Page 43 of Incognito

Again.

“Easy?” Dante’s brow puckered in confusion, as if he hadn’t understood her question. “You mean you think me leaving is easy?”

“Of course. What else could I mean?”

Easy for you to walk away without a backward glance?

Easy for you to flirt a little to get your own way?

Easy for you to make someone like me fall for someone like you?

At least her sarcastic response elicited a reaction out of him; if she could call the slight compressing of his lips a reaction.

Those same lips she’d experienced crushing hers in an all-too-brief, fake encounter she couldn’t forget. And as stupid as she felt falling for him, a small part of her couldn’t help but wonder what it would’ve been like to have those lips caress her with serious passion and intent.

“I thank you for your assistance this week. It has been invaluable, but it is time for me to move on.”

If he executed a snappy royal bow to accompany his polite head nod and stilted speech, she wouldn’t have been surprised.

As for ‘it’ and not ‘you’ being invaluable, she could quite easily tip a sachet of arsenic in place of sugar into his coffee for that little gem.

Feigning nonchalance while her heart broke, she shrugged. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at the turnaround.”

“I beg your pardon?”

She should hold her tongue and let him walk away. But since when did she let a guy get away with anything?

She’d called Clay’s bluff, and though she had to eat humble pie with her ex for the sake of her family, Dante couldn’t do a thing to hurt her that he hadn’t done all ready.

She leaned forward and glared, trying to not to lose control of her fragile temper.

“I’m not surprised by this abrupt change in your plans. You were the laid-back, rebel prince one minute, schmoozing a pleb to get what you wanted, using money or power or whatever you have to get the job done. And now you’ve achieved your initial goal, you’re reverting to type. Nice.”

She should stop her character evaluation—assassination, more like it. His frigid stare would make the sassiest big mouth shut up, but unfortunately, she didn’t want to stop.

She needed to have her say. She needed closure, and knew without a doubt that by the time she’d finished telling his precious highness what she really thought of him, the Dante and Natasha interlude would be well and truly over.

His eyebrows arched. “Are you quite finished?”

“Actually, no. Bear with me for a moment while I tell you a story and then you can walk away.”

She didn’t expect him to stay. She expected him to push back his chair and stroll out of the café—and out of her life—without a care.

Instead, he folded his arms, his glacial expression not warming. “I’m listening.”

“I’ve met many people in my line of work over the years. Rockstars, film stars, VIPs, families, businessman, people from every walk of life. Working as a concierge this last week, I’ve had many interesting requests, including a guy requesting a hundred red roses to be delivered for his wedding anniversary, a media mogul requesting I buy a Porsche for his girlfriend and insisting it had a fuchsia ribbon tied in a bow around it, and a guy who asked me to organise a gondola ride down the Yarra for his girlfriend and a chalk artist to write ‘will you marry me?’ surrounded by love hearts for when they docked near Flinders Street Station.”

She’d been a tad envious at that one. Why couldn’t she find a guy who’d go all out to make her feel special?

Thankfully, Dante hadn’t bolted after her long spiel and she continued before he did.

“Those were all unique requests, things I managed to deliver without batting an eyelid, and then in walks a rebel prince. He’s nothing what I expected. In fact, this rebel prince is the antithesis of every preconceived royal idea I had in my head. Of course, he had an unusual request, to preserve his anonymity fora week. Being the good little concierge, I agreed, but you know the part I don’t understand?”

She’d sparked his interest, glimpsing a flicker of fire in those incredible eyes.

“What part don’t you understand?”

“The part where the prince masquerading as a pauper went a step further and established a friendship with me. He was fun to be with and he made me feel like I was an integral piece of his life even for a brief moment.”

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