Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 182641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 913(@200wpm)___ 731(@250wpm)___ 609(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 913(@200wpm)___ 731(@250wpm)___ 609(@300wpm)
He smirks, flashing his ridiculously expensive watch, and that means a lot coming from a girl with handbags that rival the cost of a sports car, loaded with the earth’s rarest diamonds, the Argyle, the family heirloom he never lets anyone forget about. He makes a point to run his hand along his hair to be sure I don’t miss his pompous little treasure.
“I like to believe I’m pretty equal, without the crown of course, but I can commission whatever is needed. Shall I order you a matching one?” he teases.
Ignoring his not-at-all-subtle intent, my eyes slide to his. “What can I do for you?”
“Just making sure my father isn’t telling me lies yet again.”
“I’m supposed to know what you mean?”
“Dinner on the yacht this evening … you, me, and our power-hungry fathers. Does any of this ring a bell?”
Lead fills my veins, and I jerk to a stop, my head snapping toward him, giving myself away.
So my dad is setting me up for what? Courtship now?
“Ah, yes, of course.” Oliver nods, creases forming along his temples. “You’ve been ordered to attend.”
Obviously not a question, so I don’t bother answering but start walking again.
“You should head back down to the hall,” I tell him. “If I recall, you have archery practice this afternoon and if you delay any longer, you will be late. I happen to know your captain will not be happy with that.”
“You mean you won’t put in a good word to Ander for me?” He smiles.
“Please.” I flick my eyes to the sky as I step out the double doors to where Sai is waiting, as always. “And I will not be making dinner tonight, but have a good time.”
Despite my recommendation for him to get lost, Oliver follows me out the door with a nod, glancing at my driver slash guard with a look I can’t decipher. “Saw your friend the other night,” he says lowly, and my eyes fly his way once more. Slowly, he moves them from Sai to me. “He was new.”
Bastian.
Of course people saw him. I knew this, but no one questioned me. And no one but the girls and Damiano knows who the people we allow into The Game Room actually are. For all they know, their own father’s money man could be the one eye-fucking them each night.
I manage to keep my expression masked as he’s watching me closely, the urge to jab my fingers into his big blue eyes is hard fought, his nerve almost as shocking as the smile on his face. The heir’s words are as carefully chosen as they are spoken, but there’s only one conclusion to be drawn from them, and he’s a bold son of a bitch to dare let them slip through his lips. But words are only words until they’re not, and he’s betting they are ones I don’t wish to gamble with.
“Careful. I know where you sleep at night.” It was the wrong thing to say, and I realize that as my threat evaporates into nothing when his smirk turns up ten notches.
Oliver is far from unattractive if you’re into the—as Bastian puts it—Ken Doll variety, wavy brown locks, big blue eyes, silken skin that’s sun-kissed all over, dimples, and a perfect pearly smile to go along with it.
Clearly, I’m not into that clean-cut type, and clearly, he wishes I were.
“So, no need to text you my room number, or will you simply follow me after we feast for a bit of dessert?”
“Go away.”
This comes from Dom, and Oliver frowns instantly. My smile spreads wide, and I cock my head. Everyone knows to be dismissed by Dom is to be scraped across the floor in training.
Oliver doesn’t test our best fighter’s patience, the two of us watching his retreat until he’s back in the building and heading toward the tunnel that will return him to the dorms.
“What was that about?” Damiano asks as we head for our waiting cars.
“Oliver being Oliver.”
“I don’t like him. Remind me why we invited him into the fold?” He glares in the direction the heir disappears in.
“Because he’s a fucking genius with connections, passed all our tests, aces his courses, and has shown nothing but loyalty since day one, even if he is a slimy bastard.”
Dom’s expression doesn’t change, and he’s yet to look away.
“Don’t worry too much about him. It’s nothing but harmless bullshit,” I tell him, and it’s the truth.
Oliver is using risky words to guarantee he’s not the only one who must suffer through a dinner with our fathers, but he would never speak of anything he saw inside The Enterprise.
He would owe his tongue if he did. Literally, and being his family has made their fortune in anonymity, I would say he values his speech. That, and he knows what I know, as he’s in the same boat as me.