Love Is In the Air Volume 1

by Susan Stoker

  For the rest of the time before finals, they spent almost every waking moment together. Their kisses grew deeper and more intense, not to mention more frequent. They held hands almost constantly, and Skye wanted him desperately.

  Unfortunately, she didn’t want the distraction of sex messing with her head before finals. But the upside was that there was something deliciously erotic about knowing that it was coming. That all she had to do was say yes, just like she’d promised that very first day when he walked her to her door.

  In so many ways, it felt like he was already her lover. Mostly, though, he was her friend.

  She kept expecting their chemistry to fizzle, but as each day passed, it only got stronger.

  “You are really tight with that guy,” Elise said on the last day of finals while she was waiting to meet him.

  “I am. I haven’t seen him for the last two days, though.” She shot a frown toward her friend. “It’s been hell. But at least the tests are keeping my mind occupied.”

  “But you’re done now. Is he staying in town for the summer, too?”

  “Yup.” Skye had to fight not to break out into a happy dance.

  “So when are you going to formally introduce me? You two have been living in your own little bubble.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.” She really was sorry, but not that much. She cherished her alone-time with Leo, especially since so much of their actual hours were occupied with studying. Not doing more … interesting … activities.”

  “So have you...?”

  “No.” She bit her lower lip, and Elise laughed. “Yes, yes okay. I admit it. I want to. I was thinking, maybe tonight.” It felt decadent saying it out loud. “Like that would be the proper way to celebrate that we’re both done with finals.”

  Elise leaped forward and gave her a hug, almost knocking Skye over.

  “What was that for?”

  “I’m just proud of you. It’s like my little girl’s growing up.

  Skye bit back a snort. “Thanks, Mom.” She smiled sweetly. “ You get to be Mom because you’re so much older. Remember that.”

  Elise smacked Skye with the side of her backpack. “Older and wiser. Be safe. Do you need me to lend you a condom? I mean you are just a little girl.”

  Skye rolled her eyes. “Thanks. I’m covered. And frankly, I can’t imagine that he wouldn’t be prepared. He’s a gentleman, after all.”

  Elise lifted her chin, as if indicating something. “Speaking of your gentleman…”

  Skye whipped around to see Leo walking up the sidewalk towards them.

  “I love you, Elise,” Skye said, turning back to her friend. “You’re absolutely my bestie. But go away.”

  Elise laughed and, like the BFF she was, disappeared back into the law school as Skye practically skipped forward to meet Leo.

  He met her with a grin even wider than her own.

  “You’re looking happy,” she said.

  “I have reason to be.” He handed her a paper. It was the story for his final project in Creative Writing, and there was a bright red A- minus at the top.

  She squealed and clapped, then through her arms around him. “I knew you’d do it.”

  “Because I have a brilliant mentor,” he told her.

  “I think you’re the one who’s the genius. You’re just one of those people who’s talented in everything.” She was practically giddy as she slid into his arms. She tilted her head back and sighed as she took in that gorgeous face.

  “We’re free,” she continued. “And the best thing is that I’m not obsessing about my finals because I am pretty sure I aced every single one of them.”

  He kissed her forehead “I am absolutely certain you did.”

  “Do you know what I want to do now?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “Tell me.”

  “I want you to go to your place, and I’m going to go to mine. And I’m going to take a very long bubble bath and get completely clean and comfortable. I’m going to put on a pretty dress, and I’m going to wait for you to come over.”

  His brows rose “Oh, are you?”

  “Yes. I am.”

  “And why am I coming over?”

  “For dinner. We’re going to order takeout, and we’re going to light candles. And we’re going to have a wonderful romantic dinner. And then we’re going to move to the couch and we’re going to make out for at least an hour.”

  He laughed outright at that. “I think I can get behind this plan.”

  “Oh, but wait. There’s more.”

  A single brow rose. God, the man was sexy. “More?”

  She nodded, feeling strangely shy. But she leaned close, then whispered, “Do you remember the first night? The night you walked me home?”

  “Of course. I’ll never forget it.”

  “Yes,” she murmured. “This time, I’m saying yes.”

  5

  Jürgen was furious when Leo got home. “You turned off your location services.”

  “It’s fine. Nothing happened.” It was going to, though, and happiness surged through him.

  That happiness faded as he looked at Jürgen's face. “Wait. What happened?”

  “Your sister called. She’s frantic. We must go back home now.”

  “What?” Fear cut through him. “What are you talking about?”

  “The jet’s waiting at the airport. Your father’s had a stroke.”

  The words hit Leo like a punch in the gut. He took a step backwards, unsteady, then grateful when Jürgen helped him to the sofa.

  “You’re not serious. Of course you’re serious. How bad? Is he ... is he…?”

  “He’s alive. He’s hospitalized. He’s in and out of consciousness, and he appears to be somewhat confused. He’s lost movement in one leg and one arm, and they don’t know if or when he will recover. You must sit the throne. You must rule in his stead until he recovers or—”

  “Right.” He sat up straighter, the new responsibility sitting uncomfortably on his shoulders. “But Giselle can sit the throne. So long as father’s alive, she can carry out his wishes.”

