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He got up to pay the bill at the counter. The waitress dashed into the kitchen to get a slice of cake. She came out still closing the box. She put two plastic forks into the bag and gave it to him with a smile. I saw him give her a $20 AUD bill.
"I hope you have a good day," she told both of us.
"We will," Massimo said. "Come on." He gave me the bag of cake.
I followed him to the car. I looked at the cake in the bag at my feet.
"I'd like for you to take me home," I said. I could already imagine him feeding me cake while both of us were naked. I was supposed to be mad at him, helicopter ride notwithstanding, but spending any time with him made me melt like ice cream on a hot Cairns day.
"I'd like to talk."
I stared at my hands. "What do you want to talk about?"
He put a hand on my chin and made me meet his eyes. "I'm here because I want to be with you."
"You're here on a business trip, due to the investments that your country's huge fun is making in Australia."
He sighed. "That's true."
"Don't pretend that this is about me, because it isn't." I swallowed the lump in my throat, but it didn't go anywhere. "I'm just convenient."
"If I hadn't come to Cairns, I never would have met you. And that would have been a shame."
"You're a prince," I said. "And I don't have a drop of royal blood."
"It doesn't matter to me. I've grown up my whole life surrounded by people with royal and noble blood."
"You're di
gging yourself deeper." My hands were twisting in my lap. I had the urge to run out of the car, but we were in motion. I'd probably get hurt if I tried to get out of the car now. I just had to endure a few more minutes of conversation. "I want to go home."
"We need to talk."
"What if I don't want to?"
"Cara," Massimo said. It was a reprimand and a plea. "Just give me a chance to talk through this."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Just let me talk."
"Okay." I knew that I wasn't going to get out of the car for a while.
He took in a big breath and parked on the side of the road on Martyn Street.
"I wanted to tell you," he began.
"But somehow you didn't find the time to do it? During the hours we spent together, never once did you have a chance to tell me that you were a prince?"
"I wanted to enjoy what we had. The two of us...we had something special."
"I thought we did, too. But I didn't fall in love with Prince Pietro."
"Massimo is my name," he interjected. "Prince is a title, nothing more. My mother has always called me Massimo."
I shook my head. "I'm not ready for this. I'm not sure if I'll ever be ready for this."
"Give us a chance," he said.
