Read Online Sleeping Beauty by Maureen McGowan - Free Book Online

his lips into her neck.

    He looked at her intently, but then quickly averted his gaze. “You should cut it again.” His voice was gruff. “Or at least tie it back. Now that your hair’s grown past your chin, it’s becoming a liability.” He lunged forward, grabbed a handful of her hair, and pulled back. Not so hard that it hurt, but hard enough that she had to bend. “Don’t give the vampires anything to grab on to. You need to get them before they get you.”
    He let go of her hair and she staggered back. Her cheeks burned, and her breaths quickened as if she’d run laps, but she refused to take this as a rejection. Maybe he’d just used the insult as an excuse to touch her hair? To get close to her again? She would not give up. She smiled softly and touched her hair the way she’d learned to in class, marveling at how natural the gesture felt in front of Tristan. She wondered if this proved she was in love.
    â€œWould you like my hair better if I cut it really short, like yours?” Her voice came out lower and more breathy than normal.
    â€œIf it keeps you safer against a vamp, sure.”
    A rush of happiness flowed through her. He wanted to protect her. How sweet. She stepped forward slowly, wondering what the skin on his chest would feel like under her palm.
    Without thinking, she reached forward and pressed her hand against his chest muscles just below his shoulder.
    He yanked back. “What are you doing?”
    She felt embarrassed, yet bold. This was her time. This was her chance. If she proved her love, she’d save everyone. “Tristan.” Even her voice was not her own. “Are you going to the ball?”
    Tristan took a step back and looked at her quizzically. “Sure. Probably.”

    She sucked in a ragged breath, closed her eyes, and blurted out, “Will you take me?” Her throat closed.
    â€œTake you ?” He stared at her, almost as if he didn’t understand her question.
    â€œYes.” She bit her lip and gathered her courage.
    â€œYou’re not graduating,” he said.
    Her heart thumped, and her mouth went dry. “I thought I could go with you, as—as your date.”
    He staggered back a few steps, his eyes opening wide. Then a smile flashed on his face, flooding her chest with a second of hope before she recognized the type of smile—a patronizing smile. The kind of smile her father used when he treated her like a child.
    â€œLucy,” Tristan said as he lifted a hand toward her, then dropped it and put it behind his back.“I’m seventeen, almost eighteen.”
    â€œSo?” She stepped forward, suddenly more sure of herself. Her father was nearly fifteen years older than her mother. The three years that separated her from Tristan were nothing.
    He frowned. “You’re fourteen.”
    â€œI’m almost fifteen,” she boasted. “And who cares? True love is all I care about, and you’re the first boy I’ve ever—” She stopped herself, not knowing how to complete her sentence, not knowing how to describe the emotions bubbling inside her. And she hated the idea that he might not feel the same way.
    â€œLucy”—Tristan’s patronizing smile turned to something more like pity—“I don’t even live in Xandra. I came here from Judra to train, in case the vampires attack our kingdom, too.”
    â€œI know, but you could stay here.” Her voice sounded thin and tiny, but she had to make him understand. She wished she could tell him
who she really was, and how he could help lift her curse—maybe even prevent it—but she couldn’t. She closed her eyes and said, “If I don’t find true love, I’ll die.”
    â€œYou’ll die?” He took a deep breath and the pity came back to his expression. “Isn’t that a tad dramatic, Lucy? Everyone wants to find true love, but not finding it isn’t