Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 95609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 478(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 478(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
I’m going to have to force myself to get through this. I’m here to film my thirty-second spot and then get rejected.
By the sweetest, loveliest man I’ve ever met.
This suddenly sucks. Hard.
“Your Majesty, I’m Anika. I’m an executive assistant from New York.” I sound like a pageant contestant. All I need is to throw in an I love America and I’ll be Miss USA. I’m also merely parroting what I’ve been told to say. They don’t want it to sound like I work in the entertainment field. Not relatable or something. Apparently I’m more relatable if the person I’m grabbing coffee for is a billionaire CEO and not a Hollywood director.
He gives me a grin that I feel in my freaking womb. I don’t intend to use that particular body part for a long time, so it’s not welcome. “It’s lovely to meet you, Anika.”
Awesome. We’ve done the hard part, and I can go blend into a wall at the cocktail party. If I can find one that’s made of gold glitter. If I can’t, I might stand out. Though if I stand next to Tiara Kate, no one will notice me because of her flashing diamonds.
I start to pull away, but his hand holds mine fast.
“Are you from the city?” he asks. “Or did you mean the state?”
He knows exactly where I’m from, but he seems to know how this game is played. I don’t want to play with him. He’s the only man in years I’ve met who seemed real to me. It hurts to find out the truth. “Born and raised in Hell’s Kitchen.”
He looks me up and down, though somehow manages to make it not feel like he’s leering. Rather he looks at me like I’m a work of art and he appreciates me. “A Manhattan Princess. Intriguing.”
“I’m no princess, Lu…Your Majesty.” I don’t care that the cameras are rolling. I need him to understand. “I’m just a person.”
“You think a king can’t be a person?”
“I think a king has obligations I can’t imagine.” I can’t help but think about what he’d said to me that night. He couldn’t kiss me, couldn’t stay with me because he had something he had to do. I’d honestly thought he hadn’t found me attractive and had a charming way to get out of doing something he didn’t want to do.
What if he’d been honest with me? He’d known he had to be right here for the next few weeks, and then he would have to show his fiancée off to the world so his plans could work. It could be a year or so before he and whoever won his “heart” could be free.
His hand shifts on mine, and he’s bringing it to his lips. “But suddenly obligations don’t seem so terrible.” His eyes hold mine, and then he releases my hand. “After all, I’m surrounded by beautiful women.”
“Thirteen of them.” My mouth is running of its own accord now because the carefully laid plan is blown. I’m already supposed to be in that mansion, wolfing down whatever’s passed for appetizers and counting down the time to when I can get out of these shoes. “You know it takes thirteen to make a coven. Now that would be fun. If you were dating thirteen witches and they could hex each other and send you love spells.”
His eyes have widened, and I know I’m having one of those Anika moments. Right on the Internet.
“I think I’ll stick to women like you.” He’s smiling at me like he finds me perfectly charming and not weirdly quirky in a “she might lose her shit and kill me” way.
I do have that look about me sometimes. Or so I’ve been told. “Well, I should go and join the others.”
He reaches over and smooths back a lock of hair that’s escaped the rest. He tucks it behind my ear in a sweetly affectionate way. “I’ll see you in there, Anika.”
And I’m released. I practically run away, fleeing up the steps as I hear the host of the show step in.
“Well, she was interesting,” the host says in a jokey way that lets me know he would cut me right now.
“She was indeed intriguing, Tom,” I hear Luca say.
“So is your queen here?”
“Oh, I definitely think my queen is here this evening,” Luca assures him as one of the assistants opens the door for me.
He says more, but the door closes quietly behind me.
And I get ready to face the music.
“What the hell, Ani?” Ivy’s voice comes over the line. “I’m sitting here making fun of women who think it’s a good idea to date a dude on camera and suddenly one of my best friends is there. Trying to date a dude on live TV.”
I’ve spent the last hour moving from whatever room Luca was in to one he wasn’t in, watching most of the women snag him for some one-on-one time.