Page 10 of A Girl and HER Prince
And really?Am I really that dumb?None of Deedee’s friends werethatinnocent. There was nothing sincere about this social media star’s eagerness to check out those mythological islands, and she wasn’t sweet either!She only happens to look like a flower in all that pink… I wouldn’t mind planting her next to me on this trip.
He gulped down that insane thought before it somehow formed words, and went for the nice guy approach instead. “Achilles is right about one thing—I’m the one who’s the geek…”
“Yeah, theOdysseyis more Venice’s thing.” The duke pushed his sudden matchmaking with a playful look at the brunette. “What about you? What’s your thing? Strolls on a moonlit beach? Snuggling next to the fire?”
Venice rolled his eyes. “Shut up.” Achilles had somehow caught on that he’d found Venice’s “type” and now he was purposely creating waves. “Don’t let him fool you. He just pretends to be ignorant.”
“Oh, it’s worse than that,” the duke replied.
Deedee’s friend scoffed. “So you’re just tagging along on this ‘geeky’ trip for the company, Achilles?” She tilted her head at the sunbathing beauties on the deck.
Achilles gave her a devilish grin and nodded.
She cracked a smile, and the deep appreciative laugh that followed made Venice stare at her with admiration. That was a belly laugh if he’d heard one. Not once had any of these flirty socialites, with their fluttering lashes and cosmetically-altered cheekbones, actually broken through their boring posturing to sound so human.
That blonde who Achilles had tried to talk up earlier had made Venice want to abandon ship the second she opened her mouth. The thought of returning to his father and his impossible demands was the only thing that had stopped him.
And nowhiskind of girl had been spewed from the volcano and had fallen into his lap like a gift from the Greek gods.
And I’m doing it again!Venice tried to shake off this spell she’d somehow put over him. This was Deedee’s friend. His desperation to party so hard he’d forget,if even for a moment, his father’s harsh command to rule Tirreoy was making him stupid. That was all this was.
And really, how hard was it for anyone to be more interesting than that blonde, or the one before her, or Camila or Mia or Rose or all the rest of those females he’d tried to lose himself in to rebel against his royal duties? He groaned. What a time to realize he’d grown bored of his “bad behavior.”
He turned back to Deedee, seeing that she glared at him suspiciously.
“Aren’t you happy to see me?”
Deedee couldn’t be serious. His annoyance returned. What part about breaking up did she not understand? He let out a breath to tell her to end this circus, seconds before her fingers clawed at him to edge him away from the others.
“I just want to talk!” she cried.
“Deedee, what are you doing?” He shrugged her away, her touch feeling almost as nasty as a bite after everything she’d put him through.
“You need to listen to me.”
“Why?” he asked. “There’s always a catch.” The last time he’d arranged for a romantic evening together—he’d made her promise no phones. She’d sneaked hers to dinner anyway and started a poll with her followers on whether he should’ve worn that ugly of a tie.
The teasing he could laugh off—he did that every day with Achilles—but that was the moment he knew her online audience meant far more to her than heeverdid.
Why get in between them?
She glared at him and he started plotting ways to take a vacation away from this vacation. Glancing over at their squabbling friends, he realized Deedee had the right idea. He led her away from the camera phone and the listening ears. If he did a clumsy job of banishing her, she’d blow up again. He wouldn’t be surprised if she was taking a dare from her viewers right now to mess with him.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “but I meant it about us being over.”
Her normally cheerful face grew hard, revealing to him the stubborn streak that was hidden under the soft exterior. “Sure, I know that,” she said. “Venice, you’re being crazy. You think I’m here foryou?”
Maybe not to get him back—like into-a-relationship back… but more to get himback. Deedee always was a vindictive little nymph and he wasn’t exactly the idiot she thought he was—he knew what kind of trouble she could get him into. “I’m sympathetic that you went out of your way to attend, but… I think it’s appropriate we lead our own lives now.”
Her eyes shifted to the camera phone, and she inched even farther away from it. He knew that meant mischief. He groaned at how right he’d been as soon as the next words tumbled out of her mouth in a whisper: “That might be kind of hard when I have exclusive footage that you might not want getting out to your father.”
That was everything she’d put out on TalkieTalk until now!
His shoulder muscles clenched with frustration. He didn’t even want to ask what she thought she had. Her stooping to blackmail was further proof that he meant nothing to her. Time to toss her off his ship, except… that wouldn’t stop her from hounding him to the end of his days. Was there a way to get the better of her? “What do you want?” he asked her.
She straightened and played with her fingers. “I want to show my friend a good time. That’s it.”
Doubtful. Deedee doesn’t think of anyone but herself.
