Page 65 of Royally Arranged

The phone buzzed again; I’d packed it in my pocket, already crossing the restaurant. She was probably telling me she was fine, or to wait by the exit, but I was singularly focused on helping her.

The door withFEMMESwritten in curly letters swung open. I perked up, only to see someone with blonde hair exit. The stranger glanced at me, then deliberately averted her eyes. She was tapping her phone’s text box before she reached her table.

The next person who came out was Nova. Her face was shining, like she’d washed it recently. Parts of her reddish hair were damp, the ends shading toward rich brown from the water. She gave me a surprised smile; it wasn’t enough to light up her cheeks or hide how pale she was. “I texted you. I wanted you to wait by the front.”

“I was worried about you.” Sliding my arm around her shoulders, I handed her her purse, both of us walking toward the exit. I kept her close to my body the entire time.

“I’m fine, it’s nothing. I just feel weird.”

“I’ll take you home.”Home?Had the castle become that to me?

Outside the restaurant I gave the paper slip to the valet. He ran off, leaving me and Nova to stand there in the warm night air. She squeezed my hand where it draped over her shoulder. “Sorry for ruining dinner.”

“Are you kidding?” Kissing the top of her head, I guided her toward the street. My car was pulling up. “I had a great time. Plus, I think you gave those diners something to talk about for the rest of the evening. That was nice of you.”

She laughed, pushing her face into my side to muffle the sound. The vibrations spun pleasantly across my ribs, taking a straight path toward my heart.

Nova maintained that she was all right. Even after she rolled down my window and hurled out the side, she still insisted she was okay. That once the food was out of her system, she’d be one hundred percent perfect.

Ignoring her proud attempts to shake me off, I assisted her back to her room in the castle. When we got there, she cracked her door. From the way her eyes darted inside, then back to me, I guessed what she was going to ask. “No,” I said, wrapping her fingers in mine. “You need to rest. And if I come inside, I don’t think either of us will get any.”

A pretty pink color spread over her cheeks. It was the most color she’d had in the last hour. Standing as tall as she could, Nova kissed me. Her smooth lips lingered, leaving me wanting more. My craving kept up after she pulled away. “I’ll talk to you in the morning. Good night, Thorne.”

“Night,” I said, watching the door click into place. For a while I leaned on the wall outside her room. Her warmth was still with me, coating my skin, my mouth, my pores. I wanted to bathe in her existence.

Briefly I regretted turning her unspoken offer down. If I’d gone inside, I could be snuggling with her beneath the covers right now. Her hair would caress my face. I’d inhale her scent and lose myself, dreaming in it.

There’ll be time. We’ve got tomorrow, the day after, and all of eternity.

What could possibly keep me away from this woman?

- CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE -

NOVA

“Are you still in there?” Darla banged on my bathroom door.

Gripping the toilet bowl for dear life, I groaned. “Right where you left me fifteen minutes ago. Haven’t moved an inch.” My sister had barged in just after sunrise, insisting Mom was furious at me for blowing off the dinner last night. She’d taken one look at me hunched in my bathroom and gone as green as I was.

“Is it your kidneys again?” she’d asked me. I sensed the unease in her softer volume; Darla could be terrible, but she wasn’t so ghoulish as to wish me harm.

Shaking my head, I’d hurled some more. That had made her slam the door closed, insisting I needed privacy—and also that if she kept looking at me barfing, she’d barf, too.Thenshe’d fretted that I must have some weird illness that was contagious and had better not dare give it to her.

Now, listening to her outside, I put my forehead on the cool porcelain. I’d said it wasn’t my kidneys, but how could I know for sure? This wasn’t that far off from what I’d gone through before.No. It’s not that. It’s something else, like food poisoning.I focused on my breathing. It was all I could do as I waited out the next wave of nausea.

There was a softclickout in my room. Then some mumbling I recognized. “Nova?” my mother said a second later. “Your sister says you’re sick.”

“Since last night,” I called back. Flushing the toilet, I made myself stand, holding on to things the whole time. “I barely slept. I’m so exhausted, and just?” Stepping out of the bathroom, I halted in my tracks.

My mom and sister were standing by my bed. In Darla’s hands was a newspaper, her perfect nails crinkling it roughly. I read the front page—it was a gossip rag, one I didn’t know—but I didn’t have time to read the name. The headline had all my attention.

“New Queen Pregnant? Photos Inside!” But there was a photo right there under the bold words. It was a grainy shot of me from last night, taken from a high angle as I threw up in the restaurant’s stall. Some asshole had followed me in and snapped the humiliating image.

“Is this right?” Darla asked, gawking at me. “Are you pregnant?”

“No.” I said it too quickly. “Of course not.” It couldn’t be that. I was very aware that Thorne had been using condoms the times we’d had sex. Even on our wedding night, he’d wanted protection. I’d understood, willing to wait until we both decided when—if—to follow through and create an heir.

There was no way. It was impossible.

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