SINCE TODAY’S ROYAL event was strictly a friends-and-family, no-photographers-allowedfête champêtre, I was able to indulge without incurring anyone’s wrath for not being a perfect prince for show.
Not that I gave a damn. But itwaseasier to drink limitless amounts of champagne and hit the dance floor as many times as I liked without photographic evidence hitting the front pages the next day.
A group of Katerina’s bridesmaids gathered at the bar beside me, rehydrating after I’d led them all in a round of who-can-drop-it-lower to KC and the Sunshine Band’s “Get Down Tonight.”
And the answer to that wasme. No contest.
“It was such a beautiful wedding,” Katerina’s maid of honor, Dani, said, hugging her glass to her chest. “Like a fairytale. Didn’t you think so, Theo?”
“Oh yes,” I said, sarcasm dripping into my almost-empty flute as I finished it off. “Glorious.”
“It’ll be the same when you decide to get married,” the brunette beside her added. “The whole country will go all out. I bet it’ll be even bigger than this one.”
That was not where my head was, but I decided to go along with it anyway. “You think so?”
“Definitely. Jean’s great, but he’s a little more…” She bit her lip and looked at her friends for help.
“Stick-up-his-ass?” I offered.
Her brows shot up in surprise. “Uh, no. More?—”
“Mind-numbingly boring?”
They all laughed in a tentative way, like they weren’t sure if they should be mocking their friend’s choice in partner, especially since he’d soon be the head of state.
“More…serious, is all,” Dani said.
“But speaking of serious,” a woman who’d kept quiet until now piped up, eyes glittering, “are you seeing anyone?”
“And give the masses a reason to stop lusting after me?” I teased, and lifted my glass to the bartender for a refill.
“Is that what you think people are doing?” a male voice said behind me, one so familiar that even if I didn’t know it instantly, the looks of shock and awe on the girls’ faces would’ve tipped me off.
Shep lifted a flute of champagne off a passing waiter’s tray and moved in beside me, and instantly my entire body warmed.
I hadn’t been expecting him today, and I was tipsy enough to admit he looked really,reallygood, so debonair in a navy suit so perfectly tailored to him that it molded to his body like a second skin. Where I preferred a more “undone” look for myself, everything about Shep was classic and buttoned up, but that didn’t diminish his appeal.
No, his mouth did that. Especially when he greeted the ladies and then gave me a sardonic smile before saying, “Was that last move on the dance floor part of what has everyone lusting after you, or were you doing that to keep them from swarming you?”
The girls chuckled freely at that, but I could only wonder what the hell Shep was doing here. Even though he’d beeninvited, his response to me had been “hell fucking no” to all activities other than the wedding he’d been required to attend, so his presence here told me he hadreasons, and none of them were good.
Merde.
I ignored his attempt at an insult and winked. “Shep here is just jealous his hips don’t move that way. He’s like a ninety-year-old with arthritis, poor guy.” I patted his cheek, and he caught my wrist before quickly dropping it.
He gave the girls a polite smile. “Ladies, do you mind if I take Theo off your hands for a moment?”
“Not at all,” Dani said, waggling her brows. “Have at him.”
The double meaning of her words went over Shep’s head—or he simply chose to ignore it. As we headed off to a secluded spot by the trees, I grabbed Shep’s glass of champagne for myself.
Double-fisting it. I was classy as hell. But he wasn’t here for anything good, so alcohol was required.
Sure enough, as he turned toward me, his default all-too-serious expression was back on that handsome face. It was a shame someone so attractive and scowling had such full, perfect lips.
Even more of a shame I was noticing them now.
“Nope,” I said, shaking my head before he could say a word. “We’re not doing this today.”
