Royal Games (The Royals of Monterra) (22 page)

I got up to collect our things and return the quilt to the bed. Gianni had parked the SUV practically on the front porch, so we wouldn’t be out in the cold for long. With Marco still talking, Rafe poured a pitcher of water on the fire he’d worked so hard to light, and white billowing smoke went straight up the chimney. It was as if my hurt and worries had evaporated with it.

Pondering his offer, I ran through a list of all the reasons he should go. But none of them held much weight anymore. I thought of all the practical reasons he should stay. Sylvia and I needed his rent. The town needed his business—so many families were now dependent on him.

But that’s not what moved me. That’s not what tugged on my heartstrings.

We settled into the back of his bodyguards’ black SUV. The two men up front were listening to what sounded like a soccer game, but it was in Italian. Rafe had his head tilted, as if he was trying to catch the game, too.

“Rafe,” I whispered.

He immediately gave me his full attention. “Yes?”

This was huge. Monumental. Scary and risky, but it was what I wanted. I would have to take that leap and have faith.

So I just said it.

“There’s a chance.”

Chapter 22

Things had changed. Maybe not the way Rafe had hoped or wanted, but it was going to be a process. I couldn’t just get over it. We had to navigate how to go down a new path together.

I was surprised that he hadn’t tried to kiss me. But he was a man of his word, and I had to ask first. Despite wanting to, I didn’t. The adult part of me wanted to figure things out without his drugging kisses influencing me.

The hormonal teenager side of me thought the adult part was an idiot.

But there were hungry, lingering looks, and a lot more touching and holding. I’d asked him to keep that sort of stuff between us, but we lived in a small town. And the thing about living in a small town—even when you don’t know what you’re doing, everybody else does.

They all knew right away that things had changed. And they teased me relentlessly. Even Max had altered his jokes to include things that pertained to Rafe. Like how he played polo. “Did you hear Iowa State had to disband their water polo team? All the horses drowned.”

Aunt Sylvia couldn’t have been happier. And whether those glowing smiles were due to her nearly nightly dates with Max, or what was happening between me and Rafe, I didn’t know.

A week later, while Aunt Sylvia was out playing gin with her girlfriends, I was running a raid with my guild. The guild master, a guy I only knew as Kamro, sent me a whisper in-game. He said he’d found a shaman healer named Hatchet with a super high item level.

And Hatchet knew what he was doing. I didn’t have to spend half the time using cooldowns to keep myself alive. After we’d one-shotted the first boss, everybody was celebrating. I typed in the guild chat:

Great job, new healer! That was crazy easy!

Hatchet responded.

Thanks, Eclipse. You know what they say. You can’t fight the moonlight.

“What?” I yelled, slamming my hands on my desk. What did Rafe think he was doing? I thought we were done with the deceptions. I was going to . . . I didn’t know what I was going to do. Something bad. Possibly physical.

Why didn’t he just tell me before? He had to have known I would figure it out when he used my mom’s phrase. A long time ago I had told him my user name and that I played on the Doomhammer server. If I had known then he had a memory like a steel trap, I would have been more careful about what I shared. I ran downstairs, through the kitchen, and across the yard to throw open the door to Rafe’s house.

He sat on the couch with his computer on his lap. “I’m no expert on American law, but I believe you aren’t allowed to just walk into someone’s house without permission. Isn’t that called breaking and entering?”

Rafe was being playful, but I was annoyed. “I didn’t break anything. I just entered. And I’m allowed because it’s my house.”

“Not according to the lease.”

Could he not see that I wasn’t in the mood for teasing? “Why did you do that?”

“Please specify the context.”

“Why didn’t you tell me it was you?”

He looked confused. He shut his laptop. “In the game? I did. Just now. I used our phrase.”

It wasn’t our phrase. It was something my mom said that I told him about. Even if it gave me happy chills to have our own little saying.

“I had no idea who you were. Why didn’t you just whisper me or something?”

He put the laptop on the couch next to him. “Because gamers are incredibly savvy, and I don’t think the game is totally secure. And I didn’t tell you before because I wanted to surprise you. You said you needed a healer; I have a healer.”

I put my fingers against my temples. “That’s not the point. I don’t like surprises. You can’t keep things from me. I can’t keep trying to trust you and then get let down, even if it’s just a lie of omission.”

“You’re trying to trust me?” He got up and walked over to me. There was so much hope infused in his words that it buoyed my own spirits.

