The Royals Series

by Bay, Louise

  “Thank you.” She walked away without looking back, leaving me in a cold, dark room with six boxes that summed up my existence to date. And my father’s desk.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Violet

  I glanced around and realized all the desks in the admin room were empty. Was everyone in a meeting? I spun my chair around and went into the clerks’ room.

  I checked the time. Oh my God, it was just before nine. How had everyone left without me realizing? And how had I worked four hours past my official finish time without noticing? When I was waitressing, I’d left my customers the moment my shift ended, even if there was food waiting to be delivered to my tables.

  I grinned. Who would have thought I’d be happy to work overtime? I wandered out into the corridor to stretch my legs and go to the restroom.

  I walked softly, almost tiptoeing past Alexander’s office. It had been over a week since we’d had our conversation after the awards ceremony. I really wanted to talk to him about the three-month extension to my contract, but I didn’t want to look like I was making a big deal about what had happened between us. It was just he was the only barrister I knew in chambers, and I wouldn’t mind hearing what he thought about some of the ideas I had.

  Just as I passed his door, the familiar squeak of his door handle echoed down the corridor as he opened it. I continued toward the restroom without turning around.

  “Violet?” he asked after me.

  I stopped and turned. “Hi,” I replied. “Can I help you with something?”

  He checked his watch. “What are you doing here so late?”

  “Oh, just putting together something for Craig.” I hadn’t wanted to neglect Knightley’s filing, so I’d been working on my suggestions for improvements in chambers after hours.

  “I’m just about to order in some dinner. Can I get you something?”

  I’d vowed to avoid Knightley. I didn’t trust myself not to jump him, but it was late and I didn’t have any food at home and despite not knowing him that well, I liked him. “That would be great.”

  “Come in, and you can choose what to order.” He disappeared into his office and I followed him.

  I was always so quick to dart in and out of his office when he wasn’t around, I hadn’t really taken the time to study the place for a while. It looked very different to how it had when I’d arrived. I could actually walk freely to Knightley’s desk from the door without having to negotiate a labyrinth of paper. The room seemed much bigger.

  “I couldn’t believe it when I found that desk under there,” I said, lifting my chin toward the desk across from the door.

  “I know. I’d forgotten how big this room was. It will be useful to have an extra surface.”

  “I can get you a table to go over there,” I said, indicating the wall he’d fucked me against, then wishing I hadn’t mentioned it.

  “Maybe,” he said. “Sit down and see what you want.” He indicated I should take a seat in his chair. I sat as he leaned on the desk next to me.

  “There are too many choices,” I said, looking at the online menu on his screen. “What are you having?”

  “The steak,” he replied.

  “That figures.”

  “It does?”

  I shrugged as I scrolled down to the fish. “Yeah. You’re the type of guy who always orders the steak. Fillet, right? Rare. And a glass of merlot?”

  He chuckled. “What, are you a food fortune teller?”

  “No, I’ve just been waitressing a long time.” I clicked on the sea bass. It was expensive and I couldn’t really afford it, but if I took the contract extension and had another three months on this salary, I could.

  “Putting that MIT degree to good use?”

  I faced him and smiled. “It’s a long story.”

  He looked at me as if he were waiting for me to continue. When I didn’t, he frowned. “I have the merlot here in the office if you’d like to join me. I’m afraid I don’t order wine by the glass.”

  I laughed. Of course he didn’t. “Sure, why not?” I exhaled. Today had been a long day. Wine, especially wine that probably cost more than a week’s salary, was just what I needed. And although I knew I should be keeping my distance from Alexander, I really didn’t want to.

  He stood and retrieved two glasses from the bottom drawer of his desk and a bottle of wine from the bottom shelf behind his desk and set about uncorking it. His fingers worked quickly and efficiently, and as he concentrated, I took in his sharp jaw and those lips that had whispered such dirty things to me. What was I doing sharing wine with this almost-irresistible man?

  “Shall I move?” I leaned forward, about to stand up.

  “No, stay there,” he replied. “It suits you.”

  “What, sitting in your chair?”

  He handed me a glass, his fingers brushing mine as he did. Our eyes met and my heartbeat scattered in my chest. I definitely shouldn’t be doing this. Shouldn’t this initial attraction to him have passed by now? Normally I’d have forgotten a guy’s name if I hadn’t spoken to him for a week.

  He lifted his glass and dipped his head. “Cheers.”

  “Cheers,” I said, raising my drink. We didn’t clink. Was that a British thing?

  He leaned against the edge of his desk, his long legs stretched out in front of him, and took a sip. I couldn’t take my eyes off him as I put the glass to my lips. “Christ almighty,” I said as the velvety wine slipped down my throat, stealing my attention. “I’ve never tasted anything like that.” My brother had some pretty nice wine, but this was something else.

  “Only forty bottles left in the world.”

  “Then why did you open it? You should have saved it for a special occasion.”

  He shook his head. “I think sharing a glass of wine with you is occasion enough.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “And I thought the wine was smooth.”

  A grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Too much?”

  I tilted my head to one side. “Actually no. I like it.”

