Royal Engagement

by Chance Carter

  We were the last ones to arrive, and I instantly felt bad for leaving Molly and Gerhart alone with the Fieldmans for longer than necessary. They all stood to greet us, the picture of good humor, but the atmosphere was tense.

  “Mom, Dad, this is Frankie,” Val said, shuffling me over to her parents.

  “Frankie, these are my parents.”

  Her dad, a tall beanpole of a man with square glasses and an impeccably pressed shirt, reached his hand out first. “Victor,” he said.

  I shook his hand and moved on to his wife, who fixed me with a wide, albeit cold, smile.

  “Justine.”

  Valerie was the spitting image of her mother. They shared everything from their blonde hair to the way they stood with their shoulders back and their chins held high. Justine’s hair was twisted in a chignon so tight I speculated that she’d end the night with a massive headache.

  “It’s great to finally meet you,” I said.

  They nodded in acknowledgement and sat down.

  I scurried over to greet Gerhart and Molly, who each gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I took a seat between Val and Molly, which put me directly across from Levi. I got the urge to kick him under the table but decided against it.

  The dinner conversation flowed well, though it was almost unbearably polite. How Gerhart managed to contain his boisterous personality I might never know, but I caught him shifting in his chair once or twice like his clothes were two sizes too tight. Even Molly looked uncomfortable.

  I kept mostly to myself, paying attention and nodding when people spoke but not contributing much. Valerie’s parents intimidated me and, despite knowing that their opinion mattered little to my best friend, I wanted them to like me. I figured the best option was to do recon tonight and work up to speaking to them.

  Between courses, I caught sight of Josh approaching from a table nearby. Relief flooded my bones.

  “Aunt Justine,” he said, greeting her with a kiss on the cheek. “You’re looking lovely, as usual. I didn’t expect to see you this early in the week.”

  He moved on to give his uncle a firm handshake while Justine explained.

  “We didn’t think we could step away because we’ve been so busy with orders, but our management team practically forced us.” She smiled cattily in Molly and Gerhart’s direction. “I’m envious of you two for being able to pick up and go. We’ve been run off our feet this quarter.”

  I suppressed an eye roll. For a woman who oozed composure, Justine sure had an immature streak.

  Josh’s eyes alit on me and he smiled. “Frankie, you look sensational.”

  “Looking quite dapper yourself,” I replied.

  And he did. Josh had switched out his casual sweater for a dark gray t-shirt and a black fitted blazer. It hugged his lithe form and gave him an effortlessly handsome appearance to go with his effortlessly handsome smile.

  “I thought I might run into you here and figured I should look my best.” He winked. “Can I steal you away for lunch again tomorrow?”

  A genuine pang of disappointment echoed through my chest. “Sorry, but I’m busy tomorrow. We’re going skiing.”

  Josh’s smile flickered but he pulled it back up again. “Not a problem. I’m sure I’ll be seeing lots of you.” He kissed his aunt on the cheek and waved to the others at our table. “I’ll let you folks get back to your dinner. Nice to see you all.”

  With that, Josh was gone almost as quickly as he came.

  “That one’s a smooth talker,” I heard Molly mutter to her husband under her breath. “It’s a wonder he doesn’t float away with all that hot air.”

  I snickered. When I looked up, Levi was glaring daggers at Josh’s back, and that only made my wicked grin grow. Was it wrong to enjoy some smug satisfaction from Levi’s obvious jealousy? It wasn’t every day that I got to experience such a thing, especially since Levi was so hot and cold that I still couldn’t tell where we stood.

  What I couldn’t figure out was why he cared in the first place. Was it just because he despised Josh? Or was he just bitter about what he couldn’t have? Either way, my contentment flitted away.

  How was it fair for Levi to be jealous when he would just as soon toss me by the wayside after he was done with me? He probably wouldn’t care at all if I hadn’t told him whatever we had was over. He’d be sitting pretty across the table hoping Josh enjoyed his sloppy seconds.

