Stop it.
“What about you?” Rhys asked, his tone also casual. “Know who your new guard is yet?”
I shook my head. “I asked for Booth, but he’s already assigned to someone else.”
“Funny. I thought they’d be more accommodating, considering you’re the crown princess.” Rhys cut his chicken with a little more force than necessary.
“I’m not crown princess yet. Anyway, let’s talk about something else.” Our conversation was depressing me. “What fun things are there to do around here?”
The answer was, not much. After lunch, Rhys and I walked through town, where I picked up some souvenirs for my friends. We checked out an art gallery featuring local artists, took a cafe break where I had the best coffee I’d ever tasted, and shopped for groceries at the farmer’s market.
It was a simple, ordinary day, filled with mundane activities and nothing particularly exciting.
It was perfect.
By the time we returned to the villa, I was ready to pass out, but Rhys stopped me before I could crash. “If you can stay up a while longer, there’s something you should see.”
Curiosity won out over exhaustion.
“This better be good.” I followed him out onto the terrace and sank onto one of the wicker chairs by the pool, where I stifled a yawn. “I get cranky when I don’t get enough sleep.”
“Trust me, I know.” Rhys smirked. “Good of you to admit it though.”
I watched as he turned off all the lights, including the outdoor floodlights.
“What are you doing?” He never turned off all the lights until right before he went to bed.
He sat down next to me, and I spotted a flash of his teeth in the darkness before he angled his chin up.
“Look up, princess.”
I did. And I gasped.
Thousands upon thousands of stars splashed across the sky above us, so numerous and densely packed they resembled a painting more than real life.
The Milky Way, right there in all its sprawling, glittering glory.
It hadn’t occurred to me we could see it so clearly here, but it made sense. We were high in the hills, miles away from the nearest big city. There was no one and nothing around except us, the sky, and the night.
“I thought you might like it,” Rhys said. “It’s not something you see in New York or Athenberg.”
“No. It’s not.” Emotion gripped my chest. “And you were right. I love it. Worth staying past my bedtime and getting cranky for.”
His low chuckle settled in my belly and warmed me from the inside out.
We stayed outside for another hour, just staring at the sky and soaking in the beauty.
I liked to think my parents were up there, watching over me.
I wondered if I’d turned out the way they’d hoped, and if they were proud. I wondered what they would say about Nikolai’s abdication, and whether my mother knew I was the one who should’ve died that day in the hospital, not her.
She should’ve been queen, not me.
At least she and my father were together. They were one of the lucky couples who started off in an arranged marriage and ended up falling in love. My father had never been the same after my mom’s death, or so everyone told me. I’d been too young to know the difference.
Sometimes, I wondered if he’d lost control of his car on purpose so he could join her sooner.
I turned my head to look at Rhys. My eyes had adjusted to the dark enough that I could make out the tiny bump in his nose and the firm curve of his lips.
“Have you ever been in love?” I asked, partly because I really wanted to know, and partly because I wanted to pull my thoughts off the morbid path they’d taken.
“Nope.”
“Really? Never?”
“Nope,” Rhys said again. He cocked an eyebrow. “Surprised?”
“A little. You’re old. You should’ve been in love at least three times by now.” He was ten years older than me, which wasn’t that old at all, but I liked teasing him when I could.
A deep, rich sound filled the air, and I realized with shock Rhys was laughing. The deepest, loudest, realest laugh I’d pulled out of him yet.
It was beautiful.
“One love for every decade,” Rhys said when his mirth faded. “By that calculation, you should’ve been in love twice by now.” The intensity of his stare pierced through the darkness. “So tell me, princess. Have you ever been in love?”
“No.” I returned my attention to the stars. “But I hope to be one day.”
18
Bridget
We spent four glorious, perfect days in Costa Rica.
I woke up late, went to bed late, and spent my days eating, sunbathing, and reading a romance novel I’d picked up at the airport. Bucket list number two.
On our third day, Rhys drove us two hours to Monteverde for zip lining. He said the company was the best in the area and he’d zip-lined with them several times himself.
Still, his face was taut with tension as I prepared to go down the longest zip line. We’d only done the shorter cables until now, and they were fun, but I was ready for more.
The one I was about to get on stretched high above the cloud forest, so long I couldn’t see the other end of it. A mixture of excitement and nerves twisted in my stomach.
“Check her again,” Rhys said after our guide gave me the thumbs up.
No one bothered arguing. Rhys made the guide triple-check my harness before I went down every line, and arguing was futile.
“If you get stuck, don’t panic,” Rhys said after the guide okayed me—again. “We’ll come get you.”
“By ‘we’ll,’ he means me,” the guide joked. “But yes, we will come get you. Don’t worry, miss.”
“I hadn’t thought about getting stuck until now, so thank you for that,” I said wryly.
Rhys’s stern expression didn’t budge, but all thoughts of his grumpiness disappeared when I got into position. The guide gave me a push, and I finally raced down the line. The wind whipped through my hair, and I couldn’t hold back a huge grin.
Ziplining looked scary from the ground, but once I was in the air? It was exhilarating.
I closed my eyes, savoring the wind and the feeling of being away from it all. No worries, no responsibilities, just me and nature.
When I made it to the next treetop platform, I was still riding high from the zip line, and I couldn’t resist teasing Rhys again when he landed shortly after me.
“See? I’m fine,” I said. “You didn’t have to pick up pieces of me from the ground.”
He did not look amused at all, but I didn’t care.
Bucket list number three, check.
For all his overprotectiveness, Rhys was more relaxed down here. Not fully relaxed, mind you, but he’d ditched his all-black outfits for shorts and—gasp—white T-shirts, and he agreed to most of the activities I wanted to do with minimal complaint, including parasailing and an ATV tour.
The one thing he refused to do, however, was get in the pool with me, and on our last night, I made a last-ditch effort to change his mind.
“I’ve never heard of a Navy SEAL who doesn’t swim.” I stepped onto the terrace, where Rhys was drawing in his sketchbook. He hadn’t shown me any of his sketches yet, and I hadn’t asked. Art was deeply personal, and I didn’t want to force him to show me anything if he didn’t want to. “Come on. It’s our last day, and you haven’t taken advantage of this once.” I swept my arm at the gleaming pool.