by Susan Stoker
“Go on.”
“Um.” She struggled to find the words to explain. “I guess—well, I mean, it may be something as simple as the legacy of a tight-knit family. A warm and welcoming hearth, dinner on the table every night, and a jigsaw puzzle in the game room every Sunday afternoon. You’d be surprised how rare that kind of thing is becoming.”
“No, actually I wouldn’t. I come from a very traditional family, but I also know that we’re very old school. And definitely an anomaly compared to most of the population.”
She was about to ask what he meant by that when he continued.
“You mentioned legacies. Yours is law?”
“Yeah,” she said. “My grandfather founded a firm, and it’s been in the family. It’s become pretty prestigious. As soon as I graduate and get some experience with a judge, I’m going to join the firm.”
“So, you were working late so that you can do them justice.”
“Yes.” How did this near-stranger know her so well?
“You’re not willing to just skate because you’re family.”
He said it with approval, and she stood a little taller, amazed that he recognized that in her. And liked it. “Exactly. I’m not willing to skate.”
“What if you didn’t want to be a lawyer?” he asked as they crossed the Tower’s plaza. “What if you really, really didn’t want to, but you absolutely had to?”
The question was so surprising that she actually stumbled to a stop, then looked him up and down. She had no idea why he was asking it. He might simply be making conversation, but somehow she doubted it.
She licked her lips, not sure what the best answer would be, so she said the only true thing that came to mind. “My family wouldn’t do that to me.”
“Pretend.”
She frowned, but tried to really think about the question. “Well, I guess I’d still want to be the best I could be. And in the end I’d probably like to learn it.”
“Do you think so? Why?”
“Because most things are fascinating once you dig into them,” she told him. “I had to do a research paper on granite once. Granite. The rock. I was expecting to finish the paper with my mind so numb I would have to watch an entire season of The Simpsons just to remember how to laugh. But by the time I finished the paper, I was fascinated. And seriously, there are a lot of varieties of granite out there.”
He was watching her with interest. “It may shock you to know that I already was aware of that.”
“Geologist?”
“No. Just a science nerd. But you make a good point.”
“Yeah?”
He paused, then looked her, and there was something more personal about his gaze. More dangerous, but in a good kind of way. “I mean that you said most things are fascinating once you dig into them,” he said. He met her eyes. “You certainly are. And the truth is I’d love to dig in more.”
“Oh.” She tried to ignore way her blood burned from his words. She swallowed shaking her head. “I’ve just been rattling on.”
“No. I’m enchanted. Will you do me a favor?”
She swallowed, feeling a little excited, a little nervous. She had strange realization that she’d been flirting, something that had never come naturally to her, but it felt good with this guy. It felt easy with him. They’d walked all the way to the West Mall, and she’d barely even noticed their forward motion. “Um, I don’t know. What’s the favor?”
“Will you let me buy you a drink?”
She thought of Elise, and how she turned down that very offer. About how she’d intended to go lock herself in her apartment, curl up in bed with a glass of wine and a stack of antitrust cases, and learn everything she could.
She had things to do, law to learn, concepts to evaluate and turn over in her head until they made sense and felt like a part of her. It was important stuff. Important to her life and to the career she so desperately craved.
But she knew other things were important too, and for some inexplicable reason, she thought that this guy might be one of those things. “I’m Skye,” she said.
“Leopold. And is that a yes?”
She nodded, and when he took her hand, it felt like the start of something wonderful.
3
“So, I guess this is our place,” Skye said.
They were standing in the doorway of The Fix on Sixth, looking in at the large room filled with talking, laughing people gathered at the scattered tables or sitting at the long bar that ran along the west-side wall.
“I guess it is,” he said, surprised by the butterflies in his stomach that had flapped into motion at the thought of him and Skye having their own place. “And it looks we have a welcoming committee.”
She turned her head to look at him quizzically, and he couldn’t help but chuckle.
“What are you talking about?” she said.
He nodded across the room to a girl with shoulder-length straight blonde hair and wispy cut bangs. She was staring at them, her eyes narrowed a bit and her head cocked to the side as if she had plenty to say.
“Oh,” Skye said. “That’s Elise. She’s my BFF at the law school. She invited me here tonight, and I said no.” She shrugged. “And now here I am with you.”
“Really?” Something like pride at being chosen swelled in him. Ridiculous, but true. “In that case, I’m flattered that you came with me.”
“Well, you should be. I told you I needed to study. I think you must be a bad influence.”
“Yes, that’s what my family is always saying,” he admitted. “I’m the original bad boy.”
She bit her lip as she studied him, and it took all his effort not to take a nip himself. “I’m not sure I believe that,” she finally said. “But if you are, well that could be fun too, right?”
Now he really did laugh. Somehow he had a feeling that this girl was not the kind to fall for bad boys, and he had a sudden quick stab of regret for all the times that he’d gone a little wild back home.
“Do you mind?” Skye asked. “I should probably go talk to her. Explain what happened and why I’m here. She’s a good friend. I don’t want her feeling strange.”
