Page 71 of Handle Me

The phone started ringing again, so I kissed her again. It quieted for a second, and then the sounds of incoming texts began to barrage us.

“I think someone needs to talk to you,” she said with a laugh.

I cursed under my breath as I climbed out of bed to grab the phone and turn it off. But as soon as it was in my hand, I saw who was trying to reach me. My thumb slid over the screen. I read the messages, each one further deflating me.

“What is it?” Lola sat up and reached for a sheet.

I looked up at her, forcing a grim smile. “I guess we’re both going to Buckingham. My brother wants to see me. Now.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

LOLA

This wasn’t the first time I’d visited Buckingham Palace, but for some reason, I was fidgeting like a schoolgirl. There was no bypassing the crowds outside the castle. Not with a newborn royal inside. I cringed down in my seat, shielding my face as the crowds swelled closer from their spots on the sidewalk.

“Ashamed to be seen with me?” Anders teased. He might be joking but his hand squeezed my knee tightly, and I knew he was as anxious as I was. Maybe even more so.

Clara wasn’t going to be angry that I’d started up something romantic with Anders.

Alexander probably wouldn’t be as understanding with his half-brother.

“They can’t see you,” Brex called from the driver’s seat. “That window tint might as well be made out of obsidian. Alexander values his privacy.”

As if to drive that point home, there were double the number of palace guards.

“This is excessive,” Anders said, noticing the same thing. “Does he really think someone’s going to kidnap his newborn?”

Brex’s eyes flashed to the rearview mirror. “I’d advise you don’t ever use the word kidnapping around your brother.”

Anders rolled his eyes, muttering something like overprotective prick under his breath. But something in the way Brex spoke sent cold dread sluicing through me.

“He has a right to worry,” I murmured to my...boyfriend? We seriously needed to sort a few things out later. “He’s probably a wreck. Give him a break. The baby just had surgery.”

Anders dropped his head and shot me a sheepish smile. “I promise to be on my best behavior. You will have no regrets telling Clara you’re my girlfriend.”

Girlfriend. My heart did a silly flip-flop. How had we gotten from at each other’s throats to this in the last week? It seemed impossible, but something about Anders made me want to do things I normally wouldn’t, like go to bed with a racecar driver or fall in love with one. I swallowed as I considered whether or not I was doing just that.

He stretched out his arm and his fingers brushed against mine. “That good enough for you?”

“Perfect.” And as Brex pulled up to the palace gates, I squeezed his fingers.

The guard pulled open the gate, but before we could drive forward, the press rushed the car, their cameras flashing in our eyes. The guard didn’t hesitate to move them back, but some of the harder-nosed reporters got around him. Soon, the crowds pressed in from all sides.

“This is fucking ridiculous,” Anders muttered.

I barely heard him. I was too focused on the way his thumb brushed the back of my hand. Gentle. Soothing. A reminder that he was here to protect me. It shouldn’t make me giddy. Not with an out-of-control crowd rushing the Range Rover.

But it did.

“Just give them a second. Everything’s fine,” Brex told us.

Looking out my window, I saw more guards move in and begin to clear the crowd.

“Everyone wants their shot,” Brex said, continuing down the newly cleared drive and past the gate.

“We’re just normal people. Why do they give a shit?” Anders asked. He slumped back in his seat and gave me a tired grin.

“Do you say that about the fans at the track?” I asked him. Things might have changed between us, but I still had a job to do. I needed him to see that being a royal wasn’t a punishment. Getting him to fall in line with Alexander’s craziness might be a little harder now that we were involved, but I would do everything I could to help Anders transition into his new life with as little pain as possible.