Page 4 of Royally Drawn (Resplendent Royals #3)
A Hopeful Victor
KEIR
I stepped forward, attempting to grab Duncan before he tossed poor Ingrid into the sea, but I missed. I watched in horror as she flopped into the water with a loud crack! It was a dick move in response to little more than a joke. She had biting wit—something that only made her hotter—and he’d deserved it.
“Why are you such a knob?” I asked. “That was shitty.”
Ingrid’s head bobbed up. Lars stepped forward, concerned now. I sensed he also wanted to punch Duncan.
“Can you swim?” He called out.
The Swedes swam closer.
“Yes, I can swim,” Ingrid groaned. “Fuck you, Duncan!”
Then, a litany of French swears emerged before she realised the Swedes were coming closer.
“Don’t come over here!”
“Why?” One called back.
“I’ve lost my top.”
Suddenly, without a thought and like a fool, I jumped into the water to find it. By now, it was no doubt gone. I came up to see Lars doing the same. He was so keen to land her first. I wasn’t sure if I should be annoyed or sympathetic, as he would undoubtedly lose. In one night, I’d turn Ingrid into putty and win this competition fair and square. He hadn’t a hope in hell.
“What are you doing?” Ingrid asked. “Trying to take a peek?”
“No, we were trying to help,” Lars answered. “But it’s gone.”
“You’ve been sunbathing topless on the top deck,” Leah laughed. “What is the damn difference?”
Leah had zero hangups about her body and gave no fucks. That was just the way Leah was. She didn’t get it.
“I’m surrounded by men!” Ingrid said, suddenly looking very vulnerable.
“Can someone grab her a top?” Cici demanded. “For the love of God, boys, use your damn brains!”
“How?” Duncan asked. “I’m not going to go through her wardrobe.”
“Yes, please don’t!”
Duncan shot himself in the foot. He assumed she’d fall all over herself for him. Instead, she took him for a massive prick. I liked this girl more by the minute.
“You’re all a bunch of idiots!” Leah turned from us.
Duncan looked away, definitely mortified, as she unlaced her bikini top.
Tossing her top to him, she said, “Someone bring this to her. We both have big tits, so hopefully it fits. Then, she stormed off to presumably put something else on.”
Lars swam towards the boat to assist but was cut off by Betty, who played the go-between.
“Uh… thanks,” Ingrid said, glaring at Duncan and the rest of us.
She swam a return trip, climbed back on deck, and left in a huff.
“Why did you have to be such a goddamn knob?” Nate demanded. “You upset her.”
“I thought it was a joke. I thought it was… peak banter.”
I shook my head, treading water and glaring. “Banter would be… you know… joking, or if you just spun her around and put her back down. That would have been playful . This was an escalation. ”
“It was a shit thing to do to my friend,” Cici said. “Why? Why must you always be such a fool?”
Duncan sensed he was wrong—only after it was too late. “I’ll apologise to her later after she calms down. You’re right. I don’t know her well enough to do that.”
Leah came back, diving off the platform, before shouting, “You don’t know me well enough to do that, Duncan. Or, rather, maybe you know me too well. Like wake the fuck up, dude!”
He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t mean to come off like that.”
“Someone should check on her,” Lars said.
“She doesn’t want you to bother her,” Cici groaned.
“I could at least bring her a damn towel and apologise on behalf of everyone!” Lars pulled himself out of the water and stormed off after her.
Cici was right, but I also wanted to watch him crash and burn with her in the friend zone and pick up those pieces later.
Leah swam over and shook her head. “That act of desperation you pulled did you no favours.”
“What?” I pretended I didn’t understand her.
“You cannot just pull something like that and expect her to thank you. You made her uncomfortable. You should have offered to go get her some clothing—not dive towards her like a horny schoolboy.”
“I reacted to the situation.”
“You know, she’s gorgeous, and I’d hit it if she wasn’t straight and I wasn’t already involved elsewhere. Unfortunately, she is so very much out of your league.”
Leah had been linked to an American businessman and politician for the past few months. He was too old for her but charismatic. They screamed “power couple” in all the most annoying ways.
“I disagree!” I was offended.
“Uh-huh. You’re a head case of a pilot who has never had a relationship lasting more than what… six months?”
“Says the girl who once flew all around to hook up with different former castmates in the same forty-eight-hour period?”
“When I was twenty- five!”
“Do you not always break up with someone and end up shagging Lourdes?” I asked.
She smacked me. “Lourdes is my best friend!”
She was. Lourdes and Leah played characters together in Victoria the Great . Leah earned her first Tony playing Queen Victoria, and Lourdes played the Princess of Wales. Lourdes was fabulous and beautiful and swung both ways. They had a painfully wholesome dynamic but couldn’t keep their hands off one another. I once joked that it was as if they were uncomfortably close siblings, but it fell flat.
“She’s also your default .”
“Old habits die hard. And for you, that means leaving a jar of hearts by the bed. Monogamy? I can take it or leave it. But you can neither entertain polyamory nor remain good to someone long enough to foster anything real.”
“Ouch!”
“Since I’m not a royal, I can be wild. As a prince, you cannot. Anyhow, you hate sharing. I don’t mind. Deep down, you’re a serial monogamist who loves aircraft more than the idea of settling down.”
Her words hurt. She was right. She wasn’t a royal. Her father left the monarchy to marry her other father, and that was that. Leah lived like any “normie.” She was correct about my chequered past, too.
“It’s not my fault. The job is hard on a relationship. Ask Auntie Nat. She’ll tell you the same.”
“Then, what? Do you think you’re going to hit it and quit it? Sweetie, she will be at every social event between now and October. Do you want to deal with her scowl whenever she sees you? Heed my words, back off.”