  I opted not to think about it, and forced my way into Molly and Gerhart’s conversation instead. As far as I was concerned, the person across the table from me no longer existed.

  Chapter 29

  Levi

  Garrick woke me with a pillow to the head and I wondered, once again, why the hell we had to share a room. He rushed me to get ready, anxious to hit the slopes. I managed to choke down a coffee and a muffin before he shoved me out the door, then we went down to Frankie and Val’s room to make sure they were up.

  “Good morning!” Val chirped when she opened the door. She was fully dressed in her ski gear, and behind her Frankie was hopping around on one foot as she tried to shove her foot into her boot.

  Garrick pulled her in for a kiss, stroking her hair back from her forehead. “Ready to go?”

  “Yeah, we’re just waiting on Josh,” she said.

  “Josh?” I asked.

  Her eyes widened. “Shit, I forgot to tell you guys. Sorry. Josh didn’t have anything to do today and he asked if he could come skiing with us. I hope that’s okay.”

  A barbed comment poised at the tip of my tongue but I held it back, offering up a noncommittal shrug instead.

  “The more the merrier,” said Garrick cheerfully. He disliked Josh as much as I did, but he took great pleasure seeing me react to Josh’s incessant flirtation with Frankie.

  Once an annoying little brother, always an annoying little brother.

  Val and Frankie joined us in the hall and we headed down to the cafe to meet Josh. I fumed silently the whole way but tried to look as neutral as possible.

  Of course that little weasel would invite himself skiing with us. He reveled in any opportunity to rub his successes in my face. Frankie was one of the few times Josh got a leg up on me, and he wouldn’t let that go easily.

  Josh rose from his table when he saw us enter the cafe. He hugged Valerie first, but his eyes were on Frankie the whole time. I had half a mind not to go skiing at all, but then Josh would win. I couldn’t give him the satisfaction.

  “Good morning, gorgeous,” Josh cooed to Frankie, pulling her in for a hug.

  Ugh. It was way too early for him to be laying it on so thick. I stifled a gag and kept back while the others made a plan of attack. Frankie’s eyes met mine and her gaze hardened. Then she turned away.

  It was going to be a long day.

  “You’re a natural,” Josh proclaimed, patting Frankie heartily on the back.

  “Hardly. I’m not going to be able to move in the morning.” She stretched her neck to the side and grimaced. “I can hardly move now.”

  “You’ve only done two runs,” Val said, shuffling over to her friend. “Don’t be such a baby.”

  Frankie stuck out her tongue and Val returned the gesture. I watched with a bored expression, wishing the chairlift line would hurry the hell up.

  “This time just try to stay on your feet,” Josh joked.

  Frankie pouted. “It’s hard!”

  “Probably because you’re so top heavy.” Josh winked.

  To her credit, Frankie scrunched up her nose at his lewd comment. Josh quickly changed the subject.

  “Maybe snowboarding is more your bag. Do you want to swap out your skis?”

  “No, I like the poles.” She whipped one against his leg. “You can’t do that with a snowboard.”

  I couldn’t stand watching them but couldn’t look away either. Frankie’s cheeks were rosy from the cold and when she laughed her eyes crinkled joyously. She wore her hair in a side braid, leaving her slender neck bare. I thought of all the times I�
��d kissed that neck and burned at the thought of Josh getting anywhere near it.

  I turned to Garrick only to find Val cuddled up against his side, the two of them speaking to each other in low voices punctuated by giggles. I needed advice. This was driving me crazy and I needed to make it stop.

  But how? Frankie was under my skin and I couldn’t get her out.

  We finally reached the front of the line and I took the chairlift up with Garrick and Val. Garrick nudged me in the side.

  “You seem tense,” he said.

  Now was my opportunity to get a second opinion, but I didn’t know what to say and didn’t want to hear Garrick gloat the whole way up the mountain.

