Page 20 of Lily and the Billionaire Prince

“Do you ever talk to them?”

“Not much,” he said. “They wrote me off, too, remember?”

Ethan had denied the position of inheriting the company. He’d gone into the military instead and Mom and Dad hadn’t liked that much.

“So, you’re coming for Christmas, right?”

“I don’t know,” Lily hedged. They’d talked about her visiting for a few days during the holiday, but her financial concerns had held her back from agreeing. “I can’t afford a plane ticket right now.” Not one going to Vermont, anyway. She needed all she had if she was going to pull off a disappearing act.

“Well, I already got you one,” he said.

“What? Ethan, you can’t do that!”

“It’s already done. You need to come home. You’re not spending Christmas alone down there without any snow.”

Lily laughed and the delight at his thoughtfulness touched her to the core. “That—that was so sweet of you.”

“Of course. My treat. You’re clear down there all by yourself. I don’t know why you don’t just come back home.”

It was easier to deal with the humiliation when she didn’t have to face her family every day. Or at least her brother, since he was the only family talking to her right now.

“You’ll have to schedule your dates, but just know, your ticket is set. You need to plan on coming to Mr. Danielson’s Christmas Ball.”

The Ever After Sweet Shoppe Christmas Ball had not only become an annual event, attendance had become something like a treat because invitations were exclusively given and typically only reserved for those who worked for Hawk Danielson. Ethan had handled the event’s security for years, but it wasn’t until last year that he’d received an invitation himself. Something to do with the fact that he helped clear his boss’s then-girlfriend’s good name after she’d been wrongfully accused of theft.

“Really?” She hadn’t had a reason to dress up like that in so long. She had the perfect dress, too.

“Really,” Ethan said. “You take care, we’ll talk later okay?”

“Okay, and Ethan?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.” The words didn’t seem like enough, but she needed him to know how much his thoughtfulness meant to her. Christmas was in one week. She needed to get her schedule with Mr. Elir cleared so she could leave.

Lily followed through on that when she arrived at work. Mr. Elir cleared her to leave for as long as she wanted, but Lily wasn’t comfortable being gone from her fur babies for so long. She called Snow.

“Of course I’ll watch them for you,” Snow insisted. “You go enjoy Christmas with your family. Don’t you worry about a thing. Your pets are just fine where they are.”

With things settled in that aspect, Lily decided to bring Henrik his dinner in person tonight since she hadn’t done so since he asked her. Her stomach grumbled from the smell of pork down in the kitchen and so she had three meals prepared, rather than two, and brought up to Henrik’s room.

Henrik and Louise made great conversation, joking about the lack of snow in Florida and about how festive the hotel looked in preparation for the holiday. Lily thought it was classy of the Elirs, that even though Mr. Elir didn’t celebrate Christmas, he still chose to decorate for the holiday for his patrons and offer festive events because most of them did. Louise asked Lily what kind of things the hotel did for their guests on Christmas and Lily explained the hotel-sponsored ride around town to view light displays and the breakfast with Santa where guests could enjoy quality food along with the jolly man in red.

Louise left for her knitting and Henrik leaned over. “Sneak me out of here,” he whispered.

“Excuse me?” Lily’s stomach fluttered.

He gestured toward the window beside them. “I assume you don’t have a date for me today. That sunset is unsurpassed and should be experienced rather than only looked at. Would it draw too much attention if you snuck me away to the beach? You can ward off any paparazzi.”

“Henrik, I’m so sorry.” Lily was embarrassed to realize the aspect of preparing another date for him that afternoon had completely slipped her mind with everything else she’d been taking care of.

“It’s all on you now.” He winked. “So come on, sneak me away.”

She couldn’t suppress a smile at the secretive request. The prospect of slipping away to be with him was more appealing than it should have been. Lily told herself it meant nothing. They were just two friends, out for a stroll on the beach.

Waves stroked a lullaby against the sleepy sand. Lily removed her shoes and allowed the grains to squeeze between her toes as the tide lapped up her ankles. Henrik did the same, though he tossed his shoes onto the sand rather than carry them. She was glad she wore shorts. Though colder than summers, Decembers in Florida were still a good twenty thousand degrees compared to Vermont.

“Here we are, Scarlet,” Henrik said, gazing at the blazing sky.

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