I stood in what seemed the middle of nowhere by the Land Rover for shelter, kicking myself for agreeing to this. He’d played me. Yet those eyes, those lips, had mesmerised me into giving in.

Though you couldn’t fault the view. Without meaning to, my gaze lingered over to the side.

William stripped off his dress shirt, letting his muscular chest show for a precious few seconds before he slid on the t-shirt his friend had provided.

Well it was good while it lasted, I thought with a secret smile.

The wind tore at my hair. My make-shift bun was losing its fight in the strong gusts, and a few strands started to come loose. I pulled my cardigan tighter around me, still not believing this. Some protector I was.

We were on a bloody cliff! So close to the edge I didn’t dare move. And the packs they’d pulled out of the Land Rover were not your ordinary run of the mill backpacks. Oh no! They were fucking parachutes! Of course they bloody were, I thought sarcastically.

He really was going to jump off of a perfectly good cliff for fun. For fun! Didn’t he know what could happen to him on the way down? What if he mistimed the jump? Or cracked his head open on a protruding rock? How was I going to explain this ‘outing’ to his family if something bad happened? I’d stuck my neck out for him with his own detail, knowingly allowed him to miss his afternoon engagements all so that he could jump off this bloody cliff.

I was so stupid.

I was so smitten.

I hated myself.

Still, I couldn’t deny the fact that William was happier than I’d seen him since Frederick’s death. His smile was wide, uncensored, and his eyes sparkled as he shrugged on the pack, laughing with Jeremy as he did. God, they were lunatics. But he looked relaxed and confident, like he could conquer the world and though I knew this was a very bad idea, humongously stupid, I couldn’t very well tell him to stop.

Well, I could. But whether or not he would listen to me was a different matter. He’d probably end up convincing me to strap a backpack on and launch me off the cliff too if I wasn’t careful.

Actually there was a small piece of me that was insanely curious at what they were going to do and how. I’d never seen anyone willingly do this kind of thing before, and there was a buzz running through my body as I waited for them to start.

Will jogged over to me with something in his hand and my heart went pitter-patter. He was going to do it, he was going to take me with him and push me over the edge.

“Here, take this,” he said, then held up the fabric in his hands. All my terrified eyes could see was a copy of his and Jeremy’s backpack. But then the fabric twisted and unfolded, and Will draped his jacket over my cold shoulders. “You looked like you needed it.”

“Thanks,” I said, gratefully taking hold of the lapels and pulling them closer together over my chest.

“So you hate me right now don’t you?”

“Little bit,” I confirmed.

He smiled. Why was he smiling? He shouldn’t be grinning at a time like this, I thought, thinking of all the ways I could snitch on him before it was too late and he dropped into the abyss below.

“You have a weird look on your face. Are you going to run back to my father?”

“I can’t believe you are going to do this,” I muttered. “I have a right mind to call the cavalry in, sit on you till they get here and get someone to make you see sense.”

He took a step closer and my breath hitched in my chest. He was too darn handsome for his own good sometimes and this was one of those times.

“You won’t though. Will you? Though I might enjoy it if you sat on me…”

I gave him my best I’m-not-amused looks, but a wicked smile slipped free. “No I won’t, but you really do owe me for this. That’s like three you owe me now. You’re racking up quite a tab. Though I suppose you won’t owe me nothing if you don’t survive the jump. So you bloody well better!”

He chuckled. “I’ll survive, Sophie. This isn’t my first rodeo. I could probably do it blindfolded. Actually that’s not a bad idea.”

I swatted him on the shoulder. “You will not!”

William smiled but then he began to bend down and I thought I was going to faint from holding my breath. Was he going to kiss me? His face grew serious and he took hold of my upper arms.

“I will do whatever you say tomorrow. I swear it on Frederick’s grave.”

I cleared my throat, hating the fact that my stomach was in knots and I was feeling slightly dizzy. “Yes well, just go get it out of your system and be careful. I’ll wait right here, where it’s nice and safe.”

He straightened. “Nope, come on,” William said motioning for me to follow him. “Watch from over here. You’ll get a bird’s eye view. You might as well see it from the best vantage point now that you’re here.”

Reluctantly I followed him over to the edge of the cliff, blood rushing around my head as I looked down at the ground below, which seemed like such a tiny speck of dirt from this distance. “It looks very far down.”

Jeremy chuckled and threw his arm over my shoulders like we were good friends. “Darling, it is a long way down. That’s the point. You should have seen Will and I jump in France. We had these wing-suits in Chamonix and God we flew like birds of prey that day. That was one to remember.”

