Crushing on Royalty (The Cuttings #1) [To Be Reconstructed]

Chapter 19 | Surprise Surprise!

"Or whatever. Ouch. You know, that completely gave my ego a huge blow."

I glanced at him through the corner of my eye. God, he was only grinning.

"You are an idiot."

"You are such a feminist."

I gasped, poking his head with two fingers. "And what is wrong with being a feminist, you egotistic pervert?" I demanded heatedly, slicing him with my green eyes.

He flashed a seductive little smile. "None whatsoever." And then, to my surprise, he leaned over and kissed my cheek.

My cheeks went borderline red from then on.

"Worldly birdliness," I said numbly, still retaliating from the shock of his sweet gesture that the first stupid thing on my mind came bursting out of my mouth without my permission.

Michael glanced at me as he drove on. "Pardon?"

"Is 'wordly birdliness' even a word? You mentioned it a while ago regarding Big Bird."

He arced a brow in question but went along with it, trying to humour me, saying, "I was only eight. It's only natural that a handsomely adorable little boy such as I back then was capable of inventing my own terms."

We looked at each other and burst out laughing. My shock and nervousness ebbed away in an instant.

"I'm sorry for being incredibly churlish," he apologised, grinning impishly.

Just as I was about to laugh again, his phone rang. He slid the green Answer button with his thumb on the screen.

"Hey Em," Michael said on the phone. Probably his sister calling. "What's up?"

I could hear a muffled female voice through the other line. My fiancé nodded at something she said, then he raised a brow. He hesitated for a while, like he was contemplating what she was saying. It went: "...What d'you mean?"

There was no muffled voice.

"Emerson..." Michael said slowly in measured tones.

Still none.

This time, Michael adopted a very stern, very dangerously chilly voice. "Emerson..."

Nada.

"If you don't tell me now, I will tell Keller here -- yes, she's my fiancée -- about the time in Scotland when we were kids...Yeah, the one where you completely embarrassed yourself by --" He intentionally stopped and grinned. Seemed like he got her good there. I guess Michael really was related to his grandmother. "Are you going to tell me now, or not?" He groaned. "Are you going to tell me what --"

Just as I was straining harder to hear his sister on the other line, I couldn't help it -- I sneezed.

I didn't know the cause of my sneeze, but I just did it.

Curse my nose.

I sneezed on the precious Marquess of Sterling's fingers that held his phone. Disgusting and embarrassing!

"Keller!" Michael yelped. He looked at his fingers, a bit far away from him, now that he switched his phone to his other hand with a twisted face. He looked at me then, eyebrows snapping together. "Seriously?"

I heard Emerson's muffled voice going high-pitched on the other line.

I groaned. "It wasn't my fault!"

"What?"

"Sorry!"

"You --" He turned his attention to his sister, clearly demanding what was happening since she couldn't practically see us, his wet fingers far away from him. "Never mind. Yeah, she's all right." I didn't have to wonder who that "she" was.