Page 9 of Prince Un-Charming

The man holding Imelda drags her from the room, giving me a few seconds to recover. I go straight to my purse and fish out my royal ID card, passport, and diplomatic travel document.

The guard nods, then stores the details with his device.

“Do you know why this woman attacked you?” he asks, looking up from his screen.

I know he has to look into the disturbance, but I want to be left alone. A shiver starts in my chest and spreads to my limbs, an aftereffect of the adrenaline.

“I’d like to be helpful, sir, but all I know is she seemed to be looking for my boss, Prince Caesar Vanecourt. He’s my employer.”

The officer knits his brows and rubs his neck. I thought my job required me to deal with nonsense, but I guess it could be worse. I could be security in a hotel that caters to people with obscene bank accounts and diplomatic immunity.

“I’m sorry to say this, ma’am, but someone in her position can cause a lot of trouble, crazy or not. It might be best if I take a look around, if you’ll grant me permission. Just in case she says something different, we’ll have evidence that you’ve done nothing wrong. Would that be okay?”

His shoulders are hunched as he asks. I can tell he’s uncomfortable at having to be subject to the whims of people like Imelda, but I can also tell he’s used to it.

“I understand. Yes, you have my consent to search.” I go with him from room to room, turning on lights and picking up my things from where Imelda threw them.

When he’s finished, I thank him and show him out.

“You’re welcome. Be safe.”

“Thank you, sir. You, too.”

He side-eyes the outside hallway with a nod, indicating Imelda, then gives me a thumbs up. As I close the door, I can still hear Imelda. Now she’s arguing with the officer about going back to her room.

“What about her? Don’t they know she’s seducing Caesar!”

“Ma’am, last I checked, that’s not against the law.”

“It’s a crime against decency.”

Pot, meet kettle. I keep the door open a crack to listen for a second. If rumors about me get started tonight, it’s in my interest to know what they are.

“Ma’am, you need to leave. Now. Or I will force you to come with me.”

I suspect he hopes that she complies on her own, not so much for her sake but so he doesn’t have to spend more time babysitting her. The officer tries to get her to leave gently, but she wrenches her arm away from her and wobbles down the hall on her own, like a baby gazelle.

She’s shrieking incoherently. “She’s just pretending to be a secretary! Nobody with an ass like that is just a secretary.”

There are about a million old black-and-white movies that say otherwise. My face burns. I don’t want to hear it after all. I gently close the door, then slide to the floor and hold my head in my hands.

What a nightmare.And to think it all happened because another girl was jealous of me.

It isn’t the first time one of Caesar’s diversions has assumed we’re more than coworkers, either. If they only knew that he can barely remember my name half the time.

I can’t say I blame them. It’s probably easy to lose it around a guy like Caesar. The name, the title, the cars, the parties, the charm, the looks. A girl could get pretty caught up in all of it.

They probably drive themselves crazy thinking they’ll be the one to end his playboy ways, only to watch him drive off into the sunset with some other flavor of the week a few days later.

I find myself blaming Caesar more than people like Imelda. That’s when I start to get angry all over again. But given his natural charm and how easy it is to get sucked in, I’m glad I have a job that puts me close to him. Otherwise, I might not see his flaws – and then I might get sucked in, too.

I have a flashback to that morass of skin I walked in on in the bathroom, and it makes me sick to my stomach.

But then it does something else to me.

His lips on her neck, his hands in her hair, and our eyes met for a fleeting moment. I can almost feel his mouth on my body. It’s as if I were in that bathroom stall. It’s as if I wish I had been.

My hand flies to my mouth. I can hear my pulse beating in my ears.You’re ridiculous, Vivi.

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