Page 37

“Nothing, clearly,” Sebastian says. “No crazy mother of the bride or bossy in-laws, and hey, a terrible father so you’re a freak in the sack with daddy issues. You’re pretty much the perfect passage, baby.”

“That’srude!” Bella swats his arm.

“Definitely true, though.”

“Anyway, we’re not together,” I’m quick to add.

And for some reason, the guys actually laugh their asses off—all of them, Callum included. Meanwhile, Grace’s jaw drops to the floor, and the rest of the girls are just as shocked.

“We’re not!” I insist. “You have a girlfriend.”

“I have a fake girlfriend, love,” he replies, “And a real pain in the ass who took a month and a half to text me.”

I stare at him. “A fake girlfriend.”

He shrugs. “We were in high school when our parents started to hint at looking for engagement prospects. It was handy to pretend to have someone—but Camilla and I have an agreement that ends the moment we want it to.”

“Afake girlfriend,” I repeat, shock giving way to irritation. “And you didn’t think to let me know?”

The asshole has the audacity to shrug again. I want to murder him, and my hands are free this time, so I wrap my fingers around his thick neck, and tighten them.

It turns out, strangling people is harder than it seems.

And now the entire table is laughing at my expense, Callum included.

“You could have texted me any time, love. I would have told you whatever you wanted to know.” He winks, before bringing his mouth to mine.

Some of the things he said and did Saturday make a hell of a lot more sense all of a sudden, and I do feel foolish.

Tell me you’re mine.

At the time, I thought he was the kind of spoiled, gorgeous, entitled asshole who thought he could have his perfect princess on his arm and me—the nobody—after dark.

But maybe, just maybe, I don’t know anything about what Callum Noble thinks.

And it’s not entirely impossible that he might want me for more than in the dark or in public toilets. The question is how much more. I have no idea, and the scary thing? I don’t think I’m really in charge here.

If he gave me nothing but the occasional nasty fuck, I’d still beg for it. And I’m here. I’m here today aren’t I? After his bullshit from the weekend.

He has a hell of a lot of power over me.

Because…I like what he does to me. I like when he touches me. I like how he calls me love and Liv and even doll.

Oh, fuck.I’m in a hell of a lot of trouble, aren’t I?

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

LIV

The food is delicious, in a casual, relaxed atmosphere, and the company, pretty nice, too.

Caden is twenty-three. I wouldn’t have guessed, because of the way he dresses, and speaks and justlooks. He finished his law degree at Harvard last year and returned here to pass the bar in Anderia, only to be swooped up by the best firm in the country. Oh, also his dad’s the king’s actual big brother, which makes him fourth in line for the throne: there are the three royal siblings, followed by him, as his father abdicated. Sebastian’s fifth.

When I stare at them openmouthed as Caden explains he might one day rule over us all—it would only take a fewaccidentsafter all—Callum laughs, and assures me that as their maternal cousin, he’s only twenty-third.

Less is higher.

It’s wild that I’m sitting there with people like them. Hell, I evenfuckedtwo of them.