"Eva, these are my best friends," Paulo started to say. 

"More like his brothers!" one of his friends cut in with a smile, shoving his shoulder. 

"Yeah they're really more like brothers," Paulo laughed. He pointed to each one and said, "This is Marc, Prescott, George and Colin. We were in boarding school together at Eaton and we all played on the Polo team."

All of his friends were gorgeous, tall and looked athletic just like Paulo, and the five of them standing together looked like a magazine ad. Eva smiled and shook each of their hands.

"It's really nice to meet all of you," she said as she took another long drink of the Sangria, tipping it back and emptying the glass.

"You might want to go slow on that," Paulo warned, pointing at her glass. "It's pretty strong."

She scoffed and said, "I'll be alright. I'm going slow."

He nodded but didn't look convinced. She was just forced to get married to a guy that didn't love her. She was at least going to have some fun and get drunk off her ass at the reception.

"So all of you went to school with Paulo?" she asked, changing the subject.

George was the first to speak up and seemed to be the most confident of the group besides Paulo. He was a really handsome guy with shaggy blonde hair and bright green eyes. George had taken off his suit jacket and tie and rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt and seemed really laid back and casual. 

He put an arm around Paulo's shoulder and said, "Sure did. I've known Paulo since we were thirteen. I have all the dirt on him. All you have to do is ask," George teased, ruffling up Paulo's hair. Paulo put his arm around George's neck until he had him in a headlock and rubbed his knuckles into his hair.

"I give! I give!" George laughed and Paulo released him and patted him on the back and smiled.

"So what was Paulo like in school?" she asked.

Colin, a tall handsome guy with short, clean cut brown hair and glasses said, "This man right here was a legend at Eaton." 

"Because he was a prince?" she asked. 

"No," he laughed. "Because he was the most epic prankster ever. I'll never forget that time he found out the headmaster was deathly afraid of frogs so he snuck into his room and put a frog in his toilet and closed the lid. You could hear his screams all the way down the hallway that night when he got up to pee and it jumped out at him," he laughed.

His friend Prescott spoke up next. He was the shortest of the group, but had the most muscle, dark red, shaggy hair and really bright blue eyes. He was definitely a heart breaker. He said, "The headmaster's scream was so high pitched he sounded like a little girl," he laughed, imitating the sound with a huge smile, making all the guys laugh. "That's why we secretly gave him the nickname Betty."

His friend Marco that had spiky, jet black hair, brown eyes and tan skin. reached out and smacked Paulo's chest, saying, "There are going to be a lot of broken hearts around Spain now that you're off the market. Do you guys remember how many stalkers this man had at school?" and they all nodded. 

"Wait. I thought Eaton was an all boys boarding school?" Eva asked, confused.

"It is. That didn't stop girls from sneaking in to try to get to him," Marco laughed. "Hey, you guys remember that time a random girl appeared in the shower room with us out of nowhere? She had somehow found out exactly where Paulo would be and snuck around until she found him."

They all laughed and nodded. George added, "Yeah but you know what was worse? You remember that time a girl dressed up as a boy, put on the school uniform and a wig and pretended to be a new student just to get close enough to talk to him?"

All of the guys laughed and nodded.

Colin spoke up and said, "You guys are forgetting the worst one! Did you all forget about the time that girl hid in the trunk at the foot of his bed and accidentally got herself stuck. When he came back to his room at lights out that night he heard banging and screaming and let her out. She had been trapped in there for over twelve hours!"

"Twelve hours!?" Eva asked with wide eyes. "That's crazy."

Colin nodded. "Yeah you wouldn't believe the lengths girls went to just to talk to him. It was pretty scary actually. I really think some of them weren't mentally stable. Did they really think he would be impressed by their crazy antics and want to date them after that?" he laughed. "They were so delusional."

"I don't know. I kind of think Paulo likes having mentally unstable women around. Rosalie is his best friend after all," Prescott said and they all busted out laughing really hard, nodding their heads. 

Eva was in the middle of taking a drink when he said that and she choked from laughing and it came out her nose and she started coughing. That made the guys laugh even harder and she was so embarrassed, but got over it when she saw that it made Paulo smile.

"What about you Eva?" George asked. "You're a beautiful princess. I'm sure you've had your fair share of male stalkers."

"Yeah," she laughed. "I've had a few. There was a guy that tried to repel up the castle wall to get up to my bedroom window. When security guards caught him he had zip ties, rope and chloroform in his bag. That freaked me out really bad and I always made sure my window was closed and locked after that."

George's eyes widened. "Wow that's really scary." 

"Yeah, they weren't all that scary though. One of them was actually a really popular Hollywood actor that kept on writing letters to me until my Dad made it clear to him that I could only marry a prince and wasn't allowed to date. Then he finally left me alone."

"It wasn't Tom Holland was it?" Marco asked.

"No!" she laughed. "If it had been do you think I'd be married to Paulo right now? Hell no. I would've run away and taken every boat, plane and car I needed to to get across the ocean to him. I would've hitchhiked my way to Hollywood if I had to," she teased, poking Paulo's chest with a smile. 

He looked at her and said, "Now we see who the real stalker is," and all his friends laughed.

