Fake Dating the Prince

by Ashlyn Kane

  “Started badly.” Brayden rubbed his eyes and looked up again, but Flip was still there. Unless Brayden had been sitting there long enough to start hallucinating. “And got worse from there. And then I thought… and I left.” He winced, but his heart was lifting, and he managed half a laugh. “Jesus, we’re a pair.”

  “Maybe we can make a New Year’s resolution to communicate better,” Flip offered with a soft smile. “I’ll start now, though. You are far too kind, charming, and good-natured to cause an international incident.”

  Brayden’s hands were trembling. “The press… they’re so awful to you. And I remember your face when you talked about what happened with Miles. I don’t ever want to be the reason you get hurt like that. My Instagram account could have been so embarrassing for you.”

  “Brayden. I was born brown and gay. To the worst of the press, I’m already the scourge of the country. Do you really think I take anything they say to heart? Especially when it’s about the man I love?”

  The man I love. Brayden’s throat worked. Flip loved him—now, still, after everything he’d put him through. How had he misunderstood something so fundamental to Flip’s life? “But after the ball… you were upset. I thought….”

  “Yes—for you,” Flip said. “You didn’t sign up for that level of scrutiny, and I was angry with myself for subjecting you to it without preparing you. And embarrassed—not of you, but because I….”

  Brayden waited. He was still reeling from Flip’s confession and had no idea what he might say.

  “Because I knew I wanted to pursue a real relationship with you, and I’d just made it very complicated for myself.”

  “Oh,” he said in a small voice. A smile began to tug at the corners of his mouth, but it seemed too early to give in to it. Surely things could still go sour? Brayden had an excellent track record of fucking things up.

  Flip kissed the back of his hand. “My dad told me what happened on your shopping trip and that he might have scared you off. He was extremely contrite.” Then he shook his head. “But that’s partly my fault too. Apparently he was trying to give us a nudge in the right direction. If I’d told him the truth earlier….”

  “I mean, let’s not discount the fact that I jumped to conclusions and left the country instead of actually talking to you.” Brayden swallowed hard thinking of what he’d done. “There’s plenty of blame to go around.”

  Flip sat next to him on the bench. He had to be sweltering in the heat of the sauna, but he didn’t betray the slightest bit of discomfort. “I’d like to start our conversation over, if that’s okay with you?”

  “After making you chase me to Finland, I think hearing you out is the least I can do.” He felt really stupid. “I’m so sorry. I was so preoccupied thinking I’d fuck things up for you. Or that someone would find out the whole thing was fake….”

  Flip huffed softly and leaned his forehead against Brayden’s. “You idiot. Not a single moment has been fake.”

  Brayden leaned back and let Flip hold some of his weight, the last of the tension melting from his body. “Yeah.” He blinked slowly, enjoying the moment. “Okay. This conversation. You have my attention. I promise I’m not going to run out before it’s finished and get on a plane this time.”

  “And I’m going to be casual and affectionate instead of formal and cold.” Flip laced the fingers of their left hands together and briefly pressed a kiss to Brayden’s knuckles. “I don’t care what people say about you or about us in the media. I know who you are. You’re kind, compassionate, and smart, and you make me happy. Almost since we met, I’ve wanted more from you than I thought I could ask for, but you proved me wrong last time and maybe you’ll do it again.”

  Brayden swallowed, but he wouldn’t let himself look away from Flip’s eyes. He could feel his heart beating in his throat.

  “I want you to come back with me—to come home.”

  Brayden exhaled shakily, overcome with relief. “I don’t know how I thought I could stay away.” He belonged with Flip. That Flip was a prince would occasionally be a minor inconvenience to overcome. “Though I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’ll have to quit my job, but I don’t think I’m cut out to sit on my hands all day.”

  “Oh, I can think of a few positions that need filling.” Flip’s eyes were laughing.

  For fuck’s sake. They really were a pair. Brayden held back an incredulous laugh. “Was that an innuendo? Right now? I thought we were having a moment.”

  “I was thinking the head of the Thousand Lights charity committee,” Flip protested innocently. “Maybe some work developing dance classes and other activities for hospitalized children? Senior citizens’ homes too, if that doesn’t keep you busy.”

  Damn him. He had thought of everything. “That sounds like it could be in my wheelhouse.”

  Flip smoothed his thumb over the back of Brayden’s hand. “You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that. But I hope that won’t take up all your time, because there’s one more role I had in mind.”

  “Oh yeah?” Brayden said, wondering what ridiculous thing was about to come out of Flip’s mouth. “What’s that?”

  Flip slid off the bench and knelt on the sauna floor. From his pocket he produced a small jewelry box, which he opened. It held a simple white gold band and an enormous familiar-looking flawed diamond. “My husband.”

  Brayden raised his left hand to his mouth.

  Flip took his right. “Will you marry me?”

  Brayden’s mouth got ahead of his brain. “What if I accidentally tell a dick joke to the Pope?”

