American Royals

“I told Ethan that I liked someone,” Jeff admitted. “It was kind of hard not to, after the reporter asked that question at the photo call. But I never told him who it was. And I trust Ethan, implicitly,” he added, before she could accuse Ethan of tipping off the tabloids.

Nina gave a slow nod. She believed Jeff. After all, she certainly would never do anything like that to Sam.

“Still, someone must have known,” she persisted. “There’s no way a photographer just happened to be on campus with that camera, happened to notice you, and happened to snap a photo of us in the one second that you kissed me!”

Jeff shrugged. He clearly wasn’t as bothered by this as she was, but then, he was much more used to having his privacy invaded. “Maybe they were tailing the town car? I can try to get my security involved, if you want,” he offered, though he didn’t sound hopeful.

“It just makes me feel unsafe, thinking that there’s someone who sold us out,” Nina insisted. “I don’t know who to trust anymore.”

“You can trust me.” Jeff took a hesitant step toward her. “Please, Nina. Tell me what I can do to make this right.”

She slipped her phone from her pocket and pulled up her photo album. She had taken a picture of every page of the nondisclosure agreement Robert had asked her to sign. Nina had already read through it in its entirety, but now she watched Jeff skim through the various sections.

I will not disclose confidential information to any party … I shall not use or exploit my relationship to the Crown to promote my own interests … In the event of a dispute, I waive my right to a jury of my peers in a public court proceeding, and agree instead to a closed arbitration …

Jeff cursed. “I had no idea.” He handed Nina’s phone back to her, shaking his head in disgust. “Please don’t feel like you need to sign that.”

“I don’t mind signing. I would never sell secrets about your family,” Nina said gently. “This isn’t about the contract. It’s about what the contract represents. That if you and I keep dating, it won’t ever be just you and me in the relationship. It’s you and me and the palace—or, worse, you and me and the world. Which makes things a bit crowded.”

“If we keep dating?” Jeff repeated.

A lock of his hair kept falling forward into his eyes; Nina resisted the urge to brush it back. “I don’t know if I’m the right person to be dating you.”

“Says who, someone at the Daily News? I couldn’t care less what she thinks,” Jeff shot back, but Nina shook her head.

“It isn’t just her. All those thousands of comments—America used to adore you, and now they hate you, because of me. And what about Daphne?”

“What about her?”

“Everyone likes her better!”

“You really need to stop reading the tabloids. Those things rot your brain,” Jeff said, at which Nina couldn’t help but smile. “Honestly, Nina. I don’t care if America ‘likes her better.’” He lifted his hands into air quotes to show his skepticism. “America isn’t the one trying to date you; I am. And I like you better.”

Nina wasn’t trying to validate all those articles, and yet … “It feels like there’s still something between you, some kind of unfinished business. Don’t you think that, eventually, you’ll end up going back to her?”

“I’m sorry again about Daphne, and graduation,” Jeff said heavily. “I know what I put you through wasn’t fair. The thing is, I should have ended things with Daphne much earlier than I did.”

He swallowed and looked into her eyes.

“We had just been together for so long, and my parents and all my friends and even the media were always telling me how good she was for me. So I kept thinking that she must be,” he said helplessly.

“That’s exactly my point!” Nina cried out. “You said it yourself: your parents and friends and the media were all rooting for her. I wish that didn’t matter, but it does. It isn’t just the two of us anymore, Jeff. And I worry that I’m not the right fit for this life. For your family.”

Jeff reached for her hand, and Nina let him take it. He rubbed a thumb lightly over the back of her wrist.

“You’re already part of our family,” he told her. “You’ve been Sam’s best friend for so long that you’ve seen behind the curtain. You know the real us, the bickering and the pressure. You know that my cousin Percy is a little menace and that half the time when Aunt Margaret does royal engagements, she’s drunk. You of all people shouldn’t worry about fitting in. You already belong with us. You belong with me.”

Nina let out a heavy breath. “If only things could stay like this, when it’s just the two of us. Simple, no complications.”

Jeff’s dark eyes seemed to possess impossible depths. “I hate that all this baggage comes with dating me. It’s a lot to take on, especially for someone as independent as you. I wish I could say that things will get easier. But they never will—not for me.”

He gave Nina’s hand a final squeeze, then let go. “I don’t have a choice, but you do. If you want to walk away from this, from all the attention and the madness and the NDAs, I won’t blame you. But I will miss you.”