Page 15 of A Girl and HER Prince
“I’m being sensible!”
“Well, knock it off already.” Deedee slipped out a yellow polka-dot bathing suit, and waved it over at Livvy. “Ihave every intention of showing Venice what he’s missing on our trip. Are you with me or not?”
“This is going to be a disaster,” Livvy said.
Deedee’s grin grew wider.
Livvy felt a new urgency to get them off this boat. Not only was Deedee going to go down in a blaze of glory, but she had every intention of dragging Livvy down with her too. “Forget this plan! We can have fun. And I can live too… without thisOdysseytrip.” She snapped her fingers as she remembered the event that Deedee had been pleading for her to attend since they’d planned to come. “You know, we reallyshouldgo to that August Moon festival in Athens tomorrow night. We can dance and meet new people.”
“Scaredy cat! Scaredy cat!” Deedee called her out. “You’ll never find happiness because you’re so afraid of pain! Maybe you might scrape your knees a little, but at least you can say that’s some sign of being alive!”
What warning could Livvy give without Deedee turning this around on her?
“Tell me, truthfully,” Deedee said, “of all the guys you met this afternoon, who would you like to get to know better?”
Venice’s awkward apologies earlier after he’d taken her breath away with his clumsy demand for privacy flashed through her mind so fast that she couldn’t snatch back the thought, and now she felt guilty. Deedee had sprung the question on her without enough notice. Livvy hadn’t had time to prepare her mind for the correct answer.
She gulped, trying to think of the second best option.Turner. Yes,sweet Turner… the bodyguard had seemed concerned about her when he’d left them in the cabin, and maybe she was just imagining things, but his eyes had lingered on her longer than necessary before he’d left. He also had a really nice Tirrojan accent, and happened to be a working man, and Livvy could probably find more in common with him than with any of the socialites on this ship… maybe.
“Turner is nice,” she allowed.
Deedee screamed with joy.
The very next instant, everything that could go wrong flooded through Livvy’s mind like a tsunami. “Wait, wait, he’s just trying to do his job,” Livvy argued. “He doesn’t need some girl pestering him on a voyage when he’s trying to earn his paycheck. I think that’s harassment or something…”
“Nope, you can’t take it back!” Deedee said. “I’m going to be your wing woman and help you catch that hunky bodyguard. It’s going to be so romantic! Livvy… we’re really going to have the perfect trip!”
“But…” Livvy was losing this battle—something that seemed impossible before they’d gone into it. “At least let me make sure he actually likes me before you try something crazy. I don’t want to be his worst nightmare.”
Deedee snorted and grabbed Livvy’s suitcase next. “Youarehis worst nightmare; his dream girl, a vixen, an innocent, all wrapped up into one. Girl, it’s about time you knew your skills as a woman. You are a threat! Now where’s your cutest swimsuit? You’re going to wear it!”
Livvy sighed and fell back against the bed, staring up at the ceiling. “If this is a total disaster, then we’re leaving here and you’re giving me the vacation you promised me.”
“I’ll give you until we dock in Athens tomorrow night,” Deedee said. “And then you name the island where we go. How’s that?”
“Deal.”
But would Deedee keep her part of the bargain?Hopefully, her promise to Livvy was more binding than what she’d given Venice.
“You brought only sensible swimsuits!” Deedee accused.
“I’m already wearing one,” Livvy said. She sat up. The one single charm to her name drifted down her bracelet as a reminder that Deedee had a point. “Okay, if you want to go swimming, let’s just go now.”
Deedee rolled her eyes and hurried back to her own suitcase. “This isn’t about swimming,” she muttered into clothes. She pulled out a spicy red number with a delicate sweetheart collar. “Thisis what you’re wearing to catch Turner’s eye.”
Livvy gawked at the elegant swimwear. That was so not her! At the same time, saying so would send Deedee into fits about how she wasn’t trying hard enough to catch her man. She groaned inwardly—Fine! She didn’t know anyone on this boat. She’d wear it… and cover it with her swimsuit wrap too. That way she’d be nice and hidden from a particularly hot and smoldering royal gaze.
The trouble Deedee would be getting herself into tonight was more than Livvy could handle without bringing her own into the mix.
Chapter Six
Venice was still defending his actions to Achilles when he stormed into the master suites on the uppermost deck. “I had to!” Venice said as soon as the elevator doors swished shut behind him. “She was going to leak our Tirreoy footage.”
“So? Let it get out. What do you care?”
The ship had lifted anchor and they were headed out to sea. Past the glass walls, the sparkling beautiful waves made a thin stretch of frothy lace across the horizon.
Once again, Venice felt like a trapped observer in the globe-like room, instead of someone who was about to go on the adventure of a lifetime.
