Stealing Kisses With a King (Kings of Carolina #3)- Sylvie Stewart Page 0,58
for a heartbroken girl’s best friend. “I’ll just have a Chardonnay for now.”
“Good call,” Ruby said after the waiter retreated. “Now tell me what’s up so I can help.”
“I doubt there’s anything you can do, but it is nice to have someone to talk to. I considered ringing my sister, but her advice would likely entail either violence or some manner of sadomasochism.”
“Wow.” Ruby took a sip of her water. “When do I get to meet her?”
“I considered running away to hide out in her flat. You’re welcome to come along.”
She smiled and remained quiet, so I took that as my cue to begin sharing.
“I slept with him.”
“What?!” She nearly overturned her water glass, her voice louder than necessary. Several pairs of eyes turned in our direction, but she just smiled and sent apologetic waves. “Sorry.” She grimaced.
“It’s quite all right. I still can’t quite believe it myself.”
She leaned forward, dropping her voice to a whisper. “Was it good?”
I felt my entire face flush as blood from all the way down in my toes rushed upward to give me away. Ruby’s resulting smile was smug. “Those Baxter boys…” She shook her head and appeared to lose herself in one memory or another for a few seconds before she returned to the conversation. “When did this happen?”
The waiter chose that moment to arrive with our drinks and Ruby’s impatience was palpable as she practically shooed him away.
“You’re not usually one for all the personal questions, are you?” I knew it to be true, so I was a bit surprised she was so keen to discuss my private business. Not that I didn’t appreciate having someone to listen.
She waved a hand as she lifted her beer to pour it in a glass. “I’ve been hanging out with Clara too much. The girl knows entirely too much and can really spin a story, I’ll tell you.” This actually made sense. “So, anyway, are you going to tell me when this happened?” She sipped at her beer.
“Earlier today.” My reply was ill-timed as Ruby gasped, inhaling some of her beer into her lungs and coughing into her napkin while she tried to regain her composure. I sipped my wine and waited, politely smiling at anyone who looked over to see what all the fuss was about.
“Are you serious?” she finally choked out.
“Utterly.”
“This is going to take more than a beer.” Ruby signaled the waiter and ordered two shots of tequila.
Over our drinks, I proceeded to share a truncated version of events, communicating the central issue causing my despair—that Malcolm had attempted to manipulate me into working for him again, and he’d played upon my affection and attraction to get what he wanted.
It was clear Ruby had experience being a sounding board because she listened without interruption, nodding, cringing, and cursing in the right places and generally validating my feelings. But I could see she wanted to ask me something so I invited her to go ahead.
“It’s just that, well, Malcolm is arrogant and selfish for sure.” She put a hand up. “Sorry.” I waved her off because she wasn’t saying anything that I didn’t already know to be true to a certain degree. “But he’s not an idiot. Not really.” I nodded in agreement and waited for her to continue. “So why would he do something as bold as sleep with you when he knew good and well you’d find out soon that he wanted you to stay. He knows how smart you are and how your mind works.”
“I suppose he hoped to keep sleeping with me to keep me?” Hmm. That sounded like an awfully big commitment and undertaking to fake an intimate relationship just to get someone to work for you. “Or maybe that a one-off roll in the sheets would have me interested enough to hang around in case of a repeat?” That was even more ridiculous.
“Even Malcolm knows the dangers of dipping his toe into the palace pool, so to speak. And I have to imagine he’s been cursed by enough women for ditching them in the morning that he wouldn’t just assume you were good with a one and done.”
She had a point, but still…
“Isn’t this my lucky day!” A voice exclaimed from the sidewalk a few feet from us, and I turned to see Nolan Royce standing there smiling at us in a casual polo shirt and jeans, looking as if he’d just stepped off the pages of some minted men’s catalog.