Lotus cackled. “Oh, start. Please start.”
Reaper leaned forward, eyes alight. “He said, ‘ease it into first, mate, nice and gentle.’ So, I did. And the bloody van bunny-hopped down the entire lane like a drunk kangaroo. Nearly threw us both through the windscreen.”
“It wasn’t the van’s fault,” Titan muttered. “You’ve got no coordination.”
“I’ve got plenty of coordination,” Reaper shot back. “Just not for machinery older than me.”
“Shouldn’t you be at some banquet with your wife or something, instead of annoying me?” Titan groused.
Reaper smirked. “Lucía is helping her father with some international relations stuff.”
Clara felt confused and then, like a lightbulb, it clicked. She knew Reaper looked familiar, but it wasn’t until he said the name Lucía that she pieced it together. “Oh my God, you’re him. You’re married to Princess Lucía of Spain.”
Reaper smiled wide and nodded. “I am. She’s my better half in every way.”
“Oh, wow. I can’t believe this.”
Watchdog chuckled beside her. “I guess we forget how much of a big deal she is because to us she’s just our friend.”
Clara turned to him, grabbing his arm in excitement. “You’ve met her, too?”
Jonas laughed and she felt her heart kick over in her chest at the sound. “We all have. Lucía is a regular here. She’s even worked the desk at the Mountain Rescue with Reaper a time or two, but nobody ever recognises her, which is a good thing.”
Bishop nodded. “Told you, plain sight.”
“Mountain Rescue Centre?” Clara asked in confusion.
Jonas was rubbing his thumb over her knuckles now, where her hand still sat on his muscular forearm. It was distracting in the best way. “Yeah, that’s our cover for being here at the mountain, and it disguises our coming and going from beneath.”
“Oh, yeah, that makes sense.”
Clara was looking at him now, her gaze seemingly frozen to the curve of his lips, the sparkle in his eyes. He was happy and it looked good on him.
“You’re staring.”
“You look happy.”
Jonas cocked his head as if giving what she had said some real thought, and she liked that about him. That he didn’t give flippant responses meant she could believe what he told her, and that was important to her.
“I am happy. Being around you makes me happy, Clara.”
If he had told her she had won the lottery or that she could have access to the rarest text in the world, she wasn’t sure it would have made her smile more. “Same.”
His hand rested on her back for a moment, and the world ceased to exist for those few moments until it was broken by the raucous laughter around her.
Gideon chuckled, shaking his head. “I’ll never forget Duchess’s face. She looked like she was calculating which hedge to roll into.”
“I was,” Duchess said dryly, sipping her wine. “The left one was softer.”
The table roared.
Valentina chimed in then, grinning. “What about when Lotus got mistaken for a cabaret dancer in Madrid?”
Lotus’s eyes went wide. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, come on,” Damon said, smirking. “You were in that sequinned dress, feathers in your hair.”
“I was undercover!” Lotus threw her napkin at him. “And if you recall, my distraction worked.”
