22. Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Two
Drew
Drew sat beside Bri on Glencrest’s private jet as they flew to Paris. He was a little ashamed to admit he’d pretended to be scared during takeoff so Bri would hold his hand. After the Ferris wheel incident, she hadn’t let go of his hand during the flight. Then, halfway to their destination, she’d fallen asleep on his shoulder.
He pulled up his phone camera on selfie mode again, looking at the beautiful, mirrored image of Bri sleeping, tucked up against him, her blonde curls splayed across his chest. It felt natural. It felt like they were a couple. It felt right .
They were attending the last day of the French Open to watch the men’s singles final. Bri had told him she’d hardly slept a wink last night because she was so excited about the day’s festivities. He was glad she could finally rest now—that she felt comfortable enough to fall asleep beside him.
It was easy to imagine a lifetime of moments like this with her. Holding hands as they hiked mountain trails. Dancing under the night sky in the observatory. Sharing a funnel cake at the spring carnival. Stealing kisses at balls. Falling asleep beside each other every night.
That was what he wanted with Bri. He wanted all the big things—a wedding, a lifetime together with her—but he also wanted the little things that didn’t seem like much but left a lasting impact.
“Your Highness?” The flight attendant pulled him from his thoughts.
He looked up at her with a dazed expression. “Yes?”
“We’re descending now. We’ll land in Paris shortly.”
“Thank you.” Drew nodded, and she curtsied to him. When she walked away, he smiled down at the sleeping angel beside him and brushed her hair away from her face. “Bri.” He gently nudged her shoulder, trying to wake her. “Bri, we’re here.”
She slowly came to, her lashes fluttering before she opened her eyes. Bri pushed off his shoulder, sitting up and looking at him with a shy expression. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to use your shoulder as a pillow.”
“I’ll lend you my shoulder anytime you need it,” he said without even thinking.
Bri pressed her lips together in a soft smile before running her fingers through her blonde curls and straightening the collar of her short-sleeved sage-green tweed jacket.
“Ready for the landing?” She squeezed his fingers.
His lips pulled into a side grin. “With you by my side? Always.”
She examined him…really looked at him, like she was trying to see right into his brain and find the true meaning behind his words.
Drew had been testing out saying things like that. Things he’d wished he could say to her for years but hadn’t felt the freedom to until now.
Bri opened her mouth like she was going to say something but then she thought better of it. He squeezed her fingers tighter as the plane landed on the private runway. As soon as the seatbelt sign turned off, Bri unbuckled and jumped out of her seat.
“Come on.” She turned back to him, rocking excitedly on the balls of her feet. “We have some tennis to watch.”
Drew sat with Bri and a group of other celebrities in a private box overlooking the tennis court. His personal bodyguard sat in front of them while Bastian was behind them.
She let out a small gasp, leaning close. “Is that Rhett Hayes? I love him.” Bri pointed to a man with blond hair—hair that looked eerily similar to Drew’s—a few rows in front of them.
“I think it is.” He nodded. He’d listened to a few of Rhett’s country hits but only because Bri had talked about them nonstop. She was obsessed with his music. Even if Drew was a little jealous of how freely she declared her love for the country star, he could admit his songs were good. The man had the kind of natural talent that couldn’t be taught.
“He looks great.” Bri played with her hair, and Drew clenched his jaw.
“Rhett looks just like me,” he muttered under his breath.
She bit her bottom lip. “Do you think it would be weird if I introduced myself?”
Drew couldn’t hold in his thoughts any longer, the jealousy that had been simmering now at a full boil. He pressed his cheek against hers, his mouth near her ear. “I thought we said we wouldn’t date anyone else while we were engaged?”
Bri turned to him with a smirk, almost brushing his nose with hers in the process. “Are you jealous ?”
He scoffed. “I’m not anything. I’m Switzerland, completely neutral. Not jealous at all.”
She nudged his shoulder. “I don’t want to date him, Drew. I only wanted to say hi and tell him I love his music. I’m engaged to you, remember? I keep my promises.” Bri held up her left hand, waving her ring in front of his face. “Plus, I think this giant rock will act as a natural date deterrent.”
Not wanting to catch the attention of a camera with their whisper-fight, Drew sighed. She’d never given him any reason to doubt her. It wasn’t her fault he’d been in love with her for years and the thought of her even talking to another man she admired made his skin crawl. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t my place to say anything. You should go say hi if you want to.”
Bri stood, straightening her skirt. “I think I will.” She walked out to the stairs and down a few rows until she reached Rhett Hayes.
He watched her like a hawk. Even though he knew Bri saying hi to the singer meant nothing, Drew couldn’t help but ball his hands into fists as he watched Rhett stand and bow to her. Bri placed her hand on Rhett’s arm and smiled widely at him.
“Your Highness?” The question came from behind him.
He glanced back, noting it was Bastian, and gave him a nod to continue.
“May I ask permission to speak freely with you for a moment?”
“Granted.” Drew gulped in nervous anticipation.
Bastian hopped with ease over the row of chairs into the seat next to him. He ran a hand through his peppered gray hair and faced Drew, though his gaze remained fixed on Bri and Rhett.
“There will be times in life when we have to endure things we’d rather not. Do you understand my drift?”
He bit the inside of his cheek, looking away briefly only to look right back at them like a car accident he couldn’t help but watch. “Yes.”
“What matters most is how we respond to those moments. You can either let them consume and break you, or you can let them fuel you into action. I’m no expert on matters of the heart, but I think the same rules apply.” Bastian leaned in closer, dropping his voice to a whisper. “Sometimes you have to risk it all to go after what you truly want.” He stood, brushing his hands along his suit pants before exiting the row and returning to his seat behind him.
