Page 9 of The Prince and the Double Shot
I looked down at my dirt-covered arms. “Do you always come on this strong?”
“No, sometimes I’m aggressive. This is just chit chat. I’m a Leo, and I bet you are totally a Libra.” His laugh hit me like a ton of bricks. Too familiar – too warm and comforting.
I frowned.
“Oh! I got it right.” He literally jumped up and down as his laugh rang throughout the garden. “Well, let me help you balance the scales. Just say yes, and I will walk away and believe that you are a man of your word, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Why is this so important to you?” As soon as I asked the question, I knew the answer. “Did Sheena put you up to this?”
“I have not spoken to Sheena in weeks, so…” He shrugged, and the movement of his muscular shoulders made me catch my breath. He grinned, and it felt so right. But I knew it was wrong. It was not the same grin I had woken up to for many years. This man was not who I wanted him to be, even if they did resemble each other in too many ways.
“Fine. What time?” I gave in. He wasn’t taking no for an answer. He was stubborn like my Petra.
“Six sharp. Please, don’t dress up or anything. I’ll be in my work clothes and will probably smell like a latte. See you there.”
Without another word, he walked off and rounded the corner.
“What the actual fuck?” I muttered.
I could feel the plants laugh. I was fortune’s fool, once again.
“It’s not funny at all. He’s… pushy and possibly even rude. Who does he think he is, anyway?” I asked the little fern, but all I got was silence. They were warming themselves in the sunlight as they grew stronger.
I picked up my tools and headed over to the next bed of plants that someone had haphazardly planted. The shrubs were blocking the small flowers from getting enough sunlight. They lived in shadows and were small and weak as a result. The shrubs needed to be moved to the rear. This was going to take afew hours. The flowers needed to stay where they were for now. All they needed were the rays of the sun to make them strong again.
Zane… What a nice name for someone who looked like him. It was a strong name. I’m sure that he was full of himself and probably stared at his reflection for too long. I mean, it was a nice reflection. A face that I knew.
Why was he the person who crossed my path? I wasn’t ready for…
Why was I here if not to be ready? That was the point of this little jaunt across the world. Petra would want me to move on. I had to get over the aversion I had to the possibility of having a possibility, didn’t I? But why did he have to look and remind me so much of him?
I knew the answer.
Life was not fair.
I walked over and touched the first shrub. “Hi, little one. Let’s make you happier.”
The work continued, and I lost myself in their touch.
ZANE
Why did he have to be so fucking hot?
A prince, of course. This place was a fucking magnet for royalty trying to escape their humdrum life of diplomacy and expectations. It was a joke by this point. I mean, I knew the score better than most. Sheena had been a royal in her past life, and I was sure that there was a story there, but I had never been made privy to it. The gossip at the Renverse Hotel was always on point, but Sheena and Layla had their shit locked down.
We wondered and talked about it, but we knew very little – only what they shared. Sheena was very tight-lipped.
Phil was hot. I mean, a man who dug in the ground and wasn’t afraid to get dirty was something to masturbate about. But he also seemed a little… Well, royal. That was a turn-off. I wasn’t going down that road ever again. He was probably high-strung and temperamental. I knew the kind. I bet he treated the servants like shit and only dared to date someone with a title, but he’d fuck a peasant in the closet and then pretend like it never happened.
Assholes. They were all assholes because that’s how they were raised and trained. Most of them were carbon copies of their parents, and the majority of them were nothing more thancriminals. Why did we actually even have royals anymore in a world that didn’t need them? This was a time of democracy, and the royals were almost always behind the times.
Or inbred.
Most of them were inbred. The ones I knew anyway.
At least they acted like it.
“Are you done scrubbing that, or are you trying to destroy it?” Mateo put his hand on my shoulder. “I think it’s time for you to get out of here, man. You’ve been moody and unpleasant all day. Who pissed in your Wheaties this morning?”
