Page 5 of Learning to Love

"We need to tighten security around here?"

"No, I want to know everything there is to know about that woman and why she obviously hates me so much."

Hinchbootie shakes his head and wanders off, muttering about me never learning my lesson, but he's wrong, I have. I realize now I’ve been behaving irresponsibly, and finding out why the hot, blonde girl in the tight yoga pants hates my guts is the first step on the road to my redemption.

Who am I kidding?

My mind might want to be sensible, but my dick certainly has other ideas.

This retreat just got interesting.

Three

Elodie

I'm such an idiot. I really should have discovered the identity of the man who's been upsetting everyone before marching in all guns blazing. They'll probably have the army of his country come and arrest me.

God, what if they still have capital punishment. I could end up getting my head chopped off for insulting a member of the whatever-country-he's-from royal family.

Damn it!

Damn it!

“No, I'm not embarking on this downward spiral of worry,” I mutter to myself as I shovel more cookie-dough ice cream into my mouth. “I'm not the one in the wrong here. This is America, and I have rights. They can't arrest me without proper jurisdiction.”

Another mouthful of ice cream finds its way into my mouth as I continue to worry about my future. I'm usually a healthy eater, it comes with the whole philosophy of yoga and mindfulness, but sometimes I like to indulge myself with a bit of naughtiness in the form of ice cream, chocolate, or cookies. If the weather is terrible, or at certain times of the month, or it’s a Wednesday, then it’s a good day to eat sugary sweetness.

I need to start thinking more sensibly. Get my head on straight rather than being completely irrational. Putting the ice cream down, I make my way over to the desk I have on one side of my living room. My house isn't big. Yoga doesn't pay a lot, and I'd rather keep my parents’ money in the bank should I need it for an emergency, but I have two bedrooms, a brand new kitchen, and a bathroom my uncle helped me remodel when I moved in.

I spend most of my awake time in the living room. The floors are a dark mahogany—an excellent find under the old, falling apart laminate that was there previously. Most of the walls are an off-white color, except for a feature wall in an old Victorian deep blue, and there are silver rugs strewn on the floor, and throws scattered over my two brown leather sofas. In one corner, I have my reading nook with its walls covered in pictures of my parents and me in happier times—a bright red Queen Anne chair finishes that area off. It’s contemporary but classic at the same time.

I sit down on the wooden captain's chair at my old fashioned desk and open my laptop. Pulling up the tab for the internet, I type in 'His Royal Highness Prince Dalton Frederick William Albert of Janastria.' I press enter and wait for my relatively slow internet to search for details of the man who has managed to upset so many people since he arrived at Serendipity.

I instantly slam the screen shut when a video comes up of his naked backside.I wasn't expecting that. Yuck!Well okay, it was a nice rear end, as far as I could see, from the split second I glimpsed of it moving up and down. I take a deep breath and dare to open up the laptop again.

Yes, it is a nice ass, but once again, I repeat….yuck!

I scroll down the screen to his official Wikipedia page because that’s sure to contain all the correct facts about the prince.

He was born twenty-nine years ago to King Frederick and Queen Stephanie of Janastria. It's a small province in central Europe. He's the king and queen's only child and will inherit a vast fortune and royal title when his father dies. I scroll farther down the page, learning about his education at a prestigious school in England and his military service. It seems he finished his education a few years ago and has been assisting his father in royal duties since then.

There are a few pictures of him with different leading dignitaries of the world, including the Queen of England and even our President. He's well-traveled, but that doesn't explain why he's such a dick. The king and queen look really lovely. There are even details of lots of charitable endeavors the family is involved in.Is this really the same man?I look at the pictures of him, fully clothed thankfully, and I recognize his features. The strong jawline, bright blue eyes that sparkle into the camera, and chestnut hair that’s perfectly coiffed. He wasn't as put together this morning, but that was because he'd been working out, but it’s undoubtedly the same man.

I scroll farther down the screen to a section with ‘Controversies’ as the heading.

This is where I'll find out about the real man.

My eyes scan the article, and I start to read it out loud, "Prince Dalton has been the subject of several controversies recently. He was found drunk and engaged in fellatio activity during a public function at the palace. He has also attended several meetings where he has been heard to make derogatory remarks about some of the attendees. However, on the 15th of May, his most significant controversy occurred, to date, when a sex video was released showing the prince with one of the debutantes from the coming-out party he was attending. On the 16th of May, the palace announced the prince was taking a leave of absence to re-discover himself and learn what was expected from a member of the Janastrian royal family.

I peer over the top of my laptop at the calendar I have on the wall above my desk. It’s May 19th, so all of this happened in the last few days. The prince is here at Serendipity to learn how to behave.

I snort.

He hasn't learned anything so far. He’s having a holiday and upsetting everyone around him in the process. He’s a pompous, stuck-up asshole, and I’m going to bring him to his knees. The King and Queen of Janastria want him to learn a lesson. Well, I’m going to give it to him. I'm not going to let some man, who’s banned from his own country for creating bad headlines, cause me trouble. No rich playboy is going to get the better of me.

Tomorrow I’m going to teach my class. I'm going to sneak my students into the studio, using the back-way into the resort. I discovered it when on a retreat with my yoga group, and I was searching for a quiet place to hold an afternoon yoga session. His security can be damned, and he can go to hell with his silver spoon shoved firmly up his backside.

I smirk as I pick up my phone and type out a message.

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