Page 32 of Once Upon a Royal Billionaire

Emily studied their faces. This wouldn’t do. “What do you want to do about it, Milo?”

“I say we boot his sorry—”

“Carlson, come on. He’s our best skier.”

“Was.”

“Milo, want to show me what you’ve got?”

Milo sat up. “Don’t know how much good it’ll do. But the rest of the fam has seen, so I guess you should too.”

“We FaceTimed Dad. Even he said Milo’s a disgrace.”

“He used the word disgrace?” Emily hopped in and wedged herself in between her brothers.

“Well, no.”

Carlson pulled the boat out into the bay and lined up at one end of the course. “Milo, you’re up. Again.”

Emily was worried about her brothers’ antics. Mountain Blue always won. If they stopped winning the water ski competition, it would affect their marketing and their consumers’ confidence. They were cool and they sold cool products. As soon as the guys stopped being cool, well, so would their products. “Look, guys, I need your best here. What’s going on?”

Carlson pulled the boat forward slowly, picking up the slack. “Not sure. Everyone else is skiing fine, maybe not champion quality, but fine. We could almost guarantee a win if Milo were on his game.”

“Hit it.” Milo’s bored voice would have made Emily laugh if the stakes weren’t so high.

Carlson gunned the boat, and Milo popped out of the water. They raced for the buoy course, and Milo took the first three with ease. “Alright, Milo! You got this!” Emily yelled back to him.

He hit the fourth and the fifth, but as he rounded the ball, he dug in too deep and his side slammed against the water. Milo sprayed to a stop while the boat turned around to go pick him up. When they got closer, he clutched his ear. “Oh man, guys. Something’s wrong with my ear.”

“What is it?” Emily leaned over the edge. Worry and fear gripped her.

“Did you hear me, Em? Something is really wrong with my ear.” He lifted his hand. Blood had pooled inside his palm.

“Oh my gosh!” Emily began to feel a rising panic in her chest. “Get in here quick! Who’s calling 911. What is 911 in this country?”

“Honestly, your boyfriend is the best 911 we have.”

She ignored the boyfriend comment and called Rhett. He answered on the first ring, something he’d never done in all their years of dating. “Rhett!”

“What is it, what’s wrong?”

As soon as she explained the situation, Rhett promised that he’d have people waiting on shore to take Milo to the hospital.

As they raced to the docks, Emily hung up. She was worried sick for her brother, her team, and her company. Rhett was true to his word, and they were taken immediately to a clean, well-organized, and top-of-the-line hospital.

After about two hours, Rhett walked into the waiting room. Everyone stood up, but he waved them back down as he made his way to Emily. The doctor showed up at the same time. “He’s lucky. He damaged his eardrum, but it will heal, and it shouldn’t affect his hearing. But no water, especially no waterskiing, for six weeks.”

“This is terrible.” Emily looked away, not even embarrassed that she should be more relieved the damage wasn’t permanent.

“Your team,” Rhett said.

She leaned up against his shoulder. “You’re the only one who would understand my concern without thinking my priorities are off.”

“You could ski.”

She opened her mouth to decline, but she knew that was their only hope. “You’re right”

His grin was too wide, his eyes too sparkly.

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