Chapter 11

Charles

What was Heidi doing right now?

My lips curled into a vague smile as I closed my eyes. Maybe she was in the bath, each one of her soft strands coated with glistening spheres of bubbles. Or she was at some juicy photo shoot, clad in a bra and panties that would be boner-inducing on sight. Or maybe—even better—she was curled up in her silky bedsheets, a vibrator pressed between her legs as she squeezed her eyes tight with the image of us from last night.

My eyes snapped open as I clamped my lips shut. No way was I going to groan and alert my brother to what was going on. If I did that, then I’d have to admit to him that I, in all my brilliance, hadn’t even made a follow-up date with her yet.

A nudge to my arm brought me back to the present.

“Uh, I hate to do this, but as our future king and all, you should probably be the one waving to all these people who are passing by,” Henry reminded me.

“You’re right of course,” I said, returning my gaze to where it should have been, namely on the sidewalks we were passing.

Since we were on an off-the-cuff jaunt in a horse-drawn carriage, as recommended by Father, I figured most of these people weren’t exactly counting on a wave from yours truly, but if I was going to be sitting out here in the scalding sun on a nice Monday afternoon when I could be napping or eating strawberries or any other more pleasant activity, I might as well make the most of it.

“I’m right—of course,” Henry said, trying out the words himself. He tossed his brown curls with a cheeky smile. “I like the sound of that.”

“Don’t get used to it,” I griped mutinously, arranging my mouth into a smile for a cute little blond girl and her brunette mother across the street. My gaze rested on the mother a few moments too long. That dark glossy hair of hers and her tall height reminded me of…

“Anyway,” Henry said, sliding his arm around to give me a rap on the shoulder, “I owe you for hooking me up with that Liza model. She’s the best one yet! I saw her Saturday and Sunday night.”

“Hold on. Stop the press,” I said, twisting my head to gape at him head-on. “You went on a second date with someone?”

He shrugged.

“Guess it was bound to happen eventually. Besides, why not? I’m telling you, the girl’s an absolute freak in bed. Models, am I right?”

He nudged me again, but I ignored it. I knew what he wanted: to get some information about Heidi out of me. The discretion I’d requested of Heidi went both ways. I wasn’t planning on telling Henry about what had gone on between us these past few nights. In fact, I wasn’t going to tell anyone about what we’d done. No use in ruining a good thing.

“Hellooo,” Henry said, nudging me, again, as he flung his other arm into a wave at a gaggle of Catholic schoolgirls. “That was me asking you how your date went. Get it?”

I swallowed back my “sod off” and settled on, “It went fine.”

His dark brows raised.

“Fine as in sex that was so hot it’ll be recorded through the ages, or fine as in you’re already looking for dear sexy Heidi’s replacement?”

I gave him a rapping pat of my own.

“Don’t worry about me, brother. My tastes are not as disparate and easily bored as yours.”

“Don’t make me feel even sorrier for you than usual,” he said with an irreverent smile.

I gave him the finger, although I didn’t even bother to observe his reaction. What Henry had said got me thinking. If he’d found time to see Liza that much over the weekend, then why couldn’t I have had another date with Heidi?

The horse-drawn carriage stopped. Henry stabbed his thumb at a McDonald’s.

“I’m going to get a McFlurry. Want one?”

I shook my head mutely, and he clambered off. McDonald’s…just like… I groaned, my hands going to my temples. Rubbing them a bit didn’t help what I was being plagued with: Heidi-itis. Today, there didn’t seem to be any escaping her.

Anyway, my brother was gone, so I guessed I could call her if I really wanted to.

She answered on the first ring.

“Charles, hi,” she said, sounding clearly pleased.

“Hey,” I said.

My gaze stopped on a blushing old lady who’d turned to wave. I must’ve been beaming my grin at her obliviously for the last minute or so. Whoops.

“I know it’s kind of last minute, but I was wondering if you have plans tonight. Or rather, if you’d like to go to dinner with me tonight,” I said.

“I’d love that.” I grinned at her reply; her voice attested to her words. “Same place?”

“Same place,” I told her. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“I’m looking forward to it too,” she said before I hung up.

My dick twitched in anticipation. Why hadn’t I just done that in the first place? Whatever the reason, at least I now had things set in stone. It was going to be a good night. I could tell already.

--

An hour or so later, after I’d taken an early departure from our carriage ride, I picked Heidi up myself, although I was careful to sit on the opposite end of the limo and only make idle chitchat with her—none of which involved eye contact. I wanted to make sure we got through the meal before we enjoyed dessert. As much as I’d love to get to the dessert part with her, if we did it too soon, too fast, we might never make it to the main course. And my belly wasn’t grumbling irately for nothing.

This time for dinner, they set us up on a higher level on a well-shaded balcony. Once we sat down and ordered our meals, Heidi aimed an impressed gaze up at the stars.

“Every time I’ve been here, they’ve sat us in a different spot. Makes it almost like a different place.”

“It is,” I said, although that was not what I was really thinking.

My mind was consumed with how hot she looked—and how different. Last time she’d been a bit punk rock with her black leather zip-up dress. Today she was pure class in a white, high cowl neck dress that showed off her dainty arms and svelte legs. I wanted to devour her from the tips of her toes to the crown of her head. But as I said, we hadn’t eaten yet. First things first.

Taking all of ten minutes, our food was prepared quickly and efficiently, while our chitchat was easy and painless. This time, we both had chicken skewers. We drooled at the tall spears of meat for a minute before I couldn’t help but take my first bite. The second, I nestled against her lips. Our gazes locked. Maybe it was the dark night or the dark thoughts slithering through her, but her eyes almost looked black, not the dark green they actually were. I wanted to kiss her.

“Is that all you’ve got?” she asked softly as her lips enveloped the meat.

My mouth twisted into the hungriest of smiles. My face dipped to hers, but my phone went off.

“Charles, we need you at the house,” my mother said in a clipped tone.

“What’s the problem?” I asked. “Can you wait an hour or—”

“It can’t wait a second,” she snapped. “Just as I predicted, the tabloids caught hold of a story about your brother and some model. It’s absolute madness over here.”

She hung up before I could even give a response.

The few seconds it took to turn to face Heidi felt like an eternity. An eternity for me to realize I had no idea what to say.

“Something bad?” she guessed immediately.

I nodded, frowning.

“I hate to do this, but I have to go,” I said, rising. “Right now.”

Disappointment pouted her lips only for an instant before understanding pressed them together as she nodded.

“Of course,” she said. “I understand.”

“I’ll make sure the car returns and takes you back home, though,” I said, pausing.

Amid the forced understanding on her face, there was a sort of quiet, sad curiosity too—one I should answer but had no time for, not right now.

“My apologies again,” I said, lifting her fingers to my lips. “Till next time.”

I held them there a moment too long, then wrenched myself away. As I left, behind me, I heard her response: “Till next time.”

It was sad, just how the look in her eyes had been, as if she didn’t quite believe me.