“Yes, I’m trying. So stop doing stuff to mess it up.”

He put his hands on my shoulders and let them run down the length of my arms until he was holding both of my hands. “If you wanted to see me, all you had to do was ask.”

Rafe was still missing the point, even if he knew exactly how to make me a love zombie, with no control over my own limbs, fixating on only one thing. It wasn’t about wanting to see him. Although, honestly, that was an issue. I wanted and wanted where he was concerned, but I denied myself. For the good of our possible relationship.

“And in the interest of full disclosure, and since you don’t like surprises, in a few minutes I’m supposed to find a reason to lure you into town for your surprise birthday party.”

“What? It’s not my birthday for another two days.”

“Hence, the surprise part.”

“They felt like I didn’t have enough surprises in my life lately?” For most of my life, surprises had never appealed to me because I liked knowing what would happen when I walked around the corner. Fear of being found had played a big part in that. I wanted each day to be like the last. For nothing scary or different to happen. I had chucked all that out the window when I went on a reality television show, which ended up being nothing but surprises, and that had reinforced to me how much I disliked them.

But it was sweet that people had made the effort. I had to be thankful for that. Rafe went for his keys. “Come on. You can practice your surprised face in the car. Did you want to grab a coat?”

“I don’t need it,” I said, following him out. “But I’m going to bring it anyway. Just in case.” Despite our almost-blizzard last week, it had recently warmed up. Which was nice for when I was outside, but the bad thing about Iowa weather was that it would snow, then it would warm up and melt the snow, and then it would freeze again. Which caused black ice on the roads and slipping hazards on every sidewalk.

“What is it with your weather? In Monterra when it’s winter, it’s winter.”

We went into my house and through the kitchen, where I got my coat. “We have four seasons here. Winter,
Game of Thrones
winter, road construction, and insanely hot. It’s the only place where you can get sunburn and frostbite in the same week. All of our weather forecasts on the news are basically made up.”

Laddie started to bark. It was a happy bark, which meant we had company and someone new to rub his belly. “Your security?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Gianni’s waiting in town.”

And they would tell us when they patrolled.

My heart started to pound hard. With everything I’d been through with Rafe, I’d forgotten the postcard.

Maybe I shouldn’t have.

“Do you think . . .” I stopped talking when he put a finger up to his lips. He turned off the kitchen lights. He took my best cutting knife from the block. I pulled my keys out of my front pocket, putting one finger on the button to activate the pepper spray.

He took me by his free hand, and we crept into the front room. Rafe turned off the lights in there, too. The tree lights still blinked. I saw that an unsupervised Laddie had managed to pull off every popcorn string from the Christmas tree without disturbing a single ornament.

He padded over to us with a wagging tail, eager to be part of the team. “Why can’t you be a regular guard dog?” I whispered. He licked my face in response before going off to the kitchen.

Rafe stood by the front widow, behind a curtain. “There is definitely someone out there. More than one person. I’m texting my men.”

I dragged air in and out. It would take his team too long to reach us. But we could barricade ourselves in here. If John-Paul was actually out there, he wouldn’t find easy prey.

A loud knock on the door made us both jump. “Stay there,” he told me. For once, I didn’t argue.

He threw the door open, the knife behind his back. If he had to stab someone . . . that made my stomach turn. I couldn’t let him do that. Even for me.

A distinctive and unforgettable voice said, “Hey there, Prince Rafael. I was
not
expecting to find you here. Is Genesis home?”

Rafe stepped back to show me Taylor Hodges standing on my front porch. Maybe I should rethink my no stabbing policy.

She came in without being invited, dropping her coat on the couch. “Is it okay if my crew comes in with me?”

“It is not okay. It’s not okay for you to come in, either.” She was the cause of so much pain. Not only for me and Rafe, but for Lemon and Dante as well.

But she sat down in a chair like I hadn’t even spoken. “Is something wrong with your electricity? Do your lights not work?”

Rafe flicked them back on, asking me with his eyes if I was okay. I nodded as he closed the front door and pulled the curtains shut, preventing the crew from getting any footage.

“You haven’t been answering my texts or phone calls,” she said, her finger wagging at me.

I folded my arms. “That’s because I don’t want to talk to you. Or see you. Or have anything to do with you.”

She laughed, leaning over. I backed up. “Come on now, we’re friends. And I’m here with an opportunity for you! I know you need money. The producers have decided that you would be a perfect fit for
Enchanted Eden
.”

