willing him to somehow break the silence as she struggled to find the correct answer for him.
There was nothing, absolutely nothing, that she could say at that moment.
Jack’s crooked smile hinted that he already knew that.