by Sara Hantz
Amber was looking forward to only having her photography to concentrate on. Some people might call it an obsession. And even a romance substitute. But she didn’t care about that. As far as she was concerned, it was simple: she could trust and control everything about her photography. Enough said.
“If you’re sure. I can go boy-free, too,” Lauren replied.
“Really? If Josh asked you to go out with him, you’d say no just for me?” Amber stifled a grin. She and Lauren would do anything for each other, but asking Lauren to let go of her longtime crush might be pushing it. Besides, Amber had to admit that Josh was a pretty decent guy, as far as guys went.
“Do you think he will? I keep hoping.” A wistful expression flickered across her face.
“He will. It’s not like you haven’t been messaging each other all vacation,” Amber reminded her.
“As friends.” Lauren kicked a pebble on the walkway, looking dejected.
“Yeah. As friends,” Amber joked. “Though even if it is just friends, it doesn’t matter. Friends can hang out. And then once you’re spending time together, he’ll realize he wants more.”
Lauren glanced up. “I wish. But he seems pretty committed to sticking me in the friend zone. Did you know the last time we texted, it was about baseball?” A tiny sigh escaped her lips.
Amber gave Lauren another hug, wanting to reassure her. They’d been good friends since the very first day of high school. She’d stuck by Amber during the dark times when she was diagnosed with cancer almost twelve months ago, when her other friends had all but disappeared out of sheer awkwardness. Lauren had texted or called most nights, and during vacations came to visit every chance she got. She’d witnessed the effects of the treatment. The hair loss. The nausea. The despair. And none of it had scared her off. Nope, asking her to stop flirting with Josh as some misguided test of friendship loyalty was out of the question. Lauren had already proven her loyalty a million times over. And then some.
It was Lauren who had broken the news to Amber about Wade, Amber’s boyfriend of nearly a year, cheating on her with a girl from their school who was in his history class. Which was bad enough. What was even worse, though, was that he’d done it while Amber was in the hospital. It hit her hard. Yet, when she confronted him about it, he made out like it was her fault for getting sick. “You’re spending so much time in the hospital. We hardly get to talk to each other. You’re not around when I need someone to go out with.”
The jerk.
With a brisk shake of her head, Amber purposefully shoved all thoughts of the past to the back of her mind. Her hair had grown back into a flattering pixie cut. And it now had a slight curl, which it didn’t before. She’d also put on some of the pounds she’d lost.
“You two talk about more than just baseball, right? Because if not…” Amber paused as Lauren executed a ninety-degree turn and stared intently into the distance. “Are you listening to me?”
She scanned the grounds to see what had captured Lauren’s attention. Striding toward them was Josh. Of course.
But she wasn’t sure if Lauren was watching her crush or the guy walking alongside him—a very gorgeous, very tall guy with white-blond hair and the kind of head-turning confidence that came with being ridiculously good-looking. Hot and he knew it, judging by the way he walked, with his back straight and his chest out. He clearly knew exactly the effect he had on people, especially girls.
Note to self: keep away.
Chapter Two
Amber smoothed down her new dark green Banana Republic top. Then she stopped mid-action, unease coursing through her. What the hell was she playing at? She’d sworn to keep her focus on the internship, and the minute a stupidly good-looking guy headed her way, all she was concerned about was the way she looked.
“Stop it,” she muttered to herself, slipping her hands into her jeans pockets to prevent herself from any more ridiculous behavior.
Self-discipline had never been a problem for her in the past. She was always the one who kept wild-child Lauren in line when it came to homework, curfew, school rules. So surely she could keep it together for a few minutes.
“Sorry?” Lauren turned back to face her.
“Nothing.” Amber had no time to explain as Lauren’s attention went right back to Josh, who was now only a few yards away from them.
“Hey!” Lauren called out as the guys got closer, waving a little too frantically.
