Page 20 of Resisting Royal

CHAPTER 11

ROYAL

It was just after eleven when I hung up the phone with Mrs. Thompson. Mrs. Thompson had been teaching third grade for twenty-seven years. She’s a mother of three, a skier, and an excellent home cook.

She was also Bianca’s former teacher.

Apparently, Bianca was a bright student with a bit of an attitude problem. Ha, tell me something I didn’t know. She was always top of her class and thrived on praise. Noted. Her favorite food was Mexican, she made a killer tiramisu, and her favorite color was black. Possibly like her mean little soul? Which I still found alluring. She wore a size eight shoe, got arrested when she was fourteen for shoplifting, and looked like her mother, who ran off when she was a baby.

I picked up my phone and sent out a text message, You lost your virginity at prom? Really? Sort of cliché, Amore.

My phone rang a minute later, Bianca’s name flashing on the screen. I picked it up, clicking accept before placing her on speakerphone. “Good afternoon, Amore.”

“Everyone loses their virginity on prom night. That isn’t any new information.” Her voice held a hint of panic.

“I didn’t,” I informed her.

“No?” I could tell she was dying to ask, but I wouldn’t give up the information until she asked.

“Curious?” I baited.

“Maybe.” There was a pause and some rustling, before she whispered, “Okay, fine. Tell me, Royal. How did you lose your virginity?”

“Whispering, Mrs. Russo? Are you hiding in a closet afraid someone might hear you talk about sex?” I knew she couldn’t see the tilt of my lips at this conversation, but it was plastered in place anyway.

“No.” There was another pause. “Fine. Yes. Okay? Happy? I’m hiding in the supply storage room.”

“Aww, I do believe you care.”

I’m pretty sure she growled. “I’m going to hang up.”

Such a fibber, my wife, was. “No, you won’t.”

“What makes you so sure?” Her voice took on some aggression.

“If you hang up . . .” I tapped my fingers on my desk, counting a few beats to give my statement a dramatic feel, “if you hang up you will never know about the awkward, embarrassing, fumbling first-time sex of yours truly.”

I heard the door open through the phone, and she mumbled something about being out in just a second. She came back on the line. “You wouldn’t tell me all the details anyway.”

“I’ll tell you all the details if you agree to lunch this week with me.” It was sort of a manipulative move, but I wasn’t above manipulation to get what I wanted.

She did a humorless laugh. “What makes you think I would make another deal with you when you haven’t even won the first deal yet?”

I pulled the paper of information in front of me. “But I have.”

“Knowing I lost my virginity on prom night hardly means you won,” she whispered into the phone, her voice sounding muffled.

“No,” I agreed, “But, I did just have a talk with Mrs. Thompson . . .”

“My third-grade teacher?” she cut in.

“Yeah. She’s such an amazing woman. Did you know she completed a fourth marathon recently? At her age? I can only hope I’m in as good of shape.” I offered a bit of information, trying not to gloat at just how much I knew.

“I. Did. Not. Know.” she ground out.

“She said you were quite a spirited child. She remembered you well. You know what, I believe her, you do seem to have . . . spirit.” I tapped my pen on my desk. “Also, I have to ask . . . what exactly did you shoplift?”

Her pitch rose. “That was dropped off my record and private!”

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