by Nana Malone
I rolled my eyes. "Oh my God, you're forever going to be the matchmaker, aren't you?"
"Well, I love love. And what Tristan's got going on right now isn't love, so I'd like to get him to sort that out. But you are my priority. I just want you to be happy. So go on the date. It's certainly not going to hurt you."
She had a point. I went to my text and hit reply.
Ariel: How would you like a date at the palace?
His response was immediate.
Ian: Absolutely. Basically, any reason to see you. Do you want me to come now?
I laughed.
Ariel: Not now, you goof. There's a gala on Friday night. Would you like to be my date?
Ian: Fantastic! I look amazing in black tie. You're going to find me irresistible.
Ariel: Who knows? Maybe it's you who'll find me irresistible.
Ian: I already do find you irresistible. I know the jury is still out for you. So, black tie it is. You don't stand a chance.
I rolled my eyes, and then I lifted my gaze to Penny, who was watching me. "He's making you smile, so that's a good thing."
"Only because he is crazy. But it's done. I have a date."
Penny sat back. "Well, the good news is that at the end of this date, you'll know exactly how you feel about Ian. And you'll know exactly how Tristan feels about you."
I knew how Tristan felt about me. He hated me but couldn't help wanting me. Which put me right between a rock and a very, very hard place.
Ariel…
TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE. Okay, I was totally cheating. But when Ian had called asking for our do-over date, I’d invited him to the gala. It had been just over a week since I’d been back on Tristan’s service, and I was going out of my mind.
Ella had come back for two nights. I’d been forced to watch them have dinner. I’d stood by, watching them whisper together, and I wasn’t at all jealous. Or so I’d told Penny. She hadn't really believed me, but maybe she’d allowed me my delusion. She had a point though. I never saw them touch unless there was a camera present. Then there was much handholding. They never kissed that I could see.
I kept trying to tell myself I wasn’t trying to prove anything by digging in with Ian. That I needed to give it one more go to see if I was actually interested in being with him. I hadn't really thought about the gala much, but it was the perfect venue. Technically I needed to be there, but I was just managing the team, so I could have a dance or two. Besides, if I waited on having available time in my calendar, it never would happen. And I wouldn't be able to make my final decision unless I actually went out with him again.
No, you can make your decision. You already know.
The thing was I'd been playing it safe my whole life, deflecting with humor and snark. Ian was a chance for something real. So what if he insisted on ordering for me? He was just a little old school. I'd just mention to him that I really did not like wine. See? Problem solved.
Uh-huh.
My inner self was not having it. Tonight, of all nights, she was in full bloom and taking no prisoners.
Well, her and Penny. "Okay, so let me get this straight. Tristan is here. Home. He's kissed you."
"Yes."
We were in Penny and Sebastian's quarters. She had insisted I should get ready there, of course, instead of letting me get ready in my guest quarters.
"Okay, so Tristan’s here. By the way, I never really noticed just how hot he was, but he is totally smokin'."
I rolled my eyes. "You only think that way because he looks a little like Sebastian."
She grinned at me. "Well, I mean, my husband is gorgeous."
I laughed. "Don’t shove that in anyone's face, okay? It's already hard to like you."
"What? I'm easy to love."
"You are. You're adorable. And you more likely than not have paint streaks on you somewhere. It makes you endearing."
"Shit. Do I have paint streaks on me now?"
I studied her closely. For once, she was paint free.
"No, you're good."
"Okay. Back to the important thing. So, you had a date with Ian which Tristan crashed. Maybe if we can pick apart every aspect of it, we can figure out what they’re both thinking."
I thought back. Why did it already feel like eons ago? "Well, it wasn't entirely Tristan’s fault because Ian invited him to sit down."
Penny frowned. "Yeah, I'm still mad about that. Who does that when you're on a date? He should have been like, 'Hey, I haven't seen you in a while. Let's catch up later over drinks. Right now, I'm with this hot date. Check out this piece. Isn't she sexy?'"
