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Her jewelry wasn’t vintage, but she loved the statement pieces made by female entrepreneurs in Vietnam. The doorbell rang and she tucked her hair behind her ear out of habit.
She’d brushed her blond hair to a sheen of soft waves falling to her shoulders and refreshed her natural-toned makeup. Nothing more to do to get ready for this date.
Family dinner as a date. She almost smiled at that, but the sudden advent of nervous butterflies in her tummy kept the smile from fruition.
Jenna shut the door on her now messy room, forcing down the urge to ask Dima to wait while she straightened things up a little.
She hated leaving dishes in the sink or clothes on the bed or floor when she went out.
Dima himself waited on the other side of her door, and that brought the aborted smile out in full force.
“You could have just texted, and I would have come down,” she chided.
He leaned in and kissed both her cheeks. “Not my style.”
She returned the familiar Mirrusian greeting, her entire body lighting up as she pressed chaste kisses to his cheeks.
They were in the parking garage, walking toward the car, when he said, “I like those jeans. Very retro.”
“Thank you.” She looked back over her shoulder and noticed his attention was firmly on her backside. She smiled. “I like the way they fit.”
“I do too.” He said it in an undertone, but one of the security men made a sound like a stifled laugh.
Dima gave him a sardonic look but didn’t seem embarrassed to be caught ogling her. Jenna was doing her own ogling, so she could hardly complain.
Dima wore a tight-fitting lightweight silk sweater and slacks cut to show off his gorgeous body.
He stepped around her and flicked a remote in his hand. The door on the passenger side of the high-end sports car opened. Black, of course, the car gleamed under the lights of the parking garage. Even with the powerful engine and sleek lines, no Mirrusian prince would go for a color as attention-grabbing as red.
Dinner with Dima’s family was as fun as it usually was. Living in the same city, Emma and Jenna had become very good friends over the years. Jenna had learned to tolerate Konstantin, and she adored their two boys.
Emma was down-to-earth, just like Nataliya, her role as princess only part of who she was. She was an amazing artist and really involved mom. Not to mention head over heels in love with her husband, Prince Konstantin.
There was no accounting for taste. Sure, Konstantin was a pretty decent guy, but Jenna would probably never forgive him completely for treating Nataliya like he had.
He’d had his reasons, Emma being the biggest one, but Nataliya had nearly lost her family over her decision not to fulfill a contract Konstantin had no real intention of fulfilling either.
He might have lied to himself, but anyone who saw him with Emma would know he couldn’t have married another woman and stuck it.
The boys, however, were adorable as ever, suckering Jenna into a game of hide-and-seek before dinner.
“Now, count to sixty and don’t look.”
“They want to see if you can figure out their latest hiding spot,” Emma informed Jenna as the boys rushed away, being awfully light-footed for a twelve-and a seven-year-old.
She couldn’t tell if they’d stayed on the main floor or gone up the mansion’s staircase.
“I remember doing the same with my siblings.” Jenna’s heart panged as it always did when she thought of the years before they’d lost her brother. “My sister and I were always trying to outguess our older brothers.”
“I thought you only had one brother,” Emma said, her brow furrowed.
“I do. Now.” They’d lost Matt when she was sixteen.
“I’m sorry for your loss.” The words might be a cliché, but Emma’s tone was filled with sincerity.
“Thank you. I never stop missing him, you know?”
“I never had siblings,” Emma said softly. “I can imagine, though. I love Dima, Nikolai and Nataliya like siblings and I cannot imagine losing one of them, much less one of the children.”
