Page 23 of Royal Hottie
Anna gestures to the DJ at the side of the room to turn down the music, and picks up a wireless microphone. “Can you hear me okay?”
“Yeah!” we all cheer. Some of the women wolf-whistle.
“All right! Let’s get this thing started!” Anna gestures to a servant, who dims the lights. “First bachelor prince up for auction is Adrian Rourke. Let’s give it up for this hottie!”
Adrian steps through the curtains and lifts a hand to us. He’s wearing a white button-down shirt with black jeans and black high-top sneakers.
Anna gives us his highlights while he struts down the catwalk. I can only hear snippets of it because the women are screaming his name.
“Six feet of…”
“Has a girl twin, so he gets women…”
“Top honors at university…”
“Enjoys poker, including strip poker…”
The women go wild! The rest of his bio is drowned out, and Anna finally gives up. He’s got a cocky grin on his face, looking pretty comfortable with the attention. He turns, makes his way back down the catwalk to center stage, and nods at Anna.
“Should we start the bidding?” she asks.
Adrian lifts his arms, waving us on. The noise is deafening—screaming, whistling, stamping feet.
“Bidding starts at fifty euros!” Anna hollers above the noise.
I raise my hand. “Fifty!” My one and only bid for the night. I agreed to be the designated person to get the ball rolling on bidding.
Anna beams at me. “We have fifty!”
“A thousand!” someone hollers.
“Two thousand!”
It keeps going, crazy high. Wow, this is going to be a killer fundraiser. Just wait until they get to the last prince, the royal hottie. The women will be frothing at the mouth. I cringe to think of Phillip on a date with one of these women. I have no right to be possessive of him, but, after getting to know him this week, I’ve seen glimpses of a tender side. He doesn’t want to be mauled by an aggressive woman.
The bidding slows around five thousand euros, and Anna crosses to Adrian’s side, goading them on. “Come on, ladies! This is a prince who’s got it all. He’s smart, he’s good lookin’, and he’s a good dancer!”
The DJ cranks the music to a sexy hard beat, and Adrian and Anna start dancing together. It ishot.The pair of them move sensuously, close but not touching, Adrian smoldering down at her. Gabriel barks something from his seat, and Anna turns, makes a kissy face at him, and then hollers, “Go, Adrian!” She takes her place back at the podium.
He dances alone, lifting his arms and rolling his hips in a suggestive way. Then he moves forward, making eye contact with a woman in the front row, slowly raising the end of his shirt to reveal ripped abs. Damn, he is fine. They must have a personal trainer on staff at the palace. Phillip is similarly ripped.
The woman he aimed his abs at leaps out of her seat. “Six thousand!”
Adrian drops his shirt and does another walk down the catwalk. The bidding is insane. Ashley—the eager groper—lunges to grab Adrian’s calf. Security instantly moves forward, but Adrian shakes his head at them. He drops to his haunches in front of her, takes her hand, and kisses the back of it. He whispers something to her, and she smiles and settles back in her seat.
Then she bids ten thousand.
It’s over. Adrian goes for ten thousand euros. He throws out a kiss and wave to us all, turns, and strides back toward the stage curtains to make his exit.
“Woo-hoo!” Anna hollers. “Let’s give another hand to Adrian!”
Everyone applauds wildly as he vanishes backstage. Servants swoop in to refresh our drinks. They memorized what we ordered earlier and bring us each more of the same. I haven’t touched my glass of wine and turn down a second glass. It’s the good stuff too. Very generous.
Anna lifts a hand for silence and then announces the next prince. “Next up is Oscar, who some say should’ve been dubbed the royal hottie. Let me know if you agree.”
Oscar rips the curtains open and spreads his arms wide. He’s in a navy blue button-down shirt, dark gray dress pants, and leather shoes. Elegant, stylish, and sophisticated.
“Hello, ladies!” Oscar hollers. “Who’s feeling lucky tonight?”