He nodded, and she went off to tend her friend. In all honesty, he was a little bit relieved to have a moment to gather himself. He was undeniably nervous. Him.
It was ridiculous. He’d met with heads of state over the course of his entire life, and had never had butterflies. He was raised to not be nervous. Other people were supposed to be nervous around him. He wasn’t meant to get this kind of a feeling. And yet there it was, impossible to miss. Sweaty palms. And those butterflies in his stomach that suggested that whatever he was doing with her was the most important thing in the world.
He waved to Tyree, the owner of the bar, who he’d known since he first moved to Austin and discovered this bar with Clint and Mark. The huge bear of a man waved back, then pointed to an empty to two-top. Apparently he’d noticed that Leopold had come in with a date.
Leopold settled himself at the table and ordered them both loaded Coronas when a waitress he didn’t recognize came by to take their order. Then he leaned back and searched the bar. She was still there, talking with the blonde who kept peering over Skye’s head to sneak glances at him.
Leopold sipped his drink, enjoying the taste of the beer mixed with rum. As he swallowed, he watched Skye, fascinated by her.
He’d never been attracted to a woman at first sight. He could appreciate a woman, of course, but there’d never been this kind of attraction. He tried to tell himself that it wasn’t real. That this was simply a product of him not having dated in a while. He’d been focusing so much on his studies that he was an easy target for infatuation.
But he couldn’t quite convince himself. It felt real. It felt right. And although that was undeniably odd, he kind of liked it.
And honestly, why should he deny it? Quantum entanglement was real enough, he knew that without a doubt. The phenomenon of paired particles reacting and responding to
one another even when they were separated by great distance.
So maybe attraction on a physical and emotional level with another person was just as real. After all he’d seen evidence of it, hadn’t he? His father had agreed to marry his mother sight unseen. The kind of arranged marriage that was so often common in royal families.
As far as his father told it, he’d seen his mother across the room for the first time and relief had flooded through him because he’d felt the connection. Before that, he had been afraid that he would spend the rest of his life alone, even with a woman sharing his bed. That he would have a queen, but he would never have a wife.
Instead, his parents had been devoted to each other, and from what everyone told him, they’d been truly, deeply in love.
Leopold had always wanted that for himself though he knew the odds of having it were slim, especially considering the rules he had to live with when marrying. Skye was neither a citizen nor a royal, which meant she was out of the running as his queen.
Not that it mattered. And what the hell was he doing thinking about marriage anyway? She charmed him, sure. But he was getting a little carried away.
She caught his eye and waved, then held up two fingers, presumably meaning she’d be back in two minutes. Not a problem. He was content to sip his beer and watch her.
He frowned, feeling eyes on him. Then he turned and saw Jürgen.
The man did his job well, Leopold had to give him that. He’d known the bodyguard had been shadowing them as they walked, and it was to Jürgen’s credit that Leopold was able to completely erase the man from his mind.
He lifted his drink in a subtle toast, and grinned when Jürgen toasted him right back, then tilted his head in the direction of Skye and gave him a small thumbs up.
Leopold rolled his eyes and turned back to the table, but he was more pleased by the approval than he should be.
He glanced at the menu, wondering what kind of appetizers she’d like. When he looked up again, he didn’t see her. A chill shot through his entire body, the fear that she had decided to leave. That her friend had told her that it was a bad idea to go out for drinks with a guy she barely knew, or that she’d found another guy that she wanted to be with more.
He felt panic rise, and the Prince of Avelle-am-see did not panic. Except, apparently, he did.
Then he saw her, and the world leveled again. He took a long sip of his drink, finishing off the bottle, and leaned back before signaling for another. This was not good. He shouldn’t be letting Skye get under his skin this way. He knew how to be aloof. He needed to put his royal facade on, if only to protect himself.
He knew only too well that nothing could come of this, so why was he letting her in?
The answer became clear enough when she came back to the table, smiling and laughing and apologizing for taking so long.
He was letting it go because he didn’t want to. Because he wanted her. Not forever, he knew well enough that couldn’t happen. But for right now, he wanted to be with her. Not sex—at least not necessarily. But her. She brought a wild joy into his life. The kind that he felt when he was working an equation and making progress, only more intense.
A joy that filled him. And her smiles and laughs when she was with him went all the way to his heart.
“You ordered me Loaded Corona,” she said as she slid into the seat across from him. “That’s perfect. I love these.”
“So do I.” He lifted his empty bottle. “As you can see.”
“I’m sorry I disappeared, but Elise was showing me something. I want to show you, too.”
She was grinning ear to ear, and he couldn’t help but match her excitement. There was something wonderfully enchanting about this serious law student laughing this way
She took a long sip of her drink then put it on the table. Then she reached over and took his hand. It was the first time that they’d touched, and it was as if the heavens opened.
