Page 10 of Cheeky Prince
He looks at me like I might be going crazy. “I’m sure there’s more than one Dominic on the island. But yes, the prince’s name is Dominic.”
“But you know the prince?”
“Not personally. I knowofthe prince from the papers. I haven’t met him.”
“What does he look like?”
“Tall. Dark hair.” He shrugs as he pulls his phone from his pocket and taps at the screen. “This is him.”
I almost fall over.
Every molecule in my body starts shaking.
It’s him.
“Are you all right, Jill?” Stephen reaches for me just as a commotion sounds from down on the dock.
“I think I’m fainting,” I mumble before my knees give way.
Dominic
Iforce my way through the crowd with my royal guard in tow. They hate it when I do things like this, especially when they’ve been sent here to maintain my safety. The industrial dispute on the island is gaining intensity, and my family wants me back at the palace before I’ve even had a chance to do anything about it. But I’m not going anywhere without Jill. From the moment I saw her, I knew she was the reason my heart was beating. I can’t continue on in life without her. One taste, one touch, and I’m hers.
“Jill!” I spot her standing with the captain of the ship. She seems distressed, and she’s shaking her head. Then she falls to the deck.
My heart falls to the bottom of my gut. “Mon petit chou.”
I almost push people in the water, trying to get to her. I’m not letting this ship leave port until she’s back in my arms, and I’m sure she’s OK.
Our short relationship has been rife with misunderstandings, but the one thing I’m sure of is that Jill is my princess. She makes me feel things I’ve never felt before in all my thirty-one years. When I thought she was an escort, I admit to taking liberties with her. But had she been any other woman, I would have sent her packing. I wasn’t interested until I saw her beautiful curves on the security screen. When I found out she was a virgin, I was intrigued as to why such an innocent and beautiful woman would want to sell her first time to a prince on a whim. It made me protective of her, it made me see her as a precious gift. A gift I claimed as mine and intended to keep. But then she was gone in the morning.
At first, I was pissed, but I quickly realized that I just wanted her back. I called Fernand, who filled in the blanks for me—Jill wasn’t an escort. She was an American tourist who came to the island on a ship captained by a man named Stephen. Not Stefan. Which is where our confusion began.
While I was overjoyed that she was pure in more ways than one, it also made me realize that she probably overheard me talking to Stefan and left because she found out that I thought she was a hooker. She probably thought everything that happened between us was fake, when the fact is that everything between us was so very real. I want that woman to carry my children inside her belly. And the sight of her falling to the deck fills me with such panic because not only am I in love with her, there’s a possibility that my seed is already starting to grow inside her. I need to protect my love and my family at all costs.
“Stand aside for Prince Dominic of Cassaco!” The guard closest to me yells over the crowd in his booming voice, sending this bunch of tourists into a frenzy of grabbing for their phones to snap a picture of me for their Instagram stories. I have the urge to knock the phones out of their hands to protect Jill from their scrutiny, but there’s no way to get to her without them seeing. So we’ll be forced to deal with the press later as well.
A prince’s work is never done.
“Jill! My darling.Mon petit chou.Can you hear me?” I drop to my knees beside her while the captain stammers and steps back before removing his hat and bowing.
“Captain Stephen Calgary. At your service, sire.”
“What happened to her?” I ask, lifting her head so it’s resting on my lap.
“Well, it’s interesting because we were discussing…you. I showed her your photo and this is the result.”
I can’t help but grin slightly. “I’ve been known to make a woman or two swoon in my day. Is there somewhere I can take her? Or do you at least have smelling salts?”
“Yes, yes!” He gestures to a member of the crew, and they go running for the first aid kit.
“Mon petit chou,” I whisper, running my fingers down the side of her face.
Her eyes flutter. “What does that even mean?” she mumbles.
“It means ‘my little bun’.”
Her eyes open and land on mine. “You call me your little bun?”
