Prince's Proposition (The Exiled Royals #3) Read Free

about damning with faint praise.”
    “I’m not doing that,” she added. “I expected this to be more awkward.”
    “I can work on that,” he deadpanned. “I was serious at the race. I do miss you, P.”
    Paula’s expression soured as she dug into her tuna with more gusto. Small flecks of tuna and crumbs fell to her tray. “Then now you know how it feels. I spent most of our nominal relationship missing you. Eventually, though?”
    “What?” he asked, is voice low and quiet. Xavier wasn’t sure he’d like where her train of thought was headed.
    She narrowed those gorgeous sapphire eyes back at him. “Eventually you get used to being alone. You get used to the empty bed and the broken promises you never believe were going to come true. I got used to it, and then I hated myself for being so complacent. So if you miss me, then you know how I felt that whole time.”
    Xavier sat more stiffly but wasn’t deterred. He’d always been determined. He wouldn’t have been able to save the Royal Bank from Uncle Gustav’s incompetent hands if he weren’t. He wasn’t about to turn tail and run just because Paula was being harsh and, frankly, unfair. It was easy to dismiss a relationship when you only focused on the bad times and the pain, but that wasn’t the only characteristic of the life they’d shared.
    Reaching out, he stroked the back of her cheek, relieved that, this time, she let him get that close. “But it wasn’t all bad. You have to remember our first New Year’s Eve together? I took you to my private wing of the palace.”
    Paula smiled and it was genuine, all those shining white teeth glinting back at him. “The roses and the champagne, the private dinner of the best steak in the country. I remember. It was magical, and it was one of the few nights we ever shared where you had your phone off and would look me directly in the eyes,” Paula sighed and leaned back from him.
    Xavier almost hissed as she pulled away. Even this simple touch reminded him of how it had hurt to lose her. Now that he had her near, he’d be damned if he’d lose her again. “I could do that again. Many times. You know, I wasn’t kidding at the run. I need you, Paula. It hasn’t been right since you left.”
    Paula shook her head and balled up the wax paper that had been wrapped around her sandwich. “You mean that Rostov Investments isn’t running smoothly without me as your right hand. Be honest, you want your best partner and chief operating officer at your side, and you don’t want a girlfriend. You don’t need one. You’re in love with yourself—and money. You know, we couldn’t do anything without you checking in to see how the Yen was doing, or whether the market was bullish or not.” She frowned, and the way she pinned him with those pretty eyes almost hurt as much as the way she’d pulled away. “You know what your most enthusiastic dinner conversation was? Assuming you were home for dinner, that is?”
    He shook his head. He knew what she was going to say. He didn’t want to hear it, or the derision in her voice.
    But she forged ahead, looking at her palm as if she held her cell. “‘OH! The markets are already open in the Far East!’” She snorted. “As if you weren’t watching the clock anyway, and just waiting for the moment you could escape from me and go back to your true love.” She scowled.
    “It’s not my true love! But the rest of the world doesn’t stop moving just because I went home for the night. There really is a next deal to be done. Always. And if I miss an opportunity, it could mean millions. Billions, even.” He’d forgotten how annoying she could be, how tenacious. It was what made Paula incredible at her job but it also made her impossible to live with most days. She was like a terrier gone to ground--she never anything go. Instead, she’d dig out every accounting error or search to the ends of the Earth for the perfect donor, but her ability not to give up also meant she