His Royal Highness(28)

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Subject: RE: Assignments





Good morning Derek!





I hope this email doesn’t wake you up. It probably won’t considering you seem to never sleep. Haha. I set my alarm an hour early so I could read the article you sent over before I have to go to class. I know we don’t meet until next week and you said we could discuss it then, but I thought I’d go ahead and email you!





I can’t read the rest. My true feelings must have leapt off the screen and slapped him across the face. I AM HOPELESSLY IN LOVE WITH YOU! CAN’T YOU SEE?

With a shudder, I close my laptop, grab my phone, and walk over to my closet. I balk at everything my hands touch. Jeans? Not. Good. Enough.

I have Ryan’s number, though I’ve never used it. While I rifle through dresses, I send him a text.

Whitney: Busy tonight?





Then I text Carrie too.

Whitney: If you haven’t left your apartment yet, would you mind bringing me an outfit I can borrow for the dinner party? Something you’ve always wanted to put me in but I’ve never let you.





I get two texts back right away.

Ryan: No. Want to hang?





Carrie: YES. Be right there.





Two hours later, I’m in the elevator heading up to Cal’s penthouse flanked by Carrie and Ryan.

My makeup has been painstakingly applied. My hair hangs in intentionally loose waves. I’m wearing a thin black V-neck sweater that hangs off my shoulders, paired with a black silk skirt that falls to midcalf. My heels give me an inch on Carrie.

It’s an outfit that should be adorning an A-list celebrity whose main goal is to look ridiculously hot without looking like they tried at all. I’m not so sure I’m capable of pulling it off. I want to reach up and adjust the sweater so it doesn’t reveal so much skin, but Carrie assures me it’s tasteful and fitted perfectly. According to her, it won’t slip down even though it feels like it will. As it is, there’s only a hint of cleavage below my bare décolletage.

Back in my dorm, I suggested a necklace, and Carrie laughed.

“Your accessories are your collarbones and the shadows just beneath, the slope of your neck and smooth shoulders. Believe me—you don’t need a thing. Women underestimate how sexy this area of their body is.”

I took her word for it. After all, she’s the costume designer.

To her credit, Ryan did do a double take when he first saw me. That has to count for something.

“Are you sure Charles won’t mind that you’re bringing me along?” Ryan asks, tugging on his tie. He’s dressed up in a black suit. The boxy fit and the way the pants hang a little past his ankles kind of make it look as if he’s on his way to prom. I half expect him to whip out a corsage. Still, I find it charming that he’s put in so much effort. I think he’s nervous to meet Cal, and I understand how he feels. I would be nervous too.

“It’ll be fine. I promise.”

And if not, well, it’s too late now.

Carrie and I exchange a quick glance before I reach for the lipstick in my purse. The color is “Pucker Up”, a coral red subtle enough to draw attention to my lips without screaming for it.

Carrie’s taken just as much care with her appearance tonight as I have. Her dark red dress has billowing long sleeves and a short hemline. She saw it in hanging on a mannequin in the window at Free People two months ago and since she couldn’t afford it, she went home and mimicked the design herself. Tonight is her first time wearing it, and I wonder if she’s hoping Thomas will be in attendance. I’ve seen him at these things before.

Of course, I could just ask her, but it seems tonight there’s a silent understanding that it’s best to tiptoe around each other’s hearts.

She fusses with her short black hair, and I tell her she looks great just before the elevator doors slide open and voices swoop in to greet us.

We’ve arrived.

Ryan steps out of the elevator first, extending both of his elbows to us. There’s a crooked grin in place when he explains, “Seems like if I’m going to crash a dinner party, I might as well do it with two beautiful women on my arms.”

It’s smooth, especially coming from Ryan, and I find myself genuinely glad to have him here with me. I might have originally invited him on a whim as some juvenile attempt to prove to Derek that I’ve grown up and turned into a woman men want, but there’s another layer to it, something innocent and pure. Ryan truly was someone I saw myself dating. For months, I had a crush on him. In the two weeks since Derek has returned to town, he’s been thrown onto the back burner, but that’s not quite fair. I owe it to myself to see if I really do have feelings for him. In fact, I desperately want to have feelings for him because when we step into the living room, where guests have already started to amass, I find Derek engrossed in conversation with a group of people, a beautiful woman by his side.

She’s no stranger. Nadine has been a manager in the Entertainment Department for the better half of a decade. She helped train me for my role as Princess Elena. Tall, dark-skinned, British. There’s not one bad word you could say about her unless it’s that she’s too polite. You know those type of people. Their entire existence is one big apology. Oh, am I in your way? Oh, here, you go first. Oh, please, take mine.