Page 71 of Royally Drawn

“Why?”

“Why do you think?” Nate asked. “He told Lars you two were together and?—”

“I didn’t say together. I said I had beenseeingher.”

“What is the difference in Norsk? Dansk?” Isak asked. “It means the same.”

“No, I think it generally means you are sleeping together,” Nate said, noting his brother’s angry stare. “Which… I am shutting up now.”

“It wasn’t pretty. He’ll get over it. I might not, but he will,” Keir said.

“Don’t start things on my account. I’m not worth the demise of your entire family.”

“He might disagree,” Isak said in his mother tongue, forgetting I understood him.

Keir shuffled nervously. “I’m… can we talk?”

“We will leave you,” Nate said, poking Isak in the arm to get him to move.

Then, out of nowhere, Keir wrapped me up in the sweetest kiss. I felt like he might lift me and spin me around out of excitement. I knew I shouldn’t kiss him in public—even out here—but I couldn’t help but let him. He let me go, slowly pulling away.

“Sorry. Despite my broken face, I’m reminding myself why I’m excited to be out here today.”

“You’re making a scene,” I said, still flattered. “Was it worth it?”

He cupped my face, stroking my cheek with his thumb. “Always.”

“What happened?”

“Uh, Lars lost his shit. He punched me when I wasn’t looking. I threw him down. Then, my aunt intervened and shouted at me to back off. But, she’s not going to take it out on me, thankfully, and all is well.”

“Is this a bad idea?”

“Everything about you is a bad idea in the best way, Ingrid.”

I bit my lip. It was involuntary.

Keir pulled me close and whispered, “You’re dreadful and perfectly innocent all at once. I want to run you below deck and do horrible things to you.”

His words set a tingle to places unmentionable. I would have let him if I didn’t think people would judge me and label me a wayward girl. Still, now I had visions of him fucking me against a wall somewhere while everyone toiled above deck.

“How can we get away?” I asked.

“I have a plan. I know the island. I have ideas.”

A look of surprise crossed my face.

“I am full of ideas, baby,” Keir said, patting my arse.

Into the Woods

KEIR

Iknew there was a place on a tiny little slice of heaven in Oslofjord we could escape to. I’d thought about it all morning and decided to say fuck it. I told Isak my plans in hopes he and Cici did not have thesamething in mind. Thankfully, he didn’t know what I was talking about, and no one else who knew the place had a chance of getting laid on this day.

So, after we landed on the little island, I took Ingrid for a hike in search of a little hideaway. She trusted me. I didn’t know if we’d do much of anything in the little time we had to escape, but I figured we could at least catch up without the madness of Royal Wedding Fever swirling around us like a cyclone.

“Where are we going?” Ingrid asked, following me into the grove of trees near the shore.

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