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“You look very nice, sir,” Ollie said.
Ray’s guards were professional, impressive, and aloof. Ollie and Braxton had been with him for almost six months now and had started to relax. A fraction.
“Thank you, Ollie. You always look smashing.”
Ollie chuckled. He and Braxton spent hours each day at the gym while they kept an eye on Derek. It was less obvious they were watching him if they came across as muscle heads. He practically lived at the Warrior Gym because that was where Ellery was. When it came to training, the guards were focused exclusively on strength training, not devoting a good portion of their day to warrior training and conquering obstacles like Derek. Derek was well-built but lean. Ollie and Braxton had both gained muscle mass and were huge and shredded. They filled out their black suits like nobody’s business. They definitely looked the part of bodyguards. Luckily, they hadn’t had to do much to keep him safe beyond stepping forward and giving somebody an intimidating look.
Derek and Ollie climbed the stairs together. It was nine-forty. He wanted Ellery’s mum to have plenty of time to get down the stairs and into the car. The church must be close by, or how would they normally get there? Walk? The city bus? He didn’t like the thought of Ellery exposed to the dangers of a large city with no protection. He couldn’t believe she didn’t have a driver’s license.
“You’re going to get all the ladies when we go back to Augustine,” he told Ollie.
“I’m looking forward to that, sir.”
He’d told them both they could date here in America. Since he spent almost every night at the penthouse, they were free to arm the security system and go out. Neither of them did. He couldn’t claim it was odd when he was sitting at home too.
They reached Ellery’s floor and strode toward her apartment. Seeing no doorbell, Derek rapped on the door with his knuckles. Nerves pinged around in his stomach and made his neck tight. He was all in with this lady, and she was touching her big toe to the surface of the dating-a-prince water just to yank it back out. He feared soon she wouldn’t even put her pinky toe in.
He rubbed his jaw again. He couldn’t think of anything else that he lacked confidence in. Sports, school, dating, friends—it had all come pretty naturally to him.
Not her. She was a battle and a confidence sucker. His mum would say he must need humbling. He’d taken plenty of that with Ellery. Whenever he got discouraged, he remembered her cheering for that snarky Jaylene and then that moment of their gazes meeting while he was on the Invisible Ladder and her gifting him with the strength to complete the unfinishable-obstacle.
The door opened and the most beautiful woman in the world slipped out, along with the smell of fresh-baking bread and something irresistibly sweet. Was it her perfume, a dessert baking, or just her? He’d never seen her in anything but workout clothes. She looked fabulous in them, but in a long, pale blue dress that clung prettily to her curves and her dark hair softly framing her face, he was short of breath and in danger of leaning against Ollie.
Ellery shut the door behind her and leaned against it, looking up at him. She moistened her lips, blinked her huge green eyes, and looked him over again.
Ollie edged away from the two of them.
“You are gorgeous,” she whispered.
He laughed. He couldn’t help it. The woman he was gone over had just called him ‘gorgeous.’ Not a term a man usually heard about himself, but he’d happily take any compliment she bestowed.
“You stole my line.” He placed a hand on the door frame and leaned in. “You’re breathtakingly gorgeous.”
She smiled and looked him over slowly, tantalizingly taking him all in. “You’re stunningly gorgeous.”
He returned the favor, letting his eyes trail down her perfect body, up the curve of her appetizing-looking neck, and settling on the face he wanted to see morning, noon, and night for the rest of his life. “Astoundingly gorgeous.”
She giggled. Ellery Monson, giggling. He’d never heard anything so appealing. Maybe he was finally having a breakthrough.
“What smells so delicious?” he asked, leaning down and inhaling her neck, letting his lips brush over the soft skin and his body warm with longing.
She let out a telling groan, and he had a moment of hope that she’d wrap her arms around his neck and make all his dreams begin today.
Long, delicious moments of anticipation passed. Derek looked up at her and slowly moved to align their mouths together.
Straightening away from him and pressing against the door, she cast a glance at Ollie, who’d moved discreetly down the hall. Good man, trying to give them privacy, but him even being there seemed to make Ellery stiffen even more.
“My mom’s not feeling good enough to go to church. She and my Aunt Elise will get everything ready for brunch. Aunt Elise’s famous cinnamon rolls are in the oven. That’s what smells so delicious.”
“I’m pretty sureyouare what smells so delicious.”
She smiled, but it was more reserved. Had Ollie thrust her back to reality? Was the reminder of her mom not feeling well making her sad? Had Derek pushed too far or too fast?
His dad preferred ‘horsepower’ to ‘horse flesh,’ but his grandpa had been a lover of fine Arabian horses and they used to have stables behind the castle. Derek remembered being eight years old when his grandpa taught him how to gain a scared filly’s trust. It involved a lot of patience, kindness, and moving very, very slow.
Ellery was much more complicated and incredible than any colt, but he was afraid that old lesson learned was applicable here. Maybe his grandpa was warning him from heaven to be patient. He’d think befriending a woman and constantly being around her for over four months would break down some barriers. Not with Ellery. She was worth the wait and the patience and everything he could do to gain her trust, even if it took forty more months.
He straightened and bravely offered his hand. She looked at it, then up at him. Her green eyes were wary, but they were also filled with longing. She wanted to hold his hand.
