“Unlike you, I have an assistant.Zara is loyal and invaluable to me. She does the work of three assistants and never complains. As for Aristide’s spying—he had been instructed to step in and keep you from making a fool of the House of Greiner. He had my full authority.”
“Fantastic. Nice to know you’re just as diabolical as our sainted father. And if you love Aristide so much, you hire him.”
“Lucien—”
“No. I’ve made my decision.End of. I will not rehire Aristide. And you will never meddle in my personal life again. I’m quite happy to chuck the whole happy royal family gambit. Just say the word, and I’m out of there. I spent years living with a hell of a lot less, and I’d be oh so happy to go back. If you want to keep the illusion of your happy little spare, you do not want to fuck with me.”
I punched the red end callbutton without waiting for Bastien’s response. Grinding my back teeth, I gave into the impulse and threw my phone. It bounced off a sofa and landed on the floor with a hard thud. Not that I gave a shit. That would just make it harder for His Highness to call me.
He just got me so pissed off. Like he knew better than me. He wasn’t even human. He had fucking ice flowing through his veins.
“SoI’m guessing that didn’t go well?” Hannah spoke softly from behind me.
I turned around and found her twiddling her fingers, easily ten feet away. “I thought you didn’t speak French.”
“I don’t. I do speak fluent body language, though, and throwing your phone is a dead giveaway. Might be actually dead, too.”
I smiled a little at Hannah’s joke. “Are you ready?”
“That’s it? You don’t want to talkabout what just happened?”
“I think we both need to get out and have some fun and just forget all the bullshit in our lives.”
“Hey, I’m all for some ill-advised recreational fun. It’s the glue that holds our little temporary relationship together.”
I put my arm around Hannah and escorted her to the door, leaving my phone where it fell. If someone needed me, they’d just have to wait. I had someimportant memories with my girl to make.
But as we walked out the door, Hannah’s “temporary relationship” remark chafed me. I was making serious changes in my life because of her. And she was already pushing me away.
—
Despite my morose thoughts, I decided to show Hannah a sliver of my world. Well, as close to my world as we could get in Las Vegas.
“Wow, the city looks so small from up here.”Hannah’s voice crackled through the headsets we both wore in the back of the helicopter and brought a smile to my face. “Oh, God, he’s not gonna do another bank turn, is he? I don’t think my stomach can take it.”
“Hey, Marcus, ease up on the maneuvers. My lady’s stomach can’t take much more.” I reached over and grabbed Hannah’s hand and held it in my lap.
“Aye, sir.” Marcus replied.
It wastoo short notice to get me cleared to pilot the helicopter myself, so I had to sit in the back as a passenger. But holding Hannah’s hand as she squealed and pointed out the window in excitement buffered my ego somewhat.
“Oh, look—my apartment complex is right there.” Hannah pointed toward some pinkish tan buildings that looked so much like the rest of the neighborhood I couldn’t really tell thedifference, but I nodded anyway.
After a tour of the Strip and city views, the helicopter turned south into the desert. We spotted some bighorn sheep blending into the mountainside as they scaled an impossible gradient. Hannah smiled so big, it did strange things to my heartbeat. This, this right here, was why I wanted more time with her. Everything felt so much more amazing and worthwhile withHannah by my side.
A few more miles and the helicopter started to make its descent into a field that was mostly rocks and shrubby brush. “Field” was a generous term. When we’d landed, Hannah took her headset off and gave me a hard peck on the lips.
“Thank you, Luc. That was amazing.”
“Who said the afternoon was over?”
“Really? What are we doing next?”
“That’s a surprise. But if you like it,I expect a more fervent thank-you than that.”
“You find us somewhere without an audience, and I’ll see what I can do.”
“Consider it a date.”
