Page 21 of A Royal Menace

“Thank you,” she says, her voice even smaller than before.

“You’re welcome,” I breathe, then turn away roughly to grab my wallet and phone. “I’ll give you some privacy. See you at breakfast.”

Without waiting for a response, I stride from the room. Away from the weird tension that should make zero sense, but somehow makes all the sense in the world. It’s confusing and exhilarating, and I have no idea how to handle it.

When I get down to the lobby, I check the time on my phone. Breakfast isn’t served for another half-hour, so I step outside to soak in some of the bright, California morning sunshine. For once, it’s not overcast as it is most mornings at the beach, so I close my eyes and let the sun warm my skin as the salty sea air fills my lungs.

My mind wanders right back up to that hotel room and Callie, trying to conjure an image of what she might be doing at this exact moment. Blowing out a harsh breath through my nose, I open my eyes and search for a spot to sit. Finding an empty bench in the shade of a couple of date palms, I stride over and sit before pulling up Linc’s number and initiating a call.

“Hey, man. How’s the convention going?” he asks when the call connects.

“Good,” I say. “I mean, we’ve only had the welcome mixer so far, but after breakfast, there are a couple of panels I’m really excited to attend.”

“Any hot teachers catch your eye last night?” he teases, and of course, Callie pops into my head, unbidden.

“You know I don’t partake at these things,” I grumble, making him laugh.

Thanks to television shows and movies, he’s convinced all work conventions are basically prowling grounds for clandestine hookups. And while I’m sure that sort of thing happens here, it’s not for me. Not when I have to see these people every other year for the rest of my career. And not when people like Jeremiah hide their marital status and use these events as a low-risk way to cheat on their spouses. I refuse to be used like that. Ever.

“Anyway, so a funny thing happened,” I say slowly, changing the subject.

“What’s that?” Linc asks.

“Callie’s here. A teacher from another school canceled, and she was given her spot.”

“Oh, joy,” he says with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

I feel my hackles rise as my mouth prepares to rip into him in Callie’s defense, but I catch myself before I say something I’ll regret. If he has a low opinion of Callie, it’s no one’s fault but mine. I’ve complained to him about her…a lot.

“Yeah, so,” I say with a long exhale, “there was a mix up with her reservation, and when she got here, they didn’t have a room for her. And all the nearby hotels were full, too.”

“That sucks,” he says. “What did she do?”

I mumble the answer under my breath, the words completely unintelligible, and when Linc asks me to repeat myself, I squeeze my eyes shut and blurt it out again, this time succinctly.

“I offered to share my room with her.”

“You did what?”

“It’s not a big deal,” I say, defensiveness coloring the words. “I have two queens, and I wasn’t using the other one, obviously. It’s all very…platonic.”

“I didn’t think otherwise,” he says slowly. “I’m just surprised. She’s such a pain in the ass, I never thought you’d be so charitable.”

“She’s not––” I start, anger ridging my voice, but despite cutting myself off, Linc catches it and barks out a laugh.

“Oh, my God. Youlikeher.”

“No, I don’t,” I argue, but there’s no heat in the words. They actually sound more like a question. Clearing my throat, I add, “I just realized I may have been too harsh in judging her. That’s all.”

“You can’t go there, Royal,” he says, ignoring my denial completely. “She’s a coworker. You need to keep the lines firmly drawn. If you don’t, and things go badly…”

His warning trails off, leaving me to imagine the worst. Which is pointless because nothing like that is happening.

“I’m not going there.We’renot going there. There’s nothing to worry about. All I meant was seeing her outside the classroom setting has shown me a new side to her, and she’s not as bad as I thought. That doesn’t mean I’m interested in her, romantically. And she certainly isn’t interested in me that way.”

“You sound disappointed,” Linc says after a few beats of silence.

“Goodbye, Linc,” I say firmly, and he sighs before saying he’d talk to me later.

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