Page 68 of Royally Roma
“I think I might be in trouble.” The understatement of the century. “Do you know who this is?”
She shoved her cell phone under Chiara’s nose.
Chiara inspected the photo that Julia had taken, praying as she’d clicked the shutter button that she was mistaken. Hoping against hope that Chiara would tell her there was no possible way that the man in her bed could be His Royal Highness, Niccolo La Torre, Crown Prince of Lazaretto.
“Of course. He’s that prince. The one who’s got all of Rome whipped into a fury because he disappeared and stood up a bunch of important people the past couple of days. He’s supposed to be sick or something, but I’m not buying it. Neither is anyone else. He’s probably just hooking up with some local cupcake.” She brought the phone closer to her face and squinted at its display. “Wow, that looks a lot like Valentina. And your flat, actually.”
Julia sighed as her last remaining shred of hope fell away. What was she going to do? Out of all the messes she’d gotten herself into, this was surely the messiest. “Because that is my flat.”
“Oh my God.You’rethe cupcake.” Chiara blinked. “But I don’t get it. Valentina hates men.”
Julia sighed. “Are you serious right now? I tell you there’s a naked prince sleeping in my bed, and the part you find most shocking is that he gets on with my dog?”
Chiara shrugged. “You have to admit it’s shocking. I mean, Elio almost lost a finger. Oh, sorry. I forgot I’m not supposed to mention his name.”
Julia shook her head. “It’s fine.”
She hadn’t even noticed. After months and months of feeling physically ill whenever she’d heard those three devastating syllables, they suddenly had no effect on her whatsoever.
That was odd. Not that it meant anything. She had more important things to worry about at the moment. Royal things. Royalnakedthings. “You say that Nico... I mean,the prince... upset people?”
“Not just people.Everyone.” She handed the phone back to Julia. “Now fess up. This is a joke, right? That’s Photoshopped or something. It has to be.”
Oh, how she wished it were a joke. “It’s one hundred percent real.”
“You mean the Crown Prince of Lazaretto is behind that door? Right now?” She stared at Julia’s flat. “How on earth did you pull off such a miracle?”
Julia sighed. “I sort of kidnapped him.”
“You kidnapped a prince?”
“It’s not as bad as it seems. I didn’t know he was a royal when I kidnapped him.” Why had that sounded so much better in her head?
“How could you not know? He’s practically as famous as Prince William.”
“I don’t read tabloids, remember? I hate gossip.”
Chiara nodded. “And you’re not even on Facebook. I forget sometimes that you’re basically a nun. It’s so weird.”
Julia frowned. “No, it’s not.”
“I hate to break it to you, but yeah. It is.” Chiara shrugged.
What difference did it make, anyway? Only one thing mattered at the moment—the prince in her bed.
As quickly as she could, Julia spelled out the events of the past weekend.Mostof them. The more personal details weren’t relevant to the big picture. At least not as far as anyone else was concerned.
“I don’t get it. I just don’t understand why he would leave the hotel with you. Unless there’s more you’re not telling me.” Chiara smirked. “He had his way with you, didn’t he? Yousleptwith him! You lucky thing.”
Julia cleared her throat. “I did not sleep with him.”
Not technically.
“You’ve got the man who occupies the top spot of Europe’s most eligible bachelor list in your bed, and you’re telling me you didn’t sleep with him?” Chiara stared pointedly at Julia’s closed door.
“It’s not like that.” Julia waited for lightning to strike her dead for being a liar. At least if it did, she wouldn’t have to worry about how to extricate herself from the mess she’d gotten herself into.
When lightning failed to appear, she was almost disappointed.
