would sell a few copies, and perhaps, if she was very lucky, get a little airtime on a local alternative radio station. She had never anticipated that she would have a hit, much less that a band she admired would invite her to join them on tour.
That could have destroyed her life, she realized now. Her brief stint as a pop star could have completely turned her head, leaving her unable to live an ordinary life. But while it was true that she often missed those days, she didn’t feel as if she was too good for the life she’d been living for the past six years. Her fame hadn’t changed the way she thought of herself. She was lucky to have remained down-to-earth and levelheaded in spite of everything that had happened for her.
And then there had been the deaths of her parents.
Most people hadn’t even lost one parent by the time they reached the age of twenty-nine, never mind both. That was a surprising and painful thing to live with. And though her grief had shaken her, it hadn’t destroyed her.
Now here she was, up against another life-altering event. Not just a marriage, but a marriage to royalty. Would this change who she was?
No. She was determined that it wouldn’t.
She knew how to hold onto herself, and she was absolutely determined to do so. She would continue to be self-reliant, just as her mother had taught her. Though Petr had suggested that she didn’t need to work, that he had enough money to support them both, she wouldn’t leave her job.
Maybe I will look for a new job, though. She had had enough of Rick. It might be a good idea to start putting some applications out there, looking for something else to do. She could continue in her current role while she did that.
It was strange—incongruous—to think of being Rick’s receptionist and the wife of the Prince of Sovra at the same time. The two ideas did not go together.
But I’ve never belonged in my job. She was smarter, more creative, than the work she was doing allowed her to show. She had been working there to pay the bills, nothing more. Working for Rick had no connection to her identity.
Yes, it’s definitely time to start looking for a new job.
The idea filled her with hope for the future. Coming on this trip had revitalized her life. And how close she had come to missing this opportunity! That was a scary thought.
“Naomi?”
She turned. Petr was standing behind her, dressed only in a loose-fitting pair of cotton pants.
She let her eyes rake over his figure, memorizing him. It was staggering to realize it, but this was the first time she had sat back and taken a good look at him. Their lovemaking had been physical, not visual, and her eyes had been closed most of the time.
But God, he was attractive. She could imagine a younger version of herself hanging his poster on her bedroom wall. She took in his muscular chest, the soft trail of hair leading down into his waistband, the curves of his hipbones, the warm tan skin of his hands.
My husband.
“I woke up and you weren’t in bed,” he said. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “I just couldn’t sleep and I didn’t want to wake you.”
He motioned for her to scoot over and sat down beside her in the hammock. His leg was long enough to dangle over the side to the floor and start them swinging again.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked her.
“A lot of things,” she said. “The future, mostly. What our life together is going to be like.”
“Are you worried?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “There’s just a lot we don’t know about each other yet. I’ve been thinking about how it’s going to be as we learn more. How we’re going to integrate our lifestyles.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you’ve seen where I live,” she said. “But the only home of yours I’ve seen is this one. Is your house back in LA anything like this?”
“It’s configured differently,” he said.
Naomi rolled her eyes. “I don’t mean the configuration,” she said. “I’m talking about how fancy it is.”
“I suppose you might call my home fancy,” he said.
“Where are we going to live?” she asked.
“Anywhere we want.”
“Okay, but…where do we want to live?”
“We don’t need to worry about that tonight,” Petr said. “That’s a big question. We’re not going to come to any answers here and now. We can discuss it