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“Nothing,” she admitted, and glanced at him. “I hope you are hungry?”
“Why?”
“My mother makes potato rolls from scratch once a year and won’t share her recipe with anyone… but she made them today. I guess she wants to impress you.”
He chuckled and rubbed his flat stomach, grinning playfully at her.
“I’m not about to let your sweet mama down,” he teased. “I will make sure she knows how much I appreciate her cooking – and how much I care for her beautiful daughter.”
“Oh yeah?” she teased playfully. “And just how much is that?”
“Meh, enough to carry her bag,” he shrugged – and ducked, pretending to avoid her playfully swatting at his shoulder.
“Austin…”
“C’mon, my princess…” he teased, getting out of the plane and smiling at her from behind those sunglasses. “Let’s get moving.”
“Yup. They are already on the way.”
“So no chance of running away screaming from anxiety and nerves, huh?”
“Nope. You are too late,” she called out as he shut the door and circled around to her side, opening it for her and silently offering her a hand like she was some delicate queen from a gilded age.
“I guess I’ll gather up my courage and fight the fierce dragons,” he whispered playfully. “I’m hoping they are as easygoing as you said. I have a tendency to make a poor impression sometimes – or I did at least growing up in foster homes. Sometimes I can really open my mouth and shove my foot in it.”
“They are going to love you,” she promised, smiling up at him.
“… Because their daughter does?” he asked gently, with a note of hope in his voice as he gazed at her… and she hesitated, unsure what to say at his softly spoken question.
They stood there together for a moment, neither saying a word as she stared up at him – before pulling off his sunglasses so she could see his eyes.
“Or at least, I hope she does?” he amended nervously, his voice infinitely tender as she felt something in her shift.
“Legends say that the princess falls for a rogue knight.”
“I hope it’s not the same legend where she’s married to King Arthur already and poor Lancelot is left out to dry...”
“Nahhhh,” she said thickly, her eyes stinging as she saw the emotion in his gaze and watched him swallow. “This princess is very single and cares for her knight deeply, but she’s scared to say the words aloud…”
At that moment, before either could say anything else, her phone started ringing noisily. She winced, looking at him and saw him nod as he stepped back slightly, and she answered the phone.
“Hello?”
“Heyyy! There’s my baby girl – we are here, Giselle,” her father boomed happily in the phone. “We are parked right up front in the ‘No-Parking Zone’ for you.”
“Daddy – you aren’t supposed to park there.”
“Then you had better hurry, young lady, because we are right in front of the doors,” he chuckled. “I’ll see you in a moment.”
Hanging up the phone, she looked at Austin and hated that their moment got interrupted as he hefted up both bags onto his shoulders, nodding to her.
“They are illegally parked right in front.”
“I heard. We probably should hurry.”
“I know.”
“It’s alright – we can talk later.”
