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“I’ve told you. It’s just a fling. It’s kind of weird, knowing that it will end, and when, but at least it saves all those angsty questions of ‘where is this going?’. I know where it’s going. So does he.”
“Which is nowhere. So why bother?”
Cassie flinched inwardly at the crude – but correct – assessment. “Because it’s fun. And because I can’t not. I just know I need this.”
“You’re going to get hurt.”
Cassie nodded. “I know.”
Melinda stared at the profile of her best friend. What could she say? Her role in this little drama was clear. She would have her scene – and it would be in a week’s time. When Layth departed and Cassie was left heartbroken and miserable, Melinda would be the one to pick up the pieces. She stroked her friend’s hair and smiled. “Then enjoy it. We’ll cope with what happens as it happens.”
Cassie fixed her eyes on her friend’s. “Thank you.”
Breakfast was a surprisingly convivial affair, given the undercurrent of tension between Renee and a slightly sulking Melinda. Cassie watched the byplay between them with amusement. An emotion evidently shared by Layth. When their eyes met, she could see the same smile in his expression as she felt in her soul.
It highlighted something terrifying to Cassie.
Where Melinda and Renee were in the awkward new stages of a relationship, and were still feeling one another out; she and Layth had progressed far beyond that to companionable understanding. They mightn’t have known one another long – two weeks exactly – but the intensity of their relationship and the time they’d spent together had welded them in a way that might otherwise have taken months.
“Okay, it’s time for you to go,” Melinda said, scraping her cutlery to the middle of the plate. She eyed Renee as though he was threatening them all with something truly heinous.
Cassie was appalled. “Melinda…”
“Relax. I’m going with him.” Her cheeks flared pink. “Come on.” She reached a hand out and Renee put his in it with a smug wink at Cassie.
“Did I not tell you I’d win her in the end.”
Cassie laughed and shook her head. “Yes, you did.”
“It was a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness.”
He stood, his ingrained manners impossible to unlearn.
“Goodbye, Melinda. Renee.”
They were laughing together softly, as they walked down the stairway to the front door. It clicked closed behind them, but Cassie imagined they were still laughing as they made their way along the street.
Layth’s voice was husky. “Now, we are alone.”
She smiled. “We’re always alone.”
“Yes.” He stood, stacking the plates together and carrying them into the kitchen. Cassie was tempted to tell him to leave them, but she was fascinated by this more domesticated version of the Heir Apparent. He rinsed the plates efficiently and stacked them in the dishwasher
“I can’t believe you’ve done that before.”
He flicked a gaze to her. “I’m the royal heir, but my parents ensured I was not too ruined by the luxury of my position to understand real life. I was raised with some understanding of these normal acts.”
“Did they make you wipe the tables in your private jet?” She pondered with a wink.
His laugh was soft. “From time to time.”
“It sounds very glamorous.”
“Yes,” he shrugged. “It is.”
“Where do you live?”
“I have a palace in the northern province, not far from the ocean.”
