Chapter 26

I get back to the suite about six, after spending a couple of happy hours at a local bar, drinking with the Prime Minister and “strutting around looking hot,” as Lola so eloquently put it. She’s due back any minute now and I’m hoping to take a quick shower before she gets here. The Prime Minister really likes his cigars, which doesn’t bother me any. But I learned a few days ago that smoke aggravates Lola’s allergies, so I want to make sure the smell is off me before she gets back to the room.

But the second I open the door to the Presidential Suite, I know that’s not going to happen. Because Kian and Savvy are sitting on the couch, feet up on the coffee table and the detritus of a late-afternoon minibar raid all around them.

“What are you doing here?” I demand as I close the door firmly behind me. If I don’t sound particularly welcoming, it’s because I’ve really been looking forward to spending a low-key evening with Lola. But Netflix-and-chill is one of those things where three’s a crowd and four’s a disaster. I have every right to be a little grumpy.

Besides, Kian’s way too high maintenance. If I’m not careful, he’ll have the four of us partying ’til dawn at all of the local hot spots, which isn’t exactly the image of cool, collected responsibility I’ve been working so hard to project.

Then again, it’s not like it matters. Nothing seems to. We shared the poll numbers with the King and all we got was a lecture on polling data being inaccurate on numerous occasions. Oh, and a scolding about abusing the pollsters for our own political gain.

“Hey, is that any way to greet the brother you haven’t seen in—” He pauses, glancing over at Savvy, who’s smirking at me from where she’s curled up on the couch.

“Nine whole days.” I fill in the blank before she can. “Considering you used to spend weeks traveling the world and hopping from one party to the next, nine days doesn’t seem like that long.”

“Yes, well, love has changed me.” He reaches for Savvy’s hand and brings it to his lips. “I’m more open now, more in touch with my feelings. I missed you.”

“More like you’re more ridiculous now.” I cross to the bar and make myself another drink—normally three is my limit, but it’s starting to look like it’s going to be a long night.

“Nah,” Savvy tells me with a grin. “He’s always been this ridiculous.”

“You make a good point.” I hold up a chilled bottle of pinot grigio, her drink of choice when we were dating all those years ago. “Can I pour you some?”

“God, yes,” she answers. “You can pour me a lot. It’s been a really long day.”

“Pour me a drink, too, would you?” Kian asks.

I nod as I splash some tequila on ice, then add a twist of lime the way he likes.

“So, what are you doing here?” I ask again as I deliver their drinks.

“Truth? You look so smitten in the recent photographs that I came out here to save you from yourself.”

Savvy rolls her eyes as she takes the glass of wine I hold out to her. “He came because he’s dying to meet your girl. We both are.”

“Way to ruin my fun,” Kian tells her with a little pout.

“I’ll make it up to you later.”

He grins. “I can’t wait.”

“Okay, if you two are done with all the sexual innuendos—”

“I’m never done with that,” Kian interjects.

“Don’t I know it.” I take a long sip of the whiskey I poured myself.

“Besides, those weren’t really innuendos. More like straight-up promises for sex. Which I’m also totally okay with. In fact—”

“Did you actually come all this way to meet Lola? Or did you just want a shot at driving me insane, up close and in person?”

“All this way?” Savvy asks. “It was a forty-five-minute flight.”

“You know what I mean. I don’t buy it.” I fix my younger brother by seven minutes with the glare I’ve used to get him to tell the truth pretty much since we learned to talk. “What’s going on?”

He squirms a little, right on schedule. “Fine. I wanted to check on you.”

“Check on me?”

“After the King’s lecture. I know I got your hopes up about the polling data and—”

“Actually, I think you got your hopes up. I distinctly remember telling you that it wouldn’t work.”

“Do you always have to be right?” he demands, throwing up his hands. “Even when it goes against your own self-interest?”

“I would love to be wrong. But the thing is, despite your jaded, man-whore visage, you’re actually the idealist between the two of us. If you were a little more pragmatic, you’d realize that we’re all totally and completely fucked.”

“I refuse to accept that.”

“I know you do.” I drain what’s left of my whiskey in one long swallow. “It’s a problem.”

“No, the problem is your fatalistic attitude. You give up before you even enter the fight and I don’t understand why. You used to be so—”

Kian breaks off as the front door of the suite opens and Lola comes through it, arms loaded with more garment bags than any one woman should be able to carry.

I’m across the suite in an instant. “Here, let me help.”

“Thanks,” she says with a laugh. “I think I got carried away. But the sale was a treasure trove of vintage pieces. Vera’s going to be thrilled when she sees them. In fact, I need to call her and let her know to ex—”

She stops mid-word, eyes going wide as she looks from Kian to Savvy to me. “I didn’t know we were having company.” Her tone screams that I should have called her. “Did I miss something?”

For a second, it looks like she’s trying to decide if she should curtsy or not—which is insane considering how she treated me when we first met. In the end, though, she skips the pomp and circumstance and settles for extending a hand to each of them in turn. “It’s so nice to meet you, Kian, Savvy. I’ve heard so much about you from Garrett.”

“All of it good, I’m sure,” my brother says with a smirk.

“All of it colorful,” she counters. “Is that good enough?”

“It’s accurate,” Savvy interjects. “So yes, more than good enough.”

Lola turns to me then, her unspoken question hanging in the air between us. “Change of plans,” I tell her because the last thing I want to do tonight is get into the reason for Kian’s visit with her. “Tonight you get to see my Paris.”