Dream Trysts: A Sleeping Beauty Story (Passion-Filled FairyTales Book 4) Read Online Free Page B

regarded him, looking into those clear blue eyes. Could they be real, not imagined?
    He smiled at her, revealing a slight gap in between his front teeth. It was an endearing imperfection. She liked it. She nodded. “Alright, then,” she said. “Real boy James, you may teach me.”
    “You should probably call me Real Prince James,” he replied.
    Rose rolled her eyes. “No, I should not. I should call you James, because that is who you are.”
    James frowned and stepped away. “Then I shan’t believe you are a real princess, because a real princess would know the importance of being called by her title.”
    “Fine,” Rose conceded. “Prince James, please try again to teach me.”
    James brushed some stray hairs from his eyes, then picked up a stone of his own. He told Rose to follow his example, standing the way he did, turning at the same angle as him. “Now the key,” he said, “is the flicking motion of your wrists. For some reason, you just want to chuck it in the pond. But that doesn’t work. What you have to do is really flick it, quick and light, like air, to get it to work.”
    Rose had heard this before, but it seemed to make no difference. Flicking. She’d flicked and flicked, and still her rocks sank. She felt dejected.
    “Go ahead, try it again,” he said.
    Rose did. Plunk . It sank.
    “That’s alright,” he said with such good cheer Rose actually believed him. “Come on, let’s hunt for stones so you can have a pile to practice with.”
    They spent a good half an hour scouring the pond for stones, and indeed came up with an entire stack for skipping. So that’s what Rose did. Or, that’s what Rose tried to do. Plunk after plunk after plunk . Finally, there was but one stone left. “You take it,” Rose said, shoving the cool, slender rock at James. “You might as well have fun with this last one.”
    James shook his head. “Nah,” he said. “This is the one. It’s the one that’s gonna work. The one you’re going to skip.”
    “And how can you be so sure?”
    “Because, if you make it this time, I promise to find you, in the real world, not just in our dreams.”
    Rose stared at him, the shock of what he said settling in. An hour ago, she didn’t believe he was real, and now he said he would prove it. She laughed, to give him a chance to say he was just joking. “You’re funny, James.”
    “I’m not teasing. I want to find you. None of the other princesses will play in the mud with me, or go exploring in the woods with me like you, Rose. I want to meet you for real.” He touched her hand holding the rock. “Skip it and I promise to find you.”
    Rose stared at the resolve in his steely young eyes and knew with everything in her that he meant it. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, listening to the sounds around her, listening to the wind. Then she opened her eyes, turned her body, flicked her wrists, and plop, plop, plop, plunk . The rock made three beautiful plops before it sank. She turned and hugged him. “I did it, James,” she said, still astonished at herself. “I can’t believe I did it.”
    He squeezed her tight. “I knew you had it in you Rose.”
    She let go of him and smiled as she looked across the pond, still relishing in the glow of accomplishment. She gave him a tap on the arm. “Well, now you must come and find me. Thank goodness I did it.”
    James shook his head. “Nah,” he said, flashing her a mischievous grin. “I would have come whether you skipped it or not.”

Chapter 6
    (Two years later)
     
    James had grown taller, but no less mischievous. Today he chased Rose through the forest, their game of tag going swimmingly. He was faster than her, but she’d gotten a head start, and she was quick, able to change direction with ease.  He was closing in on her as she approached the end of the clearing, the cliff that overlooked the pond at the bottom of the waterfall.
    Rose ran faster, and with a laugh, she jumped, diving over the edge and