music to listen to and other insignificant things, but we’d never been genuinely angry with one another and I didn’t know what had happened between when Dorian dragged me over to speak to the king and now. I knew it was something I did, I just didn’t know what.
Which was another reason I’d never let myself fall for Frankie. The women I dated were as bland as I was. Frankie was as bright and colorful as the burst of bougainvillea blooms cascading over the side of the balcony, and I loved her for it. But how could we be compatible when we were so completely opposite?
The dinner dragged. Frankie talked animatedly with everyone around the table…everyone except me. I was sitting right next to her, and she was ignoring me. I couldn’t ignore her. Not when her bare shoulder brushed against my arm occasionally or the way her perfume drifted on the breeze to envelop me in her scent. I had things I wanted to say to her. I wanted to explain my idea for the village and the distillery. But more than that, I wanted to tell her how I felt about her. How I really felt about her. Frankie might be bright and colorful to my bland beige, but I needed her in my life. I didn’t want this fake engagement to end…no; I did. I wanted the fake bit to end and for it to become real. I wanted Frankie in my life…for as long as we both shall live.
The dishes were cleared away, and I stood, offering my arm to Frankie. I promised her we’d talk, and I was determined for it to happen, even if my entire body was strung tight with anxiety about what she might have to say.
She looked up at me, searching my face for a long time before she placed her hand in mine.
“Lucas? Do you have a moment?” Jamie asked, coming over to where Frankie and I stood, poised to escape the dinner.
“Of course,” I replied, but I didn’t let go of Frankie’s hand.
“I’d really like to hear your ideas,” Jamie said and then smiled at Frankie. “You don’t mind if I steal him away for a bit?”
“No problem,” Frankie replied with a brittle smile.
She pulled her hand from mine and walked away and it felt like she was walking away from more than just dinner.
“Is everything all right?” Jamie asked with a frown.
I exhaled roughly. “Yeah. Everything’s fine.” What else could I say? My fake fiancée is mad at me and I don’t know why? Yeah, I didn’t think Jamie would be very accommodating if I said that.
“Let’s go to my office,” he said, and I followed him back into the palace like I was headed to the gallows.
Chapter 15
Francesca
I didn’t eat breakfast with Lucas the next morning. I couldn’t face him. I’d waited up for him, hoping he would come to me and we could have ‘the talk’ he’d wanted to have, but he never came. Eventually I gave up and crawled into bed. It must not have been all that important for him to just blow me off.
Besides, I didn’t even know if I wanted to hear what he had to say. The night before, when he was kissing me, I thought I knew what I wanted, but after what he said at dinner…I didn’t know anymore.
One of the things I loved about Lucas was that he wasn’t all about money. Yes, he had a lot of it, but he didn’t dedicate his life to getting more of it. He was happy to stick with his mid-level position in the family company and plod along. He didn’t buy expensive toys or throw his money around. He wasn’t the typical trust fund playboy, nor was he a money-focused alpha-hole. He was steady and competent and reliable, and while some people might find that boring, I found it attractive.
But last night…when he talked about reopening the family distillery, it just felt wrong. His family abandoned these people. They fled for their lives, yes, but they also abandoned all the people who relied on them for a steady income. They left people who had spent their entire lives working for the Andino family with nothing. But those people had survived and found a way to make ends meet, and now Lucas wanted to take it away from them. Oh, I believed he thought he was doing the right thing. I knew he would give them jobs and pay them well,