Drew was stunned into silence. He couldn’t recall a time he’d ever heard Bastian say so many words at once. From the sound of it, Bri had either told him about their situation, or he’d figured it out on his own. Probably the latter—nothing ever seemed to slip past Bastian.
His advice seemed sound, though. Nothing was ever handed to you in life, even as a royal. Yes, he had status and privilege many did not. But he didn’t have the one thing he truly wanted: Bri. He would have to allow moments like this, where he was jealous, to push him into action. It was time he upped his flirting and truly started to lay his heart on the line to win her over.
Drew watched Rhett laugh at something Bri said and then wrap his arm around her as he took a selfie with his phone. She pulled out her phone, likely having him send the photo to her via Bluetooth before they continued talking. A few minutes later, Drew’s sanity was saved by an announcer coming over the speakers saying the first match would begin in five minutes.
He finally felt like he could breathe deeply again when he watched Bri say goodbye. She returned to their row and took her seat next to him with a pleased smile.
“Sooo,” he drawled. “Does Rhett Hayes live up to the hype?”
“Definitely. He’s just as kind and genuine as he seems on his socials.”
“That’s good.” They sat quietly for a minute before he said, “What did you talk about?”
“His music, of course.” She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “And you, actually.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, he asked about my engagement to you and offered his congratulations. He said he loves following news about royal families around the world. He’s a big fan of ours.” She smirked before turning her eyes back to the tennis court, where the two players competing for the championship title were being introduced.
“Huh. Who would’ve guessed an American country singer would be a fan of ours?”
“Crazy, right? I almost fainted when he bowed to me, greeting me by name.”
Drew rubbed the back of his neck. The first game began, and they fell into a comfortable silence. He watched for a few minutes, having no clue what was going on as words like love , fifteen , and thirty were said over the speakers. Since he was going to be sitting here for the majority of the day, he figured he should probably understand what was going on in the game.
He leaned into Bri, using a program to cover his mouth. “If I’m being honest, I have no clue what’s going on.”
Her lips twitched like she was trying not to smile or laugh at him. “You brought me to the French Open, and you don’t know anything about tennis?”
“I know you love tennis. That was enough.” Drew hoped his true meaning came across: he would do anything to make her happy. He cleared his throat. “Can you explain it to me in simple terms? Like tennis for dummies.”
She laughed. “I’ll give it my best shot. Have you ever heard the saying game, set, match ?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s what the tennis announcer says when someone wins a competition, but those words all mean something in tennis. A game is played until a player scores four points. I don’t really know where the scoring system came from, but those are the words you’ve been hearing. Love means zero points, fifteen is one point, thirty is two points, and forty is three points. After that is the game-winning point. It gets a bit tricky when it’s forty all, meaning they both have three points, but you don’t really have to understand all those details.”
Drew’s eyes widened as she spoke. “Why do they have to overcomplicate everything in sports?”
“What would you have named the points if you were the creator of tennis? And not the boring zero, one, two, three, please.”
He sat quietly, thinking through her question. “My scoring system would be goose, rooster, phoenix, maverick.”
She turned to him, an amused look in her eyes. “I should’ve known you would’ve named them after Top Gun: Maverick call signs.”
“I’m impressed you know where they’re from.”
Bri shrugged. “You only made me watch that movie ten times when it first came out.” She smirked. “I would’ve put rooster on top, though.”
“Why?” He turned his attention back to the court, trying to grasp what was happening now that he knew the scoring system.
“Because Miles Teller is gorgeous, duh.”
He kept his eyes on the court but shook his head at her antics. Maybe she was trying to make him jealous. He wouldn’t let it get to him this time…also because he couldn’t deny what she was saying. Drew knew most women loved a man in uniform.
The announcer’s voice came over the speaker again. “Moreno wins.”
Drew clapped loudly, and Bri reached over, setting her hand on his leg. She gave a soft shake of her head when he looked at her. “What? They just said he won.”
“It’s a lot more than one game. The next term you need to learn is set . A set is a collection of games. To win a set, a player has to win six games, and they must win by at least two.”
“That’s a lot of games.”
“Yeah, and that’s not even all of it. The last term is match . For men to win the match in this tournament, they must win three of five sets.”
His eyes widened. “So, technically they would have to win at least eighteen games?”
She nodded. “Yep, and it’s near impossible to win that many games straight, so think about how many games they have to play to win a set, let alone win three of them.”
“Man, these guys must be in great shape to have the kind of stamina needed to play at such a high level for so long.”
“They do work hard to build up that level of endurance. That’s why we’ll be sitting here most of the day, watching Moreno and Gunter battle it out.”
The rest of the day, Bri watched the tournament unfold. Drew observed the game when he could, but his attention kept being drawn to her instead.
Her outfit today was very feminine—the perfect look for being in the public eye. His heartbeat picked up as he watched her fiddle with the pleats in her skirt during tense moments in the match.
Moreno was up five sets to four, and he was one point away from winning the final game needed to win the sixth set. If he won, he would set a new record for consecutive wins of the French Open. But even though history was about to be made, Drew’s gaze was pulled back to Bri as she watched in awe.
He was so attracted to her he was surprised he didn’t look like the heart-eyes emoji every time he was around her. It didn’t matter what she did or what she wore…it was simply her he was attracted to. As the crowd around them cheered, Drew clapped politely, but it was the twinkle in Bri’s eyes and excitement written all over her face when she turned to him, offering a high five, that truly made him smile. Drew felt like he was the real winner of the French Open.