Page 30 of Heir

“Uh, we’re friends. We’ve been best friends since we were ten.”

“Just friends?” Dominic asked.

I nodded. “Just friends.”

“How old are you, sweet girl?”

I blinked at the endearment. Why was Dominic Madden so interested in me all of a sudden?

“Twenty-nine.”

“Four years apart,” he said, almost to himself. “Not too bad.”

I frowned.Four years what?

“Dad,” Kai said sharply. “Leave it alone.”

Dominic patted Kai’s shoulder affectionately.

“I’m just being nice, son.”

“Yeah, right.”

Kai stood so suddenly, I jumped.

“You wanna take a little more care, son?” Now it was Dominic’s turn to sound sharp.

I braced myself for the fight that might break out. The last thing I wanted to do was get into someone else’s affairs. Kai took a deep breath and turned to me. I still didn’t know what he was thinking or feeling, but his blue eyes…

I wanted to lose myself in those eyes of his.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I paused. “It’s okay. I was just surprised.”

He nodded and walked away. I watched him walk over to the bar. Everyone gave him a wide berth. Unlike Dominic, I had a feeling no one wanted to get close to Kai, that they were just scared of him for some reason. My heart clenched at the sight.

He really was a lonely prince, wasn’t he?

I turned back to the table, but everyone was looking at me. I blushed. Blue always said I showed everything on my face too easily.

I wished that wasn’t the case, because I had a feeling Dominic saw more than he let on.

“Drink up, girl,” Dominic said. “I have a feeling I want to know everything about you.”

“I’m not really that interesting,” I said.

“Somehow, I don’t think that’s true.”

He clinked his beer bottle with mine and took a large gulp. I followed along and met Blue’s eyes.

He shrugged and took a drink of his own beer.

* * *

It was probablymy third or fourth beer.

I’d lost count, and the familiar fuzziness was back, but it wasn’t as bad as it normally was.

---