  His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed another mouthful of wine. How did he make drinking wine sexy?

  “Did you hear that Craig wants to extend my contract by three months?” I asked. I wanted to gauge his reaction. Would he mind? Would he be pleased? I’d been the one to stop things between us, but now, as we shared a glass of wine—something I knew he didn’t do with anyone else in chambers—things felt intimate, as if he saw me as an equal. For a man as brilliant as Knightley, it was more than flattering—it was intoxicating.

  “I hadn’t heard, but of course they want to extend your contract. You’ve made quite the impact.”

  “On you—I mean your billing.”

  “On me,” he corrected me. “And because of the billing.”

  I couldn’t imagine I’d had an impact on someone like Alexander. I didn’t see how anyone would. If the building caught on fire, he was the sort of man who’d calmly stride toward the exit while everyone else ran screaming.

  “Even after the awards? I thought you were angry at me?” I asked. Did that mean he still wanted me? Right now, I wanted to feel his lips skirt over mine, his tongue snaking its way into my mouth. It was a desire I was trying to fight—head over heart, mind over matter.

  “You did the right thing. It wasn’t like we could keep fucking in the office.”

  It was as if he’d doused me in cold water. I shifted in my seat, sitting up a little straighter.

  “But maybe I could take you to dinner one night?” he asked.

  Oh.

  “One that doesn’t involve a delivery guy on a motorbike and a plastic fork.”

  Knightley’s cell buzzed on the desk, interrupting my response.

  He was asking me out on a date. Away from the office. I’d been on a thousand casual first dates, but something told me that dinner with Alexander would be anything but casual. I never went on a first date with any hope that it would go one way or the other, but if Knightley and I had di
nner, I’d want him to enjoy my company. To kiss me afterward, fuck me like he had done the first time.

  Alexander put the phone down. “Sorry, it was just—”

  “Yes,” I blurted. “Dinner sounds good.” I was tired of resisting this thing between us. He was different from all those guys in New York. Complicated and confusing but challenging and desperately sexy. And I couldn’t keep away. I didn’t want to.

  The way he tried to dampen his smile made me shiver.

  “And we’ll just keep us outside chambers,” he said.

  “Us?”

  He sucked in a breath. “Our dinner and . . .” He shrugged.

  I’d never seen him awkward before. It was beyond cute, and I wanted to sit on his lap, link my arms around his neck, and kiss his cheek. “Our dinner,” I repeated, grinning.

  “Food!” I jumped up when the front door buzzer went off. “I’ll get it. You make a space.” I nodded at his paper-filled desk.

  I came back and unpacked the contents of the brown paper bag, letting him sit in his chair while I sat across from him.

  We swapped containers, napkins, and plastic forks and began to eat.

  “This is delicious,” I said, closing my eyes as I took my first bite. “I can’t believe it’s takeout.”

  “Better, I didn’t have to shop or cook to eat it.”

  “Do you ever cook?” I asked. Was he domesticated? I couldn’t imagine him with an apron on.

  “No. I live in a hotel.”

  “Wait, what? You don’t own the bed you sleep on?”

  He half choked as he put down his wine. “I never thought about it that way, but no. Or the sofa I sit on or the TV I don’t watch. But you rent in London. Isn’t it the same?”

  “I’m staying at my . . . sister’s sister-in-law’s. I’m not sure what that makes her. Well, in her house anyway. Her main place is in the country.”

  “You own something back in America?”

  I took another bite of my sea bass. I owned almost nothing I couldn’t wear in America. I could fit my life in my car. “No. But I don’t live in a hotel.”

  “It works for me.”

  “So this weekend you’ll hang out at the hotel? Does it have a pool and stuff?” Did he have friends? Hobbies?

  “I’ll be in chambers this weekend,” he said. “I work Saturdays and Sundays.”

  “Do you ever take time off?”

  “You realize you’re asking me these questions while you’re eating dinner at work at ten in the evening?”

  I laughed. “I know, but this is unusual for me.”

  “What about you? What are you doing this weekend?”

  Before I could answer, I caught sight of the name of the company I founded with David on the edge of a folded, pink newspaper. I dropped my fork and grabbed the paper, unfolding the article so I could see.

  Fuck. There was no escape. I’d not given David and the IPO a second thought in weeks. Why did I have to see this now?

  This wasn’t supposed to follow me to London.

  I scanned the short article. There were a few details of the IPO and how it was all set for Monday.

  “Violet?”

  I glanced up and Knightley was looking at me, his brows pulled together.

  “Yes, sorry. You were asking what I was doing this weekend. I don’t know. I was going to that spa weekend. But . . .” The last thing I wanted to do was to be left alone with my thoughts all weekend knowing that David was preparing to make his fortune from my hard work come Monday morning.

  “Is everything okay?”

  I shrugged and sat back in my chair. “Yeah. Just some company I used to be involved with is going public on Monday.”

  “And that’s a bad thing?”

  It was supposed to be a great thing. It was what I’d spent so many hours working toward. And now it was someone else’s future.

