Page 19 of Royally Drawn (Resplendent Royals #3)

A Good Grovel

KEIR

I knew I needed to apologise to Ingrid. She deserved better than what I gave her. Why must it be so hard? Why did we have to worry about any of this? She warranted much more than my limited inaction. My impulse was always to defend a person I cared about. If anything, past girlfriends got annoyed at it. But with Ingrid, I could do little.

However, as Nate pointed out, I could text her and grovel a bit.

ME

I’m so sorry. I wish I could have done something.

Lars will calm down

INGRID

Will he? He’s acting like an ass

ME

He’s upset.

You hurt his pride.

INGRID

That’s his issue, not mine. I let him down gently.

ME

It’s not your fault.

INGRID

I wish you could do something.

ME

You feel put out?

INGRID

Your family is a lot

ME

Fancy chatting on deck? Everyone else is in bed.

We could sneak out?

INGRID

Main deck in five?

ME

Sounds good.

I’m prepared to grovel.

“I’m gonna see Ingrid above deck,” I said. “Just to chat.”

“Uh-huh,” Nate looked doubtful.

“As friends,” I said.

“Uh-huh. I’ll never believe that. If you all were just friends, you would have apologised via text and moved on. Instead, you want to comfort her and talk her down.”

I smacked him with the book on his nightstand. “You’re a wanker.”

“And you’re hung up on her. Which is worse?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I need to give it a proper, good grovel.”

Ingrid was already settled above the deck, sitting on a couch under a blanket. She’d brought out two cans of Coke.

“I figured we needed to drink something , but I’m not keen on drinking anymore, and I know you can’t,” Ingrid said.

It was thoughtful. I should have expected no less by now.

“Thanks. I appreciate it,” I said, sitting next to her.

She threw the blanket over my legs. If she was sharing a blanket, it wasn’t curtains for me .

“I am sorry for my family. I love them—yes, even my idiot stepbrother—but they are a lot.”

“I assumed it would be like dealing with Cici and the other Norwegians. I was wrong. The English lot of you is wild.”

I snickered. “English. American. Whatever you want, we’re wild and loud. Leah and Duncan inherited their parents’ boisterous love of life. And both are pig-headed—Duncan, most of all. I wish we could tie him down.”

“He’s immature. And don’t tell me I’m twenty-one and can’t say that about him because he’s older, damn it.”

I snickered and popped the top of the Coke—what my mother always called “pop.” I winced to think that Ingrid was twenty-one . She was only two years older than Betty but miles more mature.

“You don’t infantilise me,” Ingrid continued. “It wouldn’t work if you did.”

“Why would I? I’d be a creep.”

She snickered. “True. But people do—lots of people do.”

“You’ll have that. You’re the baby. But I understand that while you were sheltered, you also had to grow up fast.”

“It’s a complicated mix.” She moved closer to me. “I’m not simple, Keir. I will warn you. I have seen shit.”

“I was about eight when my father died,” I said. “It was excruciating. I remember the day of his diagnosis. I remember Mamma crying all the time. She’d save it for sobbing behind the bathroom door. I have trauma, too, Ingrid. We all do, but I was the oldest and shouldered so much. It’s why I’m different. And much like Alexandra and Astrid, we tried so hard to shelter Win and Ollie. They were so young when he passed and don’t remember him. God, I’m sorry to dump on you.”

She was so easy to talk to. I shouldn’t have said so much, but chatting with someone who understood was comforting.

“I don’t remember either of my parents. Alexandra and Astrid do. It’s so difficult. I basically killed my mother, so there’s that.”

I stared in disbelief.

“Sorry. Dark humour isn’t funny, but it definitely haunts me. She died just after my birth—complications. Alexandra’s been through this three times, and it’s always nerve-racking. She’s about to do it again. ”

“Alexandra is pregnant again?” I asked.

Ingrid giggled and raised a finger to her lips.

“Yeah. It’s early days for her, but she’s pregnant with baby number four. She claims this is the last one. We all worry. She is always so sick in early pregnancy. I don’t know how she manages it. Either way, it frightens me. I have no idea why I’m talking to you about babies right now. Jesus Christ!”

“It’s okay. Look, I enjoy our chats. You’re wickedly funny, Ingrid. And you get it. I… I won’t jump into anything, but I enjoy you.”

She smiled, still looking down.

“What? It shouldn’t surprise you, darling. I still might blow my family up over sleeping with you.”

“Foolish to think it could ever make up for it?” Ingrid joked. “Sorry. I am sure it wasn’t worth it.”

Ingrid was a dream curled up under a blanket, sitting in the moonlight. I couldn’t shake how beautiful her hair was tucked behind her ears or how she looked at me. This was more than just a one-night stand. I was hung up. I ran my hand through her hair.

“It was well worth it,” I said. You were wonderful, and i t was tremendous.”

“It was a disaster.”

“Why? Are you saying that because you didn’t enjoy it or because you think I didn’t?”

“It required a clean-up crew. By the way, you owned mad points for helping. That was… unexpected.”

“Well, I like to surprise a woman,” I chuckled.

“No, it was good for me—better than I probably could have asked for. I guessed I’d have someone who would fumble through things with me. I wasn’t expecting what you gave me.”

“And that was?”

“Fabulous sex,” Ingrid said, leaning in to kiss me.

I shouldn’t kiss her out here. It was risky, but Ingrid was irresistible. She gripped my hair tight, and our tongues tangled. There was already an ease to kissing her you didn’t get with a random hookup. She breathed deeply and pulled back, a look of satisfaction crossing her face .

“You are devilish,” I said.

“And you love it. If I were a good girl, you’d be miserable, wouldn’t you?” Ingrid bit her lip the way that drove me up a wall.

“I would, yes. I don’t like well-behaved women. I prefer mine wild and demanding.”

I kissed Ingrid again. She reacted by pulling me back onto the couch. I pressed her down, unable to resist. The risk only made the reward even hotter. I moved my hand to her breasts and then down to her shorts. I slowly slid my hand into them. She wasn’t wearing knickers.

“You don’t have any knickers on?” I asked.

“I told you I was a bad girl.”

“You planned for this?”

“I didn’t, no,” she giggled. “I slept in the nude and didn’t bother to put any on as I came out here. I was just being lazy.”

“I like lazy in this instance,” I agreed.

Ingrid let out a little moan as I kissed her neck. “We shouldn’t do this here.”

“I want to. It’s pitch black. No one can see. Everyone is distracted. It will be fine.”

I wanted to take her like this above deck. The urge for danger was too strong. I owed her a good grovel.