Dirty Rogue: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance(118)
“My schedule—.”
“Are you a crown prince or not?”
“That’s exactly why—.”
Nate pulls the car around in front of Sainthall Palace and shifts it into park before he throws an arm over the seat and turns to look back at me.
“I’m only going to bring this up one more time. Your brother—he let this job eat him alive. If you want something to change, you’re going to have to be the one to change it. The Alec I know would never let something as small as a schedule keep him away from the love of his life.”
My heart pounds against my ribcage. I look at Nate for a long moment in silence, and then he salutes me and opens his door, coming around to open mine. Protocol.
His words thunder in my head as I walk across the terrace to the palace entrance, my mind racing, phone already in hand, plans already in the works. I have to get back to her. It’s my only choice. Because…
“The love of his life. The love of his life. The love of his life.” Nate’s words echo in my head. And in my heart.
Jessica is the love of my life.
Chapter 45
Jessica
The Purple Swan is crowded, humming with energy. People have been arriving in a hurry this evening, trying to get inside before the thunderstorm forecasted for New York City hit. So far, it’s just a gentle summer rain, but when Carolyn and I got out of the town car she hired, I heard the rumble of thunder in the distance. The storm will be here before the party is over, that’s for sure.
Christian has invited all of our friends to the Swan for a going-away party. I leave for Seattle in the morning. Despite my obsessive planning—I even have a credit union picked out, and I’ve signed up for a rewards card at the local grocery store chain that’s closest to my new apartment—the upcoming move still seems surreal. As I look around the table at my laughing, drinking, chatting friends, I realize I’m going to miss them.
It’s all right, though. I know exactly where to find them if I ever want to visit.
Aside from that, it’ll be good for me to branch out. Once Jamie and I parted ways after college, it was so much easier just to fall in with Christian’s crowd—but now that I’m feeling a stronger urge to rebuild my life, I need to be around more people who aren’t millionaires or billionaires. My friends are wonderful people and generous to a fault, but it’s just not the same when you’re not a millionaire or billionaire, too. Jamie’s promised that she has lots of friends in Seattle who will be thrilled to meet me. I believe her.
We’re about halfway through the dinner service—eight courses, one of the top-tier options available at the Swan—when Christian drops into the empty seat beside me, his champagne glass in hand. The conversation swirls around us, the waiters clearing the soup bowls away in preparation for the next course, everyone deciding on their next glass—or bottle—of wine.
“Come clean,” he says with that sexy smile of his. I can appreciate his good looks even though I know, deep in my heart, that nobody’s ever going to compare to Alec. “What’s this move all about? I thought you were done with all that?”
“Things change,” I say, leaning back to let the waiter remove my dishes. “I guess it’s just time for me to move on. You know me, Chris. I can never stay in the same place too long.”
“Don’t be coy with me, Jess,” he jokes, taking another sip of champagne. “Is this about that Alex guy?”
“Alec,” I correct automatically, then blush. “And what makes you say that?”
“Because,” he says, drawing the word out, “you love those spontaneous life moves, but it seems awfully suspicious that you jet off for some secret, unplanned vacation with the guy, then come back and immediately decide that you’d rather live all the way across the country.”
“I’ve got friends in Seattle,” I say defensively. “It’s not a random choice.”
“The timing isn’t random.”
“No.” There’s nothing I can really say to prove him wrong. The timing isn’t random.
“What happened with you guys? Last I heard, you were across the Atlantic with the guy and nobody knew if you’d even come back. Then suddenly you’re here, but moving. Did you discover he’s an *?”
“Not exactly,” I sigh, although he did behave like one on more than one occasion. While the rest of the table discusses the latest book climbing the bestseller charts—some vampire novel with a twist—I give Christian an abbreviated rundown of what happened in Saintland.
He listens until I’m done speaking. “And what is it exactly that makes you want to move?”
“I miss him,” I say, the ache welling up in my heart. “Every day that I’m here, I just keep looking for him on the street, like he’ll show up one day and…”
“Take you back?”
I shake my head. “I don’t even know if I’d want him to do that.” This is only a half-truth. With every day that passes, I’m more sure than ever that I do want to be with Alec. It’s Alec who doesn’t want to be with me. I’m not going to be one of those needy, clingy women.
“Why aren’t you flying to Saintland instead of Seattle? At least in Saintland, you’d be able to figure it out for sure.”