ANDI had earbuds in and was listening to her spa music playlist, her go-to tunes when she needed to decompress. She was forcing herself to relax poolside, which seemed ridiculous that she’d even have to put in effort in that regard. But she was ruminating on the events of the night before, so her state of mind was far from serene.
Dammit, the man had her so fooled. She really thought there was something there with them. And good Lord, he knew how to work his body. Her own body betrayed her—merely thinking about him elevated her pulse and got her hot and bothered. Which ticked her off even more. Try as she might to tamp them down, her thoughts kept drifting to back to Zander’s tongue trailing down her body and the way his moved over hers, skin on skin, so sensual, and that divine woodsy scent that had permeated her olfactory system as she’d buried her face in his neck just as they came together.
Stop! she said aloud, which was a mistake.
Pippa stared at her. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Huh?”
“You just shouted out ‘stop’ with some urgency. Is everything okay?”
“Oh, it’s nothing really,” she said.
“Seriously? Do you always blurt out strange commands like that when you’re sunbathing?”
Andi laughed. “Okay, fine. I’ll confess. But only because I’ve learned my lesson and won’t ever do this again.”
Pippa leaned over, totally compelled to hear the story. “Honey, I am all ears. Let me have it.”
Andi heaved a sigh. “Okay, so it all started in Las Vegas.”
“As do all good stories.”
“Yeah, well not usually for me. I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar.”
“Aren’t those lyrics to a song?”
“You’re a regular comedian.”
“All right, I’ll shut up and let you continue.”
“So you might remember the famous episode with Zander and the swimming pool?”
Pippa burst out laughing. “Oh, my God. That was the funniest bloody thing that Zander’s done to date. And he’s done some doozies. His mother was crazed with anger over that one. I’ve never seen her so furious as she was when that story exploded.”
“I can only imagine. So I was working there. When it happened. I impulsively snuck off a shot on my phone, but my boss saw me and he fired me. I went from graduate student with a promising career to out of money and unable to find another well-paying waitressing gig overnight. I was so furious with him, which I know in hindsight was a little crazy that I blamed him for what I did wrong. But still. I totally linked conceptually the end of my academic career with his skinny-dipping in my hotel’s swimming pool.”
“What a small world, you having seen Zander like that, and then you and I end up friends, and I’m friends with Zander,” Pippa said. “Did you see him here last night?”
Andi felt the heat rush to her face, and it wasn’t thanks to the cloudless, sunshiny day.
Pippa squinted. “Oh, I can tell there’s way more to this one.”
Andi just nodded. “So fast-forward. My mother kicks me out of the nest. Urges me to just leave and go discover the big, bad world. I take off with a backpack and high hopes and start to travel the world.”
“Not a bad idea. Although what did you do for money? The world is much more fun to travel around when you can afford it.”
“You don’t say?” Andi looked at her and grinned a crooked smile. “Well, I did the opposite. Cheapest way possible. I think you know by now that I’ve picked up jobs along the way, I’ve volunteered in many places, and often I’ve accepted the hospitality of strangers. Thank goodness for Couchsurfing, which has been a godsend, allowing me to stay places for free and meet amazing people who have shared their homes and lives with me.”
“So where does Zander come into this? I’m pretty sure you haven’t stayed at the palace, or I’d have heard about that.”
“So I ended up in Rome. And who do I practically run into in the train station while I’m chasing these kids who stole money from an old gypsy woman but Zander? Who I thought to be particularly rude and dismissive of the gypsy woman and not caring about her welfare.”
“I think Zander’s been pickpocketed before by a group of gypsies at that train station in Rome,” she said. “So that might explain his lack of empathy.”
“And I had a whole lot of lack of empathy toward him, mind you,” Andi said. “Of course the Curse of Andrea struck again when I ran into him at a nightclub.”
“Not a terribly huge surprise as it’s the most likely place to find Zander.”
“Yeah, well, so it wasn’t fate or anything. Just my dumb luck, because I wanted to go to sleep but my host wanted to party. And lo and behold, there was Zander with a bevy of beautiful women swooning over him.”