So much for her wanting to play it cool. Amber would definitely give her a hard time about that later. She envied Lauren’s carefree approach to guys. And her ability to charge headlong into a relationship, without giving a thought to it crashing and her being left hurt and a total mess.
Josh stepped forward to meet them. “I was hoping to see you.”
“Well, here I am.” Lauren twisted a strand of hair around her finger, an amusingly dreamy expression plastered across her face. Josh was bearing the dopey guy version, too.
Amber laughed to herself. They were both as bad as the other. This crush was definitely going to develop into something more.
“Hey Josh.” She felt weird interrupting their stare-a-thon, but she couldn’t just stand there and say nothing.
“Amber.” Josh averted his eyes from Lauren and focused on her, his smile genuine. “Good to see you. You’re looking great.”
“Thanks. I feel good, too. Can’t wait for school to start.” That makes me sound like such a nerd.
“Really? You missed all the homework?” His eyes flashed in amusement, but not in a rude way.
“You know what I mean,” she countered. “It gets kinda lonely being stuck at home all the time. And…” She stopped. Moaning was for losers. “Ignore me. I’m just happy to be here. It’s gonna be an awesome year.” She almost punched the air, but then stopped herself, since that would be so lame.
“You better believe it.” Josh returned his gaze to Lauren.
“Hello.” Amber glanced up at the sound of the clipped tones coming from a foreign-sounding voice. An accent she couldn’t place. Her heart did an annoying flip.
Standing next to her was the hot guy Lauren had mentioned. Only that was an understatement. Up close, he seemed a hundred times better looking than from a distance. She clamped her jaw shut to stop it from dropping and embarrassing her even more. Though nothing could prevent the heat from rising in her cheeks. What was with it with her and blushing? She blamed it on her mom. It was a family trait.
“Hi.” Amber deliberately turned so he couldn’t see her face and concentrated on watching Lauren, who seemed totally oblivious to her discomfort.
“My name is Nik. You are?”
Amber’s legs wobbled. An accent like that shouldn’t be allowed. It wasn’t British, she was sure of that. It seemed more European, all crisp vowels and careful Rs. She’d no idea where in Europe, though.
“I’m Amber.” She forced herself to make eye contact. His eyes, the palest shade of blue, drilled into her like he was assessing her. “Where are you from? I love your accent.” She immediately wanted to kick herself for that line, sure he must hear it all the time, but hid her inward cringe with what she hoped was a welcoming smile.
“I’m pleased to meet you, Amber.” His head inclined in what appeared to be a tiny bow. Totally weird. Actually, totally cute.
“Yeah. Me, too,” Amber replied, without the bow. “Hey, Lauren.” The whole situation felt so strange that she needed to ground herself by speaking to her bestie. Except she seemed engrossed in Josh.
“Yes?” Lauren stepped away from Josh. “You must be Nik,” she said.
“I am.” He held out his hand, and Lauren took it. Again he gave the tiny bow. Lauren glanced at Amber, clearly trying to suppress any sign of how funny she found it. Amber busied herself by flicking imaginary bits of fluff from her top to stop herself from giggling at such bizarre behavior.
She wondered why he hadn’t offered to shake her hand. Not that she cared. It just seemed odd. She turned in his direction an
d caught him staring intently at her. Well, more staring at her camera. He looked up, an unreadable stony expression on his face.
She shifted awkwardly. Just because he was hot didn’t give him the right to look at her—or her stuff—like that. And for what? She hadn’t done anything.
“We should go,” Amber said, trying to telepathically get Lauren to realize she wasn’t comfortable with the situation.
“A few more minutes,” Lauren replied, giving an almost imperceptible nod in the direction of Josh.
Clearly the telepathy hadn’t worked. They were out of practice. Either that, or Lauren had chosen to ignore the signs of Amber’s obvious unease. She could just leave on her own. Or, she could pull on her big-girl panties and put up with being in his company.
