PLAYBOY PRINCESS (gxg) ✓

23. Paris Young

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PARIS WOKE WITH A HAND ON HER BREAST.

Rory's hand. Tracing gentle circles over her nipple.

Paris arched back into Rory's chest. Cold morning light sharpened across the basement floor.

Morning.

It was morning.

"We've been down here all day," Paris gasped.

Rory didn't stop her lazy, idle circling.

Paris shivered from the flush of heat.

And the king's voice in her mind said, Break her heart.

Tame the princess.

I want her to be the perfect heir.

"We have to go," Paris said suddenly. "We have to—"

"Have you forgotten we're trapped down here?"

Paris turned over in Rory's arm, leveling her a withering glare. "I'm not kidding. There has to be a way we can—"

And then Rory gasped suddenly—realization.

"What is it?" Paris demanded.

From within her pocket, Rory pulled out a small black device with a button.

"Simon told me to press this if I ever need help," Rory said. "Just in case."

"You've had this the whole time?"

"I forgot," Rory said, with an irritatingly charming grin.

"You just happened to forget the one thing that could have saved us?"

"Oh, look," said Rory. And in the light of day, her smile was nothing short of breathtaking to Paris. "A rat."

Paris's answering scream was ungodly.

✺✺✺

IT WAS LESS THAN FORTY-FIVE MINUTES LATER when Paris heard the sound of a crash.

A rusted door was rammed open.

The stairwell.

Rory's fingers danced through Paris's ringlets, idly threading through the golden-brown curls. She was saying, "I'm telling you. Spiders are more—"

But the moment the door was thrown open, Paris stumbled to her feet.

A doctor—she was a doctor. And this was her patient—

"Simon," Rory said, and she winced as she tried to stand.

Once Paris had helped her back into the wheelchair, Simon leveled a glare at Rory.

"Everyone has been looking for you," said Simon. "Both of you."

Only Rory's right dimple pierced her cheek—a fake smile. "I've always been popular, haven't I?"

Worry—there was real worry in the flex of her jaw.

"Your father wants to speak with you," Simon said.