Page 37 of Royally Knocked Up
After all, he isn’t letting me tell you anything. Why should we be any different?
CHAPTER 15
ENZO
“This is it,” Enzo said happily. “Downtown Luria.”
Hailey gazed out the tinted window of the town car that had driven them down from Vista Piccola. “It’s beautiful,” she said. “It’s so different from Vista Piccola. So modern and urban. I mean, I knew it would be. I flew over it when I arrive in Monteverde. But I suppose I’ve been thinking of it this whole time as sort of… dirty and industrial. More like New York.”
“You’re not from New York, are you?”
“I’m from Baltimore.”
“I’ve never been there. What’s it like?”
“Dirty and industrial.” She smiled at him. “This is a prettier city. I really like it here. You’re so lucky that you get to live in such a beautiful place.”
He nodded. “You’re right,” he said. “I don’t think about that a lot. I guess I take it for granted. But you’re right — this is a beautifulplace to live, even if living here does mean I have to follow a bunch of rules that feel oppressive to me.”
“I can’t wait to see the palace,” Hailey said.
She didn’t look at Enzo when she said it. She had been avoiding his gaze rather frequently since they had arrived here, he’d noticed. He wondered whether she was nervous about meeting his father. It didn’t seem right — she had never seemed particularly nervous about Enzo and the royal title he held. In fact, she had been shockingly bold about speaking up to him. But maybe it would be different with his father. Maybe the idea of the king carried some kind of weight in her mind that a prince just didn’t.
He wouldn’t blame her if that was the case. Enzo himself was nervous about seeing his father. He had no idea what his father’s reaction to him would be. Would things have softened now that Enzo had managed to stay out of the media for a few weeks?
He wasn’t sure. But he hoped so. It would be wonderful to return home and find that the time away had been what was needed to get him back on the same page with his father — to make it so that the two of them could finally see eye to eye.
How strange. He hadn’t realized that was even something he wanted.
And maybe meeting Hailey would help matters, he thought. She was sure to make a good impression on his father. Of course, he wouldn’t let his father know that the two of them had been sleeping together. That would make him look irresponsible and would reaffirm, in his father’s mind, that Enzo was exactly the kind of person he’d always believed Enzo to be. But to see thatEnzo had a colleague who took things seriously, and that that colleague thought Enzo was worthwhile…
The car pulled to a stop and Enzo opened the door.
Hailey frowned at him. “Where are we?” she asked.
“I told you I would arrange a place for you to stay, didn’t I?”
He had expected her face to light up at that, but instead her frown deepened. “You actually didn’t tell me that.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I… I made my own arrangements.”
Once again, she didn’t quite meet his eyes. She was so nervous! It made him feel warm to see it. Hailey was usually so bold. It was amazing that she could be so disarmed simply by coming to Luria with him.
He knew at once that they were going to have a wonderful time here.
“Cancel your arrangements,” he told her firmly. “Trust me. You’re going to like the place I’ve set you up in.”
“I’m not sure if I can cancel or not.”
“Give me the information. If I make a call, they’ll cancel it for us.”
“No,” she said quickly. “You can’t do that.”
“Of course I can. It’s really no trouble.”
“No, Enzo, you can’t. You can’t have anyone find out that you called to cancel a hotel room that was reserved for me,” Hailey said. “People are going to come up with all sorts of explanationsfor what might have happened there. They’ll speculate and gossip, and you don’t need that. Your father would lose his mind. You’ve finally made it back here — you can’t take that risk.”
