Dancing in a Russian ballet company.
Having a prince fall in love with her.
She needed to be very careful here. Valentin had zero interest in her. She was in his sphere for one reason only.
To find him a match.
Besides, she wasn't looking for love for herself. Her last breakup had been messy—shouting match and ugly crying messy. She'd believed Harry had beenthe one,and she'd been devastated to find out he hadn't felt the same about her.
She'd go back on the market eventually, but not yet.
Not only would she be humiliated if Valentin figured out she had a crush on him, if there was any hint of scandal, the royal family would put the kibosh on her using them on her CV.
The royal stamp of approval would give her fledgling business validation when she desperately needed it.
She couldn't mess this up.
Whatever attraction she harbored for Valentin needed to be crushed. Pronto.
Valentin hung up the phone,while using his other hand to rub his chest.
Something felt off.
Not wrong. Just different.
He couldn't place it.
He began his nightly routine. Checked his messages and emails. Nothing from his mother or Conrad that was urgent enough it couldn't wait until tomorrow. He plugged his phone into its charger in his office and retired to his rooms, where he turned on a sitcom that allowed him some time to be mindless.
But he couldn't get rid of the sensation that something had changed.
And it hadn't happened on the date, as pleasant as seeing Amy had been.
It was the phone call with Crystal that bothered him. When she'd asked if he would be reading to the kids.
She'd sounded as if... as if she admired him.
And why shouldn't she? He was doing a good thing. A lot of people admired him.
But it was different because it was Crystal.
From the very beginning, she hadn't cut him any slack. He could still picture her standing in the sand, clutching her shoes with her hand propped on her hip.
He glanced in the mirror just before he raised his toothbrush to his mouth.
He was smiling.
Because of Crystal.
He put his toothbrush back down, stared at himself in the mirror.
What had just happened?
He was thinking about a woman and smiling. Looking forward to seeing her again.
Crystal had done what he'd thought was impossible.
She'd awakened his heart. Sure, it was still barricaded behind an impenetrable wall.
But he'd thought it was DOA. Buried with a headstone.
Crystal was only doing a job for him. He wasn't interested in her. Not really.
But if he could smile about her antics, maybe he could fall in love again. Someday. With someone. Far into the future.
