Royal Cocktail by J. Kenner
Chapter Nine
Two Years Ago
“Leo!”
Skye’s voice hit him the moment he and Jürgen stepped through the door at The Fix on Sixth. He searched the room, quickly finding her by the dartboard with Hannah and Griffin. She grinned and waved. Best of all, she didn’t appear the least bit self-conscious about shouting his name.
He blew her a kiss and pointed to a booth. She nodded, then hugged her friends before hurrying toward him while Jürgen—an excellent bodyguard and an even better friend—made himself scarce.
As she got closer, her smile widened, her brown eyes glittering with joy as she threw herself into his arms, her legs locking around his upper thighs so that he was forced to palm her ass to hold her up. Which wasn’t a bad thing at all.
“Guess what?”
“I’m going out on a limb and saying that it’s good news.”
“They posted grades.” She spoke slowly, her breathing steady despite her obvious excitement. “Now guess which girl got all A’s—including the high-A in antitrust law.”
“Um, Ellie?” Skye’s law school bestie was a charming woman, but she was also barely skating by.
“She managed a C-minus, and she’s thrilled.”
He bounced her in his arms. “Then I’m guessing you’re the girl who got all A’s.”
She nodded happily. “And I managed that despite … spending far too much time with this cute guy I’ve … been hanging around with.”
“Perhaps that guy is your good luck charm.”
She leaned forward and kissed him, soft and sweet. “Maybe he is.”
“I’m thrilled for you. But not at all surprised. I know how hard you’ve been studying.” He’d been there beside her for each study session, poring over his own physics notes and annotating the results of various simulations he and Professor Malkin were running. They’d both worked hard—with some quite delicious study breaks to make the time pass faster.
Still in his embrace, she nodded over her shoulder toward Griffin and Hannah. “Just to make sure my ego … didn’t get out of control, they were kicking my ass at darts.”
He gave her butt a squeeze. “I can think of things to do with your ass, but kicking isn’t one of them.”
She leaned forward, kissed him, then playfully bit his lower lip, tugging on it just enough that he felt the heat curl all the way down to his cock, until he had no choice but to put her down or risk entirely inappropriate behavior right there in the bar.
He loosened his grip, and she slid down his body, the motion doing such incredible things to him, it took all his effort not to moan. She made him feel things he’d never felt before. Arousal, sure. But something deeper. More intense. More meaningful.
He craved her more than he’d ever craved any woman, and he’d waited longer for her than he had for any woman. He knew he’d fallen hard and fast, but it felt real. It felt right. And although that was undeniably odd, he couldn’t deny that he liked it.
And honestly, why should he deny it? Quantum entanglement was real enough, he knew that without a doubt. The phenomenon of paired particles reacting and responding to one another even when they were separated by great distance. It applied to people, too. Because damned if he wasn’t certain that Skye had been there all along, his paired particle.
“I like that,” she’d said when he’d told her as much during a study break. “I think it’s the perfect metaphor … for us.”
He knew she didn’t understand the physics of it, but she understood the core. He’d kissed her then, long and hard and deep. She’d moaned, her mouth against his, then she’d boldly pulled off her shirt, and he’d almost died on the spot. She was perfect. Her breasts spilling out over the top of her bra, her pale skin begging to be kissed.
He’d unfastened the front clasp, then tasted her nipple, sucking on it as she made the kind of whimpering sounds that drove him absolutely crazy.
He wanted more, and he’d kissed his way down her body, his tongue teasing her navel, his teeth tugging at the button on her jeans, then moving lower and lower until…
Except they hadn’t gotten to until.
She’d stopped him, telling him she wanted to, but that she was still a virgin and thought it better to wait until after finals. Especially since her antitrust class was kicking her ass.
“I’m sorry.”
“No,” he’d told her, kissing her gently. “I like having something to look forward to.”
That had led to three full weeks of wild desire topped off by a permanent ache in his cock that became his new normal.
It had also led to some soul-searching and guilt. Because how the hell could he be her first when he knew nothing could come of it? As the heir to the throne, he would be expected to marry, yes. But his choices for a bride were limited. And American lawyers were not within those parameters.
