Page 120 of Scandalous

“Do I have everything?” I ask.

She shrugs. “I’d ask if you packed your vibrator, but you probably won’t need it.”

I smile. “You’d be surprised what the guys like to do with toys.”

My mind goes back to what me and Drake did with that strap-on. I can’t wait for Liam’s birthday to do it again.

“You are such a tease. I swear the look on your face just now was enough to turn me on. Let’s go do your social media shit and get you out of here. I’m tired of looking at your loved-up face.”

“Love?” I ask, following her out into the other room. “Who said anything about love?”

That only makes Holland laugh harder. “Girl, you have it so bad for those guys, I’d be surprised if you didn’t love them. I mean, you told me about the picture you sent to Drake the other day. You wouldn’t have done that if you didn’t love him. Ezra, well, you care so much about how he feels about you because you already feel that for him. Liam is a loveable puppy. I think I even love him. Then you have Santi. If you don’t love that tanned god, then you are an idiot. He’s the perfect man.”

I swallow hard.

Love. Could I love them?

“I haven’t spent a lot of time with them. How could I love them?”

“Love has no time line, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Yeah, you might have just met these guys in person for the first time but you’ve spent the last two years talking to them almost daily, building those relationships and trust. If you don’t already love them, you are working toward it. You are changing your life for them. Don’t think I didn’t see the catalog for online courses either. Your feelings for them are real. They aren’t some temporary fling. Embrace it, babe.”

“I was going to tell you about the online courses,” I murmur.

She laughs. “I’m not mad, Rory. I want what’s best for you. Just promise you’ll come back for graduation.”

“I haven’t decided to do it yet.”

She winks at me. “Yet. Now go do your shit so I can run to the airport with you and give you an incredibly embarrassing goodbye.”

I laugh. “Yes, ma’am.”

Twenty-Seven

“No. I didn’t say five hundred centerpieces. I said fifty. You need to correct it right away. This was your mistake, not mine,” I grumble into the phone.

I hate working remotely but being in each location isn’t necessary until the week or two before the parties. There’s a comfort being here in my home country.

I know the other guys feel it too. They’ve spent more time here in London than anywhere else.

Could Aurora learn to love it here too?

Aurora. My princess. She’s all that’s on my mind these days. Even in these boring meetings about the clubs and parties, I still think of her more than anything else.

She’s ruling my life.

A beep catches my attention. I look at my phone and see it’s her calling.

“I have to let you go. Figure your shit out by the time I call back.”

I hang up, switching to Aurora’s call.

“Princess. What a surprise. Isn’t it like three in the morning?”

She chuckles. “Well, as you once said, it might be three in New York, but it’s about eight here in London.”

My heart stops. “You’re here? Where? Who picked you up?”

I mentally take note of what I observed this morning. All the guys were accounted for.

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