They’d be moving on to another location for the next evening. Hopefully the sleeping arrangements would be more amenable. He’d told the guy running the program that a room with more than one bed would be acceptable to them. Apparently at least one of the locations may not have any single bed rooms left.
Most of them catered to couples, but there were a few that made it easier for non-couples to stay. Ryker would be all right with that.
The princess laid back down, clearly never having fully awakened. It didn’t take long for Ryker to fall back asleep, and the next time he awoke, it was the light streaming in from outside that did the trick.
His first conscious action was to check on the princess.
And jump to his feet when she wasn’t where she was supposed to be.
“Amalia?” Ryker had to stop himself from being more formal. It felt foreign and uncomfortable when he didn’t use her title, even though he understood the reasons why.
She walked out of the bathroom already dressed for a new day. That made Ryker frown. How had she done all of that without waking him up?
Not a good start to keeping her safe.
“What’s wrong?” She leaned against the door frame.
He gave a slight shake of his head. “Just wondering how you managed to not wake me up.”
“I know how to be quiet when I need to be.” She took a sip from a mug. Had she found a coffee maker? “You could have shared, you know.”
“Shared what?” he asked cautiously, fairly certain he knew what she meant.
She shrugged a shoulder as she took another sip. “The other side of the bed. We’re both adults. You didn’t need to sleep in the chair. I meant to tell you that last night, but I guess I fell asleep. How was the end of the movie?”
Ryker stood. He needed to get ready for the day, but also figure out a way to make sure this didn’t happen again. “I didn’t finish either. It wasn’t getting any better, though.”
As HEA TV movies went, it seemed pretty on point, but not something Ryker would voluntarily watch. The royal protocol and other things had only continued to go downhill.
Yes, every country did things a bit differently, but not to the ridiculous point they did in the movie.
He headed for the bathroom to get ready for the day.
“Do you know what the plans for today are?” she called after him.
Ryker changed into clean clothes. “I think we’re heading down the coast to a winery or something along those lines. I don’t remember exactly.”
He needed to study the itinerary more closely. Any potentially dangerous situation needed to be at the forefront of his mind. She hadn’t gone into details, but it didn’t seem like she’d be okay with any water borne excursions, and there was at least one of those in a couple of days.
After pulling a shirt over his head, he poked his head into the room to see her as he spoke. “We can look at it together over breakfast. They’re supposed to deliver a tray in a few minutes.”
Ryker quickly finished getting ready. He didn’t want the princess to answer the door if it could be avoided, but also didn’t want to be weird about it.
Walking back through the room, he tilted his head toward the telly. “Turn the movie back on if you want. Rewind it a bit to catch what you missed.”
She picked up the remote. “I thought it didn’t get any better.”
“It didn’t, but that doesn’t mean one or both of us don’t want to know exactly what happened.”
Her laugh made him smile. “Good point. How long do we have until we have to be ready to leave?”
Ryker checked his watch. “About an hour.”
Before either one of them could say anything else, a knock sounded on the door. He’d positioned himself in such a way that he could answer it without the princess questioning why he wouldn’t let her.
Steering the cart into the other side of the suite, Ryker wondered what they’d sent. Princess Amalia lifted the domed lid off the tray.
“This looks delicious.” She set the lid to the side then filled a plate before taking a seat on the bed.