  Flip shrugged, ignoring entirely the absurdity of the question. “He’s eighty-one years old. You think he’s never heard a dick joke before?”

  Brayden managed a watery smile. “Not one of mine.” Flip squeezed his hand again and Brayden remembered his next thought. “I’ve known you for three weeks.”

  Flip smiled and slid the ring on his finger. Apparently he could tell that was not an actual objection. “So we’ll have a very long engagement. Family tradition. Anyway, I hear it can take years to plan a royal wedding.” He curled Brayden’s fingers around his own. “But I’m not going to change my mind.”

  Brayden laughed and pulled him to his feet, and Flip wrapped both arms around him and kissed him until all he could do was hold on.

  When Flip pulled back, eyes soft and warm and full of love, it was like stepping off a cliff. He knew he couldn’t go back. But that was okay. Life was a gift, and now, finally, Brayden was living it to the fullest.

  Besides, he thought as their lips met, Flip would be there to catch him the next time he fell.

  Chapter Ten

  “I COULD’VE driven,” Brayden grumbled as the car slushed down the damp streets of downtown Scarborough.

  In the front seat, their driver, Geoff, didn’t comment. Flip felt no such compunction to hold his tongue. “Yes, you could have,” he agreed, “except someone asserted that he didn’t want special driving privileges. He wanted to go through the same licensing process as anyone else, and so someone only has a learner’s permit. And there’s no reciprocity agreement for learner’s permits.”

  Brayden sighed, long-suffering, because all Cedric’s etiquette lessons went to hell when Brayden wasn’t in the public eye. Thank God. “It would’ve been so cool to show up driving James Bond’s sugar daddy’s car.”

  In truth, Flip suspected Brayden was putting on a show to distract him. He’d drunk too much coffee on their flight and now he felt ready to vibrate out of his own skin, just in time to meet Brayden’s extended family, which apparently included fourteen cousins and cousins-in-law and ten cousins once removed.

  Flip wasn’t nervous per se. But—

  “Flip.” Brayden brought his hand down to rest gently on Flip’s knee, stilling the reflexive jiggle.

  Okay, he was a little bit nervous. “Are you sure there’s no diplomatic crisis I shouldn’t be attending to?”

  “There might be one here
, if Brian eats all the rolls again.”

  Geoff stopped the car and got out to open the door for Brayden, who waited outside while Flip dragged himself out of the back seat.

  “Thanks, Geoff,” Brayden said to the driver. “See you at eight thirty?”

  “I’ll be here with bells on.” Geoff nodded to Flip. “Your Highness.”

  He got back in the car and drove off, but despite the prewinter chill in the air, Brayden didn’t usher Flip inside right away. He slid his hand into Flip’s and squeezed his fingers.

  He was right—Flip was being silly. Everything would be fine. And anyway…. “They’ll be calling you that before long.”

  “Sap,” Brayden accused fondly and turned his face up for a kiss.

  Inside, the restaurant’s private dining room looked much as Flip had imagined it—wood-paneled walls, tiled floor, two long tables set with plain plates and cutlery, a Christmas tree set up at one end. Over the cacophony of half a dozen children playing and twice as many adults conversing, no one noticed them enter, so Flip had several seconds to gather his bearings.

  This was a family, he reminded himself, not unlike his own, and not unlike Brayden himself. Just on a larger scale. Flip loved Brayden, and these people also, presumably, loved Brayden, so they already had something in common. And—

  “Brayden! You made it!”

  Brayden let go of Flip’s hand as Lina vaulted into his arms and sent him staggering back a few steps. “Hey, sis.”

  “Hey, sis,” she echoed. “I thought you weren’t going to be able to make it. You said you had a conference in London or something.”

  Brayden put her down and glanced at Flip, the corners of his mouth turning up to match the smile in his eyes. “Yeah, but it sucked, so Flip got us on a last-minute flight.”

  For the first time, Lina tore her eyes away from Brayden and looked at Flip. Other family members were coming over too, waiting their turn to say hello, and Flip reached for the manners his teachers had instilled in him from a young age—

  And almost cursed out loud when Brayden stepped on his foot.

  Right. This was family.

  Lina sized him up. Flip had met their parents over their March break and again in the summer, when they were off work, but Lina hadn’t been able to get time off. He extended his hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  Lina flung her arms around his neck. Somewhat bemused, Flip cast a glance at Brayden, who just lifted a shoulder. Eventually he managed to hug her back. “Hi. Welcome to the family.”

  Flip’s throat went suddenly thick, and he looked at Brayden again, half-panicked.

  This time he intervened. “All right, we all appreciate that Flip’s willing to put up with me on a daily basis, but maybe you could let him breathe a little? He’s turning blue.”