“Again, Zander in his natural state. It’s almost like seeing the great ape at the zoo, only Zander in a nightclub with fawning females.”
Andi laughed. “Clearly you know the guy’s MO. So I failed to mention that I’d lost my phone at the Termini. And who ends up having my phone but Zander? Who basically bribes me into dancing with him before he’ll give my phone back.”
“Wait a second. Zander had to bribe you to dance with him?” Pippa knit her eyebrows. “Wow. This sounds like Z’s got the hots for you.”
Andi blushed again.
“Oh, wow is right,” Pippa said. “And the feeling is mutual, I see.”
“You don’t even know the half of this story yet.”
“I am totally on the edge of my seat. Please, go on.”
“I’d better cut to the chase. So we danced. And I angsted about whether or not I should like this guy. But I sorta did. Then we kissed—”
Pippa gasped.
“I know, right? And I’m going to be honest: it was amazing.”
“So then?”
“Ugh. I had to go. He handed me the phone. I turned it on. And the picture on my screen was none other than Zander naked.”
Pippa burst out laughing. “Typical Zander move.”
“It was mortifying! It meant he’d been snooping through my phone and found it. And knew I’d taken it, even worse. I was just so mad.”
“So then what?”
Andi hung her head. “I’m not proud of this next thing I did.”
“Oh, no. What?”
“I slapped him. And called him a pig.”
“You slapped a prince? Wow, you’ve got some serious balls on you, woman.”
Andi laughed. “Probably not quite what Zander thought at the time. And upon further consideration, I suspect I overreacted a bit.”
Pippa’s eyes grew large. “Gee, ya think?”
“Okay, okay, I know I did. It was stupid and impulsive and hotheaded.”
“You do know Zander’s a sweetheart, don’t you?”
“There’s more.”
“Uh-oh.”
“Yeah, so cue your party. And by the way, thank you so much for inviting me,” Andi said. “Meanwhile, I’m just hanging out, minding my own business, watching some folks play pool, when Mister Marvelous shows up. Wearing a wet pair of shorts, no shirt.”
“He looks damn good topless.”
“That sounds sexist.”
“Just speaking the truth as I see it,” Pippa said. “So let me guess. Z came on to you?”
Andi shrugged. “In a nutshell, yeah. We both kind of apologized for things, and the next thing you know, dot dot dot.”
“Dot dot dot means he took you to the screening room, doesn’t it?”
Andi blanched. “Please, whatever you do, do not tell me he does this all the time with women. And I’m so sorry. I got sort of caught up in the moment. I’ll buy you a new blanket.”
It was Pippa’s turn to wince. “Don’t worry about the blanket. I’m just glad I know not to use it now.” She winked. “And in answer to your question, hell no! I wouldn’t let Zander use my screening room to bed all those skanky women who hit on him! In fact, I’m surprised he took you there. That place has been a sanctuary of sorts. When he needs to get away, he gives me a call and we hide away in there for hours watching movies and eating popcorn.”
Relief washed over Andi’s face. At least she wasn’t just part of the harem.
“So tell me why I didn’t see Zander this morning? I don’t think he’d mind too much if I knew about this little tête-à-tête.”
Andi pursed her lips, clearly angry. “It seems Prince Charming has proven less-than-charming. He snuck out in the middle of the night and left me to wake alone in the screening room. Which you can imagine was a lovely way to start my day.”
“Oh, Z... how could you?” Pippa said, shaking head. “Honestly, that shocks me. From what you’ve told me, it sounds like he’s really into you. I don’t know why he’d up and leave you like that. Trust me, the man grew up with manners. He wouldn’t choose now to neglect them, even if he’d been with one of the wallpaper women.”
“Wallpaper women?”
“It’s what I call the hangers-on. Like they’re hanging wallpaper. I know, I’m weird.”
“Looks like I rate no higher than the wallpaper wenches.”
“Ha!” Pippa blurted. “I like that even better. Wallpaper wenches. Must take note of this.”
Just then Andi heard her phone ding. She picked it up to see who sent her a message.
“It’s from him. Maybe I should just delete it.”
“Are you crazy? Read it! Out loud!”