ADELINE
When I checked my watch for the third time in under five minutes, Amber let out a judgmental sigh. She was sprawled beside me on a lounge chair, with her sunglasses on and wearing enough sunscreen layered onto her skin to survive nuclear fallout.
“You’re on the verge of a stroke,” she said. “Relax. They’ll be fine.”
“I am relaxed.”
She slowly lowered her sunglasses to stare at me. “Right, and I’m emotionally stable.”
I smiled and leaned back in my chair beside the pool, but that same anxious energy was still rattling around inside me. Trying to distract myself from it, I inhaled a deep breath and just looked around again, still not really able to believe that all this belonged to Zach.
The waterfall ran into the swimming pool in a steady rush, sunlight glinting off the sparkling water. Music drifted softly from speakers hidden somewhere in the landscaping. Rolling green lawns stretched into towering trees.
It was absurd but Zach currently had my children somewhere out there on this ranch. Just the three of them. Amber and I hadbeen told in no uncertain terms to take a break while he took them for a bike ride around the property.
“Jennifer asked him this morning if he knows any princesses,” she said, her voice breaking gently into my thoughts. “You know, since he owns a castle.”
“This isn’t a castle,” I replied absently. “From what I’ve heard though, his brother, Will, lives in an actual castle in England now. He married an honest-to-God distant royal.”
“Why am I not surprised?” She snorted. “The place still has a guest house bigger than your condo. I’d say that qualifies as a castle in this country.”
“Probably,” I agreed, rubbing my temples before sinking lower into the lounge chair.
I still hadn’t fully adjusted to wearing a swimsuit in front of Zach, but since he wasn’t here now, I’d taken off the cover to get some sun. The warmth felt good against my skin, so much so that I finally even started to relax a little bit as we lay there.
While I was definitely still nervous about him being out there with both of the girls at the same time, I knew he wouldn’t let anything happen to them. They were safe with him, even if he was going to have his hands full, watching and running after both at the same time.
Amber turned onto her side, propping her head up with one hand. “It’s funny, I really was prepared to hate him.”
I looked over at her. “What?”
“Based on everything you told me about Louis, I think I just assumed that all men who fall into the billionaire class were basically just emotionally constipated lizards.”
I laughed. “Nah, Louis was a breed all of his own. There’s a night and day difference between them, even if Zach is technically several classes above Louis on the billionaire scale.”
“On every scale he outclasses your loser ex,” she said, then shrugged. “Zach has been annoyingly decent so far.”
I stared out at the pool, my throat tightening a little at the thought.Annoyingly decentwas an understatement.
Louis had never taken the girls bike riding. He’d never gotten up at five in the morning to scooter five miles with Lu or sat through animated movies while sick, arguing about plot holes like it was a serious intellectual debate he was trying to win.
“Where did you go just then?” Amber nudged my foot with hers. “Talk to me.”
When I turned back to her, there was a furrow between her eyebrows and her head was tilted, worry shimmering in her eyes. I took a deep breath, trying to decide where to begin, but as soon as I opened my mouth, the words just came pouring out of me. I’d never talked about this to anyone and it sort of felt like the floodgates just opened now that I actually could.
“I was in love with him,” I admitted in a rush. “Like, embarrassingly, truly, madly, deeply in love.”
A delighted smile spread on her lips. “I guessed as much, and to think, you told me he was just an old friend.”
“He was. I mean, he is.” I felt my cheeks flush. “We were friends first, but one thing eventually led to another years later. Everything with him always felt so easy, like I could just exist around him and still be completely enough.”
“So what happened?”
“My family.” My eyelids slid shut at the admission. “My dad was in trouble and they needed a quick fix. I was it.”
Amber winced in sympathy. “You and Zach were dating when that arranged marriage happened?”
I hadn’t said as much, but I supposed it didn’t take a rocket scientist to put it together. “Yeah, we were. It’d been about a year at that point, but we were talking about the future and making plans. After being friends for so long, it just felt like we were going to make it, you know?”