The bottom line was that whatever was between them couldn’t last. The most they could have was a Texas fling, and while he’d had many a fling with many a woman, Skye deserved more.
He didn’t want just sex with Skye. He wanted romance. He wanted passion. He wanted a connection.
Most of all, he wanted her. And there was no way that he could have her.
* * *
An hour later, his melancholy had passed, replaced by the laughter and teasing that came with drinking beer while playing darts with her, Hannah, and Griffin.
They were about to take a break and order another round when Skye tugged him sideways. He stopped, looking quizzically back at her. After a moment, she cleared her throat and gently tugged her hand away. He mourned the loss of contact, but at the same time, he was grateful for it. More and more often, he was finding it hard to let her go.
She cleared her throat. “There’s something I want you to do. It will be a total blast.”
“Oh no. What are you dragging me into?”
She gave his hand a tug. “Just come with me,” she urged. He didn’t protest. Right then, he was certain he would follow her forever.
But when she led him to the far wall, he felt his trepidation rising. He knew exactly what she was about to ask, and he started to shake his head. “Oh no. No, no, no.”
“Please.” She grinned at him and batted her eyes, exaggerating every movement until he had to laugh.
“I don’t want to be on the board,” he protested.
“But you would put everybody else to shame. Seriously, you’re like some Hollywood star.”
“Thank you for trying to butter me up, but no.”
Leopold had learned that, not long ago, The Fix on Sixth held a Man of the Month calendar contest in order to raise money to save the bar. Leopold didn’t know the whole story, but obviously the bar had been saved. And since then, the bar had started a ritual of taking posed pics of willing customers and tacking them up on a poster-sized calendar. One for every day.
It had become a thing at the bar. Unlike the calendar, the men weren’t shirtless and the pictures weren’t published anywhere. But sometimes customers photographed the board and shared the candid photos all across social media. For that reason, #TheFixOnSixth was conveniently displayed over the image board.
It was, on the whole, a great promotional strategy for the bar, and while Leopold respected that, he did not want to participate. What if some royal-watching customer came over to check out the board? What a ridiculous way to have his cover blown.
Except there was Skye doing puppy dog eyes at him with so much exaggeration that he had to laugh.
“Oh, come on, Leo. It will be fun. Don’t you want to memorialize this month?”
“Desperately,” he said, making her laugh from the leer in his voice.
“Okay, disappoint me.” She exhaled an exaggerated sigh. “It’s not like I won’t judge … you for the rest of eternity … for this moment.”
Now, he really was laughing. This woman matched him so perfectly, their senses of humor lining up like a covalent bond. Or back to quantum entanglement.
He saw Tyree approaching with a camera, and knew that he was sunk. Besides, he’d already conceded in his head. As far as he was concerned, what Skye wanted Skye got, and she obviously wanted him to do this silly thing.
“Hey, Leo.” Tyree reached out for a high-five, his large hand practically swallowing Leopold’s. He lifted the camera. “Are you going to be joining our calendar board today?”
Leopold put on his best smile even as he watched Jürgen scowling at him from across the room. “I guess I am,” he said.
A few minutes later, he had a copy of the photo that Tyree had selected from the dozen or so snaps he’d taken.
“I love it,” Skye said, pulling it off the photo printer. “Can I keep it?”
“What? My first cover shoot and you’re taking the evidence?”
She pressed it against her heart, and when she said, “Please,” it didn’t feel like teasing.
“Yes,” he said softly. “Of course, you can.”
“Thank you.” She hesitated a moment, then held it out to him. “Will you sign it?”
Wasn’t that an inconvenient question?
“Great big famous cover model that you are, I want to get a piece of that.” She added a leer to her voice that made him laugh.
“Do you?”
She looked him slowly up and down, making every atom in his body accelerate its spin. “Yeah,” she said, her voice low and a little shy. “I really do.”
“Skye…” He didn’t know what to say. He saw the want in her eyes; he heard it in her voice. And oh, but he wanted it, too.
He held out his hand. “Let me have the picture.”
She did, and he borrowed a Sharpie from one of the passing servers. He wrote the first thing he thought of—Love, Leo—then passed it back to her.
