Page 38 of The Problem with Princes
I look around the room, trying to think if I have forgotten anything. A knock sounds at the door and my stomach does the rhumba.
“Who’s knocking?”
I put the phone between my shoulder and cheek. “I don’t know. I’m not at the door yet,” I mumble as I look through the peephole. My breath sucks in when I see Tyrone standing in the hallway in a t-shirt and board shorts.
“It’s him, isn’t it? I just heard you suck in a breath.” Texie squeals from the phone.
“Sshh. He can probably hear you through the door,” I whisper-yell at her.
“I can hearyouthrough the door, Grace.” His voice is deep, and it melts over me.
“See? You just sighed again,” Texie whispers. “You really like this guy, don’t you?”
“I can’t really talk about this right now,” I hiss into the phone.
I push the lock to the side and open the door wide. Sander comes in first, followed by Tyrone. I’m flattered to see that Sander doesn’t let Ty wait in the hall. He must be starting to think I’m relatively safe. Or at least safer than the hallway. Although, he did still search the entire room. So I may still be a threat?
I point to the phone. “Okay, Tex. I’ve got to let you go. We’ll talk when I get home.”
“Hey, Texie. How was your flight?” Tyrone leans in behind me, talking into my phone over my shoulder, but he doesn’t back away once he’s done.
“Tell the prince ‘hi, back.’ And my flight was completely uneventful.” Texie lowers her voice. “Call me when you get back to the hotel tonight.”
I cover the phone with my hand. I can feel Ty’s breath on the back of my neck, and it gives me a shiver. “She says ‘hi, back’ and her flight was fine.”
I get back on with Texie. “You’ll be in court when I get back. We’ll just talk when I get home.”
“Fine. Call me while you’re getting ready in the morning.” She is pouting on the other end. I can hear it.
“But that will be like two in the morning there. I’m not waking you up in the middle of the night. Especially when I’ll be coming home in like thirty-six hours.”I’m not going to call her, no matter what she says. She can just be patient and wait.
“Just call me!” she growls before hanging up.
I move to my bed and throw my phone in my bag, snapping it shut. “Sorry about that.” I look over at Sander and then back to Ty. “You ready to go?”
Ty looks me over and I’m super glad I’m not only in my bikini. He whistles low. “I never realized board shorts and a rash guard could look hot, but on you, Miss Martindale…” He leaves the rest of his sentence unsaid as his waggling eyebrows seem to fill in the blank.
My face heats. It does that a lot around him. Maybe having a sunburn isn’t so bad after all.
I slip on my comfortable leather flops and sling my bag over my shoulder. “I could say the same for you, Your Highness.” I try to put a flirty tone to it, but it just comes out sounding weird.
He moves to put his hand on the small of my back, but I catch it first and intertwine my fingers with his.
I look over at him. Is it okay? I know we held hands yesterday, but maybe he’s over it.
He looks down at our hands, then back at me and smiles.
My shoulders relax and I let him lead me out the door.
We go down the back freight elevator again, but this time we go out a side door. An orange Jaguar F-Type convertible is parked at the curb, with SUVs parked in front and back of it. Two men pace in opposite directions on either side of the cars. Obviously, there is to be no waiting for the prince inside the car anymore.
Tyrone walks over and opens the passenger side door of the Jag.
I stop and run my fingers lightly over the frame of the car. “Ahh. A Jag. This was always my go-to car when we played MASH in school. I usually wanted it to be red.” I glance over at him. “But I really like this orange, too.”
“Mash? I’ve never heard of that.” He helps me get in and I drop my bag on the floor at my feet.
“Oh, it’s just a game,” I say, hoping he will leave it alone.