I saw Will’s grin dim slightly as he looked at both of us together and I was surprised to see a flash of jealousy in his eyes before it soon disappeared. No way. I was imagining it. Reading into looks that weren’t even there; he wasn’t jealous of Jeremy having his arm around me, right? I mean, why would he be?

“Come on,” he said, motioning to Jeremy. “It’s time to get this party started.”

“Stay right there and don’t lean over. Once we’re down you know what to do, like we explained,” Jeremy said as he gave me a friendly squeeze before he joined Will near the cliff. William’s eyes found mine one last time. He winked and I had to turn away to hide the smile. Either I was going crazy and imaging things, or there was something going on. And I wasn’t too confident in which one I would’ve preferred.

I really did not know how to handle these overwhelming emotions that had snuck up upon me in the last few days.

With my eyes pinned on the pair I held on tight to William’s suit jacket, snuggling down into it for perceived safety. Please don’t die, I chanted. He knows what he’s doing, quipped another side of me, the side that had confidence in the man I was charged with turning into a respectable prince.

I nodded to myself. He had this. Wouldn’t do it otherwise.

Then they were gone. From my position a ways back from the edge, but still able to see from the side, I watched them both hurtling towards the ground at an incredible speed.

My heart was in my throat, pounding like a big drum. It felt like my whole body was reverberating with the hard beat of my petrified heart.

Breathless, I wished for them both to pull their cords. To do something before they ended up as bloody smears on the ground.

When both parachutes went up, it was as if choir angels sang. I had the biggest smile on my face and tears streaming down my cheeks as a wide range of emotions jostled aside each other for the number one spot.

They floated effortlessly to the ground below, and finally they were safe. Prince William was back on solid ground again. My body felt wrung out over the few seconds of worry I’d had to endure. No wonder His Majesty was worried about his son. Watching something like this would tear anyone’s nerves up.

Straightening, I fished the keys out of my bag that Jeremy had handed to me earlier and climbed in the Land Rover, starting the engine so that I could manoeuvre the battered old 4x4 down the steep trail to where they had showed me to meet them.

The sun was starting to set in the distance, a beautiful palette of smeared bright pinks and vivid oranges as another day was ending. I finally got the Land Rover down the winding path and successfully parked it in the makeshift gravel parking lot as the guys walked up, their parachutes tucked in a roll in their hands. I climbed out of the driver’s side and watched as they stripped off the packs, winding up the parachutes to be repackaged later.

“What did you think, Sophie?” Jeremy asked.

“It was different, I’ll give you that.”

“It was fucking awesome you mean,” William replied, his hair windblown and his cheeks flushed. “I needed that, mate.”

“You need more than that, but we won’t go there right now,” Jeremy chuckled, sliding a glance over at me. “Hey Sophie, care to go for dinner tonight?”

My tongue felt suddenly thick, as if it didn’t belong to me, a strange lump of muscle in my mouth. I looked at Will’s handsome friend, and knew I should be flattered. After all it had been quite a while since someone had asked me out on a date. But it wouldn’t be right… he was Will’s friend.

“I, um…”

“Too late. She’s going with me, to dinner.”

My gaze shot to William as he stared at Jeremy, his jaw clenched. Jeremy held up his hands and gave me a wink. “Sorry, mate. I didn’t know she was taken.”

“I’m not!” I blurted out. William’s full concentration swung to me and I swallowed hard at the intense look, feeling those flutters in my stomach once more. “Well, I mean technically, I’m not taken.”

“You’re taken tonight,” William added with a sense of finality. Looked like I didn’t get a choice in the matter. He moved away and opened the latch on the off-road vehicle and threw his gear in the back. I didn’t say anything, surprised by the sudden change in tone the whole afternoon had taken on in a few short seconds. I climbed inside, in the rear, and clasped my hands together in my lap trying to figure him out. I didn’t understand why Will was being so… well, acting like a jealous boyfriend. We weren’t together, not even close. Even if hell did freeze over it still wouldn’t happen. We lived in two different dimensions, let alone worlds. I was his secretary, not his girlfriend.

The ride back was quiet, the sound of recent hits on the radio the only thing filling the silence. A few times Jeremy tried to lighten the mood, made a joke, but it fell on deaf and very preoccupied ears.

“Drop us off here, will you?” William asked before we reached the palace.

“Yeah mate, whatever,” Jeremy said, pulling over into a side street off Piccadilly. “Call me later.”

“Will do,” William replied curtly. But he stopped before climbing out and looked back at his friend. “Thanks again. I needed this.”

