Noah felt like he’d been living underneath a storm cloud for hours. Beyond the curtains and the glass, the sky was a crystalline blue, as was the ocean on the horizon. The trees were bright green, and birds flew through the sky.
But he wasn’t part of this world, but some other, alternate world where he just watched the real world pass him by.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” he muttered to himself. Behind him, Boomer whined, and Noah knew how he felt. At least at home, in Triguard, he could leave the castle for the grounds. Reporters didn’t dare come onto the grounds, and he could wander through the trees and stay out of the public eye.
His phone buzzed, but he ignored it. Zara had said she’d check in with him later, but he honestly wasn’t sure he should perpetuate anything with her. He sure did like her though, even when they argued.
But a real relationship with her would require a lot from her, and he wasn’t sure she’d be willing to give it. She’d have to leave Getaway Bay. Her family. Her job.
And he didn’t see that happening. Every one of those was important to her, as he’d picked up from the conversations they’d had.
Could he leave Triguard and move to Getaway Bay? He didn’t hold any position in anything important in Triguard, and his mind started down paths it had never been on before.
It had been long enough that he could call his mother, and he pulled out his phone to get the unpleasant task done. He noticed that his brother had texted, which caused a heavy dose of surprise to bolt through him.
Stopped by the house today, he said. I really thought you’d be there. Can you please check in so Mom won’t call the authorities?
He read and re-read the text, sure the words weren’t right. His brother—the next King of Triguard—had flown halfway around the world to Getaway Bay to see if Noah was at the bluff house?
That couldn’t be.
Why hadn’t Damien pulled through the gate? He knew the code.
Noah half-shrugged. Maybe he didn’t know the code. He tapped out Calling her now, and then dialed his mother.
She answered after only one ring with, “Noah Sven Wales.” Nothing else. No demand to know where he was or when he was coming home. Of course, he hadn’t expected one. Just the scathing disappointment.
“Hello, Mother,” he said. “As you can see, I’m fine.”
“I’m not even going to ask where you are.”
“That would be great,” Noah said. “And you know that nothing in the newspapers about Venice is true, right?”
“Nothing?”
“Well, I was there with a woman named Katya.”
“But you didn’t get married.” She wasn’t asking, which was comforting to Noah.
“Mom, come on. Of course not.”
She sighed, and he imagined her sitting at her personal desk, her back straight, the phone held to her ear while she participated fully. She was one of the most attentive people he knew, and a twist of guilt hit him hard.
“Do I want to know what you were doing with her?” she asked.
“Nothing, Mom. She was…in trouble and needed some help. That’s what I do, so I helped her.”
“You helped her.”
He did not appreciate the sarcasm, and honestly, he didn’t expect anyone to believe him. “Yes,” he said. “She had an abusive boyfriend and needed someone to keep her safe. So she stayed at my place—in her own bed—and she was supposed to leave after a couple of days.”
Those days had turned into a week, and then a month, and Noah honestly didn’t mind. With sudden realization, he realized he was basically doing the same thing here. Kind of.
Zara didn’t need his protection or presence—if anything, that situation was reversed. But they were living in the same house, and he was thinking about kissing her….
So he’d kissed Katya. Didn’t mean they’d slept together, or that he’d proposed, both things she’d either outright said or insinuated. Then the press had descended on his condo in Venice, and he’d denied everything and fled.
So the fleeing had probably canceled out the denials. Noah was used to denying things and then hiding. It was something he was actually quite good at.
“Oh, Noah,” his mother said, and Noah recognized the disappointment and acceptance in the words. “So, what are you doing now?”
“Just laying low,” he said, turning back to the window. The glass separating him from reality seemed so thick, and he looked away again.
“Damien went to Hawaii, but he said he only found the house sitter.”
Noah said nothing, not wanting to outright lie to his mother. His long hesitation obviously clued his mother into something, because she said, “Noah,” with plenty of warning in her voice.
“What?” he asked.
“Where are you?”
“I’d rather not say,” he said. “I’m safe, and I’m going to fix everything that happened in Venice.” How, he didn’t know. He couldn’t retract the articles, and there was no way he could contact Katya and make her come clean.
No, Noah knew he couldn’t fix anything. If he waited things out, the story would die, and no one would care what he did. He was an inconsequential prince, and he knew it.
So maybe he could make a relationship with Zara possible….
“Noah,” his mother snapped, and Noah startled. He continued his conversation with his mother, but his mind never strayed far from the beautiful woman who was currently staying downstairs.
Noah met Zara in the kitchen when she got home from work, the sausage and green pepper pizza only minutes away from coming out of the oven. He set the salad bowl on the counter and smiled at her. “Are you hungry?”
Relief crossed her face, and a soft smile touched her mouth. “Starving.” She took her place on the barstool on the end of the counter and looked at him. She’d promised her friends free food at Indian House, but Suzie had hit the water strangely during one dive and just wanted to go home.
“You’ve been gone for a long time today.”
“Yeah.” She blinked, and it took a second for her eyes to open again. They looked sleepy and Noah leaned toward her.
