CHAPTER 12
Camille
The plane levels off over Miami, and its aquamarine waters disappear behind us. Jonesboro, Arkansas, here I come.
I’m not sure why I felt a bit melancholy as we drove over the Seven Mile Bridge on our way back to the mainland. I had the option of taking either a helicopter or small plane back to the Miami airport to the jet, but I wanted to make the trip across that amazing bridge one more time. Something deep in my gut tells me I will never come back here again. I suppose the melancholy stems from the fact that yesterday may have been one of the best days of my life.
The Keys are beautiful, and the private island of Sunset Key was no exception. But I’ve been to beautiful tropical destinations before. Hell, I live on a beautiful tropical island. So it wasn’t necessarily the setting that spoke to me so much as I didn’t have one responsibility to live up to yesterday. I slept in, ate whenever I wanted, read a book, and napped by the pool. It was the most refreshed I’ve felt in a long time.
The icing on the cake was the amazing dinner Jackson was thoughtful enough to make for me. He even joined me for a glass of wine while we talked.
Of course, I couldn’t help but push his buttons a little.
But truly… he brought it on himself.
Jackson asked me what I did for fun, and once I pondered that question, I realized I really don’t do anything for fun. It was a sad realization, but still, I couldn’t help but tease him—although I don’t think he knows I was teasing—about having a random one-night stand with a hot guy as being on my list of fun things to do on this trip. He’d offered me skydiving or driving race cars, and I chose an orgasm.
Though he was thrown off for sure, he didn’t take the bait. He schooled his expression, and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He just shook his head as if amused so I changed the subject.
It’s a shame, really. While I would never, ever have sex with some random dude I’d just met, I would absolutely have a one-night stand with Jackson if he was interested. Sex is personal, and I have to respect and genuinely like the person if I’m even considering being intimate. I have both of those things with Jackson, not to mention the attraction. I know he feels it, too, because he admitted it in a roundabout way at his mother’s house.
Jackson wants to be on the up-and-up. His job is important to him, and apparently, they have some code of ethics he’s determined to adhere to.
So be it. I made my last play with him at the dinner table, and his failure to take it means he’s just not interested.
Maybe I should consider a one-night stand. Safely, of course. Marius would help me make it happen when I return to Bretaria. It could never be done in our regular social circles, but Marius could take me to one of his underground spots since he knows some of the best. There are secretive places to go, places where you can live your wildest fantasies, including a sex club.
Yeah… if I really want to get laid, Marius can make it happen. I add that to my mental bucket list.
Better yet, maybe I can take a trip somewhere. Marius would be glad to tag along. Someplace where I’m not recognized, which is basically anywhere in the world. While I’m probably the wealthiest royal on the planet, and from the smallest country after Monaco, there are not many people who even know what Princess Camille Winterbourne of Bretaria looks like. We could go to Croatia. Or Greece. The men are super hot in Greece.
I can go incognito, and there’s no doubt my dad would agree to another trip. I think he’s willing to give me as much time away from the island as he can because once I turn twenty-five, the responsibility starts in earnest. I know Jackson thinks I live a constrained life because of my duties between the crown and the ruby mines, but he truly has no idea what I’m in for once I reach my birthday. At that point, I’ll start learning the inner dynamics of both the monarchy and how it rules in conjunction with parliament, as well as running a multibillion-dollar company.
My parents want me to experience some fun before I really take on the mantle of burden coming my way. That doesn’t even include their not-so-subtle attempts to get me interested in a person to marry. And once I fall in love, rest assured I’m going to be pressured very quickly to consider getting pregnant and producing the next in line to rule behind me. It’s just what royals do.