Page 17 of Royally Knocked Up
His thumb hovered over the button to text his friend back…
There was a knock at the door.
Enzo closed his eyes briefly, knowing that he should have seen this coming. She always came knocking around this time of night. If he didn’t know better, he would have guessed that Hailey had a crush on him.
That was wishful thinking though, and he knew it. It would have been fun to have an affair with the pretty American while he was stuck here. He’d fantasized about that more than once. In fact, what he was experiencing was just standard American directness. This was probably the way all Americans acted with each other and with everybody else.
He glanced at the phone, then set it down. He might as well see what she wanted. He could always text Enzo afterward.
Hailey was leaning against the far wall and waiting for him to open the door. She was dressed today in a loose-fitting cable knit sweater that perfectly matched her eyes, and a white pleated skirt, short enough not to leave too much to the imagination. Enzo swallowed hard. “Hey,” he said, mirroring her favorite greeting.
“Hey,” she said, grinning at him. “Today was a lot, huh?”
“It wasn’t my favorite.”
“I thought those football players were never going to get out of here. Did you see that goalie? I think he was the most arrogant man I’ve ever met!”
Enzo couldn’t help grinning. “I thought I was the most arrogant man you had ever met.”
“Don’t be jealous. It’s unbecoming.” She smiled at him. “You were serving food today, right?”
“Yeah. What were you doing?”
“Garbage detail.”
He laughed. “That does make me feel a little better.”
“Oh, shut up! The goalie was particularly awful to me. I actually brought the trash can right over to his table, he looked up at me, and then he left his trashon the tableand walked away.” She shook her head. “So disrespectful.”
“Are people always that rude to people who serve them?”
“You should know. You have servants, I’m sure.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t treat my servants like that.”
“Listen, there’s a really beautiful sunset, and I snagged a bottle of champagne from the kitchen.”
His eyes widened. “You are not supposed to do that.”
“Are you going to tell Isla?”
“Don’t be ludicrous. I mean, you’re planning on sharing, right?”
“That’s what I’m doing here, yes.”
“Where were you thinking of taking this party?” Luca was forgotten. Even though the bottle of champagne she was offering was a lot less exciting than the Vista Grande club scene, Enzo found that he wanted to stay here and drink it with her more than he wanted to go out with Luca. He had never had a dull evening with Hailey even though most of those evenings just consisted of walking or sitting around and talking.
“Your view is better than mine,” she told him. “We could just drink it on your balcony.”
“My view is better than yours?”
She laughed, pushing past him to enter the room. “It’s like you still don’t realize that you have one of the best rooms in the whole resort.”
“It’s a staff room.”
“You’re too hung up on that fact. Yes, it’s one of the staff suites. It’s the nicest one on the property. Do you even know who lived here before you did?”
“I heard it had been empty for a while,” Enzo said.
