Page 12 of Royally Knocked Up
She had changed out of her business attire and was wearing jeans and a V-neck sweater, and for a moment, Enzo could only stare at her. He hadn’t realized before how attractive she was.Her hair had been pinned up in a severe style, she had been dressed in clothes that didn’t do much for her figure, and she’d been frowning every time she looked at him.
She wasn’t frowning now.
“Hey,” she said, leaning against the doorframe.
Hey. It was such an American thing to say. “Evening.”
“I think you and I got off to a bad start earlier,” she said.
“You were rude.” He wondered whether she would argue. She didn’t.
“A bit,” she agreed. “Although, so were you.”
“Maybe so.” Enzo wasn’t in the mood to dispute the point, or to try to explain to her that the standards for politeness were different for members of the royal family. He didn’t owe her the same sort of respect as she did to him.
Still, he had to admit that she was the most interesting person he had met since he’d arrived here. “I’m willing to start over if you are,” he said.
“I thought it might be good for us if the two of us stuck together while we’re here,” Hailey said. “You know, since we’re the two newcomers to the team.”
“I’m not really a newcomer,” Enzo said.
“I know,” Hailey said. “Your father owns this resort, right?”
He nodded. “I’ve been here dozens of times. It’s a bit of a home away from home for me.”
“Then maybe you can be my guide,” Hailey said. “I’ve never been here before. And maybe I can help you feel a little more comfortable with the people on the team, since you’re going to be one of us.”
Enzo frowned, not liking the sound of that. “I’m perfectly comfortable.”
“Sure you are. I just noticed today that you didn’t seem to be hitting it off with anybody. You’ll have a better time if you make friends with the rest of the team — don’t you think?”
“I didn’t come here to have a good time.”
Hailey raised her eyebrows. “I thought having a good time was your whole thing,” she said. “I thought you loved having a good time.”
“Was this what you meant when you said we should get a fresh start?”
She grinned. “Touché. You’re right. I’m doing it again, aren’t I?”
“It frankly astonishes me that you think you’re the person to help me hit it off with the team when you’re this… abrasive.”
“You bring it out in me. I’m getting along swimmingly with everyone else. But I’d like it if that was true for you and me too, that’s all. Don’t you want to have people you get along with while you’re here, Your Highness?”
He sighed. “You can call me Enzo.”
She grinned. “That’s a start!”
She wasn’t really abrasive at all, he thought, and that was as frustrating as anything else. He would certainly have liked to write her off as someone difficult to get along with, but thatwasn’t who she was. In spite of the fact that she spoke up to him in ways almost nobody else ever had, there was something about her that entranced him.
His phone buzzed.
He glanced at it. It was Luca.Where are you now? I’ll come pick you up.
It was exactly the message he’d hoped to receive — but suddenly, inexplicably, Enzo found that he no longer wanted it. He no longer wanted Luca to come and collect him, to take him out of here. Or at least, he didn’t want that to happen tonight.
He wanted to finish out the evening with Hailey. She had come to his room, and he wanted to see what she had in mind for the two of them.
“Do you need to take that?” she asked, gesturing to his phone.
