Royal Chase

I knew from the beginning that if I reached this point, I would not stay overnight in his room. The whole “avoiding the appearance of evil” thing. That even if I didn’t do stuff with him, everyone in the whole country would assume that I did by going into that room, and since I was engaged, it hadn’t seemed like a good thing to do.

But now I wasn’t going to go in there because I needed to break up with Sterling first. It was a shame. I would have liked the chance to spend time with Dante away from the cameras, to ask him about what he had done for Rafe, to give him the chance to explain to me why he didn’t tell me about it himself.

Dante waited for me outside of the hotel in one of his custom-made suits. He flashed a megawatt grin at me and helped me out of the limo.

“You look so absolutely dreadful tonight,” he said as he kissed me hello on each cheek, and then he put my hand on his arm to escort me inside.

We went into the lobby, and it had been cleared of guests and employees. Dante led me over to a couch in front of a roaring fireplace and sat down right next to me. He pulled two key cards out of his coat pocket. “They have two rooms for us. They gave me the penthouse suite, and you a room on a different floor. This key”—he put it on the coffee table in front of us—“unlocks the door to my suite. This key”—he put the other key down on the right of the first—“will let you into your room. Now all you have to do is decide.”

This was hard. I didn’t want to discourage him or make him think something that wasn’t true. I wanted to let him know that my feelings had changed, but this wasn’t how I wanted to start our relationship.

“I promise you, we can just stay up all night talking.” He took my left hand and held it between both of his.

“You’re the one who said that there’s only one outcome when an attractive man and an attractive woman are alone together in a bedroom.”

His eyes went wide, and he said fervently, “I take it back. Every word.”

I laughed. I knew he would behave. I knew I probably would behave, too.

Probably.

But part of minimizing the fallout of the decision I’d made was not doing anything that would humiliate Sterling or me on camera. Dante could be patient a little longer.

On the other hand, I really, really wanted to be with him.

All that was left was to choose a key.

Chapter 24

Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.

I picked up the key on the right to go to my own room.

“I had a feeling that might be what you chose.” He sounded disappointed, and gave me those sad puppy dog eyes that melted my heart. Droopy and Snoopy had nothing on him. “What is it they say in baseball? A swing and a miss?”

“I just can’t.” He still looked sad. I wanted him to know that things had changed. I leaned in to whisper, “At least, not yet.”

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. He started to say something, but the camera guys wanted to call it a night, so they arranged the final shot and asked us to head to the elevators.

There was something on the back of the key card. A piece of paper had been folded up and taped to it. He put his hand over mine and was trying to signal something with his eyes. Oh. He didn’t want me to look at the paper yet. Not on camera.

The crew filmed us walking over to the elevators, and then arranged it so two separate elevators’ doors would open at the same time, and we symbolically each got into our own. They reopened the doors and said it was a wrap. I unclipped my mike pack and handed it to them, desperate to get away and see what the note said.

A PA told me that my room was on the sixth floor. I nodded and thanked her, and then I stepped inside and pushed “Six.” The doors finally closed after what felt like an eternity, and I pulled out the note.

I switched the keys. This is the key to my room. I’m in room 1201.

Please come, it’s urgent. I need to talk to you.

My heart beat so fast. I couldn’t say no. I didn’t want to say no.

The doors slid open on the sixth floor. A man stood there with a suitcase. “Going down?”

“No,” I told him. “I’m going up.” I pushed the twelfth floor button.