“No, Frankie, I don’t think you do know,” he whispered, his alcohol laden breath wafting over me and then he was kissing me.
I should have pushed him away. I should have said no. He was drunk, and he was a long way from home and he was way out of his comfort zone. He wasn’t declaring his undying love for me, or even his undying lust. No, I was just a comfortable place, the only normal, safe place in this crazy new world.
And yet…the way he kissed me…the way he held me…I was quickly being seduced by the fantasy. I wanted to believe it. I wanted to lose myself in him and in this fake world that was so pretty and warm and magical, and I wasn’t talking about the palace or the island—although they were pretty great too and I could definitely see myself living in Kalopsia.
I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to daydreaming about what it would be like if Lucas and I were actually getting married and this was actually going to be my home. It was far too easy to slip into the fairy tale where Lucas and I worked together to repair and renovate his family’s home, where we both had positions within the royal court, where we got married on the beach under the Mediterranean sun, where we raised a family.
I was not the girl who’d been planning her wedding since she was five years old. I was not the girl who had a Pinterest board full of wedding dresses and wedding aesthetics and honeymoon destinations. I wanted to get married, but I also wanted my career and I knew I could have both—my mother was living proof of that—but I’d also never met the man who inspired dreams of white dresses and seating charts.
Okay, that was a lie, because I had met the man, I just knew I could never have all that with him. Lucas was that man and with the way he was kissing me, I could almost…almost…lose myself in the fantasy.
The door behind us opened, and I broke the kiss to look over Lucas’ shoulder. Maddox stood there, eyebrows raised.
“Sorry to interrupt,” he said. “You will be late for dinner if you don’t come in and get changed immediately.”
“Of course,” Lucas said, his shoulders slumping. He lifted his head to look at me. “We need to talk,” he whispered. “After dinner. Let’s go down to the beach and…continue this.”
My heart lifted, and I looked up at him, looking for the lie, looking for the deceit, but his face was clear and he no longer looked drunk…. although his glasses were a little steamed up. Could he really be suggesting what I thought he was? Did Lucas feel about me the way I felt about him?
“Okay,” I whispered before Maddox dragged him into the suite and closed the door.
I couldn’t help the smile that broke over my face as I entered my own suite. Selena, my lady’s maid, was waiting for me and returned my smile.
“You had a good day,” she said.
“I did,” I replied and even I knew my voice sounded like a lovesick teenager.
“Lord Lucas is such a wonderful man,” Selena said as she led me to the bathroom where a bath was already full and waiting for me. “You two make the cutest couple. It’s almost as adorable as the king and queen when they’re together.”
I let Selena help me undress, not something I usually did, but I was too stuck in that kiss and the promise Lucas implied with his words to fight her. I slipped into the hot bath and sighed. Selena had spiked the bath with her usual mix of essential oils and I breathed the fragrant air into my lungs and let myself believe that maybe things with Lucas were about to change.
Did he really love me the way I loved him? Could we actually turn our friendship into something more? My mom thought we could, and she should know. My dad was her best friend, and they’d built their entire relationship on their friendship.
Yes, I thought to myself as I grinned like a maniac. Lucas and I could have all that and a bag of chips too.
I wore a striped, strapless maxi dress that skirted the line between too casual for dinner and just right. I didn’t care. If Lucas and I were heading down to the beach after dinner, I wanted to be in something comfortable but also something that would make my shoulders look amazing in the moonlight. Besides, I knew my choice wouldn’t faze Meredith. The king and queen did not insist on absolute formality all the time and I knew dinner would be out on the terrace and it was a warm night and I had a hundred and one reasons why it was perfectly fine for me to wear this dress. I’d had to list them all to Selena before she would consent to helping me get dressed and doing my hair.
My makeup was soft and Selena had worked some sort of magic on my hair to get it into an updo that looked stylish and soft at the same time. I looked…pretty. I wasn’t insecure about my looks, but when I looked in the mirror, there was something different about me, something soft and romantic—two words I would never have used to describe me.
“You look like a woman in love,” Selena said with a satisfied smile as if she could read my mind.
“Yeah,” I murmured in response.
A knock on the door pulled me out of the weird place I’d gotten lost in and I plastered a smile on my face as I left the bedroom to meet Lucas. He stood in the sitting room and turned when he heard me coming. His eyes raked over me and I swear my body heated under his gaze.
“You look beautiful,” he breathed, coming closer and pressing a soft kiss to my cheek.
“Thank you,” I replied.
It felt like a first date, even though we’d been doing this same thing every night since we’d come to Kalopsia. I was nervous and excited and almost giddy with anticipation. It was an altogether weird feeling. I’d never felt this way before and I doubt I’d feel this way about anyone else ever again.
Lucas tucked my hand through his elbow and escorted me out of the suite and down to the terrace where the others were gathering.
“Can I get you a drink?” he asked.
“White wine,” I replied, surprising both of us.
“Okay,” he said, pressing another kiss to my cheek before heading over to the bar to get us drinks.
“You two are looking rather cozy,” Dorian said coming to stand beside me with a glass of scotch in his hand.
“We are engaged to be married,” I replied.
Dorian grunted, and I turned to look at him. “What’s up with you? Your usual sunny disposition is decidedly gloomy tonight.”
“I never have a sunny disposition and how dare you accuse me of it,” he replied, and I grinned. He was right. Dorian was not a happy, smiley person. He was more of a Wednesday Addams…no, he was one of those alpha-hole CEO billionaire types that romance books loved to cast as heroes. Tall, dark, brooding and with a trust fund big enough to finance several small countries, that was Dorian and he was a bit of a snob to top it all off. Arrogance wafted off him like a bad smell and caused most of the others to give him a wide berth, but I liked him. He had a wicked, dry sense of humor and once you got past his self-entitlement, he was a decent guy. Bad boy billionaire with a heart of gold? No, not exactly, but I believed half of the arrogant rich playboy persona was an act.
“Dorian,” Lucas said in acknowledgement when he returned with my wine and a glass of something clear for himself.
“Lucas,” Dorian replied, lifting his glass for a drink.
Lucas handed me my wine and then placed his free hand on the small of my back in a possessive gesture that I couldn’t say I didn’t enjoy…just a tiny bit. There was nothing between Dorian and me apart from friendship, but I liked that Lucas felt the need to stake his claim. The big honking diamond on my finger should have been enough, but I liked the personal touch.