I flashed Oliver an exuberant smile. “You were amazing!” I yelled over the music.
He laughed and leaned in close to my ear. “That was surreal. I can’t believe I did that! My dad is probably going to freak.”
I shook my head. “Who cares! You’re the king now. This is the new Oliver Era.”
Oliver’s eyes sparkled as he took my hand.Keep it together, Adelaide.
Skylar placed a hand on Oliver’s elbow, getting his attention. “Your Majesty, look at the response already flooding in on social media,” they said, showing us their phone. Photos and videos of Oliver’s solo filled the feed, and #KingOliverRocks was already trending.
Oliver squeezed my hand. “You know what?” he murmured in my ear. “You’re right. It’s time to follow my heart and stop worrying quite so much about everything else.” He looked deep in my eyes, and I knew he wanted to kiss me. And, in spite of myself, I found I wanted him to.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Richie crooned as the song ended, “we’re going to slow things down just a bit. This next song is a special request from our king himself. And who am I to tell the king of Wexstone no?”
The spotlight zeroed in on the keyboardist as he started to play. I knew this melody. I had listened to this song over and over again after the graduation party, crying my eyes out to Dash as I told him about how Oliver had left without a word.
I turned to Oliver, my eyebrows furrowed. “You requested this song?”
He nodded. “I did.”
“Why?”
The corner of his mouth tipped up. “It’s the song we danced to on our first date.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Only date,” I corrected.
He shook his head, lips still tipped in a half-smile. “First date. And it seemed fitting for our second date. Maybe it’s all coming back to me?” He winked at me mischievously and pulled me into his side.
I rolled my eyes and elbowed him playfully. “You’re so cheesy.” But I couldn’t help turning into him.
“When I touch you like this,” Oliver sang to me as he ran his thumb along my bottom lip. “It’s all coming back to me now.”
“Oliver,” I whispered, my breath hitching.
“Dance with me.”
“What? I?—”
A camera flashed and broke our eye contact, reminding me that we were, in fact, in public as an engaged couple. Dancing together would be a good way to keep up the pretense.
“All right,” I agreed.
We stepped forward into the space between our seats and the front of the stage, our security guards giving us room while staying close. Oliver placed one hand on my waist, then took my hand in his other and held it over his heart as we started to sway. He smelled heavenly, like tobacco and caramel. I laid my head below his shoulder as we danced in a small circle.
“You were right about something else, Laidie,” Oliver murmured into my hair.
“What’s that?” I asked, lifting my head to meet his gaze.
“You once told me not to discount music as a diplomatic tool. I never imagined it would happen like this, but it seems that you were correct.”
I smiled and returned my head to his chest. I had remembered that conversation, but couldn’t believe that he had, too.
In my periphery, I spotted other couples dancing in the aisles and wondered what it would be like to go back to the first time that Oliver and I danced to this song. The only care we had at that time was him graduating and hiding out from a crazy fan. Not much life had happened yet, and our futures had stretched out, big and bright ahead of us.
Now here we were, years later, pretending to be engaged so that he could take the throne and I could advocate for those who needed it. Meanwhile, I was fighting for my life not to let those old feelings resurface—a challenge that was proving more difficult by the minute.
From our first tutoring session together, I had always felt safe with Oliver. It would be so easy to let myself fall for him and to believe that he’d be there to catch me this time. But being together, being his queen, was simply not an option.
The song’s bridge built and Oliver spun me around,lowering me into a dip. “You’re in your head,” he whispered as he brought me back up.
