Page 48 of Some Like It Royal

“No shit?” Rhonda said, tugging her sunglasses off. “Like for real, for real?”

“Yeah, for real. It’s crazy, right?”

Now she just gaped at me. “Moving in with some guy you just met and pretending to be his fiancee was fucking crazy, Alyx. This? This is some fairy tale shit.”

She wasn’t wrong and Alyx’s stomach did a crazy twist as ice coated the back of her neck. Instead of answering, she took another swallow of the pineapple Jarritos she’d gotten for herself.

“Hey…” Rhonda reached over to put her hand on Alyx’s arm. “You okay?”

“Yes?” she said, quite trusting her own voice at the moment. “No? I don’t know. Yes, you said I was nuts to take the gig, but Daniel’s been great. Even Victor, who is kind of a dick, is pretty good too.”

“But?” The older woman prompted, her gaze fixed on Alyx.

“But… you’re right, this is some fairy tale stuff and it’s hard to believe. Good shit like this doesn’t happen to me.” I raised the drink and took another long swallow. The sweet and the tart helped to quench the sudden dryness in her throat. “I haven’t reached out yet.”

“What does your guy think?” Rhonda never said his name. It was like she kept him at arms length. Complaining about it didn’t change her mind and it kind of let her look at everything from the distance. Maybe Alyx needed her to do that.

“Daniel?” She had to ask though because they’d been discussing Richard and Armand.

The bland look Rhonda shot Alyx made her laugh. Maybe Alyx shouldn’t think it was so funny, but it was damn entertaining on some levels.

“He hasn’t said anything, really.” After downing another swallow, she turned her gaze over the view of the parking lot and swimming pool. “We talked about it a little that night of the party, then he asked me if I wanted to go up to Big Bear.”

She rolled the bottle in circles between her palms.

“It’s like pulling teeth,” Rhonda complained. “What did he say?”

“Just he was, you know glad for me, and then did I want to go to Big Bear. It was a huge night for him, he’s got this deal going on with this Japanese company and there was a lovely party. Then Mr. Prentiss showing up and giving me that cameo…”

“Cameo? Wait, I think you left that part out.”

Had she? “Sorry.” She took a moment to bring her up to speed about the cameo and the family crest. “It’s really beautiful and it’s a really amazing acknowledgment. It kind of overwhelmed me. I almost burst into tears right there.”

“I bet,” Rhonda said with a sigh. “So you leave and your guy just asks about Big Bear? He doesn’t say call the attorney? Make an appointment with the duke or prince or whatever he is?”

No, he hadn’t. “To be fair, he’s been really busy since then. The deal with the Japanese company. The meetings and he had a lot of them or we’d have already gone to Big Bear.” A little laugh escaped her. “He’s kind of grumpy about that, but we’re going to go this weekend.”

“Wasn’t the whole point of this to get an introduction to this prince—Armand person?” She made a play out of his name and I gave a little shrug. It had been…

“That’s still a goal,” she said slowly. “But he’s not pushing me to reach out and maybe that’s better you know.”

“Uh huh.” Skepticism riffled through the word. “He stalks you, sets you up with the weird audition, then offers you a ridiculous amount of money to play Holly Golightly so he can make nice with aristocracy and get his foot in the door.”

She couldn’t really argue with Rhonda’s assessment. “That is the way it started, but we’ve become real friends?—”

“Oh, honey,” Rhonda said, a wealth of disappointment in those two words. Disappointment and sympathy. “Sweetheart, don’t tell me you fell for him?”

“I said we’re friends.” Even if she’d almost saidI love you, she hadn’t. “He’s been really good to me. Not everything worked out, but he did try to help me get things from my parents.”

That whole episode still made her want to cry. Before Daniel, she’d stopped believing in good things and “fairy tale shit” as Rhonda called it. Maybe she was still skeptical now, but he’dtried.

It had to mean something.

Being lovers was…

Scrubbing a hand over her face, Rhonda shook her head. “Sweetheart, promise me if you’re sleeping with that man that you’re taking precautions. Yes, he might seem great right now, but you still have something he wants. Once he gets it? What then?”

Opening her mouth, she considered her response then closed it again. Finally, she just said, “We haven’t really talked about that. Not since we signed the contract. The contract is for a year.”

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