by Nana Malone
“Wouldn’t it be great if trusting each other meant just having a lovely drink somewhere?”
“No, because that is in your comfort zone, but it’s really not ideal for getting to know someone quickly. We have to make this app believable, remember?”
“So basically, I’m letting you play God?”
She laughed again. “Absolutely, and I love it.”
“This is so fucked.”
“Relax. It's a safe environment. Neither of you can get hurt. It’s something physical. A couple that sweats together is sexy together.”
I shook my head even though I had to look nonchalant while I waited. “You’re diabolical.”
“Oh, that's good. I’m going to make t-shirts.”
“You’re doing this to torture me, aren’t you?”
I shifted on my feet as I glanced over the crowd. I had the height advantage here, but I still didn’t see her. I had dressed casually in workout gear as Ariel had suggested. But here I was, one minute to go to the date, and no Jessa.
“I think we have incoming.” Ariel said.
I forced my body to relax. No way was I excited for this date. Those nerves coursing through my veins… those were about the acrobatics.
Lies.
The door opened, and all I saw was a baseball hat pulled down low, a woman that looked to be about the right size with a dark ponytail. But a couple of steps in, and I knew it wasn’t her. “Nope, not her.”
“Are you sure? She was driving Jessa’s car.”
I frowned again. As the woman approached me, her head was down. But I knew how Jessa walked, and that wasn’t it. “Are you sure she came in Jessa's car?”
“Seriously? I’m sitting here on the street looking at it, and you’re asking me something so basic? The license plate number matches… and the girl looks like her.”
Suddenly my stomach knotted. The woman approached me and then tilted her head up. She was cute. She had Jessa’s olive complexion and the same dark chocolate hair, but she was not nearly as compelling. Her eyes didn’t twinkle and dance with mischief. She was also an inch shorter and more filled out all around. “Are you Roone?”
I sighed. “Yeah, I’m Roone.”
She grinned. “I’m so sorry, but Jessa couldn’t make it, so she sent me instead. I’m Haley.”
Fuck. I reached my palm out and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you Haley.”
On the comms I could hear Ariel howling with laughter. “Oh man, she stood you up and sent a replacement. I like her.”
As Haley had her ID checked and stamped, I muttered. “Yeah, while you’re laughing, the princess currently unprotected. You better get back to the flat.”
That sobered her up. “I’m on it.”
As much as I wanted to follow Ariel, I had to see the date through, because no doubt, Haley would be reporting back to Jessa. When I got my hands on her, I was going to tan her ass.
Also, there was a high possibility that I was going to do… other things to her. But, that was neither here nor there. Right then, I had a date to go on.
Ariel…
While Roone was on his date, I first fired off a text to Jessa about grabbing wine, then I hightailed it to Roone’s place. On the way, I called home. I still couldn’t believe Jessa’s moxie. She’d sent a stand in. Flipping brilliant.
“So how is it working with Roone?” Penny asked.
“Oh, he’s fine. Kind of a stick in the mud. I don’t think he loves me being in charge.”
“He’ll come around.”
“Are you sure about that? Because right now things aren’t going exactly as expected. You’d think a guy who has a slew of women in and out of his place would be more comfortable on a job like this.”
Penny laughed. “Roone is different than you think. He’s loyal though. He’ll make you a good partner.”
“I don’t know.” I wrinkled my nose. “So far, the jury is still out. He’s all right. But he has no surveillance skills. And zero skills with women. Jessa’s about ready to kill him every day.”
“Well, that’s because his skills lean more toward security. He has some undercover experience, but not nearly as much as you’ve had. As for his skills with girls, I’d have thought he was better considering all these women who want to date him.”
Finally, I got back to his flat. I opened the hidden compartment in the bookcase and fired up the surveillance. “I know right? He’s okay. I think he’ll get it together. But I could almost feel him judging me when I started singing my Britney Spears in the surveillance car. I’m telling you, all I had to do was start with the, ‘Oh baby, baby,’ and he’d start to wrinkle his nose. You should see it… the disdain on his face.”
“So then, let me guess, you turned it up and started dancing?”
“You know me to my soul, bestie.”
Penny’s laugh brought me home again. I was surprised that I missed it. When I was growing up, all I wanted to do was get off the islands. I used to have these dreams of living this fabulous life. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I would look bad ass doing it. Wearing leather dresses like Carrie Ann Moss in the Matrix, doing something intriguing, with more money that I could ever need.
Basically, I just wanted to be rich and far the hell away from the Winston Isles. Even after I’d met Penny, it was a constant dream. Mostly, I wanted to be away from my father.
When my parents divorced, I thought my mother would take me. But, as my father had depleted their entire life savings and she didn’t have money to look after me, she left me with him.
“Enough about the ginger wonder. How are you? You and His Majesty about to give me some nieces and nephews?”
Penny laughed. “I think we have plenty of time for that. I will not become the royal baby factory. At least not yet. I would like children, but I feel like I’ve just gotten settled into my new role.”
