“Have fun.”
“Babe?” Ethan nods toward the door.
Blanca’s gaze stays on me and she lifts her finger. “One minute.”
Ethan shakes his head.
The minute the door closes after them, Blanca grabs my hand and pulls me to the couch. “Spill.”
“Spill what?”
“You know what! You guys obviously had sex. I knew you were bullshitting us earlier. You had sex with a prince!” She’s almost happier than I was.
Okay, not quite. The man knows how to please a woman—which only reminds me of how many women probably came before me. “And?”
“And he’s a prince. You owe me details.”
I raise my eyebrows. It feels kinda weird to talk to Blanca about my sex life now since it might lead to her talking about hers. With her dating my ex, I’m familiar with Ethan in the bedroom even if it makes me shake in disgust now. We’ve yet to share in that way since she and Ethan got together.
“Okay, you don’t owe me, but I know you and it’s killing you not to get it out.”
I bite my bottom lip. She’s right. I do want and need to talk to someone about this. How do I go from what I assumed would be a one-night stand with a prince to living with him?
“I have no idea how it happened. One minute he’s this slob who put no effort into getting ready for our evening together and then he’s showing me a few vulnerabilities. And we ran away from security—”
The apartment door opens without a knock.
“Blue Bloods, guys!” Rian yells but spots us on the couch and opens the door farther, stepping into the apartment. “What’s going on?” She sits on the floor at our feet.
“Sierra is giving me more details about her date with Adrian.” Blanca waggles her eyebrows.
Rian slides her ass closer, straightening her back like a good-mannered kid ready for storytime at the library.
“It wasn’t a fairy tale date, but…” I rehash the night—running from security, falling on the ice rink, the bar with Adrian’s fans, getting caught in the rain. Then I get into the really interesting parts and tell them about all the places we had sex—the shower, the bed, the dresser, and the bathroom countertop.
By the time I’m done with my story, they’re both staring at me with huge smiles.
“And then he decided he wanted to move in?” Rian asks.
“After he talked to his parents and they agreed to let him do what he wanted for two months, he had nowhere to go. We agreed that he’d give me an exclusive interview in exchange for living here for two months.”
Their smiles dim.
“So where does that leave you two?” Blanca asks.
“I have no idea.” I purposely keep a lightness in my tone as though I haven’t wondered the same thing all day.
“Are you going to be sleeping together? Because I just want to say public places are off-limits. No shower or bathroom countertops, okay?” Rian says.
Blanca and I laugh.
“I have no idea if last night was it or what. I mean, even if we do sleep together, it’s not like there can ever be a future. He’s a prince and has to go back to Sandsal in two months.”
They both stare at me.
“What?” I ask.
“Sierra.” Blanca takes my hand. “The man you’ve been following online and have been infatuated with is sleeping in the bedroom next to yours. You had sex multiple times with him last night. You can’t just live the next two months in the dark. Nor can you allow him to come and go from your bed without some kind of agreement between you guys.”
I slide my hands from hers, heading into the kitchen. “I’m not like you guys. I don’t expect to become princess and get my happy ever after. Is it crazy that I met him in person and even crazier that we slept together, and he asked to move in here? Sure, it’s like an out-of-body experience. I’m not sure it’s completely soaked in yet, but I’d never expect something serious from him.” I pull a bottle of wine from her fridge. “Cool if we open this?”
Blanca stands and Rian follows. “Of course. Opener is in the drawer by the dishwasher.”
As I open the bottle of wine, I’m aware of their silence. It weighs heavy on my shoulders. “Will you two stop worrying? Sometimes people just have fun. If we sleep together again, then great. If not, I’m cool.”
They look at one another then back at me. Blanca is more of a straight-shooter, so she takes charge. “You deserve more than that. Talk to him. Figure out where you stand, because in two months, you could end up devastated if you’re not careful.”
I pour a glass for each of them and slide them over the counter. “You guys are worried for nothing. It’s me. I can have sex with a guy and not become emotionally invested.”
Blanca sips her wine while Rian twirls her glass at the stem.
“But this is different,” Rian says. “This is Prince Adrian Marx of Sandsal. A guy you already had a thing for. Not some stranger from a club you’ll never see again.”
I pat her hand. “You guys know I can handle myself.”
They both release exasperated breaths.
“I think you should talk to him,” Blanca says.
The apartment door opens before I have to repeat my argument again.
“Hello! Blue Bloods. The pizza is getting cold.” Dylan peeks his head in but enters when he spots us all huddled together at the counter. “What’s the gossip, hens?”
“You’re always in on the gossip,” Rian jokes.
Dylan swings his arm around her shoulders, leaning in. “Are we talking about sex toys, masturbation, or porn?”
Rian pushes on his stomach. “None of the above.”
Dylan laughs, assuming we wouldn’t be talking about any of those things. He doesn’t need to know that girls have those conversations too.
“We’re talking about Sierra living in the dark,” Blanca says.
The attitude she’s copping is grating on my nerves now.
“What does that mean?” His forehead wrinkles for a second, then his head falls back. “Ah, the prince.”
“Yes, tell them, Dylan. You don’t have to sign a contract with someone before having sex with them.” I slip out from behind the counter to head to the couch. I’m positive the three of them are probably exchanging some look behind my back.
“Can’t do that,” Dylan says.
I whip my head around to find him sipping out of Rian’s glass. I narrow my eyes at him. “You are not a Boy Scout, Dylan.”
He passes the glass back to Rian then raises his hands. “I know and I never said I was, but I don’t bring my one-night stands home to live with me for two months either.”
“We made a deal. I get an exclusive interview. You know how huge that is for me? I mean, Kay is all up Jack’s ass and he’s going to give her the next anchor job. I get an interview with a prince who disappeared from his responsibilities for two months? Game changer.”
Kay and I started at the station at the same time. She does the weather and I’m a beat reporter, but we both want the anchor position. With Georgia retiring, Adrian’s interview could give me a leg up or make it more probable that another station might hire me.