It also struck her that perhaps she was overreacting a bit. Maybe more than a bit, when you thought about it. He’d stared at her. So what? She wasn’t exactly being welcoming. In her defense, it had been a long time since she’d met someone new. But he could have made more of an effort. Even if there was something about her that was clearly annoying him.
“Sure.” Amber smiled reassuringly. She didn’t want Lauren to think she was losing it.
Lauren and Josh moved away slightly, and Amber couldn’t hear their conversation; all she could see was Lauren waving her arms about in that animated way she had when she was happy.
Amber smiled to herself, lifted her camera, and took a few photos of the two of them.
“You find something amusing?” Nik asked, fixing her once more with his penetrating gaze.
She loosened her grip on the camera. “Not really.” She shrugged and inwardly congratulated herself for her relaxed response.
Nik frowned. “Is it Josh?” he demanded.
Was it her imagination, or was there a slight accusation in his definitely unfriendly tone? How did he manage to jump to that conclusion? Smiling didn’t mean she was poking fun at Josh.
“No. I was thinking about something else. Nothing to do with Josh or Lauren.” She’d have to think of something quick, or he could demand to know what it was, and she wasn’t about to tell this stranger she was smiling because Lauren’s secret crush was paying attention to her. “How long have you known Josh?” Maybe that question would prevent further probing.
“Our families are friends. Josh’s father suggested I come to this school for a year.”
So that was it. She’d thought that he didn’t seem like the type of guy Josh would usually hang with. Way too formal.
“Why only a year?” She fiddled with her camera strap.
“I want to experience life in America, but my parents wish for me to return and finish my education in my country. So we agreed on one year.”
She watched as he folded his arms tightly across his chest, making him seem even more imposing. She was tempted to take a shot of him. The way he was looking down his nose at her with a slight scowl would have made an interesting subject. But something stopped her. He kept glaring at her camera like it offended him for some reason. Which, given that he wasn’t a paparazzi-hounded member of One Direction, made absolutely zero sense.
Poor Josh if he had to endure Nik hanging around all the time. Though looking like the boy did, he’d no doubt have no problem finding people, a.k.a. girls, to be with. Some girls might find his aloofness appealing. But she definitely wasn’t one of them.
She checked the time on her cell. Had they really only been standing there for five minutes? It seemed twice as long.
“Oh. And where do you live normally?” She drew herself up to try and appear taller, except it didn’t seem to work. She still only came up to his chest, putting her at a distinct disadvantage. Sort of. She’d always liked tall guys. But this was different. Instead of being hot, his height advantage was more intimidating than anything.
“Europe.”
A shadow crossed his face. Was he hiding something? Or maybe she was just misinterpreting things. For some odd reason, his shifty expression had reminded her of Wade just then. Which was crazy. There was nothing similar about the two of them.
She hoped that he would make other friends, because if Lauren and Josh started dating, they might try to include her and Nik when they went out. And being paired off with Nik was something she wasn’t prepared to endure, no matter how much she owed Lauren.
…
Nik drew in a long breath. He was in uncharted territory and didn’t know how to proceed. He’d never met anyone quite like Amber before—specifically, anyone who showed such disinterest in him. Was this what being normal felt like? To be ignored or dismissed like he wasn’t important? Suddenly, he wasn’t so sure if he liked it. He surreptitiously studied her, while she did everything she could to avoid eye contact. She certainly wasn’t his type, if indeed he had a type. His previous girlfriends had all been tall with blonde hair, which would imply that he did. Then again, in his country, most girls he met looked like that.
Amber was small, at least a head shorter than he was. Her dark brown hair seemed ridiculously short as it framed her face. A pretty face with freckles. And what was it with that camera she hugged close to her, like it was something so precious? He’d hoped that in America he’d finally be away from people constantly trying to get a shot of him. Yet, the first day here, he’d met a girl who seemed obsessed with taking photos. No wonder he’d frozen up around her.
