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"Being a triplet isn't always amazing," I offer. "We aren't identical, but we look enough alike there is never a question we are siblings. And we tend to be judged as one entity."
Their roles as future queen and her heir (until Elena has children), set my sister and brother apart. However, there has been very little in their life I have not done right along with them. That can both be beneficial and incredibly stifling at times.
Especially when I am forced to train for a role I will never inhabit, nor do I wish to.
While our royal parents see only the benefits to our multiple birth, Adamo and Elena share my sometimes ambivalent feelings.
Each of us has our own way of establishing our individuality.
Tanzi carries on texting while we talk. "It beats being the only daughter with older twin brothers and parents with huge expectations any day." She reads her latest text and smiles. "They're coming."
"Good." If I touch the sun-kissed skin of her naked shoulder, will it be as smooth and silky as it looks? "Trust me, expectations can be just as entrenched when you have siblings to share some of the burden."
Even when you aren't destined to wear the biggest crown.
CHAPTER 2: Tanzi
Her Royal Tour Guide
Seeing the cathedral with a private tour guide (and a sexy one at that) and two of my friends is cool. I like it better than being part of a big group, but I still can't believe I let the gorgeous Sicilian pick me up in thepiazza.
Even if he did invite my friends to come along.
With a Spanish billionaire for a dad and former super model for a mom, I've been raised to be about ten times more cautious than the average person.
Only there's something really special about Rio. Mom always said I would know when I metthatguy – the one I cannot resist. The one I crave spending time with from our firsthello.
I've dated. A lot more than dad would like and less than mom encourages me to.
But Rio? He's catnip. He got to me with a single smile in ways other men haven't managed to after months of going out.
Okay. Yeah, he's gorgeous. Like stop you in the street and nearly get hit by a car good-looking.
Even in my heels, he's at least three inches taller than me. His body isto die forand the way his tailored suit fits shows off more muscles than any businessman has a right to possess.
He's got these aristocratic looks that go perfectly with the arrogance I realize pretty quickly is innate too.
I want to reach up and muss his perfectly styled black hair. Just to see how he'll react.
And maybe to spoil that perfection a tiny bit. To make it easier tobreathe.
It's his eyes that really get to me though. Espresso brown, they glow with appreciation forme. Like I'm all thatand a bag of chips.
Which feels weird because he's over the top, alpha of the pack impressive. He can't be more a few years older than me, but you can tell he's already one of the "important players" as dad calls them.
And he's fascinated by me. He barely looks at my friends and Joniisa model. She's the one men stop to watch when she walks by. But not Rio.
He only has eyes for me.
And I’m basking in all the alpha male approval. It's heady stuff.
After the cathedral, we spend an hour at atrattoria, talking about everything and nothing at all while Joni and Dylan played tourists with their cameras nearby. Palermo is a beautiful city with bits of history and art everywhere.
And rather than wallowing init, I'm lost in another kind of attraction altogether.
"I feel like I've known you forever," I admit when there's a lull in our conversation.
His dark eyes spark with something almost feral. "Me too."
