Tempting the Crown (The Crown 1)

“No.” She shoved me. “Since you’ve been here we’ve had pizza one night. Chinese the other and last night I didn’t even make it home to eat, so I have no idea what you had. Sorry. You deserve a proper welcome.” She paused. “Hurry up and change. We’re leaving in fifteen minutes.”

“You’re a really pushy roommate. You know that?” I placed one foot on the floor, testing the tenderness.

“You have always loved being my roommate.” She winked.

“Loved is past tense,” I teased her. “We haven’t lived together in five years.”

She shrugged. “Get dressed.”

I still hadn’t unpacked all of my clothes. There were boxes scattered on the floor. I thought about a short blue sundress I wanted to wear, but I wasn’t sure I could find it. I started ripping tape and rummaging through the stacks.

It was folded at the bottom of one of the piles. I held it in front of me. I remembered the days in college when Greer and I would swap clothes. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I was standing in front of the mirror holding my blue dress.

I knew it wasn’t the same. We weren’t the same girls we were back then. We had careers now. Greer had Preston. Life had been sweet and ugly since we graduated from college.

I unfolded the belt from my waist and pulled the dress over my head.

“Hey, Greer. I need to get in the shower,” I called from the doorway. “Give me ten minutes.”

There was no way I was going out with the day still clinging to me.

I quickly rinsed off and slid into the blue sundress. It felt good to have something clean on that didn’t smell like coffee. I shook my hair out and let it fall around my shoulders in golden waves. Good thing the beach hair look was still in.

Somewhere in this room was a cute bag that matched this dress, but I didn’t feel like excavating again.

I walked in the living room. “Do you have a purse I can borrow? I don’t have the energy to unpack.”

Greer sat on the couch, flipping through a magazine. “Sure. I have a straw one that would be cute.”

She returned from her room holding a waffle cut hemp bag. “Thanks.”

And for a second it felt as if we were twenty-two again. We weren’t in Washington D.C., focused on careers and making a difference in the world. We were two girls getting ready to go out for the night to have some drinks. Maybe hit a mixer at the Sigma Nu house.

She put an arm around me. “Preston’s going to meet us in about an hour.”

“Oh? I didn’t know he was coming.” I tried to hide the disappointment in my voice.

“He said he wanted to buy you a drink and congratulate you on your first day in person.”

She locked the door behind us as I surveyed the staircase. If only I could shimmy down the banister.

“That’s sweet.” I mustered the words.

It wasn’t that I didn’t like Preston. I did. He was nice, but that was the only word I could think of to describe him. I didn’t get what it was about him that made Greer so giddy. I didn’t see the spark. I didn’t see any fire between them.

He was okay to hang out with, but he had a knack for making me feel like the third wheel. He reminded me I was the single one in the group. He knew things about my best friend I didn’t. While I had been working my ass off in a law firm, Preston had been here with Greer. He knew the details about her I used to know.

We made it to the first landing. “Yeah, he wants to get to know you better too. I told him I thought it was a good idea. You’re okay with it, right?” Greer babbled on.

“Oh, of course,” I lied. I hoped I would get one girls’ night. I had seen Preston every one of my three days here.

By the time we reached the bottom of the building I was wincing in pain. I swore I would never wear those damn heels again.

“Let me get the car,” Greer offered. She darted ahead of me and ran toward the street.

Luckily, we were in a busy part of the neighborhood and there was an Uber around the block. We waited less than two minutes. I hobbled to the sidewalk and slid into the backseat.

She tapped my knee. “Don’t worry, a few drinks in and you won’t even care about your feet.”