I step into what appears to be the foyer of the suite. Marble floors gleam, the beautiful gold-and-white stone feeling more modern than the path to get here.
“WHAT THE HELL? DON’T MOVE!”
I freeze where I am.
“Hi.” A man in beige slacks, a button-up shirt, and a sweater vest comes rushing into the foyer and holds out his hand. “I’m Jean.”
I shake his hand. He’s quick to let mine go as though we’re in the middle of a receiving line at a wedding and people are waiting behind me.
“Sorry, the prince is playing Xbox.”
“Xbox?” I clarify.
Jean sighs with an expression to say he doesn’t understand it either.
I’m not against grown men playing video games. Most of my guy friends do, but doesn’t the prince have more important stuff to do? I mean, he’s a prince.
“Afraid so.” Jean signals for me to follow him. “Sir. Your date is here.”
“Aw, buddy, I gotta go. Duty calls.”
I hear a loud thud and assume it’s the controller. Doesn’t seem like he’s doing much prep work for our date. A bit of my excitement over the evening dies.
Jean finally allows me to enter the room. This is it. The moment I first set my eyes on the prince. I’m fully ready and anticipate being mesmerized by his blue eyes… but all I see are sweatpants and a T-shirt with a stain streaked down the front.
“Sir, you said you were getting changed,” Jean says, sounding embarrassed.
Instead, the prince wipes his cheese-covered hand down his shirt and holds it between us. I stare at it. He quickly figures out that I’m not going to shake his hand. Rude or not, he laughs to himself and puts it in his pocket.
“Sorry, I was online with my brother. With the time difference, we rarely get to speak. Wanted to get in a game with him. Do you play?”
His accent throws me at first, although I knew he had one. People in Sandsal use a mix of different languages, but his accent comes off as more French than anything. It’s not a thick accent, but it’s there.
“Not really.”
He nods then looks at Jean. “What’s the plan?”
How much more unromantic can you get? After waiting forever for him to finish playing with his toy and his brother, he’s now asking this Jean guy what’s planned for our date. I inwardly roll my eyes.
“Dinner.” Jean smiles at me. “On the terrace.”
I glance around, looking for the photographer and his crew since JC warned me they’d be here.
“The prince has decided not to have pictures.” Jean answers the question I never asked.
“Too nosy.” Adrian picks up his drink and downs the rest of it. “I’ll be right back.” He saunters out of the room without any urgency in his step.
Jean shoots me his overly polite smile once more. “I’ll check on the dinner.”
“Excuse me,” I say.
He turns around with a look of concern. Maybe he thinks I’m going to bail.
“Do you mind if I make a phone call while I wait?”
He releases a breath and his smile loses the tension it was laced with. “Oh, certainly.” He gestures behind me. “You’ll find some privacy on the south terrace.”
I follow the direction of his hand and see a large formal dining room I suspect Mr. Sloppy Prince won’t be using unless he has a buffet for his gaming buddies. Once I’m through the double doors and on the terrace overlooking Central Park, I pull out my phone to call Blanca.
“Something’s wrong if you have time to call me,” she says. The easy lilt in her voice is ever-present. She’s too nice for her own good.
“He’s—”
“Hold on, putting you on speaker.”
“Is he dreamy?” Rian asks.
My friends think my crush on the prince is humorous, but they were speechless when I said I’d scored a date with him.
“Definitely not.”
“Uh oh, what’s wrong?” Blanca asks.
I wish I had it in me to lie, but I’m so frustrated that I spent all day at a spa, had someone come in to do my makeup, and bought a new dress just for this douche to wipe his dirty hands down his shirt before trying to shake mine. “If I wasn’t in the penthouse suite on a terrace overlooking Central Park and hadn’t been patted down by a bodyguard who’d give Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson a challenge, I’d think I’ve been duped.”
“Why?” Bianca asks.
“He wasn’t even ready when I got here. He was playing Xbox with his brother. And his shirt was dirty, and his hand was covered in fake cheese.”
“Okay…” Blanca says.
“Nothing wrong with some Xbox,” Dylan chimes in.
“I didn’t know the guys are there.” I’m sure they can all hear the annoyance in my tone.
“Yeah, sorry. Do you want me to take you off speaker?” Blanca asks.
I lean on the railing and stare into the darkness of Central Park, thankful the prince wasn’t polite enough to take my coat when he greeted me. “No. I’m just annoyed.”
“Ditch the prince. We’re about to play a game of Exploding Kittens,” Rian says.
“While eating chocolate cake.” Dylan’s voice sounds muffled as if he has half the cake in his mouth already.
I think about my options. Heading home to Cliffton Heights means a night spent with Blanca and Ethan. That uncomfortable feeling settles in my gut. It’s getting easier to be around them, and I couldn’t be happier that my best friend has fallen in love. Okay, I could be happier if it weren’t with my ex, but I’m not bitter about it either. It’s just weird to be around them still. Hopefully that will change when Blanca moves in with Ethan tomorrow. She’s only moving to an apartment at the end of the hall, but hey, a little distance will be a good thing for all of us, I suspect.
Yeah, forget about going back home. Whether this date is going to suck or not, at least it won’t include watching Blanca and Ethan flirt with each other.
“Nah, I’m going to stay.”
Just then, the door behind me creaks open and I glance over my shoulder. My phone almost slips out of my hand.
The man cleans up well.
His longer-than-average dark hair is slicked back, and his clean-shaven face makes it easy to see how beautiful this man really is.
“Sorry,” he says with no edge of lying in his tone.
“I gotta go.” I hang up on my friends, sliding my phone into my purse.
“Sierra, right?” He walks across the patio with his now clean hand held out for me.
“Are you a twin?” I ask, shaking his warm, strong, callus-free hand.
He chuckles and his gaze dips over my body, igniting a wave of heat straight between my thighs. “No.”
Guess my first impression was wrong. The prince really is a heartthrob.
Chapter Two
Adrian
I surprise her by stepping out on the terrace. She’s probably gushing to her friends about being in my penthouse.
She circles around at my entrance and stills, the phone dipping down her cheek until she tells the person on the other end that she has to go.