AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He’s still here. It’s almost midnight and he hasn’t left yet which is making it super hard for me to concentrate on my work. I do my best not to look over at him but that doesn’t mean I’m not completely aware of him the entire evening. Seriously, he’s the hottest guy I’ve ever seen.
I went over a couple of times to ask if he and his bodyguards want anything. They took me up on some paninis around eight o’clock, and some pie at ten. I keep expecting him to leave but he just sits there, studying and smiling at me every so often.
The place is dead now so I grab a bucket and cloth and start wiping down all the tables, starting at the far end of the café from Henry. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so self-conscious in my life in front of anyone. I can’t stand him seeing me doing this type of work—something I know he’s never done before himself. When I make my way to his table, he packs up his books and moves them onto the bench beside him.
Ringing out the rag, I wipe his table, feeling very silly.
“You’re a very hard worker. Rachel should really treat you better.”
“That’s not how it is when you’re one of the little people. You take what you get and you don’t get upset.” I lean over him while I wipe, catching a whiff of his expensive cologne. “I bet that’s a foreign concept for you. To have to accept anything less than what you want.”
“You’d be surprised actually. I was born being expected to accept my position in life without question.”
“What are you, a prince or something?” I say with a light chuckle.
“Yes.”
I stop moving and stare at him for a second, trying to determine if he’s just joking around.
“Have you heard of Tanovia?”
“No.”
“Few people outside the U.K. have,” he says. “I’m their next king.” He doesn’t say it like he’s boasting about it, or even happy for that matter. Suddenly Gabriel’s words come back to me. The weight of the world.
I plop myself into the other side of the booth out of shock. “So what are you doing here?”
“Escaping my family for a year.”
“Before you go back and be a king.”
“Well, that won’t happen for a long time hopefully. My father is quite healthy. But as Crown Prince, I have many obligations and a long period of…internship in the family business.”
“I see. You don’t look very excited about that.”
He gives me a small smile. “I suppose I’m neither excited nor upset by it. We’re all born into our place in this world. My place just happens to be a palace that requires its owner to devote his entire life as master.”
I suddenly find myself feeling a little sorry for him. It sounds kind of sad when he puts it that way, but how can I have pity on one of the rich people? And yet, I do. Glancing at the clock, I realize it’s closing time. “I should close up. It was nice to meet you Prince Henry.”
“Oh, just Henry, please,” he says, looking slightly embarrassed.
“Okay, Just Henry, I should close the café.”
Standing, I take my bucket and rag, then walk back behind the counter to cash out. After a moment, I feel him standing in front of me again.
“How will you get home?”
“I’ll walk.”
“At this hour? Alone?”
“Yes,” I say, taking the twenties out of the tray and starting to count them.
“That will never do. It’s not safe for a woman to walk alone at night.”
I lose track and stop counting. “And yet, I manage it every night.”
“Not any more. What nights do you work?”