I snorted a laugh. "Oh my God, you doing that impression is one for the ages. Has Sebastian seen these impressions? Because I think they're awesome."
Penny paired her impression with trying to form a guy slouch, shoulders hunched, kind of sloppy.
I snort-laughed. "That's epic."
"Hey, I've seen it before. I’m just emulating."
"Yeah, so he… you already know this part. He basically invited Tristan and Ella to sit down."
"And Tristan did. Then he was playing footsie with you under the table, right?"
I frowned. "It wasn't exactly like footsie. It's just that I could feel him, you know?"
She waggled her brows. "Oh, I know."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, it means you still have feelings for Tristan.”
" I have no feelings. My feelings are dead. All feeling is dead."
"See, that's the problem. We need you to feel something in your pants."
I snorted. "Penny."
"I'm sorry, but one of us needs to be you in this relationship. And right now, my bestie is taking a vacation. If this situation was reversed and it was me, you would be like, 'In your pants. Bone both. Bag and tag.'"
She was right. I would say that to her. I was not the bag and tag type, and neither was Penny. But she’d needed encouragement for such things. I needed no such encouragement because as outrageous as I was half the time, when it came to love, I still played it safe.
That's because you were hurt.
"Look, it's fine. When Tristan kissed me, I felt nothing."
Penny lifted a brow, and that's all she had to do. She knew I was lying.
"Okay, fine. I felt something. The point is I'm not going to act on it because he has Ella. He is engaged, and he has no business kissing me."
She nodded. "We are in agreement there. No closer to finding out why he’s so hot and cold with you?"
"I don't know. He's a douche?"
"He's not a douche." Penny shook her head. "You know that's outside of character. Tristan is the... I don't know... sweet and sensitive one. He is actually really soft-hearted."
"I'm not sure soft-hearted is the right word. Are you sure you know Tristan?"
"Well, he might be going all alpha-caveman with you right now, but usually he's a good guy. And he hasn’t kissed you since then?"
"No. But he did tell me not to go out with Ian. Asshole."
"Well, that's just a jealous guy thing."
She stepped back, surveying her work. She'd put me in a moss green jumpsuit. It brought out the color in my eyes. It was strapless. It made my tits look amazing. And I had hidden panels for my weapons, which made my day.
"Ah, you look dope."
I turned, staring at the glitter in my ears. "Penny, what the hell are those?"
"Well, I had those, and they have just been laying around, so I figured you should wear them tonight."
She'd slipped massive, dangling ruby earrings in my ears. Knowing Penny, they were real. "Jesus Christ. How much are these things worth?"
She shrugged. "You know I don't really care about that shit. I have no idea. You could tell me they're from one of those teen accessory stores we used to frequent all the time, or you could tell me they're the crown jewels. I wouldn't know the difference."
I rolled my eyes. "How is it you ended up as queen?"
She laughed. "Maybe be
cause I don't care. Who knows?" Then she stepped back.
I had to admire her too. The girl was my klutzy, geeky best friend and partner, but standing before me, she looked every bit the Queen of the Winston Isles. She was wearing white, like a crazy person. But it had a hint of ice blue woven throughout the sleek skirt of the dress. She was a little more daring. The bodice on her dress dipped down past her boobs, shoving them up under her chin. It would be a wonder if Sebastian let her leave that dress on for ten minutes.
"Okay, you look perfect. Are you ready to do this?"
"I guess as ready as I'll ever be?"
"Then let's do this. You're going to make both their eyes pop out of their heads."
"I only care about Ian, remember? Only Ian."
Penny giggled. "Sure. You keep telling yourself that. But when you're dealing with me, you speak the truth. You want Tristan to trip over himself."
I bit my tongue to keep the truth inside. But she didn't need me to say it because she already knew. I wanted him to eat his heart out.
Ariel…
"YOU LOOK ABSOLUTELY RAVISHING." I couldn't help but preen slightly at the compliment.
