Up for Heir - Stella Starling Page 0,36

real? Did you actually have dinner with Prince Leopold? Did he tell you who he’s getting engaged to? Were any of the other princes there? Why was he holding your hand?”

“Um,” Edvin started, not sure how to answer any of those questions without violating Leo’s privacy. It turned out he didn’t have to answer, though, because Maja suddenly squealed and clutched at his arm.

“Omigod,” she breathed out, her grip threatening to cut off all blood supply south of his bicep. “Is that the prince?”

Edvin’s eyes snapped to the long black car parked on the street, flutters of excitement erupting inside him and a smile that probably looked all kinds of dorky spreading across his face, too fast for him to stop it. That car… it had to be the prince, didn’t it? His prince? Who else would have parked a long, fancy-looking car with darkly tinted windows and the royal crest on the side in front of the Royal Library? Not to mention that the huge bodyguard who’d been with Leo at the library dedication ceremony was standing right next to the car, looking a little bit scowly and all kinds of official-and-intimidating as he waited for… for Edvin?

“Mr. Blom,” the bodyguard greeted him in a rumbly I-could-break-you-in-half-with-my-pinkie voice.

“H-H-Hi there, um… Nils?” Edvin said, pretty sure that was what he’d heard Leo call the man, but not at all sure whether proper protocol required him to address Nils as something more formal.

Maybe… Your Royally Employed Scariness? Hm. Unlikely.

Mr. Tall, Dark, and Menacing? Probably not that, either.

Sir Nils? No. Bodyguards weren’t knighted, were they?

Nils didn’t seem offended by the lack of any title, though. He just gestured toward the rear door of the car, awakening a whole new set of flutters as Edvin craned his head, trying in vain to see inside the car’s darkened windows. “Is… is this… i-i-i-i-s Leo, erm, I mean… I mean P-P-Prince Leopold, His Highness, is he—”

“Is Prince Leopold in there?” Maja blurted before Edvin managed to untangle his tongue enough to get the question all the way out.

Nils opened the car door without answering that one. “If you’re free, Mr. Blom, the prince was hoping I could collect you for him,” he rumbled.

Edvin nodded. Nils could do anything with Edvin for the prince.

Er… wait. That hadn’t sounded like what he’d actually meant.

Nils gestured toward the open door again, and Edvin shook Maja’s hold off. “Of c-c-course,” he babbled. “Leo can have me.”

The bodyguard’s lips tipped up at the corners for a second, just enough to make him look like he wasn’t going to accidentally eat someone, then he settled his face back into official-and-intimidating mode.

“Very good, Mr. Blom,” he said as Maja squealed behind Edvin and Edvin slipped into the back of what he was pretty sure had to be the world’s most luxurious car.

“Oh,” Edvin breathed out as Nils closed the door for him. Nils wasn’t just collecting him for Leo; Leo was here, sprawled out in a lavish back… seating area that was practically bigger than Edvin’s bedroom.

It was just… wow.

Leo was, too. He was busy taking a phone call and looking extremely… princely. Not in the sense of wearing a crown or royally decreeing anything, nothing like that, but… but, well, maybe what Edvin really meant was that Leo looked gorgeous. And even better, the minute he saw Edvin, he smiled at him like he might just be as happy to see Edvin as Edvin was to see his prince.

“Hi,” Edvin said, sounding exactly like the verbal equivalent of a heart-eye emoji. Then he realized that he should probably stay quiet until Leo finished his phone call—maybe he was royally decreeing something?—and snapped his mouth closed, looking down to fumble with his seatbelt as Nils rounded the car and slid smoothly into the driver’s seat, apparently playing the role of chauffeur today, as well.

“We’ll have to continue this later,” Leo said to his caller. “Important business has just come up.”

Edvin’s head popped back up just in time to catch Leo’s wink, and a bubbling excitement welled up inside him as Leo tapped the end button on his Bluetooth and tugged it out of his ear, tossing it aside with a smile that made Edvin’s heart flip over.

Was… was Edvin the important business? Was that what Leo had meant?

He was pretty sure he’d never been anyone’s important business before.

“Not way over there, Eddie,” Leo said just before Edvin had a chance to click his seatbelt closed. He pulled Edvin across the long leather