Page 40 of Royally Knocked Up
“But you know now,” she said. “We can count on you to stay within the bounds of the law, I’m sure. No one wants to have to involve the authorities.”
The man turned and hurried away skittishly.
Enzo came up alongside Hailey. “Well,” he said, shaking his head, “that was something.”
“Do you think I took it too far?”
“I mean, you do know that none of that was true, right? It’s not illegal for people to take pictures and sell them to the media.”
“Of course it isn’t. And ifyouhad told him it was, it would be a problem for the king. But me, I’m just some random American. I probably don’t know what I’m talking about anyway.” She grinned. “I think I scared him enough to make him sit on that picture, though.”
“You really do care about keeping me out of the press,” Enzo said.
“Sure I do,” she told him.
And yet — once more — she didn’t quite meet his eyes when she said it.
Maybe she was embarrassed at the fact that she had taken things so far.
Whatever the reason, Enzo thought, it was nice to know that someone was on his side.
CHAPTER 16
HAILEY
“I’ll come over tonight,” Enzo said. “I’m sorry that I have to spend the day at this event — I’m sorry I can’t bring you with me.”
“Oh, don’t apologize,” Hailey said. “Of course you’ve got to go. It’s important to your father. And I know how hard you’ve worked to make him proud of you.”
Enzo rolled his eyes. “Don’t say it like that,” he said. “I still don’t like admitting that I care what he thinks.”
“You care plenty,” Hailey said, smiling at him. “And I think it’s great that you do. You shouldn’t be embarrassed about that. Now, go to the event. I’ll be here when you get back.”
“If you want to order room service, feel free,” Enzo said. “It will be charged to me, so just get whatever you want. I don’t want you to be bored, cooped up in this room all day.”
Hailey felt a twist in the pit of her stomach. “Don’t worry about me,” she said. “I’ll be fine.”
She ached to tell him the truth. He deserved the truth from her, and she knew that. But she couldn’t do it. They had come too close to restoring his reputation, to making his father proud of him — and to Hailey completing the job she had been assigned to do.
The last thing she should be doing right now was being honest about why she had come here in the first place. If Enzo were to find out, it would ruin everything.
So she let him kiss her goodbye. The kiss still felt magical — special — as if it was a miracle that it was happening at all. Every kiss with Enzo felt stolen. And Hailey knew that it was. She wasn’t supposed to be doing this. She was taking something that wasn’t rightfully hers, and it was only by sheer luck that she continued to get away with it.
She watched from the window as he got into the car that he’d called to pick him up and take him to the press event. He would be meeting his brother there. The princes would spend a few hours talking to reporters about the fact that their father was about to assume the throne and what it meant to them to be a part of this moment.
Hailey hoped that Enzo’s brother would respect him. She hoped he wouldn’t be made to feel like the family black sheep.
But she couldn’t focus on it for too long, because she had her own business to take care of today.
She waited until Enzo had been driven away. Then she went down to the lobby.
Romano was standing there waiting for her. “Ms. Jones,” he said. “Are you ready to go?”
“You’re the one who’s taking me?”
“That’s right. The king sent me to pick you up.”
She couldn’t help smiling. “It’s good to see you again,” she said.