  I licked my lips and shook my head. “I’m fine.”

  Val leaned over. “Thanks for putting up with Josh. I know you guys don’t get along but I think he’s lonely.”

  I didn’t think Josh’s loneliness had anything to do with it, but I forced a polite smile.

  “It’s not a problem, Val. Just as long as you’re having fun.”

  She seemed to like that. “I am. And I hope you are too.”

  “How could I not?”

  We reached the top of the hill and waited for Frankie and Josh’s chairlift. Predictably, they were laughing when they reached us. It rankled me and I took off down the slope without waiting for the rest of them.

  Frankie was the one who didn’t want to screw around anymore. Why did she have to flaunt Josh in my face? Especially in this place. I never expected the ski lodge to mean so much to me but the kind of boundless happiness I experienced here before wasn’t something I got to feel a lot. I couldn’t tell which one of them I was more pissed at for ruining that.

  Trees whipped past me as I hurled down the hill, jamming my poles in with more force than was necessary at every turn. I reached the bottom in what must have been record time and caught my breath as I waited for the others.

  Their shapes materialized in the distance, first Val and Garrick, with Frankie and Josh trailing behind. Frankie lost her footing near the bottom and flopped face first into the snow. She came up laughing, dusting powder from her hair and accepting Josh’s hand back to her feet. He said something to her that made her push him away in mock anger, then the two of them shuffled over to the rest of the group.

  We trudged back to the chairlift and I prepared to live through my hell again. How many runs were we going to do today? I felt like I’d never escape this endless cycle.

  The line was a little faster this time, but by the time we reached the front I’d had enough. Frankie stepped forward to the loading platform and I shoved my way past Josh, giving him a cold look.

  “Take the next one,” I said in a low voice that brokered no argument.

  Josh stood back, shocked, and I took his spot next to Frankie.

  She looked up at me in surprise when she realized I wasn’t Josh. I could tell she thought about escaping, but the chair came and swept us up before she could.

  “What the hell, Levi?” Her full mouth dipped into a scowl. “That was rude.”

  “Are you enjoying making me jealous?” I growled.

  Frankie’s eyebrows tilted in disbelief and she blinked. Once the shock washed from her face, irritation took its place.

  “Are you serious?” She snapped. “You’ve got nothing to be jealous about. I’m not your type, remember?”

  Her reply was as cold as the wind burning my eyes. I never thought those words would stick with her so much. I only said them out of irritation when she insisted we forget our tryst ever happened, like she was ashamed of it. It had nothing to do with Frankie and everything to do with my pride. I never expected it to come bite me in the ass like that.

  “Is that what this is all about?” I shot back.

  “No,” she said. “This is about me enjoying spending time with somebody who’s nice to me. Is that so hard to believe?”

  “He’s only nice to you because he wants something from you.”

  “How the fuck would you know? And why do you even care? I’m not trying to make you jealous, Levi. I just want to have a nice vacation. You don’t get to come up here and bitch about me spending time with Josh just because you’re angry that I’m not sitting around pining after you.”

  My anger hit a stumbling block. Was she telling the truth? Instead of doing the levelheaded thing and backing off, as I likely should have, I ignored this bump in the road and stoked the flames of my anger with banked frustration.

  “You’re parading around with the one person up here who hates me most,” I said. “I would be an idiot not to think you were trying to make me jealous.”

  Her nostrils flared. “Do your legs ever get tired from all the jumping to conclusions you do?”

  “I’m merely examining the evidence in front of me.”

  “Not everything is about you, Levi,” Frankie snapped. “In fact, this whole goddamn vacation is about your brother and Val. We’re the best man and the maid of honor and we need to get along. End of story.” She groaned in frustration, scrubbing her hands over her face. “I can’t believe we’re going through this again. And this close to the wedding!”

  Her genuine dismay put a pin in my rage balloon. We’d been on one hell of a rollercoaster together since we first met, moving from enemies to tentative friends to lovers, to whatever the hell we were now. Right before the wedding was, as she said, not the time for us to take another nose dive.

