And the heir to the throne wanted me as his queen.

27

Ryan

“I didn’t tell you she was in town because I didn’t know,” I spoke into the phone, trying to soothe Ciana. She’d called me, pouting that I’d hogged all of Nova’s time in New York.

“You didn’t know? Are you two still arguing?” she demanded, the pout thankfully gone. “Ryan, how many times have I told you that you have to tell her how you feel?”

“She’s well aware of my feelings.”

“Nova is smart as hell, but she’s not a mind reader. Even if it does seem like it at times where you are concerned. Tell her you love her, dumbass.”

Before she could go off on a tirade, I cut her off. “We both admitted our feelings last night, C.”

“Really?” The excitement in her voice made me smile. “Yay! Does this mean I can start helping her plan the wedding? The sooner, the better. November isn’t all that far away when you consider all the things that need to be sorted between now and then.”

Hearing Nova finishing up in the bathroom, I left the bedroom and walked into the kitchen. “I will have to let you know. Nova is being…stubborn. Apparently she wants to wait until she’s twenty before we get married.”

“That’s ridiculous,” she huffed, but I had to agree. “There’s no reason to wait. Put her on the phone, let me talk some sense into her.”

“As much as I would love and appreciate you doing that, Ciana, I know how long you two would be on the phone if I did. She has one more work engagement, and then we’re watching the ball drop together.”

“Oh,” she muttered. “Well, I’m going to be watching the ball drop too.”

“You mean, in your room, in your pajamas, while you drink an entire bottle of wine and eat your weight in Chinese food?”

“Hey!” she grumbled. “There is nothing wrong with having my own personal New Year’s Eve tradition. Just because I prefer to spend it alone, getting tipsy and gorging on the best egg rolls in the world…” She sighed. “Okay, I realize how pathetic that sounds. But I like my little tradition that I’ve started for myself.”

“It’s not pathetic,” I assured her soothingly. “I apologize if I hurt your feelings.”

“You did, but I forgive you because I know you didn’t mean to.” She was quiet for a moment. During the silence, I got the feeling she wanted to tell me something, but when she spoke again, it was to tell me goodnight. “I have to go. My food will be here soon, and I have to grab it from the guard at the gate, or Bennie and Vito will steal it and eat it all.”

“All right. But if you change your mind and decide you want to go out, you are more than welcome to join us,” I offered.

“Yeah, that will be a huge hell no. This is a special night for two of my favorite people. I’m not going to be a third wheel tonight. But I’m just warning you, next year might be a different story.” She laughed, then said goodnight again. “See you next year!”