  “You know that that’s not true. In your father’s condition, the country will demand a leader. The parliament will not accept this as if she were simply filling in while your father takes a short vacation to the country. This is entirely different.”

  He knew that. Of course he knew that. Ridiculous rules of his country, but there was nothing he could do to change them in the moment. “Yes, of course I have to go. I just need to talk to Skye—”

  “You are not listening, Sir. There is no time. We need to go. And what would you tell her anyway?”

  To be honest he hadn’t thought of that. If he called—if he heard her voice—was he strong enough to leave? To see his father, maybe. But to stay? To rule until his father got better or, God forbid, until his father passed away, and then to accept the crown that was his birthright?

  He would have to stay in Avelle-am-see. He may not want it, but he had a duty, and Skye was too damn tempting. If he could take her with him, he would, but she had a career waiting for her. A heritage and a legacy that she valued. More than that, Skye wasn’t the kind of woman to be anyone’s mistress.

  He could give up his birthright and return to the States, he knew that. But she wouldn’t hold with that either. She believed in family and obligations and responsibilities. And, at the end of the day, he supposed he did too. Avelle-am-see was his country, and he loved it. If his sister could be queen, that would be a different story. But there was no way that he was letting his cousin take the throne.

  No, he was the only choice. And now he had to go back and do what he’d been raised to do.

  Still, even though they didn’t have time to go see her, he could call Skye. He could tell her what was going on, and he knew she would understand. But then they would both live their lives out without each other, both mourning what they couldn’t have. He didn’t want her to bear that burden, either. If he left, he wanted her free t
o move on. He didn’t want her to linger with regrets or hope that he would come back.

  Which meant that as much as he hated it, the best solution was to simply leave. To walk out on her.

  He would be pining for her the rest of his life, he knew that. No other woman would ever come close to his Skye. It would be a burden that he would carry for years. But he didn’t want her to have to carry a similar load.

  Someday, she’d realize who she was, and she’d assume he’d been nothing more than a royal playboy getting his kicks. The thought made him ill. But at the same time he knew it was the only reasonable solution.

  He wanted her to get over him. And the best way to do that was to make sure that she hated him.

  6

  He stood her up.

  Skye’d had candles all over her apartment. She’d had an open bottle of wine. There’d been soft music playing.

  She’d set a scene for romance, and he’d stood her up.

  At first, she hadn’t believed it. Not Leo. She knew him the way she knew herself, and she knew that he would never hurt her. Which was why she’d been frantic at first.

  She’d called his apartment, and there was no answer, not from him or from his roommate. She called the hospitals, but he wasn’t there. She’d called the university system to see if he was in the medical center, but he wasn’t.

  She tracked down his two friends, Mark and Clint. She and Leo had grabbed a few meals during their budding romance, so she had both men’s numbers.

  That was when she finally learned the truth.

  He’d skipped out on them too. Gone.

  He’d left her.

  He’d really left, and he wasn’t coming back.

  She was sure of it. How could she have been so wrong? Because surely a man who loved her would have at least said goodbye. Surely he would have given her some sort of explanation.

  And yet there was none. All he’d done was left her with a broken heart. And now she was moving through her days like a ghost.

  The time before the summer semester started was passing, sometimes in long unwieldy streams of time that seemed to last an eternity in each passing second. Other times it sped by so quickly that she could hardly remember what day it was.

  She desperately needed a shower, and yet she wasn’t motivated. She was living in her apartment, and only in her apartment, food being delivered to her door. Her only communication with the outside world was through email and texts.

  In other words, she was a complete wreck. She was a wreck because of a man, and she hated herself for it.

  She always thought she was stronger than that. She was a girl who’d always been a little bit different, and so that meant that she’d grown up with herself as her own best friend. Leo had worked his way into her heart; he’d changed that about her. And she wanted to hate him for it.

  But she couldn’t. He’d stood her up, and she still couldn’t hate him.

  God, what’s wrong with her?

  She sat in a funk in her apartment and sat and sat and sat until she felt like a Dr. Seuss book. She sat feeling flat watching a rat.

  Thank God, there weren’t any real rats in her apartment, because she didn’t have the motivation to chase them.

  She continued to sit, letting Netflix stream in front of her, watching YouTube videos, trying to make herself laugh.

  Finally, she decided that her best bet was to just go to sleep until the new semester started. She was about to put that plan into effect when there was a pounding at her door.

  She shuffled to it in her straggly bathrobe, peered through the peephole, and saw that it was Elise. Elise, whose emails and texts she’d been ignoring, because she knew that Elise would be the only one who could pull her out of the funk, and she wasn’t quite sure if she was ready to leave yet.

  The pounding started up again. “Dammit, Skye, let me in!”

  Reluctantly, she opened the door.

  “You have to stop this,” Elise said. “You need a break before classes start again, and this is not a break. Besides, I have something to show you.”

