I took a deep breath before I walked around the car and got into the driver’s side. It seemed I did that a lot lately; take a deep breath before looking at Frankie. Seeing the way she was changing, seeing her in a different light, was playing havoc with my mind and sanity. I’d put Frankie very firmly in the friend box years ago, but suddenly—seeing her in that dress—my brain and body could no longer reconcile her as just a friend.
Which was bad.
Very Bad.
Wasn’t it?
“Are you okay?” Frankie asked me as I pulled out of the parking space and headed toward my parent’s estate.
I forced a smile to my lips and looked over at her. God, she looked good in my car…she looked good, full stop. “I’m good,” I replied.
She exhaled slowly and nodded. “Okay, so tell me what to expect tonight,” she said, turning back to the front.
“I honestly have no idea. Mother kicked me out of the house earlier today and told me to get ready at the office.”
“Your mother was with me all day,” Frankie said, biting the corner of her lip. “Why did she need you out of the house?”
“She had the decorators come in,” I replied.
“Decorators? I thought this was just a cocktail party.”
I huffed out a laugh. “Nothing is ‘just’ a cocktail party when it comes to Mother,” I replied. “You should know that by now.”
“But it’s just going to be the family, right? That’s what you said originally. Just an intimate cocktail party with family.”
“She hasn’t said anything to the contrary,” I replied.
“But that doesn’t mean she didn’t invite five hundred people and not tell you about it,” Frankie replied.
I chuckled, despite the glare Frankie shot in my direction. “She wouldn’t have invited five hundred people,” I assured her.
“Ri-ight,” Frankie drawled. “I’ve spent enough time with your mother over the last month to know she does nothing by half measures.”
“Five hundred people wouldn’t fit in the reception room at the house,” I said.
“That wouldn’t stop your mother,” Frankie replied ruefully. “She would find a way to fit five hundred people into a college dormitory if it somehow benefitted her social media profile.”
I reached over and took Frankie’s hand in mine and squeezed it gently. “It’s not too late to call this off,” I said. “I never expected it to get so out of hand and for Mother to be so bull-headed. You’ve changed so much, all for me, and I never intended for that to be a consequence of you pretending to be my fiancée.”
Frankie dragged in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I really hated it at first,” she said. “But, I don’t know, it’s kind of fun and absolutely fascinating to see how changing the way I dress changes the way people treat me.”
“So this is like one big social experiment?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
Frankie laughed, and it hit me right in the chest.
“Yeah, it kind of is,” she replied and beamed a gorgeous smile at me. My breath stalled in my chest with the way her face lit up and if I wasn’t driving, I could have stared at her all day.
I dragged my eyes back to the road, but kept her hand in mine as we made our way toward the estate.
“Um, Lucas,” she said. “What’s going on?”
There was a line of cars waiting to turn into the estate, and my body vibrated with nerves.
“I don’t know,” I said as I followed the line of cars down the driveway and then pulled up at the valet stand at the front of the house.
“Your mother organized valet parking?” Frankie hissed. “Just how many people did she invite?”
“I don’t know,” I repeated as I got out of the car and handed over my keys.
“Mr. Andino?” a woman said to me, clutching an iPad to her chest.
“Yes?” I said, turning to her.
“Oh good. And this must be Ms. Davenport,” the woman said as I walked around the car to join Frankie.
“That’s me,” Frankie said.
“Excellent. You’re both a little late, but no matter. If you’ll come with me, we can get the receiving line started.”
Frankie looked at me with raised eyebrows and mouthed, “What?”
I tucked her hand through my elbow and shrugged. We were here now, and there was nothing I could do to but grin and bear whatever it was my mother had done to ruin my life yet again.
Francesca
I gripped the stem of my wineglass in one hand and gripped Lucas’ arm with the other. There weren’t five hundred people at the engagement party, but there were over a hundred and there were members of the press, specifically picked by Maya to attend.
It was my biggest nightmare come to life.
Okay, not my biggest nightmare. It was definitely Lucas’ biggest nightmare and I could feel him tremble beside me as we greeted each and every guest that came through the door.
After that arduous task had been completed, the waiters dispersed through the crowd with trays of champagne and hors d’oeuvres. I’d swiped a glass of champagne as Maya led Lucas and me around the room, but I’d only taken one sip of it. I did not want a repeat of the other day in the club, especially not with all the photographers and reporters in attendance.
I still didn’t understand why our engagement was such a big deal. As far as the rest of the country was concerned, we were nobodies. But Maya had been hyping up the royal angle so much that we were suddenly celebrities and I couldn’t wait until we left for Kalopsia to get away from it.
Paparazzi followed me now. That was all Maya’s doing, of course. I hated it, but I gritted my teeth and bore it for Lucas. I knew he hated it too, but it was only for one more night and then we were out of here.
I lifted the glass to my lips and took a sip, grimacing at the now warm and flat champagne.
“Please tell me this will be over soon,” Lucas muttered under his breath to me.
“We’ve only been here an hour,” I whispered back.
“Oh god, kill me now,” he groaned, and I grinned, hiding my smile behind my glass.
He steered me away from the current group of people who had clustered around us. They didn’t really want to talk to us; they wanted to talk to Maya and Demetrius, so they barely acknowledged our departure. Lucas found a quiet corner and angled his body so no one could see us.
“Are you doing okay?” he asked, his concerned eyes raking over my face as if the answers were written there.
I smiled up at him. “I’m okay. It’s just a couple more hours, right?”
He groaned and leaned his arm on the wall behind me, bringing him impossibly closer. He smelled really good, some citrusy aftershave that was no doubt designer. Not that Lucas cared about labels, but I knew he didn’t do his own shopping and I doubted Maya would allow any normal drugstore products into her house.
Our eyes locked, and we were impossibly close. I tilted my head up to him and his gaze dropped to my lips and my body flushed in anticipation.
What?
No. No, I didn’t want him to kiss me.
Except, I really, really did. I was tempted to stretch up and brush my lips across his. Just once. Just to taste him. Just to see if his lips really were as soft as they looked. The kiss we had when he proposed to me was awkward and weird, and I really wanted to know if it would be different if we kissed again. Kind of like an experiment. I could definitely kiss Lucas for science. I wanted to know if all these confusing feelings that had grown exponentially bigger these past few weeks would make a difference to how we kissed.