  The rest of the family came up to make their introductions. Brayden stood by Flip’s side the whole time, offering a running commentary no one seemed to think was the slightest bit strange. The names got a little meaningless halfway through the cousins, until Brayden introduced Seana and Brian and something twigged in his brain. “Is he the one who brought the live lobsters, or the vegan?” Flip asked, sotto voce.

  “The lobsters,” Brayden said, rolling his eyes as Brian flushed. Seana swatted his arm. “And Julie’s the one who opened them—she’s the vegan.”

  “My reputation precedes me,” Brian said and shook Flip’s hand firmly. “Good meetin’ ya.”

  “Likewise.” Flip leaned in. “I don’t suppose you brought lobsters this year?”

  The gift exchange—a chaotic swap whose objective seemed to be stealing whichever present made the most people squawk—didn’t happen until after dinner, when Flip was pleasantly full and coming down from his caffeine buzz. He and Brayden hadn’t had time to purchase gifts, which suited Flip fine because he was going to need a year to study the strategy of white-elephant exchanges. Instead they sat back at the table and watched the madness unfold.

  And then, when all the presents had been opened and the wrapping paper collected for recycling, Brayden tugged Flip to his feet. “I know you’re probably all disappointed we didn’t participate in the gift exchange this year, because who doesn’t want the chance to steal something from under a prince’s nose”—Flip rolled his eyes on cue—“but I think we brought something almost as good.”

  Flip reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew a number of small envelopes and passed them to Brayden, who took out several of his own. “These were going to go in the mail,” Flip said, “but we thought it might be nice to hand them out in person.”

  He had just turned to hand an envelope to Brayden’s grandmother when Brayden added, “I hope you’re all free the second week of July?”

  For a moment you could have heard a pin drop. And then chaos broke loose. Someone shouted, “You set a date?” so high-pitched Flip assumed it had to be Lina, but when he looked it turned out to be Brayden’s dad, wide-eyed and grinning.

  As the friendly horde descended for another round of hugs, Brayden’s grandmother put her hand on his arm. “Congratulations,” she said warmly, holding her wedding invitation close to her chest. Then she leaned into him and raised her eyebrows meaningfully. “Maybe let Brayden lead the dancing this time.”

  ASHLYN KANE is a Canadian former expat and current hockey fan. She is a writer, editor, handyperson, dog mom, and friend—sometimes all at once.

  On any given day she can usually be found walking her ninety-pound baby chocolate lapdog, Indy, or holed up in her office avoiding housework. She has a deep and abiding love of romance novel tropes, a habit of dropping too many f-bombs, and—fortunately—a very forgiving family.

  Twitter: @ashlynkane

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/ashlyn.kane.94

  Website: www.ashlynkane.ca

  By Ashlyn Kane

  DREAMSPUN BEYOND

  #26 – Hex and Candy

  DREAMSPUN DESIRES

  #59 – His Leading Man

  #84 – Fake Dating the Prince

  Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  www.dreamspinnerpress.com

  Coming in July 2019

  Dreamspun Desires #85

  Come Back Around by BA Tortuga

  Leaning N

  Can two divorced dads get a second chance at a redneck wedding?

  When Reid Porter agrees to be his best friend’s maid of honor, he never even considers that his ex will be there too. Which is ridiculous, because Jennifer is marrying his ex’s brother. He would never let Jen down, though, so he finds himself at the Leanin’ N ranch with his two daughters and a whole lot of baggage about seeing Mateo again.

  Mat loves his baby brother and would do anything for him, including face the love of his life, whom he’s sure has moved on. When he and Reid come face to face after more than two years apart, they realize they’ve never let go. Now they have to find a way to do what they never could before—balance work, home, and children, while finding a way to come back around to each other’s love.

  Dreamspun Desires #86

  Warm Heart by Amy Lane

  Search and Rescue: Book One

  Following a family emergency, snowboarder Tevyn Moore and financier Mallory Armstrong leave Donner Pass in a blizzard… and barely survive the helicopter crash that follows. Stranded with few supplies and no shelter, Tevyn and Mallory—and their injured pilot—are forced to rely on each other.

  The mountain leaves no room for evasion, and Tevyn and Mal must confront the feelings that have been brewing between them for the past five years. Mallory has seen Tevyn through injury and victory. Can Tevyn see that Mallory's love is real?

  Mallory’s job is risk assessment. Tevyn's job is full-on risk. But to stay alive, Mallory needs to take some gambles and Tevyn needs to have faith in someone besides himself. Can the bond they discover on the mountain see them to rescue and beyond?

  www.dreamspinnerpress.com

  Published by

  DREAMSPINNER PRESS

 
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA

  www.dreamspinnerpress.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Fake Dating the Prince

  © 2019 Ashlyn Kane

  Editorial Development by Sue Brown-Moore.

  Cover Art

  © 2019 Alexandria Corza

  http://www.seeingstatic.com/

  Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.

  All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.

  Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64108-187-0

  Digital ISBN: 978-1-64405-442-0

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2019930016