"Thank you, Ian."
"I mean it. I... wow. And thank you for the invitation to the palace."
"Well, it's the least I could do for not being available all last week."
"Oh, we'll make it up. Besides, this is not a bad date."
"Except I'm working."
"Are you working? I’m pretty sure we can escape to the gardens for a glass of champagne."
I giggled. "Well, I might be able to steal away, but I’ll need to stay on comms."
Ian frowned. "Comms?"
I tapped my ear. Thanks to Blake Security, we had communication devices that were so small you could barely see them. "We don't anticipate anything will happen to the prince here, but better safe than sorry."
He frowned. "Is Tristan in trouble?"
I smiled beatifically at him. I wasn't about to discuss what I was doing. Just that I was here and I was acting as guard.
"You know I can't tell you that."
"Right. Right. Sorry. It's fascinating. I'm obviously super curious about what you do."
"It's easy really. I'm a business owner. I don't do anything that special."
He laughed. "Oh really? Is that why when I say your name a certain circle of people literally quicken and/or go instantly to fangirl status? I had dinner with a mate last night. He's an athlete I'm trying to recruit. He's local. I mentioned that the girl I'm dating invited me to the palace. He asked me who I knew that had that kind of clout. I said your name, and his eyes just went wide, talking about how you brought home the lost princess practically single-handedly."
"I had a lot of help. It wasn't just me. Roone, her fiancé, was also on the team."
Ian laughed. "But weren't you leading that team?"
I nodded. "Yes, I was. That part is true."
"That's pretty amazing."
I shrugged. "I'm just doing my job. I was just the lucky person who happened to keep her safe and bring her back. That's all we did."
"You're so taciturn. You won't give me anything about that?"
"While most people know that we found Jessa and brought her home, we can't actually talk about the mission."
"Virtual fight club, I guess."
I smiled at him. "Exactly."
"Well, either way, I think it's fantastic. Whatever you can tell me, I would love to hear. I want to know all about you."
It was sweet really. I wasn't used to that kind of attention. At least so far that evening, he hadn’t tried to order for me or tell me what to do, so I supposed that had been an anomaly.
Or someone had warned him of the error of his ways. Or he thought I was a badass and that little-woman thing wasn't really going to work with me much longer. Either way, he was a perfectly delightful date.
Except he's not Tristan.
I needed to stop. I kept telling myself I was only aware of the prince's location because I had to be for my job. But that was a lie. From the moment I had walked into the ballroom, I could feel his stare on me. His deep, penetrating gaze, not leaving me. I also sensed his complete and utter fury when Ian showed up. What was he playing at? He was engaged. Was I supposed to sit around my whole life and wait for somebody who was never going to show?
I did my best to ignore him.
At ten o'clock, one by one my team checked in. I could see where they were in the ballroom. Trace was at the table with Roone, and Lucas, and they were having an uproarious time. Jax was on the door. I'd managed to get his fiancée, Neela, an invitation as well. She was enjoying herself. Their adopted daughter, Mayzie, was busy keeping Queen Mother Alexa entertained.
As soon as they'd arrived, the Queen Mother had run up and collected the baby while glowering at Sebastian and Penny for not giving her grandchildren yet. Zia, ever watchful, was dancing with Tristan. Every time they turned the circle, his gaze met mine and narrowed.
Well, let him eat his heart out. I wasn't his property.
Jameson had opted to stay at the office. She was manning our other projects. All in all, my team was doing exactly what they needed to do, and so far, it appeared that the prince was in no danger. But that didn't mean that we were any less watchful.
Everything went well until I felt a warm hand press up in my lower back. "May I have this dance?"
I stiffened. "Your Royal Highness, it's not appropriate that I dance with you."
"Are you sure about that, because Zia already did, as did Tamsin."
I had to remember to kill them later. "I came with a date."
"It's just a dance. I'm sure Ian won't mind."