He watched as she read it, her hands trembling slightly. Her teeth grazed her lower lip, and she looked up at him through lowered lashes. Then she rose up on her toes and kissed his cheek, and he felt like nothing he could do as king could feel better than this.
“Thank you.”
“Anything to make you happy.” As he spoke, he realized just how true that was. For no reason other than to make her happy, he’d just shared a part of himself with the world. Not that he expected the photo to get out, but there was a bit of a risk, and he’d taken it for her. He was tumbling off into space, and he knew it.
The weird thing was, he loved it.
They ordered another round of drinks, then sipped their Loaded Coronas. He told her how the research with Professor Malkin was going, and she asked all the right questions. Then he listened as she talked about her summer job at her father’s firm and the federal clerkship she hoped to get after graduation. A one-year term on the Second Circuit in New York, after which she'd return home to Austin and the family business.
At one point, he realized that he hadn’t even noticed the slur in her words or the pauses in her sentences.
“No desire to see what other firm might want you?” he asked. “Or to do something entirely different? Teach or go in-house?”
She shook her head. “That firm is home. I practically grew up there. By the time I was twelve, I was actually proofreading briefs. By the time I was fifteen, I was writing them. It’s not a lack of ambition or me being stuck in a rut. It’s wanting to help continue building something excellent that started generations ago.”
He nodded. “I get that. I’ve worked in my father’s business all my life as well. And I’ve pretty much learned how to run it. Fortunately, I don’t have to yet, but I could if something happened to him.”
“Do you want to?”
“Run the business?” He shook his head. “No. My sister would be much better at that. My passion is physics.”
She nodded. “I can hear how much you love it when you talk about it.”
“I do. But the business is important to the family, and there are reasons why my sister can’t take over. So I’m afraid it may fall to me. No, not afraid. I know that it will.”
Her forehead wrinkled, and she frowned. “I’m sorry. Maybe you could—”
“No. Thanks, but I’d rather not talk about it. Believe me, I’ve spent much of my life wondering how to avoid it. It’s not a fun subject. I’d rather talk about, well, anything else.”
“Fair enough. How about the moon landing? I mean, Neil Armstrong. What a guy, right?”
He practically exploded with laughter. “Yes. The moon landing, and then we can move on to old James Bond films.”
The weird thing was they did exactly that. They talked about the moon landing and the current state of space exploration. They talked about the law, then physics. From there, they somehow managed to move on to Blumhouse horror movies and twist that over to James Bond, with both agreeing that Sean Connery was the best.
They bounced from topic to topic with such seamless ease, it was almost as if they were characters in a play who had rehearsed this conversation over and over again. Or a couple who had been together for years and not just weeks.
Quantum entanglement, he thought again.
It was unexpected. It was wonderful.
And it was so damned inconvenient.
They finally moved their conversation from the bar to the street, then walked back to her place. He paid no attention to their surroundings. He was too wrapped up in the conversation and the feel of her hand twined with his.
Foolish, yes, but Jürgen was out there somewhere, making sure all was well. It was a lack of privacy, true. But one Leo grew up with, and it was so familiar that he barely thought about his constant shadow.
It was past midnight when they reached the door to her condo, and he expected her to invite him in. They’d have a drink, talk a bit more. He’d hold her, kiss her, lose himself in her. But that was as far as it would go, and after a few hours, he’d leave, summon Jürgen, and head back to their rented house.
Tonight, though, she paused after punching in the entry code.
“I have one condition tonight,” she said, her eyes locked on his. “If you come in, you don’t leave until morning.”
He felt the shift in the air as the universe aligned. “Skye, you—we—you know I won’t be staying in America. I can’t promise you—”
“I don’t care.” She slid into his arms. “I’m falling for you, Leo. And maybe I can’t have you forever. But if you let me, I can have you for now. Please,” she added in a whisper. “I trust you. More than that I want you to be my first.”
He should walk away. He shouldn’t claim this moment as his own when he held onto so many secrets.
He should tell her no, but he didn’t. Because he was a selfish ass, and oh, God, how he craved her. Yes, he’d have to go back home, but it wouldn’t be tomorrow or even next week.
They had time, and he wanted to fill it with Skye.
