“Mother, please drop it.” I sighed, closing my eyes and massaging my head.
“I asked Joslyn to make a list of potential girlfriends for you.”
“What?” My eyes popped open. “Why?”
“Because enough is enough, Aramis. You’ve lived the playboy life and now it’s time for you to at least pretend to settle down.”
“So this is all for pretenses then?” I shook my head. “This is exactly why the people don’t like us, because they think we’re fakers.”
“We’re not fakers. Your brother is genuinely in love with Adeline.”
“Right. Tell me again, Mother, how thrilled you were about him finding love with a commoner.”
“Aramis.” She glared at me. “I love Adeline like a daughter.”
“Because she’s your Queen and not loving her like a daughter would mean you’d be thrown to the wolves.” I couldn’t help my smile. My mother really did love Addie like a daughter, but I loved to rile her up.
“Aramis. That’s enough. You will let Joslyn vet these women and you will go on dates with the ones she chooses.”
“On whose orders? Yours?”
“By order of The Crown.”
“My brother is okay with this?” I scoffed. “Yeah right. Eli was just as much a playboy as I am.”
“Your brother cannot afford any more headlines with you kicking out heiresses in the middle of the night. You need to settle down or become a monk. Either one would benefit us right now.”
“Fine. A life of solitude it is.” I closed my eyes and rested my head against the window.
“Joslyn will have a list to you by tomorrow.”
“Will she be on that list?” I was almost drifting off as I asked the question.
“Joslyn?” My mother laughed. “She wouldn’t date you if you were the last man on Earth.”
“Why do you say that?” My eyes popped open.
“Because you’re a nightmare around her.” She shrugged. “Besides, she has a boyfriend. He’s joining us here for the weekend.”
“David is coming?”
“Yes. Why the face? I thought you liked David. He’s wonderful.”
“I do like David.” I felt myself scowl. “I just don’t like David for Joss.”
My mother looked at me for a long, silent moment, her amused expression quickly turning into horror. “Oh, no, Aramis. Absolutely not. You can date whomever you want but you stay the bloody hell away from Joslyn. She’s a nice girl and she’s doing splendid work as your sister’s secretary. I refuse to lose her to your childish antics.”
“You’re right. It would be such a shame if I made her fall for me.”
“She’s with David.” There was a shrill to my mother’s voice, as if she knew what I was thinking.
Truth was, I didn’t know what I was thinking and I didn’t know why I hated the thought of Joslyn being with David. It was stupid. Despite my being a jerk to her most of the time, I cared about Joslyn. I wanted her to be happy. She deserved to be happy. Maybe my mother was right. Maybe it was time for me to find someone to settle down with. Joslyn couldn’t be the one for me. I knew that all those years ago when we hooked up and I knew that now. Unfortunately, it didn’t make me want her any less.
Chapter Three
Joslyn
He had a thing for the unattainable. It was the main reason I was focusing on those for the short list I was putting together of potential women he could date. I wasn’t sure if you can call a list of twelve women short, but it was what it was. Aramis was impossible to keep content. If anyone knew that it was me. I was his sister, Pilar’s, secretary, but had been helping him for the last few months while she lay low with her fiancé Ben. I was juggling her wedding and Aramis’s attitude as he recovered from the car accident he suffered, and I wasn’t sure which was more stressful. Not to say that Pilar was a bridezilla, and being so involved in planning my best friend’s wedding was fun, but dealing with vendors and babysitting a grown man were getting to me. It was one of the reasons I was so relieved when Adeline called me to tell me we’d be spending the Christmas holiday in Versailles. It was secluded and there was no possible way Aramis could get in any kind of trouble out here. There were no heiresses nearby, no press, no paparazzi, no one he could legitimately upset, which in turn meant no mess for me to clean up. I could finally just focus on my two best friends and what they had going for them right now. One of them was getting married and the other was having a baby in two months and I was overjoyed by both. Of course, my joy didn’t mean I didn’t stop and question what I had going for myself and why I wasn’t on the same timeline, but that was okay too. I’d come to terms with the fact that I could be genuinely happy for them and still want more for myself.
I’d been seeing David for a month now and even though it was an extremely short amount of time and we were still getting to know each other, I knew he wasn’t the man I would marry. It just didn’t seem like settling down was high on his list of priorities. Every time we talked about our friends settling down, he made a joke and said he hoped that wouldn’t be him. I liked David though. I liked spending time with him. He was funny, smart, charismatic, and handsome. As the car came to a stop, I looked out the window and saw Aramis holding the door open for his mother. My heart did a little jiggle. I hated that. I hated the fact that seeing him always elicited some kind of unwanted emotion out of me. Forget the fact that I’d been seeing him for ten years now. Forget the fact that he was a total asshole to me. Forget the fact that I had to endure seeing him with women every other day and pretend I didn’t care. Well, I didn’t. I didn’t actually care. I just . . . I paused, frowning at my own thoughts. Did I care? I didn’t. There was a lot to be said about the person you gave your virginity to, that was all. I’d never forget the experiences we had together and that was okay. I’d also never forget that after the third time we slept together I caught him making out with one of my college roommates. That was the emotion I liked to cling onto most when I was around him. It wasn’t hate, not anymore, but I was cautious.
The driver stopped directly behind Aramis’s car and got down as I gathered my things. When he opened the door, Aramis looked at me and my heart did that little skip again. Dammit. Thankfully, David was meeting me here for a few days. That would take my mind off this weird situation I was facing. Falling for a member of the royal family would be stupid, falling for my boss would be disastrous, falling for the man who broke my heart all those years ago was unthinkable. As I walked over, I said hi to his mother with a kiss on each cheek.
“You look wonderful. When did you get sun? I haven’t seen it in months.”
“Sunless tan. It’s the best invention I’ve come across recently.” I smiled.
“I tried that once. I ended up looking like an orange.” She laughed as she started to walk. I glanced over at Aramis, who was just standing there, staring.
“Hey, Aramis.”
“Joslyn.” He gave a nod, looking at me from beneath those long, dark lashes of his as I passed him and followed behind his mother.