His even, white teeth flashed in a gorgeous smile, his gray eyes smoldering like molten metal. “As am I.”
Dima seemed in an unusually good mood over dinner, and Jenna let herself relax and enjoy his company. She did not know what was coming, but she knew that right now, she was happy to be here, with this man.
As if by unspoken agreement, they were silent on the ride back to the condo.
When they got there, he made good on his promise to keep her awake late into the night, but it wasn’t just making love. They played naked Parcheesi in the game room and snuck into the kitchen to make a snack in the wee hours of the morning before finally succumbing to sleep.
The next day, they both woke pretty early and enjoyed a leisurely swim in the infinity pool before breakfast. Contrary to what she’d expected, Dima was happy to play in the water with her, without getting sexual.
Which made sense when the housekeeper came out to tell him he had a call.
They were surrounded by staff, even if that staff were adept at being unobtrusive. That phone call started Dima’s workday, and Jenna decided to relax and read one of the books from her towering to-be-read stack.
Well, metaphorically. She’d brought her electronic reader with her, and it was loaded with the books she’d been too busy to read in the last year.
Jenna spent the next few hours taking turns reading in the sun, cooling off in the pool, and finally reading in the shade as the sun rose to its zenith.
Completely relaxed, she was startled when her phone rang with Emma’s ringtone.
Grabbing it, Jenna found herself answering without any of the hesitation she’d been feeling the past couple of weeks. “Hi, Emma, what’s up?”
“My husband does not think you betrayed his family’s secrets.”
“Okay, that’s direct. What happened?”
“Kon admitted his attempt at matchmaking to me, and, well, we might be not speaking at the moment. The big, dumb prince didn’t realize how hurt your feelings would be by the accusation.”
“He didn’t actually accuse me.”
“Tell me you weren’t hurt,” Emma said, like she was daring Jenna to lie.
“I can’t.”
“And you still are, or you would have been answering my calls.”
Jenna couldn’t deny that either. “I answered now.”
“Yes, you did. It makes me wonder what has changed. I was fully prepared to stalker-call you.”
Jenna laughed at the reference to both Emma and Nataliya’s habits of repeatedly calling when she didn’t pick up right away. They didn’t do it often, but both women could be a bit impatient about getting ahold of her when they felt they had something important to impart or discuss.
That laughter released something inside Jenna, and she realized she could and probablyshouldtalk to Emma about what had happened.
Nataliya was still off limits as a confidant, but once she’d passed her first trimester of pregnancy, the risk of miscarriage diminished considerably, and Jenna would be shocked if Nikolai didn’t confess all to his wife.
Relieved she could talk this out with someone who knew all the players well, Jenna told Emma the whole story. She finished off by telling her how she’d had to step back from doing what she believed to be right because of her relationship with the royal family.
“You probably wouldn’t even have been a target for that deceitful B-I-T-Charlie if you weren’t our friend.”
Jenna had to smile at Emma’s avoidance of using the term she made it clear she was thinking. “No, Skylar would have targeted me regardless. She was an equal opportunity thief of information. She must have thought she hit the mother lode with my contacts, though.”
“Your brother’s company is working on some very sensitive stuff.”
“Exactly. It’s a good thing we don’t talk about his business much.”
“Yes. Listen, Jenna, I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry? You didn’t accuse me of divulging sensitive information.”