  Skye scowled at her friend. “Something to show me?”

  “Yes. Go take a shower, you’re disgusting. And then I’m taking you out.”

  Skye started to argue, but Elise held up a hand. “No. You are done moping about. I’m not taking no for an answer, and if you don’t go get in the shower, I am going to put on a shopping network.”

  Skye cringed. She could watch almost anything on TV, but she really hated home shopping. Despite herself, she actually smiled. Elise caught her out and pointed at her.

  “There. See. You’re primed to get better. I’m going to take you all the way.”

  “How?”

  Elise pointed. “Go. Shower now.”

  Skye went. She really didn’t have a better option. And maybe she really was starting to come out of her funk. Now, maybe, she was replacing her pain with anger.

  Angry Skye was better than mopey Skye, and as she showered, she started to feel even better. Started to feel like maybe she could go on. That maybe she should go on.

  She just needed to stir the coals of anger. That way she wouldn’t feel the loss.

  When she was finally clean and in Elise’s car, she asked, “Where are we going?”

  “The Fix on Sixth,” Elise said. “And we should have taken a ride share because I will never find parking.”

  She lucked out though, finding a meter on a block a short distance away. They walked back to the bar, and as they entered, Skye felt a twinge. This was their place. Only it wasn’t. Not anymore. How could it be, when there was no them?

  There was a small lunchtime crowd, but it wasn’t as crowded as it had been the evenings that she and Leo had come. She was glad of that, since it almost made it look like a different place. At least until Elise took her hand and dragged her over to the calendar board, which just brought those memories rushing right back.

  Especially when she glanced down and saw Leo’s picture.

  “Really? This is how you’re helping me?”

  “No,” Elise said pulling out her phone. “This is how I’m helping you.” She passed over the phone to Skye. “It’s Twitter. Go ahead. Scroll through the thread.”

  Skye did, then gasped when she realized what she was looking at. “That’s Leo,” she said, looking up with Elise, her mind totally confused. “Why is he standing with the Queen of England?”

  “They’re at some sort of diplomatic event,” Elise said easily.

  “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

  She squinted at the screen, reading the comments, and had totally found the answer herself by the time Elise said, “Leo’s a Prince. You really didn’t know?”

  “No.” Her voice was soft and a little unsteady. “I really didn’t know.” She continued to swipe through the pictures on the thread. Apparently, Leo was the prince of a little country called Avelle-am-see. She vaguely remembered hearing about it when she’d gone to Switzerland with her grandparents years ago.

  “This article says that he’s meeting with various heads of state over the next month. And that he’s been ruling in his father’s stead since the King had—Oh.”

  She met Elise’s eyes. “That’s why he left. His father had just had a stroke.”

  “You were dating a prince, girl. How cool is that?”

  Skye shook her head, feeling numb. She missed the Leo she knew desperately, but she had to acknowledge that she hadn’t known all of him. Just the part he let her see. The hidden part—the royal part—well, maybe it was best that he’d hidden that. Because she probably would have bolted. That kind of life—living under that kind of spotlight gave her the willies.

  And if she’d bolted early, she would have missed out on their time.

  So maybe it was good it was whirlwind. This way it only hurt a little.

  Except that was a lie. It hurt a lot.

  But pain healed. She knew that.

  The bottom line was that she was going
to be fine. Fine. She’d had a fairy tale style fling with an honest-to-goodness prince. She’d lived every little girl’s dream.

  But there was a reason the stories always ended with the white ball gown and the walk down the aisle. They never showed what came after. The loss of privacy and the obligations and rules.

  She’d had the good part, and now she had wonderful memories to hold close to her heart.

  That was enough, Skye told herself firmly.

  Because, of course, it would have to be.

  The End (for now!)

  * * *

  For an expanded version of this story, plus what happens next, be sure to order Royal Cocktail, coming in July 2021!

  * * *

  Passion ignites between a playboy prince and a determined law student, but when the demands of the throne call, can they get a fairy tale ending?

  * * *

  Prince Leopold of Avelle-am-see is destined to rule his small European country. And he doesn’t want to. His dreams involve a laboratory, not a throne, and his savvy older sister would be so much more qualified, not to mention eager to rule. His entire life, Leopold has rebelled against the inevitable, gaining a reputation in Europe as a bad boy royal with a chip on his shoulder. Years ago, he had to walk away from the love of his life in the States to tend the crown while his father was ill. Now, with his dad back in fighting shape, Leopold jumps at the chance to return as a grad student and reclaim the magic of the past.

  * * *

  Skye Porter dodged a bullet when Leo left Austin. The public scrutiny and tabloid craziness of royal life was, and still is, a hard pass. But when she spots him at their favorite Austin bar and almost blows his cover, she realizes how much she missed him. Now a rising star at a local law firm, Skye is living her dream. She has no time for, or interest in, a playboy prince. Yet, she’s still charmed by him and surrenders to one more wild fling, just for the short time he’s in town. It’s decadent and wonderful, but now her heart is at risk all over again.