fright then, because this face is on about four hours of sleep and ten minutes of makeup.”
“I like the natural look,” he dismissed easily. “Not to say I don’t enjoy your Instagram.”
My brow furrowed. “You follow my Instagram?” Hardly anybody followed my Insta.
He leaned forward to pour some wine I hadn’t even realized was on the table. One of the invisible staff must have brought it in. “I’m sure Audra told you that we like to fully investigate the people who are allowed at Fifty Oaks.”
“Of course,” I nodded. Still, it seemed weird he had paid any real notice to my Instagram, which I kept mostly for fun. Fern and I would do makeup tutorials to boost her videos. I said as much to Auggie. The Duke. Whomever.
“I like her videos,” he nodded. “She’s extremely passionate about what she does. Explains why she’s such a great dancer.”
“Preaching to the choir,” I agreed with a nod. “I’m her biggest fan.”
He watched me over the rim of his glass. “You’re not so bad either,” he murmured, making it clear he had seen those videos as well.
He was so potent I had to clear my throat and look away. I sensed him lean closer, which forced me to look back.
I sucked in a breath from the pointed look in his eye. “Family means a lot to you. That means a lot to me.”
“My family is my everything,” I stated simply.
He leaned back. “Tell me about them.”
Just like that he flipped the script and I was now the one being interviewed. I decided to roll with it. Those were the rules, right? “Well, there’s my Mom, Sunny. She’s the glue that holds us all together. She’s kind of otherworldly, like she comes from a whole other moment in time. I guess you could say she is an old soul.”
“What about your dad?” he wanted to know.
“My dad is one of a kind,” I said with a hearty chuckle. “A Texas farm boy who happened to fall in love with a hippie with a bad case of wanderlust. Left the farm and never looked back,” I smiled, which made him smile too, which made my toes curl a little bit. “He goes along with Mom no matter how crazy she gets. He can roll with all punches. A complete anchor in the storm. Even keeled. Never takes anything personally. He just marches to the beat of his own drum, which is usually accompanying whatever song Mom is playing. I mean, how many men do you know take their wife’s name when they get married?”
I stopped mid-sentence. I had learned over the course of my research that his own father, Roan, had done that when he had given up the throne. He added Sofie’s last name, Agassi, to his long list of names, which he passed along to Auggie.
“I’m sorry,” I offered meekly. “I guess it’s not that uncommon.”
“It’s totally uncommon,” he said. “But if you apologize again, I’m going to put you in that car and send you home.”
I bit back another apology. I pantomimed turning a lock on my lips and tossing the key away, which amused him if the smirk he cracked was any indication.
(Take note, Christopher. That is how you do it.)
He questioned me for a good half hour on my siblings, taking interest in Dash, who was basically the star of any video my sister happened to share with him dancing backup. Since Dash is one of my favorite subjects, I talked for what felt like forever. It was the most natural part of the conversation, even though he didn’t say much. He smiled and nodded every now and then, which I took as encouragement.
“Your family sounds intriguing,” he concluded after my words had exhausted. “Perhaps I’ll get to meet them one day.”
I laughed despite myself.
“Is that funny?”
“Well… yeah,” I said.
“Why?”
“Um…Because you’re The Duke?” I said, as if he should have known, which I’m pretty damn sure he did. “I mean, I’ve been sitting here for an hour trying to figure out if I call you Prince Auggie or Your Highness. It’s not exactly like you’ll join us on the family farm.”
“Why not?” he pondered, swirling the wine in his glass. “Sounds delightful.” I didn’t know how to respond so I said nothing. So, he added, “Perhaps you’ll meet my family, too.”
“Sounds terrifying,” I admitted frankly. Because that’s how I roll.
He laughed. “I think you could hold your own,” he said. And the sincere compliment touched me. He glanced outside. “Dawn