Page 28 of Fake Dating the Prince

Flip shrugged, looking only half as sheepish as Brayden felt listening to his explanation. “It’s too late to undo what we’ve done. But if we continue seeing each other, you’ll still be able to do some sightseeing unmolested—with royal security, but better than nothing. Our families will be none the wiser and can go on believing we’ve found happiness a little while longer. After your holiday is over, we can pretend to have a long-distance relationship that ends in an amicable breakup, which should satisfy everyone.”

Everyone but me. “You’re talking about me staying here with you for two and a half weeks… including Christmas.”

Flip twitched again. “If you’d be more comfortable in your own rooms, I can arrange that. And I’ll make your excuses for you at Christmas. No one will bother you if you wish to be left alone.”

Damn it. He reallywasa prince. “It would look a little weird if we shared a bed one night and then just stopped. I mean, where did you even sleep last night?”

For a second, he would have sworn Flip was blushing. “The couch is comfortable enough in a pinch.”

Shit, he really had kicked Flip out of bed. “Okay, no.”Don’t do it don’t do it don’t do it.“If we’re going to do this, we’re doing it. I’m not going to kick you out of your own bed again. So either you let me take the couch, and if someone catches us we’ll just say I have insomnia”—Flip already looked mutinous at this idea, as though Brayden rejecting his hospitality offended him on a deeply personal level—“or we can share.”

Well. He did it.

“You… wouldn’t mind?”

Brayden gestured at the enormous bed he sat on. “I think there’s room for two. Maybe four if you’re friendly. We’re adults, we’re both gay, it’s not like there’s gonna be any surprises. You’ve already seen me mostly naked.”

Flip almost smiled. “True… but the reverse isn’t.”

“You’re right. I demand we share a bed so I can see you in a similar state of dishabille. Seems only fair.”

Now Flip did smile—that slightly rueful one Brayden was getting very attached to and seemed to inspire on a regular basis. “Then I suppose it’s settled.”

“Good. Great. Awesome.” Brayden’s stomach growled. “So about that lunch….”

FLIPprobably should have come clean, to his parents if not the press. But they had never taken so quickly to one of his boyfriends, and if he were being perfectly honest with himself, he wanted to keep Brayden around for selfish reasons. Brayden made him laugh, made him consider life from new angles.

Brayden made himfeelalive, woke something in him that had been dormant so long Flip had despaired that it existed. Maybe he would only get to experience it for another few weeks, but that seemed better than nothing.

Of course, in the immediate present, their deception meant his whole immediate family, plus Brayden, was reading tabloids aloud to each other at Flip’s dining table while they ate a tray of sandwiches and other finger foods. It was perhaps a tradition Brayden could have been introduced to more gently.

“The Brown Prince?” Brayden read from the pile of English ones. “Seriously?”

“Is it the racism or the bad wordplay?” Flip’s mother asked as she glanced up from a German scandal sheet.

“I mean, both? I get that you’re probably used to the racism part, which sucks.” Brayden gestured with a tiny crustless cucumber sandwich. “But ‘brown prince’ is really bad. Like, are all the right-wing bloggers in your country just super lazy?”

On second thought, perhaps Brayden didn’t need a gradual introduction to their peculiar brand of family therapy.

Flip’s dad raised his newspaper. “Most of the zanier ones are in German or French. This one speculates on how many goats I’ll demand for a dowry.” He turned his attention to Brayden, expression serious. “Does your family have goats?”

“My parents have a cat. She does eat everything, though, so maybe she’s part goat. Does that count?”

Irfan waved a hand. “I’m sure we can work something out.”

Flip groaned and let himself put his face in his hands for just a moment. He rested his elbows on the table. “I knew you’d be like this.”

Flip had originally planned to go into the Crown Mining Co. head office today and finish making inquiries about turning the company over to public interest. Instead he’d started the day getting Brayden’s luggage retrieved from his hotel and reading about his own escapades in the press.

Prince Flips for New Man.

He was tempted to track down the rest of that bottle of tequila.

Funny. He’d invented the harebrained idea of taking Brayden as his plus-one to keep the tabloids off his back, and instead he seemed to have invited a scandal. And while he didn’t enjoy being the focus of tabloid speculation, this felt different.

Maybe because his relationship with Brayden existed in print only.

On the one hand, he didn’t want to complain that Brayden and his father got along so well. On the other hand, maybe if Flip’s parents liked Brayden less, Flip could have just told them the truth.

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