Page 111 of My Dark Prince
“Exactly. Your ideas are genius. I won’t take credit for them. This next one, however, is all mine.” I hugged the binder to my chest. “Wait until you hear who I want to perform after the ceremony.”
Oliver patted the table for his cigar box and popped it open, tugging out a thick Cuban and flicking up his Zippo to light it.
I pulled my brows together, feigning concern. “Is everything okay?”
“Never been better. Why?”
“Because you lit your cigar the other way around.”
He spluttered out a cough, rotated the cigar, and lit it again.
“Anyway …” I rubbed my hands together. “Ready for the crown jewel?”
“Yes, darling.” Oliver puffed on his cigar, squinting at me. “I’m not sure how you could possibly top all these wonderful ideas, but I’m all ears.”
I had a feeling he was fantasizing about how to kill me a hundred different ways.
“The wedding will take place in …” I drum-rolled on the table, careful to scratch the wood with my cheap rings. “Nauru.”
I flung my arms wide with a smile.
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Nauru?”
“Yes. I’ve never been. Have you?”
“No,” he said, “since the smallest island country in the Pacific Ocean requires a visitor’s visa, and there are only ten embassies in the entire world that grant them.”
“Unattainable things are so much more desirable, aren’t they?” I parked my chin over my fist, fixing dream-struck eyes on him. “I’m sure you taught me that.”
“Briar, you can only fly there through Brisbane, and a flight leaves once a week. Singular. It’s impossible to transport guests there.”
“You can’t spell impossible without the word possible.”
“You also can’t spell manslaughter without laughter.” He white knuckled his cigar so hard, it split down the middle. Crumbs of tobacco peppered the table. “What’s your point?”
“I think we can make it happen,” I said with confidence. “You once told me you could do anything you set your mind to.”
I didn’t understand why he was so flustered. It wasn’t like the wedding would ever take place.
“A friend of mine went to Nauru. Riggs Bates. He’s a Nat Geo photographer.” Oliver dunked his broken cigar in his spit-filled macchiato. “He said once he landed there, he had tohitchhikehis way to his hotel.”
“What’s the problem? We’ll move in large groups. We’ll be safe.”
“The place doesn’t have any mass public transportation.”
“Amazing, right? They consume zero cubic feet of natural gas per capita.Soenvironmentally conscious.” I shifted to the edge of my seat, practically vibrating. “I’m getting too excited about it.”
Oliver rolled his cigar from one side of the mug to the other, simply staring at me without saying a word. I think I’d gotten on his last nerve.
Good.
Time for the finale.
“The wedding will take place exactly a month from now, so mark your calendar.” I knocked my fist over his table. “Can you be a doll and send out the invitations?”
I stood up, rounded the table, and gathered his cheeks in my hands, squishing them like an annoying aunt.
Once I released him, he groaned. “On it. Who do you want to invite?”
