Chapter 11
“Your Highness? I’m so sorry to wake you…Oh.”
“What is it, Aristide?” I muttered as I rolled over in bed, but my momentum was stopped short as I rolled into another body. Hannah. She murmured and snuggled up against me.
“I’m so sorry, Your Highness. I had no idea you weren’t alone. When you’re, ah,” Aristide paused to clear his throat, “finished,your brother would like to speak toyou. The Sovereign Prince said it was most urgent that you phone him back.”
In the distance a door closed, but all I could focus on was Hannah’s rigid body next to me.
“Your Highness?” She sat up and shoved her hair off her face with one hand. “Your brother, the Sovereign Prince? Is this a joke?”
It was at that point I realized Aristide had spoken in English. Not French. I didn’t even havetime to figure out why he’d do something like that before Hannah sprang from the bed and began pawing through the clothes on the floor.
“You’re a prince? Oh, my god. Oh, my god.”
“Wait, Hannah. Let me explain.”
“What’s there to explain?” Hannah stood up, gloriously and unselfconsciously naked, displaying every inch of skin that I’d spent all night licking and kissing. “You’re a prince who liedto me for three days to get me into bed. You’ve had your fun; we’re clearly over, so I’m gonna go home and pretend like this weekend never happened.”
“You’re going to go home and try to forget me? What the hell does that even mean?”
“I don’t know, okay? I don’t know what to do. The guy I was starting to fall for turns out to be a goddamn prince, so forgive me if I don’t know how to react.” Hannahsat on the edge of the bed and buried her face in her hands. “You lied to me.”
“I know,mon chou. I’m sorry. You don’t know how sorry I am.” I reached out a hesitant hand and rubbed it down her back.
“Why? Why would you do that, Luc?” She made a sound that was halfway between a sob and a laugh. “Is Luc even your name?”
“Yes. My full name is Prince Lucien Arthur Beauregard Mathieu Greiner. Butthose close to me call me Luc.”
Hannah looked up at me, and the anguish in her eyes made my heart stutter. “Was anything that happened between us real? Did you mean anything you said?”
“I meant all of it. Everything I said. Everything I did. I just…I know this is hard to understand, but my life is so fucked-up right now. I wanted to find someone who appreciated me for me. Someone who didn’twant or expect anything from me other than what I was willing to give. And it’s not like you told me everything about yourself.”
“Wh—that’s not even remotely the same thing. This is literally the definition of who you are. You lied about your identity, your job, your ‘coworkers.’ You lied abouteverything.”
“Yes, and I’m sorry for that. But honestly, I didn’t expect this between us to go thisfar. For it to become something more.”
Hannah scoffed. “Don’t even. You had every expectation of sleeping with me.”
“I did, but you knew I was from Monaco. Did you honestly expect this to last beyond the week I’m here?”
“I, uh—well, no. I mean I hoped we could…I don’t know.”
“This was only ever supposed to be a weekend fling. Have some fun with a woman who knew the score, someone who enjoyedlife and lived it to the fullest. That was why you attracted my attention that night at the bar. You were vivacious and gorgeous and didn’t have a care in the world. You were living the life I wish I could have. It was magnetic.”
Hannah gave a harsh laugh and grabbed the sheet, pulling it around her body. She grabbed her clothes with one hand while holding the sheet up with her other. “You poorlittle prince, life is just so hard when you have the world at your feet.”
“I LOST MY BROTHER!” The room reverberated with my shout. “I lost mytwin! The other half of my soul. Don’t tell me you know what that’s like. He died and my life turned upside down. I had to step into his shoes and be the person I never expected to be. The spare. The one waiting in the wings in case my other brother dies.So forgive me if I didn’t want to share that with the woman I’d just met.” I pushed off the bed and stood at the opposite side, facing Hannah. Bending down to grab my pants, I murmured, “Not that it’s something you would ever understand.”
“Because I’m not royal? Because I’m just a dim-witted commoner with no care in the world?”
“I didn’t say that.” This conversation was spinning out of control,and I didn’t know how to get it back. “Hannah, please. I just—”
“I’m not the carefree girl you think I am. I’m just as much of a mess as you, if not more so. I don’t have a job. My family is an overprotective nightmare. I might—” She broke off and shook her head. “Everything in my life is not all sweetness and light, so clearly we’re not who the other one thought we were. We were both lying.”
“Hannah, Christ, I’m so sorry. Wha—”
“No. We’re not doing this. You were right. This was a fling, and the fling is over. Go back to your palace and your princely worries about shit people like me would never understand. Thanks for the lovely evening and the shitty morning.” Hannah swept off majestically toward the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind her.
