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-Rick the Prick
I stifled a laugh, reminding myself that he was, indeed, a prick. However, I was intrigued.
“I shouldn’t go. He doesn’t have my best intentions in mind. Why should I bother?”
“You protest too much and want to go. I doubt he’s planning a hookup in the ballroom when he could come in here or invite you down there,” Astrid said. “I am curious as to what he is doing, though.”
“Can you come with me?” I asked.
“Nah. I don’t need to be a third wheel. You don’t need a chaperone.”
“Maybe I do? Celeste will be livid about the kiss thing in the morning when she reads the papers.”
“Meh. You two are about to announce an engagement, right? People expect it. She will have to get over it and live in this century.”
Astrid brushed my hair as if I were a puppy. “I’ve got your back. Go, see the man. And if he’s an ass, just leave.”
I shrugged. I wasn’t excited to let Rick get away with this—wanting to admonish him. If I fobbed him off, he’d probably grovel even more. Part of me loved that. Why? I didn’t know. Being in control was fulfilling if not downrighthot. Ordering an older man around unexpectedly resonated with me.
I decided to be honest and follow. I pulled myself together and left at the indicated time, sneaking through two back corridors and around the ballroom’s rear. There, I peeked in.
“Rick?”
No response.
“Rikard, if this is a joke, I swear?—”
“It’s not, it’s not,” Rick said, coming into the light of the hallway. “I don’t know how to make it any brighter in here.”
“There’s a lighting box somewhere,” I said. “Come with me.”
He held up his phone as a torch and we crawled through to a closet where I knew we’d find something.
“What were you thinking?” I asked, annoyed.
“That I would be able to switch the lights on like it was something out of the past two centuries, Alexandra.”
“Well, next time, tell me.”
“It was a surprise,” Rick protested.
“Well, I don’t like surprises, Rikard!”
“Women love surprises!”
“I’m not women!” I protested. “God! Who do you think me to be, Rick? I’m not some silly girl in a bad romance. I am not too stupid to live.”
“Too stupid to live?”
“It’s when the heroine is too dumb for her own good.”
“I got that, yes.”
It was dark, but I felt him pressed against me as he held the light too high. We were stuck in this tiny area, our bodies touching as I fumbled. I had a burning desire for him to drop the phone and pin me to the wall and was relieved my flushed face wouldn’t show in this light.
“Hold it down a bit,” I said. “You expect me to be a foot taller than I am.”
“Fine,” Rick complied, illuminating the light switches.
