Free The Royal’s Pretend Wife by Sophia Lynn

years.
    “Good night, little gata,” he whispered in her ear.
    His warm breath tickled against her skin, making her stir. Suddenly, she realized that this was going to be a lot harder than she initially thought it was going to be
    This could be a very long three weeks , she thought to herself.
     
     

Chapter Six
     
     
    The next day, she felt as if she hadn't slept at all. She wandered out in a light but expensive silk dress to find that Apolo was already with the other couples in the main living area.
    “Good morning,” he said, a slight smile on his face. “You were sleeping so soundly that I did not want to wake you up.”
    “Hardly my fault,” she said without thinking, coming to sit next to him on the couch. She didn't realize how that sounded until Serafina snorted.
    “You two have been married too long to be going it at it like newlyweds,” the blond said. “How long have you been married anyway.”
    “A year or so,” Apolo answered for them both. “Give or take. It doesn't feel like that at all though.”
    “No,” Trinity said, falling into her role. “Sometimes it feels as if it has been no time at all.”
    Without thinking about what she was doing, she reached out to tuck a stray lock of hair behind his ear. When he smiled at her, she felt herself warm to her toes.
    “Ah, we have our assignments,” said Antonio, waving an envelope. “Shall we see what our challenge is today?”
    It turned out that they were splitting the couples up. The men were going out into London to purchase presents for their wives. The women were staying at home to cook dinner for their husbands.
    “Oh, unfair!” cried Carolina. “I haven't cooked anything but eggs, and that was in college!”
    “It's a good thing I like eggs,” said Antonio, who seemed oblivious to his wife's strange edges. Trinity assumed that they were a good match because of it.
    On the other end of the spectrum was Serafina, who looked as if she was contemplating adding poison to the recipe, and Josef, who looked befuddled about the idea of actually buying his wife something of his own accord.
    “I suppose I can't opt for sending for our cook in Athens,” Trinity said with a sigh. “I should be able to come up with something.”
    “Well, I could always bring us back take out…” Apolo started with a grin, but she gave him a light slap on the shoulder.
    “Go bring me back something pretty,” she laughed. “I'm not so bad as all that.”
    The truth was that while Trinity had grown up eating some of the finest cuisine in the world, her year in Los Angeles had forced her to learn her way around a stove. She wasn't a natural at it, the way she was at acting, but she found the act of preparing food singularly comforting. After all, if she could make halfway decent food in a kitchen that was a quarter of the size of her walk-in closet at her father's house, she figured that she would be able to make something decent in the commercial grade kitchen at the manor.
    All of the ingredients in London were available to her, and she decided to keep things simple. If she had wanted to cheat, she would have stuck with a good olive and cheese platter, but Trinity thought that she should put in some kind of effort.
    After a few searches on her phone and brief consultation with the interns who were handling the groceries, she decided on making fajitas. They were a simple enough food that were quite tasty, and the fresh ingredients would look wonderful on the plates.
    Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Serafina carelessly slinging together flour and lard for some kind of savory pastry. Next to Serafina was Carolina, who seemed to be boiling tomatoes, though for what purpose, she didn't know.
    The camera veered in her direction, and she looked up, smiling just a little shyly. Abruptly, it occurred to Trinity that she was on television not as a vision of ice and confidence, a character, but truly as herself.
    “And what are you making for Prince