Page 11 of Learning to Love

"Yes." She nods as we fall into a comfortable exchange. "It must seem silly to you. You probably improve people’s lives in your country every day, but I don't get the chance to do something as important as that. This is my equivalent of running a country. It's why I fought you so hard."

"I wouldn't say I run the country yet, but I understand what you mean."

"Good." Elodie laughs, and I feel it throughout my entire body. She's a beautiful woman, but strangely, I find it's her mind that captivates me the most.

The rest of our meal continues with companionable conversation and laughter. I tell Elodie about some of the hilarious moments I’ve experienced being a prince. In contrast, she tells me funny stories from her yoga adventures. We fall quiet as she tells me of her parents' deaths. I don't talk about my mother and father, except to say the king is a busy man. I have possibly the best evening I've ever had in a woman's company, and that’s saying something, considering the bevy of beauties I've had fall at my feet.

As dessert is cleared away, Elodie and I make our way over to my private pool where coffee has been placed on a table for us. She relaxes back on a lounge chair, and I perch on the end of the one next to hers.

"Don't you ever feel silly doing some of the poses? I mean the ones with your backside in the air?" I question innocently.

I've seen yoga classes before. When sober, my mother likes to partake in one with a private tutor and some of her ladies-in-waiting. I just remember it being so funny.

"I don't. There’s meaning behind all the poses. I focus on them rather than worrying about looking silly," Elodie replies, taking a sip of her coffee. Decaf, as she requested, so she'll be able to sleep tonight.

"Oh come on, someone must have been smoking something when they devised poses like downward dog. It's completely sexual." I chuckle but stop when Elodie places her coffee down and gets to her feet.

"Thank you for the evening, Your Highness, but I think it's time for me to leave." She turns on her heels, and before I have a chance to realize what’s happening, she’s stomping across the private patio and out of my space and company.

Something erupts inside me—a feeling of confusion…no, shame. I've upset her because of what I said.Damn it!I get to my feet and race after her—certain I'm about to lose my balls, but I hate the fact she's distressed.

Seven

Elodie

What I do is not a joke, and I won't sit and have dinner with a man who thinks it is, even if I was having a lovely evening. I let out a loud cry of anguish as I stomp angrily away from his up-his-own-ass royal highness' apartments.

I'm usually a peaceful and calm person, centered as a result of my yoga. Still, when it comes to Prince Dalton of Janastria, I want to smack him around the head a few times. I know I can't do that, though. It probably would cause a diplomatic disaster. I'll just go home and meditate.

The car that brought me here tonight is still waiting in the parking lot. As I approach it, I feel a pang of sadness in my chest. I was actually enjoying the evening until the leopard showed his true spots.

"Elodie, wait," Dalton calls from behind me, and I speed up my steps to get away from him.

I reach the car and try to open the door, but I’m stopped by Dalton's superior strength slamming it shut again.

"Leave me alone," I angrily tell him.

"I'm sorry."

The words of apology leaving his lips take me by surprise, but my anger still lurks, and I won't be fooled by this act. It's probably just him trying to get into my panties. After all, it seems from the press reports he's got an overactive libido and King Daddy has banned him from having sex. I ball my hands into tiny fists of frustration.

"Please, get out of my way. I did as you asked and had dinner with you. It’s a shame you turned out to be just the dick I thought you were, in the end. Now I’d like to go home and do my lesson plan for my next yoga session because I've damn well earned the right to get my studio back. If you try and take it away from me again, I'll go straight to your father. I’ll tell him you've not learned anything in your time away and you're still a conceited asshole."

Dalton takes a step back from me—his cheeks puff out, and his eyes go wide. "Wow, no one has ever spoken to me like that before, except my parents."

"So have me arrested and my head chopped off. I suspect when I take to the stand in any court case, I'll find there’s a lot of people you've pissed off," I snarl, letting my temper get the better of me. I'd rather he didn't arrest me, but I'm so angry, and the glasses of wine and bubbly I've had have loosened my tongue.

"My country repealed capital punishment in the late nineteenth century. And I'm not upset you've spoken to me that way. I like it. It's what I need. I don't want people around me who say yes all the time. I need someone who’ll answer me back."

Dalton holds his hand out to me, but I shake my head to show him I won't take it.

"Elodie, I'm really sorry about what I said. I don't understand yoga. It's not something I've been taught. My training has been in the military—I’m more used to regimental marching and assault courses. I do know yoga can be freeing, but free is something I'll never be." He brings his hand back to his side as he speaks, and I look down at the ground, biting my lip.

I've read about royal families in articles before and seen the problems a free spirit can experience, fitting in with all the rules. Dalton doesn't understand the motion and nature of different yoga poses and the freedom they can bring—everything around him is controlled and formal. But it does seem to me he's not even trying to understand how other people live. He's come here and set his own rules in place. He's taken over and upset everyone. It's not acceptable. I don't know much about his country, but surely that isn't the right way for a ruler to behave—harsh and dictatorial. History has shown in so many cases that kind of behavior doesn't end well.

"Yoga is freeing. It's about being yourself and understanding your needs. It's what brings together the people here as a community, but it’s not just yoga that does it, Serendipity does it as well. Before the resort was built, this town was falling apart. Unemployment was high, and people’s prospects were low. This place brought us all to life. It gave hope where there wasn't any. It gave people with disabilities a chance to thrive in a community that had previously forgotten about them. It may be small to a man who's going to rule a whole country one day, but to us, it's our home, our future, and our life. It's not a joke, and it's not something to take lightly. This place and yoga mean the world to me. Without them, I have nothing."

Tears form in my eyes as thoughts of my parents flood to the surface. There was a time after they died when I considered moving away from here. I thought about starting a new life somewhere else away from the memories of the park I used to play in as a child, the restaurant we went to for a family dinner once a month, and the school where my mother met me outside every day so I could walk home safely. I visited different places and explored my options, but nothing felt like home, and I couldn't do it in the end. I stayed here and set up the yoga classes at Serendipity. Even though I miss my parents every day, I'm glad I remained. I wouldn't have been the true me anywhere else. This is my home and the place I’ll always come back to, no matter where life takes me.

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