Royal Ruse - Emma Lea Page 0,46
kicked off my shoes and climbed onto the couch beside him. I laid my head in the crook of his shoulder and breathed him in. My body relaxed and my eyes drooped and I surrendered to the call of sleep.
Chapter 12
Lucas
I woke slowly. I could feel the sun on my skin and a crick in my neck and my arms were full of soft, pliant, and warm woman. Frankie. I smiled to myself in that dreamy way of being between awake and asleep.
I don’t remember how I fell asleep next to Frankie, but it wasn’t the first time we’d curled up together to watch a movie and fallen asleep. I shifted slightly to find a more comfortable position and tugged Frankie a little closer. We would both wake up soon and we would go through our day as normal, but I wanted to relish this little bit of…not-normal sounded negative, and this was not negative in the slightest. This was better than normal…super-normal, or hyper-normal. Whatever it was, it was definitely outside our normal and I wanted to soak up every minute of it for as long as I could.
I dozed. The sun was delightfully warm on my face, but not too warm and not too bright. There was a cool salt-laden breeze filling the room with all the Mediterranean goodness travel blogs waxed poetic about. If the Mediterranean had a smell, this would be it. I could even hear the soft susurration of the waves breaking gently on the shore below the castle. There was a private beach and a steep stone staircase that led down to it. Jamie had given me a small tour of the castle the day before. Just the highlights, really. We discussed the financial position of the country and the monarchy and what he would like me to do. He knew all about me, although knowing I had a degree in economics wouldn’t have been hard to find out.
Frankie sat straight up suddenly and swiveled her head before looking back at me with bleary eyes. Her short, curly hair stuck up all over her head, except for the one side where she’d been pressed against my chest. That part of her hair was flat and her skin was a little smooshed and creased in the most adorable way. She blinked at me and I waited. This was how Frankie woke up all the time. There was no slow surfacing from sleep, no stretching languidly and yawning delicately. Frankie woke up as if she was ready to go into battle at a moment’s notice. Although her body might be ready for battle, it took her mind a couple of beats to catch up. She blinked at me again and I could almost hear the click in her mind as it booted up and came online. She smiled back at me and then wiped her face with both her hands and groaned.
“Jet lag is seriously kicking my butt,” she mumbled behind her hands. After a moment she dropped her hands and looked around the suite. “What time is it? And why am I in your suite? And why did we sleep on the couch?”
I shrugged, shifting so I could sit up as well. “I was hoping you could tell me,” I said, my voice scratchy from sleep. “I don’t remember much after I came back here.” I peered around for my glasses before finally seeing them on the coffee table.
Frankie slumped back against the couch and screwed her eyes shut as she tried to remember while I reached out to snag my glasses and slide them on.
“I came here after meeting with the queen—who is uber-cool by the way—and you were asleep with some financial papers on your lap. I sat down beside you and that’s the last I remember.” She groaned. “God, I need coffee. STAT.”
I opened my mouth to speak when there was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” I called.
Maddox came in pushing a trolley of covered dishes and the unmistakable aroma of fresh coffee.
“You are a lifesaver,” Frankie said getting up to hover around Maddox as he set everything on the table on the balcony.
I took a moment to collect my thoughts before pushing up from the couch to join Frankie at the table. Frankie sighed audibly as she swallowed her first sip of coffee and I couldn’t help but smile at her.
“What time is it?” she asked again before taking another sip.
I checked my watch, surprised to see it was still