“What are you staring at?” Amber’s question brought him back to the present with a start.
“Nothing,” he replied abruptly, feeling like a small child being caught doing something wrong.
She reminded him of his old nanny, who’d always said that he shouldn’t stare at people because it made them feel uncomfortable. Most of the time, he didn’t even realize he was doing it.
“It didn’t seem like nothing to me. You were looking at my hair, weren’t you?” she accused.
“Yes. It’s much shorter than I’m used to seeing.” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. He should’ve known better than that. He’d been trained since a child to be circumspect, and here he was, not two days in America, and he was forgetting how to behave.
“Girls don’t have short hair in your country?” Amber challenged, as if daring him to say even more about how she looked.
Which was another thing. All the girls he knew were masters of polite conversation. He had no clue why she was being so unfriendly. He hadn’t been rude to her. Admittedly, he’d been looking at her hair. Well, her hair and also her camera. But surely that wasn’t enough to make her so antagonistic.
Maybe it was a cultural thing. He would check with Josh later whether it was something he’d done by mistake. In the meantime, he couldn’t just stand there in such awkward silence.
“It’s different from girls at home, yes. But it’s very striking,” he added, hoping that would appease her.
She remained silent for a moment, with an expression on her face like he was a bug who had landed on her shoe. “Thank goodness for that,” she finally said, “or I might have had to spend the next several months sitting in my room willing it to grow.”
So, that was what they meant by American sarcasm. He’d handled worse situations. “I hope not. That would be terribly unproductive and a waste of good tuition money.” He gave her his best diplomat-greeting smile, and her scowl softened, if only slightly. “Have you and Lauren been friends long?”
Amber’s startled expression made him think that he’d shocked her by changing the subject of their conversation. “Since the start of high school. Why?”
Why? He gave an exasperated sigh. He hoped her attitude wasn’t a sign of things to come. It was becoming tiresome.
“No matter,” he replied, letting his smile dim and then disappear.
He stepped off the path and onto the grass to put some distance between them. He watched the other students arriving in cars and greeting each other. If he knew where to go, he’d be tempted to just leave. But he knew Josh wanted to take him to their dor
m and show him around. He supposed he could just head in the direction of the school and find his own way, but he didn’t want to appear ungrateful. And if he could deal with boring dignitaries all wanting a moment of his time, then one truculent girl should be no trouble.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.” He turned at the sound of Amber’s voice.
She smiled at him hesitantly, a pink spot on both of her cheeks. It was very attractive. Perhaps she was regretting her treatment of him.
“It’s perfectly fine,” he replied, hoping to put her more at ease. People often felt awkward in his company. He understood that when it was in a royal context. But now, when he was just an ordinary guy, it was troublesome. And he needed to address it.
“Your English is great. Did you learn in school?” Amber asked.
“I had an English tutor from a very young age.” He didn’t know why, but her praise made him feel good.
Amber frowned. “Why?”
He could have kicked himself for not thinking through his answer. What reason could he give for having a tutor that wouldn’t leave her suspecting he was not who he said he was? Except he hadn’t actually said anything about who he was yet.
“Many Europeans learn English. My parents felt it would be useful.”
“Where in Europe do you come from?”
The question he’d been dreading. Though he knew it would come. The sooner he practiced his answer, the better.
“You wouldn’t have heard of it,” he said in a dismissive voice.
“I’ve been to Europe before. When I was younger. My dad was in the Air Force, and he was stationed over there. In Greece.”
Nik’s fists clenched by his side. If her father was in the military, then he might know of the Lutgenstadt royal family. Except she was hardly going to mention him to her father. Plus, he was going by the maiden name of his favorite nanny, Gustafsson. And, of course, if she decided to Google him on the internet, she’d find the fake social media presence set up for him by the palace security team. Nik Gustafsson was on Facebook. Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. So he should quit worrying. No one would make the connection. He was being ridiculous.