  A voice inside of me urged that I should tell her the truth, tell her everything, but I didn’t even understand this knot of feelings for myself yet—never mind putting them into words.

  “I just don’t trust Josh. I don’t think you should either,” I said in a calmer voice.

  Frankie sat back and sighed. “Thank you for your unbiased and completely unsolicited input, Levi.”

  Her words dripped with sarcasm and just like that I was pissed off again. Frankie had a way of bringing it out in me.

  “Do you always have to be so stubborn?” I complained.

  “Do you always have to be so-“ She waved her hands, searching for the right word. “You?”

  We approached the top of the hill and Frankie stared straight ahead. I knew once we got there this conversation would be over, and I was running out of time to sway her. Not that I would.

  “You deserve better than Josh,” I said. “You might be stubborn and annoying but you’re miles above him.”

  “Oh, thanks,” she said with disdain. “I’m sure there was a compliment in there somewhere.” She shook her head incredulously. “You know what? He’s got you pinned down exactly. You think you’re better than everyone and you can’t conceive for a second that there’s anything under the surface that might be worth looking at. Well, fuck you, Levi.”

  She finished just as we reached the landing zone and one of the ski assistants came to help us unload. Frankie refused to look at me again. I refused to look at her too. When the others arrived a minute later, she plastered on a sugary smile and greeted them enthusiastically. I hung behind a little and watched them, wondering if the others saw through her jovial demeanor as easily as I could. They must’ve. It was as fake as Josh’s Rolex.

  She and Josh separated from the group and disappeared down the run together. Garrick and Val waited a moment and I skied up to them.

  “What the hell was that about?” asked Garrick.

  “Nothing,” I replied. “Just some best man and maid of honor business.”

  He didn’t believe me but knew he wouldn’t get it out of me here.

  “Would this maid of honor and best man business have anything to do with your bad mood?” Val asked.

  “No. I just don’t like skiing.” I pushed off before she could ask any more questions, folding my body in to reach maximum speed. I needed space to think.

  Frankie was the opposite of the person I thought she was in the beginning. She couldn’t fake happiness to save her life and threw herself into her work with a passion I’d never seen before. It was s
pecial. She was special.

  Me, on the other hand, all I’d done so far was prove that her first estimation of me was on point. I hated that. I hated to see her look at me with undisguised disappointment in her eyes.

  I needed to make a change. I needed to fix things. If not for the sake of Garrick and Val’s wedding, then for my own crippled conscience.

  More importantly, I needed to figure out why the thought of Frankie stoked a storm in my chest.

  Chapter 30

  Frankie

  Knock, knock, knock.

  I stayed perfectly still, pretending that whoever was knocking on our door hadn’t just woke me up. I was still asleep. Nothing to see here. Warmth and coziness sucked me back down, my consciousness drifting off...

  Knock knock knock.

  I groaned. “Val?”

  “Yeah?” came her weak reply.

  “You gonna get that?”

  Val snorted and I heard the rustling of blankets. When I didn’t hear the accompanying sound of her feet on the carpet, I cracked open an eye. All she’d done was burrow further into her blankets.

  “It’s probably for you,” I reasoned.

  “Then be a good maid of honor and get it.”

  This was going nowhere. Whether I liked it or not, I was going to have to get the door.

  I heaved a sigh and slipped out from my blankets, padding over to the door. Every muscle in my body complained bitterly, and my motions across the room were mechanical. My thoughts were hazy, and mostly consisted of the desire to get back into bed the second I’d dealt with our unwelcome visitor.

  I cracked the door and adrenaline kicked me so hard in the gut that I knew I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep for at least several days.

  Levi stood in the doorway, waiting with his arms folded. I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “Are you here to check if I had any overnight guests?” I asked.

  A troubled expression flickered over Levi’s features. “No.”