“Are you settled?” For the last several months, Penny had been struggling with her new role as queen. With everything going on, the murder of King Cassius, Sebastian finding Lucas, and the discovery of a conspiracy against the royal family that went back for decades, things had been in turmoil on the islands for well over a year. Penny had always dreamed of being an artist, but then she turned into a badass Royal Guard, and that didn’t exactly jive with being queen. So she’d had a rough go of it. But she and Sebastian had decided that she wouldn’t be in the field anymore, so at least that was a little bit easier on the both of them. She’d settled into a post in Intelligence, but I still didn’t feel like I could use my best friend as a resource at any moment. She’d taken way too many risks in the last few months.
“But I think you guys would have the cutest babies, and then I could be Auntie Ariel and spoil them rotten.”
“I know, considering you’re such a hard ass, I’m surprised you love kids so much.”
“Heck yeah. Spoiling them rotten, with their cute little faces, oh my God, and dimples. Hand dimples, they’re the best. I would lose interest when they hit about five or six. That’s when they start talking back.”
“I see you’re just dying to be a mom.”
Lord no. “I will settle for delightful Auntie.” The truth was I wasn’t sure I wanted kids of my own. There had been a time when I’d seen all of that in my future. Yeah, but you were just a dumb kid then. “Besides, who would have me? Can you imagine? Whatever bloke gets to marry me will be beleaguered and tortured his whole life.”
“Well I’m not beleaguered and tortured. I think you’re delightful.”
“Yeah well, you’re supposed to.” I took a breath. I wanted to ask her if she’d seen my father, but part of me was scared. “And let’s face it… you’re a little beleaguered.”
She’s your best friend, she’ll look in on him.
“Pen?”
“Yeah?”
“I did a thing. Don’t be mad. And I swear, it’s only temporary.”
“Oh my God, you tried to dye your hair blond again?”
That wasn�
��t fair. “Oh my God, I used the wrong kind of toner, okay? Not my fault.” The results had been this horrid, brassy, reddish-gray color.
“That was awful. And you were following me around with that hair color for six months.”
“This is actually worse than that.”
“Shit. What did you do?”
“Already, this conversation is reversed. I just want to point that out.”
She laughed. “Yeah, good point. What’s up? What do you need? Anything and it’s yours.”
“Okay. So, before you say anything, I know this is not good. But my dad needed a place to stay, and I said he could stay at my bungalow.” I said it so fast, I doubted she heard me. But there was a bit of silence and then she said, “Let me guess. You want me to go and look in on him? Make sure he hasn’t burned your house down?”
I breathed a sigh of relief. Penny understood our complicated relationship. “Yeah, if you don’t mind.”
“Consider it done.”
The relief washed through me. I knew Penny would make sure he was okay, and also that he stayed out of trouble. “Seriously, I owe you. I don’t even know what to say.”
“First of all, you don’t owe me. Remember that time in New York? You saved my ass more than once. Remember all those times when we were kids, and you stuck up for me? Also, remember how you handed Sebastian his ass when he was treating me like a dick?”
I chuckled. “Yeah, vaguely.”
“Cool, then you don’t have to ask. I’ll take care of it. I’ll go look in on him tonight.”
“Thanks, Pen.”
“No problem.”
“How is His Royal Majesty, anyway? Is he starting to let you out of his sight yet?”
“It’s getting better. He’s certainly a lot more relaxed since I’m in Intelligence now, and basically, I’m in the palace all the time. Although, every now and then when I’m headed out for a meeting, I swear he puts a tail on me.”
“Well, you did almost die that one time.”
“Must I remind the two of you that I did not almost die? Robert was stabbed. Not me. No one hurt me. No one was looking for me.”
“You were standing right next to him, and I still remember you covered in blood. So if that fills me with the holy fuck, I’ve got to keep her alive feeling, imagine what it does for him.”
“Yeah, okay. But I’m only giving him another six months of this. I’ve got to live my life, you know?”
I laughed. “Anything else happening? I feel so disconnected.”
“He’s been a bit distracted. Obviously, everyone here is tense with the whole Jessa situation. Sebastian doesn’t want her life uprooted, especially until we know exactly how much danger she’s in. He still thinks it’s best she remains in the dark, at least for now. But something happened yesterday, and he’s been hard to read. From the intelligence briefing today, they said there were some anomalies in the secure files. I don’t know what that means yet. We’re supposed to be talking to my dad at dinner tonight, so I’ll get some more details.”
Something fluttered in my heart. Just a little flicker and a skip of a heartbeat. “Anomalies?”
“I don’t know what it is. Could be nothing. Could be something. I won’t know until I talk to dad, and he’s been holed-up with Sebastian. That’s not one of my active cases, so right now, all I’ve got are secondhand tidbits. But when I know something, you’ll know something.”
“Okay, keep me up to date.” I checked the monitors. Jessa was dancing around her flat. “I’ve got to go anyway. I’m on princess watch tonight.”
“You got it. What is she like though? Is she nice?”
“Yeah. She really is, actually. I think you’ll like her a lot. She’s sweet and funny, and seriously gives Roone a run for his money.”
“Hey, you just let her know that your job as bestie is already taken.”
“Absolutely. I mean, she’s not that cool. Besides, she also wavers between giving Roone I-wanna-murder-you eyes, and I-wanna-fuck-you eyes, so her taste is dubious at best.”
