Dimitri nodded toward my future hookup’s friend, and I turned to see she’d stripped off her hoodie, revealing a very brief tank, but that wasn’t what had grabbed his attention. The brunette was currently waving her hands over her head while she bounced along to the song, belting out the lyrics in a less than melodicvoice.
I grunted, then turned back to the stage. I didn’t want to miss one more second of my girl’s girls bouncing. Her breasts were so fucking hot. By now most of the bar was on their feet singing along—the women, I mean. I think most of the men weren’t because they didn’t want to expose their hard-ons.
The blonde finished her song, blew a raspberry, then took a dramatic bow amid thunderousapplause.
“You change your mind about the brunette?” I asked.
Dimitri shrugged, but I could see that he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
“Let’s go,” I rumbled.
He didn’t need to ask what I meant. I just hoped Dimitri’s social skills had improved since the last time he’d talked to an American. He’d been less than kind when dealing with that woman at the hotel. Granted, she thought I was someB-list actor. But we probably had only one shot with these ladies and if I knew Dimitri, we were in trouble. Our chairs made a loud scraping sound as we pushed away from the table. We were both intent on our targets, but unfortunately we weren’t the only ones. Before we could reach them, a trio of prats got to our girls’ table first.
The guys said something and my girl looked at her friend, whorolled her eyes. With a small smile, my girl shook her head and said something I couldn’t catch. The prats took their leave, and a few beats later Dimitri and I stood in their place.
“Bonjour.”Dimitri greeted the women before I could open my mouth. “May we join you ladies?”
My girl looked to her friend, who didn’t even notice. She was too busy smiling at Dimitri, who took her smile as a yesand pulled out the chair closest to her. I grabbed the chair next to the blonde.
“I’m Hannah and this is my friend Rachel,” the blonde said with a wider smile than she’d shown the prats. Although she directed it at Dimitri.
Connard.
I smiled at both ladies. “Luc. This is Dimitri.”
Hannah turned her wide smile at me, and suddenly I was glad I’d taken a seat. “Hi, Luc. That’s quite an accentyou got there. Where are you from?”
“Monaco.”
Rachel leaned forward. “Oh, wow. I’ve never met anyone from Monaco before. Your country’s been in the news lately…something about the royal family?”
I felt Dimitri tense beside me even as my smile dimmed. “Yes, our Sovereign Prince is marrying another European princess. It’ll be quite the event, I’m told.”
“Does that mean you’ll be invited?” Rachelasked.
I laughed uncomfortably and deflected. “Do we look like the kind of guys who would be invited to a royal wedding?”
Rachel shrugged. “Sure. Why not? Just because you guys are wearing jeans and T-shirts now doesn’t mean anything.”
“The fact that you’re hanging out in the Juke Joint on a Thursday night I think says more than your wardrobe.” Hannah smiled. “I really doubt any friends ofa prince would be caught dead in here.”
Dimitri smirked, then took a swig of his water.
I just shrugged and smiled.
Rachel cocked her head. “I hadn’t heard about the royal wedding. Wasn’t there something else about your country that was in the news recently? Something about the royal family…I can’t think of it.”
I rolled my pint glass in my hand and stared intently at the fizzing liquid. “Yes,next month is the one-year anniversary of the plane crash that took the lives of our previous Sovereign Prince and one of his sons, Prince Julien.”
My twin brother. Just saying his name aloud was like being sliced with a dull knife. I cleared my throat awkwardly.
“I remember that. It was all over the news for weeks. So horrible.” Hannah shook her head, her expression solemn.
An uncomfortablesilence descended on the table for a moment. I had to look away; the sympathy in Hannah’s eyes felt so much more authentic than any I’d heard over the past year. And this coming from a woman who had no idea that it was my brother and father we were talking about. I took a swig of my beer to cover my awkwardness.
“What brings you to the U.S.?” Rachel asked with a sympathetic wince as Dimitri overrodeher question with his own.
“So, which one of you is getting over a breakup?” Dimitri bluntly asked.
