Liam is quiet for a moment, seeming to think it over. “We will make it work. Please, Your Highness, don’t leave the property unless I’m with you.”
“I understand,” I reply. “I won’t pull a stunt like last year again, Liam. You have my word on that.”
He nods once and then leaves Nina and me alone in the boathouse.
“Do you still think he’s hot?” Nina asks quietly.
He’s bloody amazing.
“He’s an attractive man,” I reply, trying to sound cool. “If you like the tall, dark, and dangerous type.”
Nina laughs and slings her arm around my shoulders. “We all do, friend. We all do.”
“If I eat another bite of this cake,” Nina says later in the evening, “I’ll die from the sugar rush.”
We’re at Brooke’s Blooms in downtown Cunningham Falls with most of what I’ve started to call the gang. Nina’s friends—and now mine, as well—are Jenna, Willa, Hannah, Grace, and Fallon. Some are related by marriage, but all are wonderful friends who have welcomed me into the fold. I feel as if I’ve been here all of my life.
At first, I was terribly intimidated by them because I’m younger, and all of these women have successful careers and families.
But they’ve never made me feel anything but included and happy to be amongst them.
“How long are you staying, Ellie?” Willa asks as she tries to fit a rose into the middle of her bouquet. This flower class that Brooke offers is wonderful. She and her sister, Maisey, feed us all the cake we could ever want, and also have wine and a charcuterie table set up.
We’ll all leave with our bellies full and our hands bursting with flowers.
Not to mention, if I keep drinking wine at the pace I’ve been going, more than a little pissed.
“About a month,” I answer and raise my glass when Maisey offers to pour me a refill. “I need to be back in London for a state dinner at the end of next month.”
“Sebastian and I will be there for that, as well,” Nina says. “So, I’ll get to see even more of you.”
I smile at Nina and clap my hands in excitement. “Brilliant! I haven’t seen enough of you lately.”
“We’re always going here and there,” Nina says. “It seems we never stay in one spot for more than a week at a time.”
“But you get to see such exciting places,” Hannah reminds Nina. “Brad and I are so entrenched in this community—which I’m not complaining about—but we never have time to go anywhere.”
“What would Cunningham Falls do without their chief of police and the best OB/GYN in town?” Fallon asks and takes a bite of her cake. “Maisey, this gluten-free cake is so good. It tastes like regular cake.”
“Oh, thank God,” Maisey says with a relieved sigh. “I’ve been tweaking that recipe, and you’re the first to try it. Do you really like it?”
“It’s fabulous,” Fallon assures her.
I glance to my left where Liam and Nick flank the door, both standing stoically. I’m used to having security with me.
I’m not used to having Liam so close to me all the time.
“Would you two like some cake?” Willa asks the men.
“No, ma’am,” Liam replies.
“You love cake,” Jenna says, frowning at Liam.
I glance around, surprised. “Do you know each other?”
“Jenna and I are a little younger than Liam, but we were friends with Lauren Cunningham—”
“Sullivan now,” Fallon reminds her. “She’s married to Ty Sullivan.”
“Right,” Willa says with a nod. “Lauren and Liam are cousins, and he came to Cunningham Falls for the summers.”
That part, I knew. Liam told me that when I first met him and cornered him at Sebastian’s house, hoping to flirt with him a bit.
Of course, I’m absolutely abysmal when it comes to flirting.
“And he always loved sweets,” Jenna adds.
“We’re on duty,” Liam reminds her.
“I’ll send some home with you,” Maisey says. “I have plenty, and you can enjoy it when you’re not on duty.”
“Thank you,” Nick says with a smile, then assumes his stoic stance once again.
“My flowers look like a drunk elephant put them together.” I stare at my pitiful bouquet in disgust.
“You are a little drunk,” Nina says. “Your cheeks are bright red.”
“That always happens.” I cover my face with my hands and laugh. “Not that I have the opportunity to over-indulge often, but my flushed cheeks always give me away.”
“You’re adorable.” Grace, who has been quiet up until now, leans over to tap my glass with hers. “I like you.”
“I like you, too.” I blink rapidly, not wanting to become a blubbering idiot over some sweet words. “I must have something in my eye.”
We spend the next hour putting the finishing touches on our flowers and polishing off our cake and wine. When Nick and Liam escort Nina and me out to our waiting car, I find myself stumbling over my feet.
Liam immediately reaches out to grab my elbow to keep me upright.
“Pardon me,” I say, trying to sound proper. “That sidewalk snuck right up on me.”
“Or the wine did,” Nina says with a snort. “That was fun. We need to do it more often.”
We climb into the back seat, and I sigh in happiness. I’m completely hammered. I don’t remember the last time I drank in such excess.
Perhaps never. It would be frowned upon to behave in such a way back home.
“Don’t feel guilty,” Nina says as if she can read my thoughts. “It’s time you act twenty-five.”
“I am twenty-five,” I remind her.
“Exactly.”
The car pulls into Sebastian’s drive, and Nick escorts Nina inside the house.
“Let’s go, Princess,” Liam says, motioning for me to walk down the path that winds beside the house to the lake below.
“Where are you taking me?”
“To your apartment,” he says, his lips twitching with humor. I want to kiss those lips. I’ve wanted to kiss them since the day I first met him.
“Oh, right. I almost forgot.” I giggle as I walk on the path next to Liam. When I stumble, he reaches out for me again.
I really like it when Liam touches me.
It makes my skin tingle.
I rub my lips together, hoping that will keep me from babbling. Alcohol gives me loose lips.
It’s a curse.
“It’s hot tonight.” I wipe my brow with the back of my hand. “Is it always so hot here in the summer?”
“Yes.”
I frown at him. “You’re not much for chatting, are you?”
“No.”
I narrow my eyes, still watching him. Well, both of him. “You’re allowed to speak to me, you know.”
“Okay.”
My toe catches on something, pitching me forward, but before I can land face-first on the path, Liam’s arms encircle my middle, holding me up.
“Oops.”
“Do I need to carry you, Princess?” He sounds angry. Frustrated. I don’t know why, this is his bloody job.