  “Things ended badly. I left. It’s just difficult for me . . .”

  “I’m sorry about that,” he said. “Maybe the spa is exactly what you need.”

  “If I don’t drive myself crazy being on my own for two days, winding myself up while being massaged.”

  “I don’t know what happened, but I do know you deserve a break. You’ve been working hard and making great progress here. Go to the spa. Try to forget about . . .” He glanced around his office. “Everything.”

  He was right. I shouldn’t let what had happened ruin this weekend along with all the rest of the weekends it already had destroyed. I should go to the spa and try to relax. “I just wish Darcy was coming with me to distract me.”

  “Darcy?”

  “My sister-in-law. Kind of. She’s the only real friend I have in England.”

  “You have me.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Wanna come to the spa with me for the weekend?”

  He chuckled.

  “What am I thinking?” I gasped, dramatically. “You couldn’t possibly take a day off work. That would be sacrilegious or something.” I smiled and shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ll probably go. I wouldn’t want to waste it, and I do want to see more of England outside London before I leave. I should make a list of things I want to do before I head back to the US.”

  “Good idea.”

  “What about you? Do you have a bucket list? Places you want to see, things you want to do before you hit your next big birthday—which is fifty, right?”

  He raised an eyebrow as he dug his fork into his salad. “Be careful, Miss King.”

  I beamed at him, urging him to bring it on. I could handle whatever he could dish out.

  “My next big milestone will be taking silk, but that’s unlikely to happen before I turn forty. And no bucket list, no.”

  “Taking silk is when you become a Q.C., like with the longer wig and shit?”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, I’m going all out for the longer wig.”

  “You all look a little silly if you don’t mind me saying. I mean, we’re in the twenty-first century and Prada exists.”

  He picked up his glass and swirled the wine around. “Which makes it more important than ever that the judge and jury aren’t influenced by anything but the argument. The wig and gown are there so as not to distract from the case. In your country, too much time is spent on what the lawyers are wearing and what they look like. We prefer to practice law.”

  He spoke with such authority and conviction that even if what he was saying didn’t make sense, I would have believed him. “I like talking with you,” I said, as I stared into his eyes. I didn’t have a better response, and it was what I was thinking.

  “I like talking with you, too.”

  I was damn pleased I wasn’t in New York right now. Because of David and the IPO. Because of my lack of career and prospects, but also because there was no place I’d rather be, no moment I’d prefer to be having.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Violet

  I was either in the best place on earth or some weird, Stepford wives’ holiday camp. The jury was still out. I tightened the belt to my robe and headed back to my bedroom from the pool, carrying my e-reader. When I’d come to England, I’d been looking for a fresh start, a flash of inspiration. The last thing I’d expected was to be alone at a spa, counting down until the company I’d co-founded went public without me having anything to do with it.

  I’d thought my stay in England would be a lot like New York, just with different architecture and accents. But it had been completely different. There’d been fewer cocktails and less sex than I imagined—although what I’d lost in quantity I’d more than made up for in quality with Alexander, even if we’d only fucked once. Nothing was what I expected.

  Back in New York, I’d known something wasn’t right with my life but for the first time in a long time, I was actually giving thought to what that was and what I wanted after thirty. I hadn’t come to any conclusions, but I was thinking further ahead than the end of next week.

  I passed a couple in matching robes and smiled. Were matching r
obes in my future? I could move to Montana and live on a farm if I wanted—maybe go to the Cordon Bleu in Paris or move back to Connecticut. There was nothing stopping me going anywhere to do anything.

  I let myself into my bedroom and began to get ready for dinner, but before I could step into the shower my phone rang.

  “Scarlett, you will never guess where I am! I’m literally living your very privileged life,” I told my sister.

  “What, you’re standing in your kitchen, covered in spit-up, deciding whether to clean up dog shit from the yard or change your baby’s diaper?”

  “Well, when you put it like that. Maybe for once, I have the better end of the bargain. I’m at the spa.”

  “I wish I were at the spa. How is it?”

  “Oh, pretty perfect. I went on a hike this morning and then had a full body massage this afternoon. I’m just getting ready for dinner.”

  “A hike? You? Who are you? Tell me you haven’t given up alcohol.”

  I lay on my bed and stared out at the huge pine tree outside my window as it became a black silhouette against the darkening sky.

  “I was worried about you. I didn’t know if you’ve seen the business pages at all.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” There was nothing to say. Scarlett knew the story. Talking about it wasn’t going to change anything. I just wish she or Darcy were here to distract me. “Are you thinking you might come over to the UK while I’m in London?”

  “I’ll try but I can’t promise anything. I just wish I could be there now. A massage is just what I need.”

  I missed my sister. Our lives couldn’t have been more different, but she and my brother had been the few constants in my world. I hadn’t realized until the last few weeks how much I relied on her as the anchor in my life.

  “That’s okay. I’ll be home soon enough.”

  “You’re not going to accept the extended contract?”

  “Oh, I’m not sure yet. I’m going to see what Craig thinks of my ideas first. But even if I do stay, it’s only another three months.”