Page 4 of Lily and the Billionaire Prince

I know this is you.

Stop ignoring me.

You’re going to have to talk to me one way or another.

Lily trembled so hard, the last bite of noodles fell off her fork. “What is he doing?” she asked Frou Frou, who’d pawed forward to rub against Lily’s feet resting on the barstool. Dr. Grumbles wasn’t far behind, and he let out a grousing cat response that sounded like a complaint.

She abandoned her empty tray, hurrying to toss it into the garbage when Artemis hopped onto the counter to finish off the sauce and then she scooped him up and held him close to her chest. She needed his warmth, needed his purr and reassurance.

“If I don’t respond, maybe he’ll stop,” she said, grasping at hope. The cat peered at her with yellow eyes, and Lily’s momentary resolve shrank, replaced with despairing, heartbreaking reality. “I know. You’re right—he won’t.”

Nothing had stopped Damon, not a move across the country or her multiple pleas for him to leave her alone. Lily had mentioned his behavior to her brother Ethan, but Ethan had gotten so riled up, he’d threatened to buy a plane ticket the next day and beat Damon to a pulp if he ever came near her again.

Lily worried what repercussions that would have for Ethan with the law if police were notified—which, knowing Damon, they would be. Ethan was the head of security for Ever After Sweet Shoppe in Vermont, and Lily didn’t want him jeopardizing his job for her. So the next time Ethan had asked how things were going with “that weasel Damon Neely,” Lily had lied. She’d told Ethan she hadn’t heard from him since.

But oh boy, had she heard from him.

Though she was alone, the back of her ribs prickled, and a wedge of worry knotted inside her. Lily hurried to lock her front door and her bedroom door as well, and then she climbed into bed with her feline friends and the husky doodle curling around her. She flicked through channels on the TV mounted above the cat post on the wall opposite her bed, hoping to get lost in someone else’s drama for a while. Too bad it wouldn’t last.

2

The next morning, Lily stepped out of her door at the same time as her neighbor and longtime friend, Snow Henricks. Snow’s long, white-blonde hair was pulled into two French braids, and she wore hot pink workout clothes that emphasized her toned, trim form.

“Hey, Lily,” Snow said, smiling.

“Hey, Snow. Out for your run?”

“Every day.” The two women each locked their doors, and Snow waited for Lily to head down the stairs to the sidewalk first. Lily considered telling her friend about the situation with the prince, but she kept things to herself. On that thought, though, she decided she’d better at least mention she might be home late so her friend wouldn’t worry.

“Hey, Mr. Elir has me working on a project right now,” she said, waiting for the Elir’s luxury car to pick her up as it did every morning.

Snow bent into a stretch, elongating her arms over her head. “Need me to check on your fur-babies?”

“Please.”

“You got it.” Snow and Lily helped one another out like this when they could. The two had grown up together in Vermont and when Snow had been packing to leave town, Lily had bummed a ride. She often checked Snow’s mail for her when she was gone on trips for her job as a staging specialist. Snow was one of those people who had the knack for style, for knowing exactly what a room needed to look like it belonged in a magazine.

Soon, the Elir driver pulled up. Lily slid into the back seat, and Snow bounded down the sidewalk for her morning run.

Upon arriving at the resort, Lily broke one of her cardinal rules. As a matter of decency and privacy, she didn’t note which guests stayed in which rooms or for how long, but she spoke with Tammy at the front desk and managed to discover that an entire floor of rooms had been secured for the next month, but only two guests were registered to the rooms.

Bingo.

Once her regular daily tasks were taken care of and she was assured Mr. Elir didn’t need her for a while, Lily set out.

She thought about her conversation with Aaliyah, River, and Mr. Elir. Of all the ways to approach this, Lily decided straightforward was the best option. Her position was also the only reasonable explanation she could come up with for seeking the prince out. Lily had considered approaching him as an adoring female, but that rubbed her the wrong way. She had no intention of adoring any man ever again.

The elevator dinged and opened up to the ninth floor. Luscious purple carpets spanned the length of the wide hall, which was lit by numerous windows offering a view of the ocean. If it wasn’t for the poinsettias situated on the decorative tables along the way, she would never be able to tell just from looking that it was almost Christmas.

The hall had a just-cleaned smell, like fresh glue and lavender. She inhaled deeply, relishing the shades of orange sunlight slicing in from the windows. Before Lily had become Mr. Elir’s executive assistant, after her parents had kicked her out, she’d worked at the resort as a maid. Lily had come to know the routine of preparing a room by heart, cleaning and prepping things for the guests who came and went.

She’d come so far since those days, farther than her parents had ever thought she would have. Not for the first time, Lily wished she could call home.

As if knowing her thoughts had been centered on the device in her lanyard carrying case, her phone vibrated. The caller ID read Damon’s name. She’d saved his number after his twenty-thousand texts the night before.

She should have known he wouldn’t give up. Talking to her ex again would be the equivalent of car accidents and other unwanted things. But ignoring his call could be so, so much worse. Hating herself, or at least the situation, she slid her thumb to answer the call.

“What do you want?”

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