Penny snorted a laugh. “Come on, you can’t be that immune to him. I’m not even into gingers, but that guy is hot enough to melt panties.”
“What do you mean you’re not into gingers?” I sputtered with mock indignation. “How will we have our polyamorous love affair if you’re not into gingers?”
She laughed. “Our love affair shall never end. Besides, you are super-hot. Redheaded guys have just never done it for me.”
I considered Roone. “I mean, he’s okay. The abs are decent. But he’s annoying, so that negates that.” The abs were better than decent. He should probably be an ab model if that was a thing.
“Nothing negates abs like that.”
“You’re not stuck with him twenty-four seven.”
Penny snorted. “I swear sometimes it’s like your libido crawled into itself and died.”
“Yeah, you’re actually probably right about that.” Except all it took to rev it up was to think about the one person in the world I could not have.
No, not doing that. You just had a chat with your bestie. Why drag yourself into despair and ice cream? So much ice cream.
“Not to worry. I know that love is right around the corner for you. Likely it will be in someplace you’d least expect.”
“Yeah well, I’d settle for a really good orgasm. But honestly, I can give myself one of those. I don’t need a guy.”
“That’s right, you don’t.”
“Okay, love you. See you soon.” I hung up and checked the monitor again. Jessa was on her way down the hall. I switched off the monitors, grabbed a bottle of wine, and went down the back stairs then back around to the front of the building to the buzzer.
She let me in immediately and opened her door with a smile. “Hey, I brought booze.”
Jessa gave me a wide, tired smile. “Oh my God, you are speaking my language.”
I really did like her. I just hoped she could forgive us for what we were doing.
10
Roone…
* * *
After a night of flying through the air, my body was sore and not in a fun, shagged-my-brains-out kind of way.
Back in my flat, Ariel was still laughing.
“You’re not supposed to laugh.”
“Oh, come on. It’s funny. She gave you the slip and ensured that you still had to go on a date.”
“This is about her security protocol.”
“And I get that.” Ariel closed her laptop and swiveled in her chair to look at me. “But, she doesn’t know about her security protocol. We’re still in phase one. We have to get you close enough and get her to trust you, which she is finding difficult to do for whatever reason.”
I threw my hands up. “I saved her from herself.”
Ariel just shrugged. “Sometimes it takes people getting punched in the face to learn a lesson.”
“Whose side are you on?”
“Hers. Just the ‘her’ she doesn’t know about yet. I like her. She’s spunky. Obviously, she doesn’t know that she’s in danger yet, so the two of us just have to work on getting as close to her as possible.”
“You think I’m not doing my best? I’m being thwarted by the little princess.”
“She’s not that little. She’s as tall as I am.”
I scowled. “Not helpful.”
Ariel just grinned. “Admit it. You haven’t run across a woman who hasn’t immediately dropped her panties for you.”
The occasion was rare. “I’ve run into one or two.”
She laughed again. “They just have discerning tastes and can spot bullshit a mile away.”
I scowled. “I don’t bullshit. You’re thinking of Lucas.”
“No. You actually don’t. But,” she shrugged, “you’re doing the very alpha thing, which I feel like I’ve never seen you do before. I have watched you and Lucas tear up the town, and you’re usually more charming than this. Right now, you’re acting very clobber her over the head and drag h
er by the hair. It’s weird. If you just acted more charming, I’m sure she’d find you a lot more attractive.”
“That’s because she made me want to let out my inner caveman. She’s bloody infuriating. How am I supposed to get closer to her if she keeps avoiding dates?”
“That, I can’t help you with. But if it helps, I’m getting closer to her. I’m her very new bestie.”
I sighed. “That’s good, Ariel. At least one of us can keep a close watch on her. Maybe she’s seeing someone?”
“Oh my goodness, has your poor ego been bruised?”
I scowled. “No. I’m just concerned about the princess’s safety.” I was wondering why, for once, it was difficult for me to do my job. The one thing I prided myself on doing well. The last two years had been hell between Sebastian’s disappearance, the death of his father, Lucas’s vanishing act, and now this. I was starting to wonder if I was still any good at my job.
“Relax, I’m just giving you shit. Clearly you’re good. Sebastian would not have sent you on this mission if you weren’t. So, we just have to find a way to soften up Jessa. I guarantee you, it’s not by trying to force her hand. Caveman tactics don’t work on her. She doesn’t like them.”
“I know. And hell, I’m not even a caveman. She just makes me so fucking irritated.”
Ariel grinned as I stomped across the wooden floor. “Oh my God. Do you actually like her? As in, not for the role kind of thing?”
I turned to glare at her. “No. This is the job. Remember, I’m a goddamn professional. I’m not Penny, and Lord help me, I’m not Lucas. I can do this job without falling in love with a stubborn princess, okay?”
Ariel held up her hands. “Okay, if you say so. If you want the stubborn princess to play ball, change your tactics. At the very least, you have to get her to like you enough to be your friend so she’ll want to spend time in your company and you can protect her. That is the job, despite how irritated she makes you. Do you get me?”
