“It’s supposed to,” he said. Unsure now if it was true. Unsure that it meant anything.
“So I’m trying to matter. Trying to help erase the scandal I put on my family name. Trying to do something right for my country.” She blinked rapidly. “And I hope…. I hope it’s enough.”
She turned and walked out of the courtyard. He felt as if the color went with her.
He wanted to tell her he was wrong, to tell her to be happy. But he didn’t know the first thing about finding happiness. How could he direct her to find something he wasn’t certain existed?
She’d made her choice. She would marry Bastian.
And he would find a way to rebuild the walls that had surrounded his heart for so many years.
Go out. Have fun. Or at least pretend you’re having fun.
That was Eva’s directive. She and Mak were on assignment. Going to shop in the city without any scandal cropping up. Mak was supposed to shadow her, keep the press from mobbing her and, Eva was certain, keep her in line.
It was silly, but she was desperate for the car ride. Desperate for the moment when the door would close and she and Mak would be alone. She liked their arrangement, where it was just the two of them.
When Mak settled in beside her and they were closed into their bubble, a knot tightened in her stomach. “I … I didn’t think, Mak. Should I ask a driver to take us in one of the larger cars? You don’t like driving and I …”
“I’m fine, Eva,” he said.
“I wanted to be alone with you. Just for a bit,” she said, quietly, as he started the engine.
“Is there really any point to that?”
“No. I suppose not. Although, maybe there is. It’s nice to be with someone you…” She stumbled over her words. “… like a lot.”
“Is that so?” His tone was filled with bland disinterest. Just as it had been in the beginning.
“It is.”
He put the car into gear and started driving away from the palace. They were silent for a while, then Mak spoke. “So what is it you like about me?” he asked. A strange question coming from Mak. One that revealed a vulnerability she wasn’t accustomed to seeing.
“A lot of things,” she said. “You don’t complain if you have to prepare your own food, which is rare.”
“Really?” he asked dryly.
“In royal circles it’s very rare,” she said. “And I like talking to you. You’re judgmental sometimes, but you listen anyway. Also rare.”
“You flatter me.”
“I’m not trying to.”
“I guessed.”
A bubble of happiness started to fill up in Eva’s chest. She was with Mak and they were talking. And the wedding was four whole weeks away. In her mind, she imagined that date stretching far into the future. Visualized twenty-eight days lasting as long as possible.
Mak pulled the car up to a boutique that offered valet parking and put the car in Park with the keys still in the ignition. “Anything else?”
Eva unbuckled and paused, then pulled on the door handle. “You’re very good in bed.” She opened the door and got out, closing it behind her, heart pounding a bit faster than normal.
She heard the driver’s side door slam, and then heard Mak barking orders to the valet before stalking after her. She didn’t turn to look at him as she strode into the boutique, all of her efforts focused on ignoring him. Keeping her eyes in front of her.
She paused at a rack of sweaters.
“Careful, Eva,” Mak growled out the words as he walked by her, headed into the back of the shop to do that blending he was so good at.
“No thanks,” she said sweetly.
A shop assistant came over to Eva, her eyes widening, mouth falling open for a brief moment before she made a quick recovery, as she realized who Eva was. Once the discovery was made, clothes were brought out en masse. She wasn’t trying to fly under the radar, which was an odd experience, and she wasn’t making use of the family stylist, which was equally rare.
Mak stayed on the fringes, keeping his eyes on her, but staying away from her and the saleswoman as they systematically made their way through the jeans, tops, slacks and skirts.