"I warn you, I never learned to properly dance."
I was desperate for any reason to not have his hands on me. Any reason at all. I would have paid cash money for that reason to materialize, but it didn't. Instead, the music changed to something slow and jazzy, and I had no choice but to take his hand.
Wrapped in his arms, I knew immediately I should never have said yes, because there he was smelling like an Armani commercial, dressed the part, looking every bit the roguish prince. And I had no shield for my heart. "You look beautiful," he whispered.
"Thank you," I managed to force out.
He chuckled low. "Is that all you're going to say to me?"
"Tristan, maybe we should just stick to dancing."
"We could do that, or we could talk."
"I don't think it's a good idea. We tend to escalate quickly straight to fighting."
He nodded. "Yeah, that's true. But I couldn't let the night go without telling you how pretty you look."
I flushed under his gaze. "Does Ella know you talk to me like this?"
He sighed. "Look, Ella, that whole scenario—"
"You know what, I don't need to know. Whatever arrangement you guys have, I don't need to know about. It's not my business."
"Ariel—"
"No, seriously, it's not. I'm not going to judge you for whatever it is you think you're doing because it doesn't affect me. It doesn't matter. And it shouldn't matter to you what I'm doing."
"If I told you it does matter to me, what would you say?"
"I would say that is your problem. You walked away, so it doesn't get to matter to you anymore."
"Is that what you really think? That I walked away from you?"
"Isn't that what you did?"
"All this time, that's what you thought? That I just walked away, that I could walk away? You thought I was capable of that?"
She clenched her jaw. "No. I thought that I would be meeting my boyfriend and we would be taking a trip together. But he was a no-show."
"I had a really good reason, Ariel. I left you instructions on how to find me. You knew I couldn't call you. Ashton had access to my phone records. That put you in his crosshairs."
"Oh, I remembered what you used to say about that. But the whole point is it doesn't matter anymore. That was a long time ago.
We were two different people. Those people don't exist anymore."
"Are you sure about that?" He watched me closely.
"So, you're saying that you somehow magically left me instructions to follow you?"
"Yes, that's what I'm saying."
"Where would you have left these instructions?"
His brows furrowed. "In our place, where we always left messages."
"You're full of shit. I went there. I went looking for you, hoping you had left me some kind of message, something to tell me, 'Hey, I had to leave early,’ or ‘I'll meet you somewhere,’ but there was nothing. Instead, I found your brother."
He cursed low. "Fucking Ashton."
"Yeah, fucking Ashton. I'd always known he was a piece of work, but he took special joy in watching me crumble. He told me you had never planned on taking me anywhere. He was in our place, and he told me you’d told him all about it."
"And you believed him?"
"Well, I'm not an idiot. How else would he have known I’d go there? But there was no message." I shook my head. "Stop. None of this matters anymore."
"It does matter. You and I… you were my end game."
"Well, that's not how it worked out, is it? It got all fucked up. Extra messy. And not at all how we’d planned. So let's not pretend that we can go back in time because we can't."
His hand tightened on my lower back. "Are you sure about that?"
"Well, maybe that's a question for your fiancée." And with that, I stepped out of his hold. It was Ian who found me as I was making my escape to the balcony. "Running away already?"
I whipped around, the breath whooshing out of my lungs. I just needed to get out. I just needed air. "Yeah, I just got really hot in there."
"Hey, are you okay?"
I nodded and marched blindly toward the Rose Garden. I just couldn't. Not for another minute. I didn't want to hear anything Tristan had to say. I didn't want to think about the lies or the crushed hopes of the sixteen-year-old me. I just wanted to go.
Ian took my hand. "Okay, you don't look so good. Come with me. I found this spot in the garden when I was walking earlier."
I recognized where we were going. The path to the left led to the main path toward the north parking lot. But we were in the Rose Garden where the residences were. "Thanks for getting me out of there. I was just... I don't know. Maybe I'm not cut out to be so close to the royal life after all."