I let out a laugh from deep in my chest before I jog up the stairs. Katie trails me into the house, shedding her jacket and her shoes as she does. She curls into her preferred chair and pulls the coffee table with the chessboard closer.
She wrinkles her nose as she stares at the half-finished game from before my trip. “You’re going to lose.”
I drop into the chair across from her. “I am not.”
“Six moves. Maybe even four.” She points. “Queen to c5, then your castle to c7, queen to b6, your king to c8, checkmate.”
My jaw drops. “Fuck off, Bailey,” I grumble.
She laughs, her head tipped back. There’s an odd, breathless sensation in my throat as I watch, before I jerk my gaze to the board. Tonight has been weird.
“You think women are aroused by mediocre chess skills?” I ask as I start resetting the pieces.
“With any luck,” she says cheerfully. “You’re going to need it. You should have just let them arrange a marriage,Tristan. Once these women spend five minutes with you, they’ll run screaming for the hills.”
“Wouldn’t you like to see that?”
“Honestly?” Her gaze meets mine. “I think this whole thing is messed up. Rich people are not normal.”
“Tell me about it.”
She sighs. “I suppose I’ll need to help you.”
Her loyalty makes me smile. “Yeah? You want to find me someone to marry?”
“Want?” She makes a face. “No. Not when I have real responsibilities. Like keeping you from being kidnapped.”
“For the last time, Bailey,” I exclaim, “no one wants to kidnap me.”
She frowns. “Well, youwouldbe my last choice. You’d probably start asking the kidnapper if they’d consider transitioning the van to electric to save the environment.”
I bark a laugh. “They’d have to let me go. I’m far too annoying.”
“Going to have to keep that under wraps while you look for a spouse.”
The thought makes me swallow my humor. “Yeah. Fuck.”
She studies the pieces while I study her, trying to put my finger on what looks different. Her lashes look longer. I’ve never noticed the shadows they cast on her cheeks before.
“This is really what you want?”
“This is what I’m doing,” I say slowly. “I want to run the company. I want to inherit. I want to take some of the burden from Aiden. And I don’t want Grandfather choosing my spouse.” I toy with one of my pawns while I wait for her to move. “You know I met every single distillery employee while I was gone?”
“All of them? There have to be at least five hundred.”
I nod. “More. They care so much about the whiskey and the company. I want to help them. I want to be the one at the helm.” The words zip through me, pull my spine straight.
She gives me a small smile as she edges a pawn forward. “Tristan Prince, CEO.”
I tap my own piece down. “One day. And to do that I need marriage. Someone compatible. We’ll reach an understanding. My life won’t change that much.”
Her gaze narrows. “Tristan, this isn’t any way to find happiness.”
“Don’t start with me.” I give her a pointed glance. “Next you’ll tell me to follow my dreams.”
Katie Bailey is all heart. A lioness who growls at her cubs—me and my siblings—and tells us to go for the things that make us cry. She once told me she wanted to carry the Olympic torch and join the UN Peacekeepers. She cries at documentaries and she could tell you her list of favorite poems off the top of her head.
She is my polar opposite, and I tease her about her weird dreams and her big heart as much as I can. She gets all prim and straight spined when I do that. If I piss her off enough, she’ll put me in a headlock. Those days are my favorite. Being with her feels like what I imagine birds feel when they catch a good updraft or a football player when he makes an insane catch.
