Page 9 of Royal Extra After

She found spending the day on the set and being treated like a regular person was so freeing and exhilarating. Everyone from Ned to the producers, cameramen, and actors had no problem speaking up and letting her know how they felt about her ideas. They praised her for the good ones and called her out for the bad ones.

As the princess watched Ned expertly work with the crew and motivate the actors, she saw how much everyone respected and looked up to him. It made her like him even more.

A couple of times when she was watching Ned, she found Simone watching her closely. Her intuition told her Simone had feelings for Ned, too. The princess couldn’t blame her.

When Ned walked up to her smiling, she saw Simone watching, frowning.

“I don’t think Simone likes me,” the princess said.

“Why would you say that?” Ned asked. “You’ve helped me a lot today.”

“Yeah, and I think that might be the problem.”

Ned laughed. “Don’t worry about it. Simone just likes being the center of attention. It’s nothing personal. We should be wrapping up soon.”

The princess felt an instant rush of sadness to think her dream day was ending.

“I thought we could grab some dinner after?” Ned asked.

The princess perked up. “That would be great…”

Benson stepped in. “We didn’t agree to any after-hours meetings.”

Ned laughed as he put his arm around Benson. “You make it sound so nefarious, Benson. I wasn’t proposing a clandestine meeting. I was merely proposing dinner, so I could run a few things by the princess, work-related. I’d like to get her thoughts on the shoot we’re starting tomorrow at a castle upstate.”

The princess’s eyes lit up. “You have a castle in New York?”

“Actually, we have a couple dozen castles in New York,” Ned answered. “The one I’ve picked for this movie is pretty amazing. I have pictures and some video I can show you at dinner.”

“Wonderful!” the princess exclaimed. “I can’t wait to see it and…”

“Princess, remember we have that engagement tonight,” Benson interrupted.

The princess looked confused. “What engagement?”

Benson gave her a knowing look. “To go over the Elderman Report. You know how critical that is.”

The princess’s eyes narrowed. “Really, Benson. The Elderman Report?” The princess knew exactly what Benson was talking about. The Elderman Report was their secret code they used whenever they wanted to get out of an invitation. But the princess didn’t want to get out of Ned’s invitation. On the contrary, she was looking forward to dinner with him.

Ned laughed as he looked from Benson to the princess. “Is this something you always say when you don’t want to do something? You make up a fake report to go over?”

Benson’s mouth dropped open.

The princess laughed as she put her arm around Benson. “Ned, you’re going to give poor Benson here a heart attack. The answer to your question is yes.”

Ned laughed. “Yes, that’s a bogus report, or yes to dinner?”

“Yes to dinner,” the princess said. “If you could come to our hotel at seven, that would give Benson and me a chance to discuss this Elderman Report. Ned, to protect our privacy, we will need to have dinner in our suite. Is that okay with you?”

“Sure,” Ned said.

“And with you, Benson?” the princess asked.

Benson looked conflicted but finally nodded slowly. “That will be fine as long as this dinner doesn’t run too late.”

“It won’t.” The princess and Ned promised at the same time and laughed.

“So, we have a plan,” the princess said as she started to walk off with Benson.

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