George threw his arm around her shoulder and said, "I like her. Any woman that gives Paulo shit is cool with me," he smiled. "I think she's going to fit right in with our group."

Hearing that made her smile and her face blushed red. She really liked his group of friends. She couldn't even remember the last time she had laughed that hard or that long.

His friends told her story after story about Paulo and she found out he had been the captain of the Polo Team and it sounded like they had a great time and made a lot of memories at boarding school together. It made Eva wish her parents had let her go instead of forcing her to learn at home with private tutors. 

She talked to Paulo and his friends for most of the cocktail hour and his friends were so funny they had her side hurting. Seeing Paulo clown around with them was really nice because she got to see a different side of him. It was nice to know that he wasn't always so serious and grumpy. It gave her a little hope that maybe he could be lighthearted and fun like that with her one day. 

Finally it was announced that it was time to proceed to the other room for the real meal. There was a long table at the head of the room for the wedding party to sit and Eva sat down at the center of the table next to Paulo with Astrid on her other side. Paulo's best man George sat on his other side.

They were served a small bowl of cold tomato soup called Gazpacho as a starter and then the waiters brought out a bunch of small plates with a variety of things to sample called Tapas. Then they were served a lemon and mango sorbet drink to cleanse their pallet before they brought out the main course, a very small steak and shrimp. Next they were served a meat and cheese board with olives and crackers on it before they finished the meal with a rich, dark chocolate pudding.

As she took her last bite Paulo looked over at Eva and asked, "So what did you think of our Spanish food?"

"Everything was delicious. The portions were really small but there were so many different courses that I'm completely stuffed," she answered, taking another sip of her fourth Sangria. Every time her glass had been empty they had brought her a new one and it tasted so good that she couldn't say no.

Paulo took a deep breath in and let it out before leaning in and whispering in her ear, "Just so you know, my Dad made sure to tell me about ten thousand times how important it is for us to consummate our marriage tonight."

"My Mom told me the same thing," she whispered back, looking into his eyes and feeling her face flush.

"My Dad said if we don't, the marriage could be contested and annulled. When I argued and said I wouldn't rush you into anything, he threatened to bring back the old tradition of the bedding ceremony where witnesses stood around and watched your first time on your wedding night to make sure it actually happened."

"What? Seriously?" she gasped, raising her eyebrows with wide eyes. "I can't even imagine the humiliation of having people watch."

"Yeah. He finally agreed not to after I promised him we'd go through with it." He looked down and ran a hand up through his hair, letting out an exhale before adding, "Both our countries need heirs as soon as possible so our parents are really pushing for it."

"Yeah," she said quietly, looking down. "I think we should probably listen to them and do it tonight. Don't you think?"

He hung his head and said, "Yeah."

Hearing him sound so reluctant about it made her feel about three inches tall. She had wanted a husband that couldn't wait to sleep with her on her wedding night, but instead she got one that looked like he was only doing it because he was being forced to. 

Suddenly the lights dimmed and a spotlight came on pointed right at Eva, blinding her as she blinked and shielded her eyes. A voice came through the speaker saying, "It's time for Paulo and Eva's first dance as husband and wife."

She looked over and noticed Paulo standing up next to her, holding his hand out. Normally she would be extremely nervous to dance with him, especially in front of all these people but after four Sangrias she was feeling more bold than usual.

She slipped her hand into his and slowly stood up. He led her out to the center of the dance floor where he wrapped his arms around her waist and she put her arms around his neck and they started swaying back and forth to the slow song by Ed Sheeran. 

"Sorry, I'm a little bit drunk so I'll probably step on your toes a lot," she laughed. 

He laughed and shook his head. "I told you those Sangrias are strong. They'll sneak up on you." 

She nodded. "So what you're trying to say is, 'I told you so'?" 

He laughed. 

"Maybe. Does that mean you'll listen to me next time?"

She got a look on her face like she was thinking and said, "Probably not," with a smile. 

That made him laugh and he shook his head, whispering, "I didn't think so."

She swayed back and forth, slow dancing with him and eventually it dawned on her drunken, foggy brain that his hands were around her waist and his body was super close to hers. That realization made her heart beat a little faster and her face felt flushed. 

She slowly looked up into his face and her breath caught in her throat, because he was so handsome. No matter how many times she saw him it was like the first time all over again and she wondered if she would ever get used to how handsome he was and feel comfortable around him? He was looking away but he turned his head towards her and their eyes met and she shyly looked away. 

"What?" he asked. 

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head. 

"What is it?" he pressed. "I'm your husband now. Whatever it is you can tell me." 

Hearing him call himself her husband gave her butterflies in her stomach and she suddenly felt more nervous to be held here in his arms. 

"It's seriously nothing," she said softly, looking down. 

Right then the slow song ended and a fast one came on. The dance floor quickly filled up with their friends and family and she was relieved she had been saved the embarrassment of admitting that she had been ogling how handsome he is. 

During the faster hip-hop songs their friends surrounded them and they all danced together, laughing and having a great time. Eva had the most fun she had ever had in her life and drank way more than a future Queen should, dancing for hours, well past midnight.