Enchanted Eden
was the sister show to
Marry Me
. Losing contestants were invited to some exotic location with other contestants from other seasons in hopes that they would fall in love. They had a few success stories, but I was not even a little bit interested. I would never go on reality television ever again.

“No thanks. And if that’s it, good night.” I opened the door. Laddie came into the room, eyed Taylor, yawned, and left. Even my dog, who loved everybody, could see through her BS.

She didn’t move other than to point her left shoulder toward us. “So, what’s the deets here? Are the two of you back together? Is there something we should know? All of America is rooting for you to reunite!”

I heard a car driving over snow. The security team. They could pick her up and carry her out. She couldn’t have weighed very much. Evil made you skinny, apparently.

“Are you filming this?” Rafe asked.

She paused. “Always.”

At that, Rafe went out to the porch. “These people are all trespassing on private property and have taken photographs without permission.” He turned back to Taylor. “Any agreements that we signed with you have long since lapsed.”

His men sprang into action, confiscating the cameras and deleting whatever footage they had. The cameramen protested, but not one of them resisted. Marco came inside and demanded the spy camera that Taylor had pinned on the left side of her chest by hiding it in a brooch. She slapped it into his hand, glaring at us. Maybe it wasn’t so bad to have bodyguards around, after all.

“If you persist in bothering Ms. Kelley and His Royal Highness,” Marco said, “we will file legal documents and generally make your life miserable.”

Taylor shoved her arms back into her coat, muttering under her breath about ungrateful and unappreciative people as she went. Rafe offered me his arm. “Off to your celebration?”

I put my hand on his arm. As we drove off, I saw Taylor and her crew being herded into their car. I enjoyed it far more than I should have. I even waved to her.

My earlier freak-out had been over nothing. No John-Paul. No cult members. Just a sociopathic field producer and her scummy camera guys.

I pulled down the visor and opened the mirror to practice my surprised face. I got a real one when the SUV hit black ice. The back of the car started to fishtail, but Rafe quickly corrected and straightened us back out. It happened so fast I barely had time to be scared. “That was impressive.”

He waggled his fingers at me. “It’s all the gaming. I have catlike reflexes and excellent manual dexterity.”

I knew just how dexterous he could be, which made heat color my cheeks.

“That’s not always true,” he added. “I might have clipped a deer two days ago. I got out and looked, but I couldn’t find one.”

Glad that he didn’t see and correctly interpret my reaction to thoughts of what he could do with his hands, I cleared my throat. “Everybody I know here has clipped a deer. More than once. And depending on how they get hit, they can run off.”

We pulled into the diner parking lot. “We’re here,” he said. “Show me your face again.”

I tried for my best I-had-no-idea!

“That’s the one. Let’s go.”

The diner’s lights were all off, which would have been my first clue since it wasn’t anywhere near closing time.

We walked in, and the room erupted into a loud chorus of “Surprise!”

I didn’t have to fake anything, as seeing half the town there really did shock me. I hugged Aunt Sylvia first, and then I went through a long line of people who all wanted to hug me and wish me a happy birthday. If we had a fire marshal, he would have closed the place down.

Meredith threw her arms around my legs, grinning up at me. “Were you surprised, Jen-sis?”

“Very!” I told her, ruffling her hair.

Beau growled at Rafe, baring his teeth.

“What did I ever do to that boy to make him not like me?” Rafe whispered, his hot breath warming my skin.

“He probably senses that you’re a deer killer.”

“
Alleged
deer killer,” he corrected. He crouched down. “Look at those sharp teeth. Like a dinosaur.”

“I not a dinosaur,” Beau responded angrily. “I a boy!”

He stomped off to join Gracie, who sat under one of the tables unwrapping my birthday gifts one by one. She looked so cute while doing it I couldn’t even be mad.

Several of Rafe’s new employees wanted to chat with him, and Whitney seized her chance to get me alone. I had called her every night for the last week, but face-to-face gossip was always the best.

I updated her on the Taylor situation, and she told me about how Gracie had taken a tub of butter from the fridge and covered the entire kitchen floor in the time it took Whitney to go to the bathroom.

“But enough about the kids. What about your prince? Are you engaged yet? A diamond ring would be an excellent birthday present.” She actually grabbed my left hand to inspect it, as if I wouldn’t have told her first thing if he had proposed. “Everybody’s talking about how you two are obviously going to get married.”