Suddenly Royal

I looked at him sharply to see if he was joking, mocking what I had said when we first met, but it brought our faces nose-to-nose. There was an amused glint in his eyes, but underneath that was something much warmer. We stood there, neither moving, only our breaths tangling in the cold air between our lips. Part of me demanded to move closer, to press my hungry mouth to his, while another part of me screamed to run for the hills. He shifted closer and I tilted my head up as his hand moved to cup my cheek.

The front door was pulled open in a rush of warm air, and I almost stumbled off the top step. Alex’s warm fingers closed around my elbow to help steady me. I turned to look into Jess’s wide eyes and smiled weakly.

“Sorry, I thought you were having trouble with your key again.” Jess swung her gaze from Alex to me and back. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“You didn’t. Alex brought me home when my truck wouldn’t start.” I cleared my throat and turned to smile at the prince standing on my tiny front porch.

“My pleasure.” Alex winked at me before tipping his head to Jess. “You must be Jess.” Holding his hand out, I watched as my roommate looked at it like it was something unreal before slowly leaning out of the front door to shake it.

“Yes. Jess. I am. I mean, I am Jess. Um, nice to meet you.” Jess looked at me and then back at Alex. She yanked her hand away from him. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to hold your hand like some kind of crazy stalker. Boyfriend! Bert! My boyfriend is in the living room.”

My eyes grew wider with each word out of Jess’s mouth and I had to fight to not laugh out loud. I looked over Jess’s shoulder to see Bert staring at us with the same look of amusement.

“Right. This is my roommate, the not-stalker and that’s her boyfriend, Bert, back there.” Bert raised his hand in greeting.

“Nice to meet you both.” Alex looked back at me, and I could see the amusement rippling in the blues of his eyes. “I’ll be in touch, Samantha.”

“Sure.” I nodded my head, trying to make everything seem very businesslike. “I look forward to it.” My heart stopped. Had I really just added that? What was wrong with me?

“As do I.” His eyes held mine before he bowed his head and backed down the steps. I didn’t move as I watched him walk across the lawn and climb through the limo door, which the driver was holding open. Turning, I shooed Jess back into the house and closed the door behind me. I leaned against the heavy wood and kicked the heels off my feet.

Jess stood there staring at me, her eyes the size of saucers. I sighed and shrugged out of my coat. “Go ahead and get it out of your system.”

“Prince Yummy brought you home.” Jess pointed a finger at me like I was in trouble. This was going to be bad.

“His Royal Highness, Prince Alex, brought me home.” I frowned at her. “You have to stop calling him that. It was stuck in my head all night.”

“His Royal Highness, Prince Alex of the Yummy, brought you home. In a limo.” Jess took a deep breath. “And you were about to kiss him. Right there. On our porch!”

“What? No. No I wasn’t.” I shook my head and dropped my coat on the rack before walking to the kitchen.

“I’m not blind, Sam. You were, like, this far apart!” She held her finger and thumb up so I could see the sliver of space between them. “You were going to kiss him!”

“Don’t be ridiculous. He’s European. They kiss cheeks. That’s all.” I fixed a glass of water before hauling myself up onto the counter.

Bert followed us into the kitchen and leaned against the doorframe, his arms across his chest. I didn’t like the look in his eyes. Jess could jump to conclusions. She was brilliant, but I also knew that me being involved with Alex would be the stuff of her daydreams. Bert, however, was a practical guy with an eye for detail.

“Look, I met with the duchess and she brought Alex. When it was time to leave, the parking attendant said my car wouldn’t start, so Alex insisted on seeing me home.” I took a sip of water, trying to calm my nerves. I could still smell him—it was like he had permeated all my senses. “Some kind of princely chivalry. That’s all.”

“I’m not stupid, Sam. I know what I saw.” Jess smiled. “Prince Yummy likes you.”

I shook my head and hopped down from the counter. I needed to derail that thought process before it got out of hand.

“Even if he did, which he doesn’t, I’m not interested. You know me, Jess. A guy like that is nothing like what I want.”

“We usually need exactly what we think we don’t want.” Bert’s quiet voice filled the tiny kitchen and Jess nodded her head like a madwoman.

“Give me a break. Save your psycho mumbo jumbo for someone else.”

“What did they want to see you about, anyway?” Bert cocked his head to the side. “Are they donating money to the program?”

“No.” I let that rattle around in their heads for a minute. “Apparently I’m royalty.” You could’ve heard a pin drop because I was pretty sure they had both stopped breathing. “Go figure, right?” I refilled my water glass and squeezed past Bert’s giant frame before heading for my room.

“You know what the best part of my night was, though?” I stopped at my door and turned to look at Jess and Bert, who were both standing in the doorway staring at me with open mouths. “It was seeing Jess meet Prince Yummy in her giant college football jersey and fuzzy socks.”