The Princess and the Player (Royally Pitched 1)

He snapped the picture. Grabbing the mobile from him, she looked at it and smiled wide.

“Look, it’s a good one.”

“Of course it is, love. You just made me the happiest bloke on the planet.”

She looked at the picture again and then back at him. “Caption this, Tristan.”

“Ele, you don’t have to do this.”

She shoved the mobile at him. “Caption! This!”

He pursed his lips for a second. Then, he did as she’d asked and posted the picture.

“What’d you say?”

“My queen.”

Epilogue

8 December

Christmas Gala

Nico stood, nursing a tumbler of scotch. No matter how hard he’d tried, his eyes kept returning to the same spot in the room. It was complete foolishness. He knew that. An impossible crush. Literally impossible. But it didn’t stop him from his fantasizing.

Katrine joined him, hooking her hand in his arm. She lifted her martini to her mouth and took a sip. She was a beautiful woman, an amazing mother, a loving best friend. She was everything he should want.

She squeezed his arm. “That’s a dangerous path,” she commented.

He questioningly looked at her. He knew he had been caught, but he wasn’t giving it up without some effort on her part. “What’s that, Kat?”

She shook her head, a smile playing around her mouth. “I know that look, Nicolas Ramsey. I’ve been on the other side of it, and I know where it leads.”

He raised his brow.

“Don’t give me that,” she said, laughing.

From the moment they’d met, she had teased him about his left eyebrow and how quickly it snapped to attention when something intrigued him.

She tugged on his arm. “Let’s go for a walk.”

At his nod, she led him through the crowded ballroom. French doors lined the northern wall, but with winter descended, the doors were shut. Tall space heaters were set up on the terrace, but few people had ventured outside. They stepped into the cold and moved closer together for warmth. Kat maneuvered them to one of the heaters and shuffled to him. Nico wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight. He breathed in the familiar scent of her.

“It’s good to have you back here. Does that mean you’ll stay?”

She settled against him, her hands wrapping around his back, under his jacket. She heaved a sigh. “Yes,” she said simply.

He grabbed her arms and pushed her away from him, so he could see her face. “Really?” Joy shot through him.

“It’s too hard on the kids. It’s too hard on me. I miss my best friend.”

Nico hugged her hard, so hard that she squealed. “You don’t know how happy that makes me. It’s the best gift you could have given me.” He held her for another moment. “Thank you.”

“We’ll have to figure out boundaries and work on joint custody.”

“Absolutely. You know I will give you whatever you want in terms of custody. I know you need to have a life too.”

“All of that, we’ll work through. But whoever we see in the future, it has to stay separate from the kids.”