He drew in a shaky breath, and met her eyes. And, oh, thank God, he could tell that she’d felt it too. That shock of electricity that had cut through him with more intensity than anything he’d ever felt in his life. She gasped, and their eyes met. The gold within the deep brown of hers seeming to glow as she said, simply, “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself.”
For a moment, they just stared. Then, as if on cue, they grinned at each other. Their stupid lack of words didn’t matter. Their touch said everything that needed to be said.
After a moment, she cleared her throat and gently tugged her hand away. He mourned the loss of contact, but at the same time, he was grateful for it. He had a feeling that if he touched her for too long, things could get out of hand.
She cleared her throat. “So, Leo, there’s something I want you to do. It will be a total blast.”
No one called him Leo but Giselle, and even she only did it when she was teasing him. But he liked the way Skye said it. As if she knew that he’d become a part of her life, and that she didn’t have to follow formalities.
He grinned, feeling strangely like he’d known her forever. “What have you dragged me into?”
She laughed. “Just come with me.” She stood up and took his hand again, and right then, he knew he would follow her anywhere.
She led him to the far wall, and he felt his trepidation rising. He knew exactly what she was about to ask, and he started to shake his head. “Oh no. No, no no.”
“Please.” She grinned at him and batted her eyes, exaggerating every movement until he had to laugh.
“I don’t want to be on the board,” he protested.
“But you would put everybody else to shame. Seriously, you’re like some Hollywood star.”
“Thank you for trying to butter me up, but no.”
A few years ago, The Fix on Sixth held a Man of the Month calendar contest in order to raise money to save the bar. Leopold didn’t know the whole story, but obviously the bar had been saved. And he knew that since then, the bar had started a ritual of taking candid pics of willing customers and posting them on a poster-sized calendar. One for every day.
It had become a thing at the bar. Unlike the calendar, then men weren’t shirtless. And it wasn’t published anywhere. But occasionally people would take a picture and share it on social media so that folks could comment.
Basically it was a promotional strategy for the bar, and while Leopold respected that, he did not want to participate.
Except there was Skye doing puppy dog eyes at him with so much exaggeration that he had to laugh.
“Oh, come on, Leo. It will be fun. Don’t you want to be part of April?”
“I can’t tell you how much I don’t want to be a part of April,” he said, and she shrugged.
“Okay, disappoint me on our first date. It’s not like I won’t judge you for the rest of eternity for this moment.”
Now, he really was laughing. This woman matched him so perfectly, their senses of humor lining up like a covalent bond. Or back to quantum entanglement.
He saw Tyree approach, and knew that he was sunk. Besides, he’d already conceded in his head. As far as he was concerned, what Skye wanted Skye got, and she obviously wanted him to do this silly thing.
“Hey, Leopold,” the large man said. He pulled out his phone. “Are you going to be joining our calendar today?”
He put on his best smile even as he watched Jürgen scowling at him from the bar. “I guess I am,” he said, as Tyree clicked and took the picture.
“I love it,” Skye said after Tyree showed them the image.
She turned to Leopold, taking his hands in hers. “You are such a good sport.” She rose up on her toes and kissed his cheek, and he felt like nothing he could do as king could feel better than this.
“Anything to make you happy,” he said, meaning every word.
She shot him a sideways glance and a smile. “Ditto.”
He turned over that one word as they returned to their table, wondering what deeper meaning it held. It shouldn’t feel
like such a serious moment between them. They barely knew each other, and all he’d done was take a silly picture.
But he’d shown her a part of himself, and he’d let her talk him into sharing that part of himself with the world. Not that he expected the photo to get out. It was on a back wall in a bar.
Still, there was a little bit of a risk, and he’d taken it for her. He was tumbling off into space, and he knew it.
The weird thing was, he loved it.
They ordered another round of drinks, then sipped their Loaded Coronas. He told her about his research, and she asked all the right questions. Then he listened and watched her face as she told him stories about the people in law school, about her father’s firm, about how she'd grown up doing everything from filing to actual research as she gotten older. “By the time I was twelve, I was actually proofreading briefs. By the time I was fifteen, I was writing them.”
He nodded. “I get that. I’ve worked in my father’s business all my life as well. And I’ve pretty much learned how to run it. Fortunately, I don’t have to yet, but I could if something happened to him.”
“Do you want to?”
“Run the business?” He shook his head. “No. My sister would be much better at that. My passion is physics.”
She nodded. “I can hear how much you love it when you talk about it.”
“I do. But the business is important to the family, and there are reasons why my sister can’t take over. So I’m afraid it may fall to me. No, not afraid. I know that it will.”
Her forehead wrinkled, and she frowned. “I’m sorry. Maybe you could—”
“No. Thanks, but I’d rather not talk about it. Believe me, I’ve spent much of my life wondering how to avoid it. It’s not a fun subject. I’d rather talk about, well, anything.”
“Fair enough. How about the moon landing? I mean, Neil Armstrong. What a guy, right?”
He practically exploded with laughter. “Yes. The moon landing, and then we can move on to old James Bond films.”
