31. 31

31

Edie

A nd that's how I end up sleeping beside Kalle for the second night in a row.

We don't go to sleep right away. Kalle gets me a huge T-shirt to wear and I crawl into his equally huge bed. I haven't been in his room for years. There are sports memorabilia on every surface and posters on every wall.

It smells like him.

I lie on my back and stare at the ceiling while Kalle climbs in and turns out the light.

"I think the storm is pretty much over," he says.

"Good."

"Why are you so freaked out about them?"

No one has ever asked me that, and not a lot of people know how afraid I am of storms.

Of course Kalle knows.

"When I was ten, I was out in Dad's greenhouse and it started to rain," I tell him, stating fact and not letting my memories bubble up. "And then thunder and lightning."

"Is that the one with the glass roof? "

"The glass everything. It's all glass. I was too afraid to run back to the house. I didn't care about getting wet but I didn't want the lightning to get me. I ended up waiting it out under a table. Dad thought I was happy as a clam out there watching the storm or he would have come and got me."

"You know the chance of getting struck by lightning is like one in three million," Kalle says. He sounds amused for the first time all night.

"No, it's one in one point eight million, so that's a lot less. And you weren't around when I was ten to give me such helpful statistics."

"You were cute when you were ten," Kalle muses. "Those big eyes and the Laura Ingalls braids."

"How do you know who Laura Ingalls is?" I demand.

"I have a sister, you know."

"Yes, I know that." There's a long pause, and I know Kalle isn't trying to fall asleep. I can hear his breathing and it's not the sleepy kind.

"Mathias came in tonight," I finally say.

"Uh-huh."

"Are you trying to go to sleep?"

"Not now." He shifts and I can tell he's facing me. Waiting for me to continue.

"I guess Mathias knows about my father." I huff a breath. Pride is an interesting thing. My entire life, I lived in a country with a king and a queen and their five beautiful children. Even though I became friends with those beautiful children, I always knew that their lives were different than mine .

I was there to help, and I was fine with that. It's not that I thought the royal family was any better than mine, only that we existed in slightly different circles.

I was okay with that, until Mathias.

Mathias embarrassed me. He looked at my father working at the castle and me managing the bar, and he felt pity for me, like my life wasn't worthwhile.

"What did he say?" Kalle's voice is hard and just a little bit fierce. He would never embarrass me or take my family and use it against me.

"He wanted to rescue me from this life." I try to sound like it doesn't matter, only I can't quite make it. "This awful, horrible life of working for a living. Of working for your family. He wanted to whisk me away to his castle and live happily ever after, being… I don't know what he wanted me to be."

"He's an idiot."

"Maybe he meant well—"

"Maybe, but I doubt it. The man needs to realize that if you need rescuing—and you don't, because you have a great life and I'm the best boss ever—if you need to be rescued, you're going to damn well do it yourself."

"I guess."

"I know. Did you tell him I'm the best boss ever?"

"You didn't exactly make it into the conversation."

"So you didn't tell him I'm going to marry you?"

The silence is so complete that I think I might hear my own heartbeat. "I wasn't aware we had decided that," I say carefully.

"You might not have, but I have."

"Kalle… "

"What's this Kalle ? You know that's what I want."

"Yes, but there's a huge jump between what we are and what you want," I point out.

"Yeah, and I'm not rushing into anything. I'm going to convince you because tonight just showed me that I don't want a life without you in it. I definitely don't want you to disappear into Mathias's castle, which isn't a castle by the way. It's just a big house."

"I don't need a castle."

"I know, and that's why I want to give you one."

I smile in the darkness. I can't help it. What Kalle is suggesting makes no sense. It's no more than a fairytale and I've long ago accepted that I'm the fairytale type.

But it sounds… right… when he says it here in the dark, wrapped in a blanket in a Kalle-scented room.

"Give me a couple of days to sort things out with Dad's responsibilities," he says now. "And then I'm going to start showing you that I mean what I say."

My smile grows wider. "Okay," I whisper.

Kalle shifts again, and then there's a finger tracing my lips. "You're smiling, aren't you?" he asks in a low voice. "You're smiling at the thought of all this. Of me."

"Maybe," I hedge.

I can tell by his voice that Kalle is smiling too. "I'm still not kissing you tonight," he tells me.

"What?"

"Dad was just in the hospital. It's definitely not the right time. "

"I don't know what you're waiting for," I huff and flip over so my back is toward him.

"You don't have to wait," he says, the suggestion heavy in his voice. "Just because I'm showing my romantic side by waiting until the perfect moment—"

"You're showing some kind of side," I mutter. "And no, I'm not kissing you."

"Suit yourself." Kalle chuckles and then I feel his arm drape over my hip. "Just know I'll make it worth your while."

"You better."

He laughs.