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“Very gallant of you,” he teased, a twinkle in his eyes.
“I’ve learned from the best, being constantly surrounded by royalty.”
He chuckled. “Don’t let the prince title fool you. I’m just a regular Joe.”
“Not with that accent, you’re not.”
“I hate to reveal this to you, but everyone in my country shares this appealing accent. My voice is actually considered ugly back home.”
She couldn’t help but chuckle. His deep voice and luscious accent were always so appealing. Her pulse sped up from him walking up to her at the gym and saying something as simple as, ‘Are you finished with the cable machine?’ Add that special way he looked at her with those gorgeous blue eyes of his and she was in danger of falling for him and saying yes to one of the many invites he issued every day.
The other females at the gym thought she was playing hard to get. If they only knew she was impossible to ‘get.’ She didn’t trust men or relationships, and even if she did, taking care of her mom, staying afloat financially, and winning the million-dollar prize money was her life’s focus.
Maybe after she won… which was a pipe dream anyway…
No. She couldn’t think like that. Taking it one day at a time was more than enough. Dreams of dating the Ninja Prince would sidetrack her and rob her of her focus and her sanity.
Ellery pivoted and walked toward the front entry. Derek stayed by her side, waving goodbye to fans and friends alike. He was so friendly. Did anyone else know he had two Augustine security guards who were his constant shadows, as per his brother General Raymond August’s instructions?
Derek had shared a lot of his princely life with her, even the loss of his ‘mum.’ She’d shared very little besides her mom had MS. He didn’t know her dad had left shortly after her mom’s diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Ellery had been eight. He had a new family now, somewhere in Ohio. She usually received a phone call that she tolerated after she won a televised event. Only when she won, though. She wasn’t good enough for a call if she failed. Apparently her half-sister Chelsea was a fan. She’d never met the twelve-year-old girl, or been invited to visit her dad and his family. When she was younger and had naively asked if she could come see him, he’d gotten uncomfortable and said it would be too hard on his wife. Maybe he’d learned something over the years, as leaving his first wife as a single mom with no skills or income and a debilitating chronic illness hadn’t seemed too hard on him.
Nobody, especially not Derek, knew the pressure she felt to provide, the wish to be loved even when she failed, or the stress that knotted her gut.
Grabbing two water bottles from the fridge behind the receptionist's desk, Derek handed her one.
“Thank you.” She took a long swallow.
“Anything for you, milady,” he said, his blue eyes piercing and saying he meant it—he’d do anything for her.
Would he kiss her? Her entire body heated at the thought. Good heavens. She didn’t accept ‘anything’ offers from any man. Even if he was a prince. She knew if she asked, he’d help her financially. It was just the type of guy he was. Wealthy didn’t begin to describe the prince’s financial portfolio. Not only was his family insanely wealthy, but he had endorsements and sponsors and she’d heard YouTube alone had paid him half a million last year. No wonder he donated his championship winnings to charity.
No way, no how was she asking any man for financial help. She had ‘daddy issues’ nobody could understand. She and Pastor Miles tried to work through them on occasion. To date, it hadn’t been very effective. More faith would certainly help.
All she knew was she wasn’t trusting her future to any man, no matter the connection she felt to him or how perfect Prince Derek seemed to her. She’d tortured herself with home videos and pictures from her parents’ ten years of marriage. Her dad had appeared to be a perfect gentleman and committed husband. Until he’d left because her mom’s body had failed her.
“Bye, Prince Derek.” Alecia rushed back to her station at the front desk with a stack of clean hand towels in hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She blinked prettily at him, hope and desire oozing from her tone.
“Good evening.” Derek inclined his head to Alecia and then held the door for Ellery. They walked out into a warm summer evening. She’d be sweating even more running in the heat and humidity than she had been from Derek’s words and look.
Sipping the water bottle, she knew she shouldn’t wait for Jason to find Presley and walk out, or they’d all try to convince her to go to dinner with them. Women literally flung themselves atPrinceDerek. She had no clue why he kept asking her to go out. He turned down constant offers from beautiful women, many who frequented the high-dollar gym just to see him. Jason was always telling Derek that he was great for business.
“How’s your mom feeling?” Derek asked.
Always so considerate.
“Yesterday was a good day. We’ll see when I get home.” Her mom didn’t want to ‘hamper’ Ellery, so she didn’t let her check in during the day. She always tried to push Ellery to live her life, date, go have fun, but Ellery refused. Her mom had taken care of her, with MS, working as a dental assistant during the day and cleaning offices together at night until her mom had to quit her day job. Ellery had been mostly doing the commercial cleaning by herself by the time she graduated high school. She would never leave her mom or let her down like her dad had.
“I hope it’s a good day.”
“Thank you.”
She glanced askance at him. He rubbed at his jaw—his tell that he was nervous. Her stomach pitched, and she felt suddenly nervous as well. What was he nervous about? The perfect prince and reigning champ had nothing to be nervous about. He was on top of the world, and Ellery was at the bottom of the garbage heap.
His security guards were down the street a bit, blending in with some foot traffic waiting for hot peanuts.
“Can you walk with me to my car?” he asked.
“Sure.” She should’ve said no. She should’ve taken off. Instead, she fell into step with him around the corner to where he had parked his shiny, navy blue Bugatti Divo. It was an exquisite, low-slung sports car. She’d Googled it once. Five point four million dollars. In a vehicle. She couldn’t believe he parked it on the streets of Boston, but Beacon Hill was the wealthiest area around. What did he care if his car got damaged? He’d just buy another one.
