Page 42 of A Girl and HER Prince
“He talked about you the whole time,” Deedee reassured her. “He was the reason that I accepted the invitation to go on the dive in the first place. He’s coming along. You can talk to him then!”
Livvy couldn’t bring herself to care. Her emotions were so tied up in Venice right now that it was impossible to think of anyone else. She had to get out of here so she could sort out her feelings and be a real person again. And besides all that—“Nice try! Turner’s going out with Bris,” she pointed out.
“He’d love the excuse to get away from her. He broke it off long ago and she just keeps going after him.”
Livvy gave her a long and pointed stare—that tale sounded hauntingly familiar.
Deedee made a sound of frustration. “I know what you’re thinking, but didn’t you say what a great friend he was? Take pity on the guy. You’re going to let the elitists win? They think they can just useyouand throw you away like they do their help? The way they treat commoners is inexcusable!” Livvy froze as an unexpected surge of anger boiled through her. “They’re ganging up on Turner on all sides,” Deedee said. “Doesn’t seem fair for him not to have us as allies.”
Strangely,thiswas the kind of fight that Livvy felt right about. She wouldn’t be pretending to have feelings or acting out of character or even seeking revenge. No, she was showing Venice that he couldn’t use people like this! Good people deserved happiness…not that I’m particularly great right now, but Turner sure is.
“When are we meeting up with them tomorrow?” Livvy asked.
“Ten… and they’re feeding us bougatsa for breakfast.”
“Ha! You should’ve led with that.” Livvy pushed her curly hair behind her ear, taking a deep, steadying breath as a rush of nerves hit her at the thought of going on a dive with a bunch of pros. Livvy barely knew what she was doing, and add to that the humiliation of being in Venice’s company after everything that had happened, but she couldn’t run away. She just couldn’t. Her attention swerved to Deedee’s bare finger. “So whatdidyou do with that ring?”
She smirked. “Just you wait.
Livvy fumed. Tossing a ring onto some unsuspecting finger wasn’t enough to get Venice back for what he’d done. The prince had forgotten she had older brothers, and they’d taught her how to fight. After using her like one of those cheap women on his MeeMe feed, Venice would be lucky if Livvy didn’t devise something truly terrible of her own.
Maybe then he’d think twice before messing with her again.
Chapter Fourteen
Wednesday, August 22nd
The wind blowing off the Aegean Sea played with Livvy’s tantalizing hair. Sure, Poseidon could invoke the winds to touch her… Venice just wasn’t allowed.
They’d taken out his new Sea Serpent’s boat to go scuba diving—it was smaller and easier to handle in the water. Their vessel would need to be manipulated as close as they could to the limestone caverns near the privately owned island of Scheria while still navigating past the dangerous crags and rocks in the water. On the whole, the diving spot was a well-kept secret.
Besides Achilles’s old girlfriend apparently, no one knew about the ruins. Turner thought it sounded fun, and of course, Bris was desperate to get Phil and Theo off her back and get some alone time with her own personal bodyguard, so in no time at all, their compact boat was full of couples enjoying each other’s company, which left Venice as the odd man out.
The turquoise waters made a sparkling sea of glass touching the bright horizon. The wind from yesterday was all but gone, making today the perfect day for diving.
There were rumors of a storm, but the only storm he saw was in Livvy’s eyes.
She was doing her best not to make eye contact with him. It was almost like they hadn’t kissed… well, actually, she had every evidence of a woman who’d been thoroughly kissed, or she wouldn’t be acting this way. It was only that Deedee had gotten to her.
He was such an idiot.
The first thing he needed to do was get Livvy alone so he could start clearing up the rumors about him… unless they were true. Then he’d have some fast talking to do.
“Hello, everybody!” Deedee sang into her phone. “We’re trying some scuba diving today.” She scanned her device over the mostly camera-shy people with a laugh. “I’m not allowed to saywherebecause”—the focus on her lens ended on him—“Venice is a great big meanie.”
He rolled his eyes, but he’d put up with it if it meant she was distracted enough for him to talk some sense into Livvy. He sat next to her, groaning inwardly when she stiffened.
She wore an iridescent wetsuit top over black shorts. The weather was warm enough not to deck out in a full wetsuit, but this interesting swimsuit combination made her look part mermaid, part cat burglar, part cheerleader.
He was having a hard time concentrating for some reason. “Hi, Livvy.”
She turned to him, her fingers tightened against her seat. “Venice!” His name actually came out like she was surprised she’d found him on his own expedition. He knew better. She’d been sneaking glances at him since they’d come aboard.
And yet, there could be a lot of reasons she wasn’t meeting eyes with him, actually. His attention focused on her white knuckles. “Are you nervous about the dive?” he asked her.
“Well… we got our certificates before I left,” she hurriedly said, “but I haven’t done this in the open sea before.”
She was terrified!
