Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Wynn
“Like, he sat down next to you and talked to you?” The following morning, Hannah was sitting across from me in the hotel restaurant while we had breakfast.
Mark was sleeping in since the two of them had gone out last night, and he’d had a bit too much to drink. I’d briefly seen them when I’d returned from gallivanting, only long enough to tell Hannah we needed to talk in the morning, and here we were.
“Yep, it was crazy, Han. And I didn’t spill anything, and my mind stayed focused. It was really quite the day.”
“That’s so great, Wynn. So…” She reached across the table and grabbed my hand. “Tell me, is he as gorgeous in person as he was in the magazine?”
“More so. For real, his eyes they are more silver than gray, his hair is dark blond, but the sun came through the window, and there were these golden strands. His bone structure—damn, that man was chiseled by God himself, Han.”
She cackled. “And I bet you got some other views?” She wiggled her brows.
“I may have glanced at his backside.” I waited a beat, and she stared expectantly. “And yes, it was art.”
She laughed so loudly, a few of the patrons took notice. “Damn, Wynn, you lucky bastard.”
While we ate, she told me about the pub she and Mark had found and promptly apologized for abandoning me, which was unnecessary. I’d been able to go to the library, café, bookstore—it had been rather peaceful. We were finishing our food as Mark ambled into the restaurant.
“Morning,” he grumbled into his coffee cup.
“You need greasy food.” I tutted sympathetically.
“Yeah.” He made no move to go to the buffet, so I went in his place. Piled his dish with bacon, eggs, sausage, everything I could think of. We sailed out tomorrow morning for Crellesia, so he had the day to recuperate.
After he ate, he said he was going to go pass out more and take a shower, so Hannah and I thought it was a great opportunity to visit the shops.
It was very Rodeo Drive in the heart of the shopping district, and the prices reflected that.
I’d sworn to buy myself one thing from each island that wasn’t a book, and it couldn’t be a trinket so we were in a haberdashery—yes, literally it was called Lawrenceville Haberdashery—and I decided to purchase a hat.
I hadn’t packed one, and the sun could be abrasive on the other islands.
Once the item was acquired, Hannah and I stepped outside, determined to find a chocolate shop. She halted midstep, jolting me back and forcing me to drop my bag.
“Han, this hat is like half my paycheck. Normally I’m the clumsy one—what the hell are you…?” My words died a fiery death the moment I looked up and saw Prince Julian Davaros standing by his limousine, his entire security detail surrounding the area. “Holy shit.”
“Wynn,” she whispered and bumped my arm. “He, like, found you here…what exactly did you all talk about yesterday?”
Honestly, nothing. It would have been unmemorable to anyone else, but he seemed to be watching me very intensely.
Where his eyes had been a stunning silver yesterday, today there was this almost ominous shadow lurking behind his gaze.
It sent a shiver up my spine, and yet my cock twitched too… I was a strange one.
“Nothing,” I said to her and smiled at the prince. “Uh, hey, you buying a hat too?” I wanted to smack myself for being so stupid.
“I am not.” He didn’t offer anything else so I side-eyed Hannah, who was beaming at Julian as though he were Christmas morning in human form.
“Oh, uhhh.” I looked up and down the street. It was sparse, the security having cleared it out. “Well, we were just going that way.” I motioned up the road.
“Are you hungry?” he asked, and then one of his people opened the car door. “I was about to get lunch, if you’d both like to join me.”
“Oh!” I slapped my forehead. “Prince Julian, this is my friend Hannah. Hannah, Prince Julian.”
She honest-to-God bowed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Royal Highness.”
He tilted his head, a slight curl forming in the corner of his mouth. “Nice to meet you too, Hannah.”
She stood, her eyes jumping from him to me. “Actually, I need to go check on my husband; he’s not feeling well. Wynn, you should go with the man for sure, though.” She took my bag out of my hand. “I’ll bring this to the hotel.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but she pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes as if to say, “Shut the fuck up, Wynn, and go with the hottie prince.”
“Wynn, do you care to join me?”
I faced Julian with a nervous grin. “I’d be honored, thank you.”
“Okay, you two have fun. I’m going to make sure my husband isn’t dying of alcohol poisoning.” She kissed my cheek, did this odd wave-bow thing to Julian, and was off like a shot.
“Is he going to be okay?” Julian wondered as I slipped into the car.
“Pfft, yeah. He went out to some pub last night, drank a wee bit too much scotch, and now he’s praying to the porcelain gods.”
He hummed. The door closed, and he angled himself to face me. “Did I interrupt your day with your friend?”
“No, no. I see her all the time. How often do you get to meet a real live prince?” I cocked my head. “Actually, twice for me I guess.”
He was silent for a beat, his eyes never leaving my face. He watched me as if I were some foreign relic, a treasure. Dare I say…he appeared enamored.
“So, where are we headed for lunch?”
“A small bistro I enjoy. Would that be all right?”
I waved him away. “I’m easy…” Shit. “I mean, when it comes to food. I’m not, like, easy about all things; I have standards, after all.”
He smiled—it was minute, but the silver returned to his eyes. “Good to know.”
I had so many questions, but they were all jumbling around in my brain at the moment.
Things like: How’d you find me? Why do you want to have lunch with me?
Aren’t you doing a tour? Yet, I said nothing.
I sat back in the comfortable leather seats and tried to adjust to the fact that I was about to have lunch with a prince.