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“Are you inviting me?”
“If I could, I’d keep ye.”
Her cheeks flushed pink, and she ducked inside, hiding her face. “Then yes.”
It took everything in me to get in the driver’s seat and not just kiss the hell out of her where anyone could see. Inside the cooler interior, I pushed my luck.
“How about a few nights? While the dust settles. If you’d just be hanging out in a summerhouse otherwise, it could be more fun to stay here.”
Alex blushed deeper. “I’d feel bad relying on Gordain and Ella’s hospitality.”
“If that’s the only obstacle, I can fix it.”
“Then yes, I’d love to.”
Didn’t that just send my pulse into orbit.
On the road, I left a voice message for my sister. “I’m cooking dinner tonight, either at Gabe and Effie’s, or at yours. I’m bringing a guest, so behave.”
Alex grinned, her gaze drifting from the gorgeous forest view passing us and back to me. Ariel’s reply came in quickly, and I hit to play it so my sister’s voice came over the car speakers.
“Oh, I already know. Viola messaged me with a bitch-be-cool warning.” A second appeared just as fast. “Also, are you for real? No girlfriend for years then a goddamned princess? Please don’t screw this up. The bragging rights are to die for.” She laughed. “Though if I know you, you’re already head over heels?—”
I killed the message and swore.
Alex’s grin turned into a giggle. “You can cook?”
“Pride myself on it.”
I had to change the subject to save face, but also because with the day spread out before us, I needed to handle the sense of urgency inside me in a way I knew best.
“Quick question, I’m not your bodyguard anymore, so tell me to mind my own business if ye want me out of it, but all the shite we left behind, Riss and the bodyguards, the photographer, the palace, I want to talk to my team and get their take. I tried to do that with Riss and got nowhere, but it’s what I know and what works for me. Either way, I need to talk to Ben so he knows I’m back.”
“You trust them?”
“With my life.”
“Then I trust you. Let’s do that first.” She took a deep breath. “Plus from all I’ve heard about Valentine, they’re a force to be reckoned with.”
She wasn’t wrong. I’d set our tracks for the aircraft hangar where I expected my team to be, but when Ben answered the call, he gave another location entirely.
“We have a quiet week. Leo has no meetings and is sticking to the recording studio. I was waiting for ye to come back to start training.”
“Where are ye all?”
“Daisy and Mia have a huge house-clearing project on their hands. We’re using the downtime to help out. Come to us, and we’ll take five for a debrief.”
I remembered the cleaning job Daisy was trying to win. I also remembered that she’d asked after me, probably for this reason.
“We’ll drive over. Give me the address.”
Ben paused. “And by ‘we’, I assume ye mean yourself and the princess? Explains why Barrington Bray has been blowing up my phone.”
“I’ll explain everything when we get there.”
I hung up, a ping coming in as my boss sent his location, so I turned the car around.
Alex sighed. “I was enjoying trying to forget about the drama.”