This was not at all what I had in mind when I knocked on her door tonight, but I think it might have been just what we needed.
Chapter 21
Preston
As expected, Lucy continuedto give me the silent treatment after our first night together as ourselves, but at least she stopped hiding. Granted, it would have been difficult without a bedroom door, but I would accept that small victory.
Speaking of which, that broken door led to a lot questions.
We were able to sell a story to the palace staff about how Lucy was inside when the lock became stuck, and she panicked, unable to get out. I simply broke it down in desperation to get to my hyperventilating fiancée.
Liam wasn’t so easily convinced. He and Amy knew that Lucy had locked herself inside for a week, and the shattered door was no accident. Liam pressed hard for the truth, but he wouldn’t get it from me. Amy listened to the story and Liam’s wary inquisition with a knowing smile on her face. I had a feeling she would be a valuable ally and made a mental note to foster the relationship with my soon-to-be sister-in-law.
Their wedding was now less than three months away, and they were in the throes of planning, drowning in press engagements as the country eagerly anticipated the first royal wedding in over a decade.
The citizens of Belleston had waited thirteen years between the Remington brothers’ marriages, but luckily for them, they would be treated to a second wedding before the year was out.
There would be no intrigue surrounding a chosen royal bride, but Lucy was the princess they watched grow up. Ours was bound to be a veritable circus compared to those of her brothers, and I was already being hounded by the press anytime I left the palace as they begged for exclusive details.
Thankfully, Lucy dragged me back to Milan, and this time, I was grateful to put some distance between us and the prying eyes back home. Before we left, I tendered my resignation at work, accepting that my life would revolve around Lucy’s from this point forward. I was hoping it would be a show of good faith and Lucy might open up to talking to me again, but no such luck. Regardless, caring for her and supporting her career was now my job, and I was never one to give anything less than my all in my work, so she’d have to deal with it.
I wasn’t going anywhere.
Arriving late evening at her apartment in the city, all I could think about was how tired I was.
Tired of her shutting me out.
Tired of the decades we’d spent hating each other.
Tired of everything if I was being honest.
Dropping onto the couch I slept on during our last stay as she headed for the only bedroom without a word, I sighed before calling out wearily, “Lucy.”
She’d spent the past few weeks ignoring me, so I half-expected her to keep walking and slam her bedroom door to punctuatethat she had no interest in speaking to me. But she had always been unpredictable, and tonight was no exception.
Pausing, Lucy turned to face me. The exhaustion I felt was mirrored on her face. “What do you want from me?”
I hated seeing her this defeated, knowing I was the cause. Rubbing a hand down my face, I knew I needed to be honest with her from this point forward. No matter what.
“I know it’s too much to ask your forgiveness, but maybe I can ask that we get to know each other better?”
Lucy huffed out, “We’ve known each other almost our entire lives.”
“Maybe we get to know the people we are when we aren’t deliberately trying to piss the other one off,” I countered.
She chewed on her lower lip, thinking it over. Finally, she asked, “Like the guy who reads the baby books with his brother?”
That brought a smile to my lips. This was the opening I needed.
Nodding my head, I patted the seat beside me on the couch. “Exactly. That guy wants to get to know the girl who handcrafts wedding dresses for the people she loves and is moonlighting as a lingerie designer.”
The way a blush crept up her cheeks and her eyes lowered did things to my insides. How had I never noticed how naturally beautiful she was in all these years? Maybe I didn’t want to see past my perception of her to realize there was so much more to her than I ever realized.
“Please?” I practically begged.
“Okay,” she whispered, joining me on the couch but keeping some distance between us. That was just fine, this process would take time, and I was a patient man.
“Would you like to start, or shall I?” I was quickly learning that the key to breaking past Lucy’s walls was by not being pushy. Well, at least outside of the bedroom, anyway.
