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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 at Prince Derek. 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.
Ellery couldn’t even afford to buy a bar of Lindt chocolate for a special treat.
They stopped at his car. He turned to her, and the look in his eyes was inspiring and terrifying at the same time. Whatever he wanted to ask her … he wouldn’t take her standard no for an answer. Her heart raced out of control, and she clasped her hands together.
“Everybody believes you and I are a couple.”
It was a statement, but she still felt the need to treat it like a question. “Of course the show encourages the rumors to up ratings. Don’t let them get in your head and stress you out. You’re better than that,” she teased.
His blue eyes were piercing. He took a step toward her, and he didn’t take up the tease.
Ellery backed up, unfortunately running into his car with her lower back and legs and setting off the alarm. She jumped.
Derek pushed the button to silence the car and dropped his keys back into his pocket. Then he stepped closer again, resting his palm behind her on the car’s hood. His body brushed against hers, and the summer evening had nothing on the heat inside her.
She glanced around, needing an out. His security guards looked to be nonchalantly chatting as they ambled past them. They’d be back. The rest of the area was too quiet. Where were Jason and Presley? Had he set this up with them to give him a minute to ask his question?
Looking back at him, she went weak in the knees at his blue eyes hyper-focused on her.
“I am stressed about it,” he said in that lyrical accent, deep and smooth and mouth-watering. “Stressed about us dating, actually.”
How could she say no to that smile?
He held up his free hand. “Before you say no about agreeing to date me, when regrettably you’ve never even agreed to dinner …”
His smile was charming. She should’ve escaped, but she didn’t want to.
“I want to ask you something.” He paused, and she nodded, leaning against his overpriced car for support. “Are we friends?”
“Yes,” she managed.
“Can I ask a favor of you, as a friend?”
He knew she wouldn’t agree to dating, even if he had no clue what her reasons were.
“Yes.” She sighed dramatically. “I’ll drive your Bugatti … if you insist.” She held out her hand for the keys.
He barked out a surprised laugh and quickly fished the keys out of his pocket, placing them in her hand and wrapping his hand around hers. “I insist. Where are we going on a drive?”
She shook her head. She should’ve realized he would react like that. “I was teasing.” She dropped the keys back into his palm and yanked her hand back. They were so close. She wanted to wrap her hand around the one he’d held and somehow preserve that feeling. “I don’t have a driver’s license.”