Jeremy’s nod was his reply. Over his shoulder he gave me a quick smile. I said my goodbyes and joined Will on the pavement. Jeremy drove away and Will produced a baseball cap from somewhere along with a pair of sunglasses. He put both on.

“Well, what now?” I said, taking in my surroundings. We were about a five to ten minute walk from the palace. “And why on earth are we walking back? It’s not exactly safe. Sir, say something,” I added when he remained quiet.

William shoved his hands in his pockets. “Sophie, I…”

“And what the hell was all that with Jeremy?” I rounded on him, finding my courage, placing my hands on my hips, unable to keep the fury at bay. He’d blatantly made his friend think that there was more to our relationship that there actually was; implying that I would step outside of the boundaries of an employee/employer relationship and jeopardise my career. But more than that I was angry at myself that there was a sliver of truth to it—a guilty conscience. My traitorous body betrayed me practically every time I looked at William.

But regardless I kept on giving him a hard time. “I can’t believe this. What were you thinking? We are not together.”

“Guess you don’t want to go to dinner then?”

“Ugh!” I started to walk away but then he put a halting hand on my arm.

“Look, I know,” he sighed. “I lied okay? I’m not proud of it. But I didn’t want you to go out with Jeremy.”

I tilted my head to look at him. “Why ever not? He seems nice enough. I could do a whole lot worse!”

I needed to know the answer. Why would he care about whom I would and would not date? It wasn’t like I was going to actually go to dinner with his best mate after all. I didn’t know him, and there felt like there was a bit of a conflict of interest.

William sucked in a breath, as if trying to build up the courage to say what he needed to. Another glance at him and I was taken aback by the sadness in his eyes.

“Tell me? You can trust me. Remember, I’m on your side.”

“Because… bloody hell, tonight is the night Frederick and I always had dinner together and I don’t want to do it alone again.”

My chest started to ache at his heartfelt reason. Of course, how could I have been so stupid? I should’ve been able to connect the dots. Frederick liked to block out his Monday evenings. Though he never told me what he had planned and I’d respected his privacy.

Now I was torn between wrapping Frederick’s twin brother in a hug and crying because I could see the loss and hurt plain to see on his face. And I suddenly realised his need to skip the afternoon events; Frederick’s events. Will required one hell of a distraction.

“I’m so sorry, Sir,” I said softly, reaching out to touch his arm. “I didn’t know.”

William let out a small laugh, running a hand through his hair roughly then put his cap back on. “Yeah well we kept it pretty quiet, especially if we fancied shaking our security detail. But it was nice, you know? Just the two of us. Acting like normal ordinary brothers, forgetting who we were for an evening every so often.”

“Well,” I said, giving his forearm a reassuring squeeze. “Admittedly, I’m a lousy replacement and as long as we don’t start drowning ourselves in whisky again, I would love to have dinner with you.”

Some of the sadness faded from his eyes and he said, “So I guess a strip club is out of the question then?”

My mouth dropped open before he chuckled. “I’m kidding.”

I shut my mouth and dropped my hand from his arm. “Of course you were. They don’t serve food in strip clubs.” Not that I had ever been in one before.

“Oh you wanna bet? Some of the best have these great sushi parties, where you eat right off—”

“And that ends that conversation! I won’t be able to look at another California roll the same way ever again,” I said and began towards the palace. As we walked it gave me time to think. I would have never expected William to have an acute vulnerable side to him. He came off all cock-sure and confident, yet under those hardened layers there was a softness to him. And the thought of him hurting right then drove a knife through my heart. He was vastly different than I had expected, much more down to earth, and funny too. He made me smile.

No! I wasn’t going to go down that dangerous path.

I could not get start thinking like that. The last thing I needed was to get involved with my boss.

“You know, Sophie Mortimer,” he said, and I gave him a weary sidelong glance at the sound of my full name. “I’m beginning to think you’re not so bad.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re trying to butter me up for something.”

He motioned drawing a cross over his heart. “Promise you, I’m not. Just wanted to thank you for today.”

“You’re welcome, Sir. All work and no play makes William a dull boy, right?” I said, repeating his little quip.

“Exactly. Speaking of which, give me two seconds—I have an idea.” He stopped and pulled out his phone, dialled and barked a couple of instructions. A few minutes later a town car with dark tinted windows pulled up right beside us.

Will held open the car door for me. “Well, come on. Get in. Or are you just going stand there?”

“Where are we going?” I asked and stepped closer, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off his body as he waited for me to pass and get in the car.

“Trust me. You’ll love it,” William replied.