Page 7 of Royally Drawn

I shook my head, treading water and glaring. “Banter would be… you know… joking, or if you just spun her around and put her back down. That would have beenplayful. This was an escalation.”

“It was a shit thing to do to my friend,” Cici said. “Why? Why must you always be such a fool?”

Duncan sensed hewaswrong—only after it was too late. “I’ll apologise to her later after she calms down. You’re right. I don’t know her well enough to do that.”

Leah came back, diving off the platform, before shouting, “You don’t knowmewell enough to do that, Duncan. Or, rather, maybe you know metoowell. Like wake the fuck up, dude!”

He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t mean to come off like that.”

“Someone should check on her,” Lars said.

“She doesn’t want you to bother her,” Cici groaned.

“I could at least bring her a damn towel and apologise on behalf of everyone!” Lars pulled himself out of the water and stormed off after her.

Cici was right, but I also wanted to watch him crash and burn with her in the friend zone and pick up those pieces later.

Leah swam over and shook her head. “That act of desperation you pulled did you no favours.”

“What?” I pretended I didn’t understand her.

“You cannot just pull something like that and expect her to thank you. You made her uncomfortable. You should have offered to go get her some clothing—not divetowardsher like a horny schoolboy.”

“I reacted to the situation.”

“You know, she’s gorgeous, and I’d hit it if she wasn’t straight and I wasn’t already involved elsewhere. Unfortunately, she is so very much out of your league.”

Leah had been linked to an American businessman and politician for the past few months. He was too old for her but charismatic. They screamed “power couple” in all the most annoying ways.

“I disagree!” I was offended.

“Uh-huh. You’re a head case of a pilot who has never had a relationship lasting more than what… six months?”

“Says the girl who once flew all around to hook up with different former castmates in the same forty-eight-hour period?”

“When I was twenty-five!”

“Do you not always break up with someone and end up shagging Lourdes?” I asked.

She smacked me. “Lourdes is my best friend!”

She was. Lourdes and Leah played characters together inVictoria the Great. Leah earned her first Tony playing Queen Victoria, and Lourdes played the Princess of Wales. Lourdes was fabulous and beautiful and swung both ways. They had a painfully wholesome dynamic but couldn’t keep their hands off one another. I once joked that it was as if they were uncomfortably close siblings, but it fell flat.

“She’s also yourdefault.”

“Old habits die hard. And for you, that means leaving a jar of hearts by the bed. Monogamy? I can take it or leave it. But you can neither entertain polyamory nor remain good to someone long enough to foster anything real.”

“Ouch!”

“Since I’m not a royal, I can be wild. As a prince, you cannot. Anyhow, youhatesharing. I don’t mind. Deep down, you’re a serial monogamist who loves aircraft more than the idea of settling down.”

Her words hurt. She was right. She wasn’t a royal. Her father left the monarchy to marry herotherfather, and that was that. Leah lived like any “normie.” She was correct about my chequered past, too.

“It’s not my fault. The job is hard on a relationship. Ask Auntie Nat. She’ll tell you the same.”

“Then, what? Do you think you’re going to hit it and quit it? Sweetie, she will be at every social event between now and October. Do you want to deal with her scowl whenever she sees you? Heed my words, back off.”

Backing Off

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