The timer on the oven went off, startling him back to his tasks. He got the pizza out and set the sheet pan on the stovetop. “Do you like pizza?”
“Who doesn’t like pizza?”
“Well, I’m sure there are some people,” he said.
Noah cut the pizza into thin rectangles and used a spatula to slide a piece onto a plate for her. He placed it in front of her and slid a fork across the counter too.
“You made this,” she said, first gazing at the pizza and then him. “Like, from scratch.”
“Yeah.” He served himself a couple pieces of pizza and joined her at the bar, keeping that stool between them. “My nani taught me to cook, and some of my favorite times are with her in the kitchen.” He flashed her a smile, comfortable with her and glad they’d figured out how to get along. “Surely you learned to cook, what with your family being in the restaurant business.”
“Yes,” she said. “Plenty of lessons in the kitchen.”
“And you didn’t like them?”
“I did, sure,” she said. “I like cooking, sometimes.”
“Just don’t want it to be your career.”
“Exactly.”
Noah nodded like he understood, and on some level, he did. After all, he had an overbearing family who expected him to play a certain role. “And how did your family take it when you became a synchronized swimmer?”
“Oh, my father was livid,” she said. “My mother cried and prayed for a week straight.” Zara shook her head and cut off a bite of her pizza. “Then she spent the next few years trying to match me up with nice Indian men, hoping I’d see the error of my ways.” She put the pizza in her mouth and moaned. “This is delicious.”
“Well, it’s not butter chicken.” Noah picked up his pizza with his hands and bit into it. But it was good. The Alfredo sauce, the sausage, the red peppers. It was like a party in his mouth, and Boomer lay on the floor, gazing up at him hopefully.
“What about you?” she asked. “Is the bad boy prince a disappointment to his parents?”
“I talked to my mother today,” he said in response, as that was easier than thinking his parents were disappointed in him. “And that man who came by this morning? He was my brother.”
Zara dropped her fork, the sound of metal on ceramic rattling through the whole kitchen. “He was? I talked to a man who’s going to be King?”
Noah rolled his eyes. “He’s just a guy,” he said. “Like me. Except proper, and polished, and…perfect.”
Zara cocked her head, the surprise gone from her face. “Perfect? Nobody’s perfect, Noah.” The soft, sincere way she said his name made him once again wonder if they could somehow make their two worlds into one.
“Anyway, you did a great job. He believed I wasn’t here. He’s on his way home.”
“Are you surprised he came?” she asked.
“Actually, yes. But I haven’t been in touch with my family for a couple of weeks now, and he wanted to make sure I was all right.”
“That’s nice of him.”
“See? Perfect.” Noah finished his pizza while Zara put some salad on her plate. “When we were growing up, Damien was always better at everything. Sports, school, etiquette. All of it. Except cooking. That’s the one thing I was better at.”
“And what about your sister?”
“Louisa is the best with the press. She works with Damien to make sure he says all the right things, and she’s got her finger on the pulse of the country.”
“Oh, so we like her,” she said.
“I love both of my siblings,” he said.
“But Louisa more than Damien.”
He looked at her, wondering how she knew. “Do you have sisters you like more than others?”
“Of course,” she said easily. “Krisha is my favorite. She’s the oldest, and she never acts like I’m the black sheep of the family. And Abi. I like her too. She’s the one who told me if I wanted to be a swimmer, I could be a swimmer.”
Noah really wanted to see Zara swim, and it had nothing to do with the swimming suit. “That’s great. And you have five sisters?”
“Five sisters,” she confirmed, going back to her salad. “Our house was crazy growing up. Huge family celebrations, and so much food you’d think my mom and grandmother were cooking for the whole island.” She giggled and shook her head. “Our neighbors hated us, I’m pretty sure.”
“Oh yeah? Loud music?”
“So loud. So much dancing.”
“I’d like to see that,” he said, and Zara’s eyes darted to his.
“Yeah?”
“Dancing? Definitely.” He toyed with the idea of telling her about the tickets he’d been able to procure. But he held onto it, his little secret for now. They were getting along so well, and he didn’t want to scare her away.
“They have luaus at the cattle ranch and the pineapple plantation,” she said. “We should go sometime.”
“That’s not Indian dancing,” he said.
“No, but it’s fun. Food’s good too.”
“I’ll look into it,” he said.
She finished her salad and took a deep breath. “I’m exhausted.”
“So I guess no more early-morning surfing lessons.” Noah watched her stand and take her dishes to the sink. Having her on that side of the island while he sat over here was a new experience, and he liked it.
“We can go surfing,” she said.
“You think so?”
“You just said that guy this morning was your brother. Not a reporter. So if you were willing to try this morning, we can go tomorrow.”
“You don’t mind?”
Zara regarded him, something running through her expression that he couldn’t read. “I don’t mind.”
Noah’s temperature lifted several degrees, and he grinned at her. “Five-thirty then.”
She groaned, but it was playful. “Five-thirty.” She turned and walked away, twisting back at the doorway, giving him a flirtatious little grin before entering the hall and leaving him sitting in the kitchen, wondering how he could make this summer fling into something more permanent.