Page 70 of Royally Wed
“Between that awful conductor and your ex?” she asked softly.
And it was the softness in her voice, the tendernessthat drew the rest out of him. “She’s here, too. They both are.”
“Ouch.”
“Serena plays the viola. Jeremy is conducting, obviously.” He swirled the dregs of his whisky around the bottom of his glass, then polished it off.
He braced himself and dragged his gaze back to Amelia’s, expecting to see the same look of pity on her face that he’d seen on pretty much everyone else’s for months now. He’dgrown accustomed to the sympathetic glances, the knowing frowns. But it would kill him if Amelia looked at him that way.
She didn’t, though. Quite the opposite. She almost looked jealous. “Do you want her back?”
“Hell no.” But he didn’t hate the fact that the thought had put a possessive little gleam in Amelia’s eye.
She gave him a decisive nod. “Screw Serena and Jeremy then. You’re betteroff without both of them. They sound awful.”
He smiled. “They are, actually.”
“Right.” She nodded again. “So I’m still winning. I’m the biggest screw up. You can concede now.”
“Never.” He rose from his chair and refilled both of their glasses.
“Challenge accepted.” Amelia clinked her glass against his, and the next thing he knew, Asher was sitting beside her on the bed.
It was fine. Normal.Appropriate, even. They were having an open and honest conversation. It would have been weird to walk all the way back across the room.
He stared into his glass. When had he become so adept at lying to himself?
“I almost caused a war in Norway a few years ago,” Amelia blurted.
“What?” Asher laughed. Clearly he’d had too much to drink. War wasn’t a laughing matter.
Except Amelia was laughing,too. When her giggles subsided, she shrugged. “I flirted with the admiral of their navy, and he took it a little too seriously.” She frowned. “Or was it the Norwegian air force?”
It was the navy. Asher remembered reading something about the incident in his Google search.
“I promised James I wouldn’t set foot outside of this room without notifying him first.” Possibly getting James fired didn’tcompare to a near war in Norway, but it was the first misstep that sprang to mind.
Amelia pulled a face. “Let me guess. He doesn’t know about earlier?”
“Nope.” Asher sighed. “If he gets sacked, it’ll be my fault.”
“He won’t. I’ll make sure of it.” She shot him a triumphant smirk. “There’s no way you’re winning this little competition. I’m the biggest screwup. Admit it.”
He shook his head.“No way. I’m still holding onto my ace.”
“Your ace?” Amelia’s eyebrows rose.
“Yep. It’s a guaranteed win. You’ll never top it.”
“Never is an awfully strong word. I’m not sure I’m buying your supreme confidence in this area. Between the two of us, I’m obviously the biggest screwup. Just ask any tabloid.” She took a sip of her drink.
Asher slid his gaze toward her. “Serena told me I never playedher with as much passion as I played my cello. She said I was cold.”
Amelia’s smile faded.
Asher shrugged one shoulder, but the conversation didn’t seem playful anymore. It was starting to feel serious. And intimate. “Still think I can’t mess things up as badly as you can?”
She looked at him. “I think Serena is an even bigger fool than I realized. That’s what I think.”
