chapter 17

His ViewI hung up the phone with the hotel and grinned to myself. Everything was going according to plan. All I needed to do now was call the press. I groaned as I thought about what I was doing. When did I ever call the press to alert them where I was going to be? But desperate times called for desperate measures. I needed the paparazzi to be there, if my plan was going to work.“Max,” I spoke into the phone slowly wanting to make sure that he understood exactly what I was going to say.“Prince Xavier, I wanted to apologize once again about what happened.” He began but I cut him off.“I need you to get in contact with the press. I’m going to France. I’m staying at a small hotel in Giverny. I need you to make sure the paparazzi are there on Friday night.”“Prince Xavier?” He sounded shocked. “Are you sure?”“I’m not out of my mind, Max.” I closed my eyes and Lola’s face appeared. “At least, I don’t think I am.” I groaned.“So you want me to call the press?”“Yes.” I paused and took a deep breath. “And I need another favor.”“Yes, sir?”“I need you to get someone to barge into the room on Saturday morning. They need to pretend they are room service and they need to have a camera.”“Sir?”“Don’t question me, just do it.”“Yes, Prince Xavier. Anything else?”“That’s it for now.” I smiled as I hung up the phone. If everything went according to plan, I’d have Lola in Romerius before she knew it. Then I’d finally be able to get her out of my system. All I needed was a week. One week and I could go back to the way my life was before she came into it.“So this will be your first time on a train?” Xavier was surprisingly jovial when he picked me up on Saturday morning.“On the Eurostar, not a train, period.”“This will be my first time on the Eurostar as well.” He winked at me as we got on and took our seats.“You’ve never been on the Eurostar before?” I looked at him in surprise.“Oh, of course I’ve travelled on it before. This will be my first time ha**g s*x on it.”“Sex?” My jaw dropped and I noticed an older lady giving me a disapproving look.“Don’t advertise it to the world, Lola.” Xavier winked at me as we settled in.“Advertise what?” I hissed at him.“That this will be our first time.”“I’m not ha**g s*x on the train with you.”“Oh?” He leaned over and ran his fingers down my arm. “I thought that’s what we were talking about.”“You are so inappropriate.” I shook my head at him. “You are my professor and my boss. You should not be making such comments.”“What comments?”“Comments suggesting that we’re going to have sex on the train.”“Don’t you want to?” His fingers moved to my leg and I stilled.“No, I don’t.” I whispered.“I’ve always thought it would be an exhilarating experience to make love on a train.”“Xavier!” I exclaimed loudly as his fingers ran up and down my thigh.“Relax,” he laughed and pulled his fingers back. “We shall not break our train-ride cherries today.”“You’re disgusting.” I shook my head at him. “And wildly inappropriate.”“I’m just a man who likes to have fun.” He smiled at me. “And we’re not in the classroom now.” He winked at me and leaned back in his seat. “I think I’ll have a light nap. Wake me up if you change your mind.”***“The hotel looks ...” Xavier paused and looked around the lobby of the hotel we’d just entered, “... nice.”I cringed at his sentence. The hotel looked like a dump and I knew it. The wallpaper was peeling and the floors were dirty and old. This wasn’t the place for a prince, and I wasn’t sure that I would have stayed here either.“It’s fine, you can say it’s a dump. I can look for somewhere else if you want.” I asked hopefully.“It’s fine.” He shook his head. “We won’t die from a little shabbiness.” He walked up to the front desk. “I’m here to check into the Presidential Suite.”“The what, monsieur?” The man behind the desk frowned slightly as he spoke in a heavily accented voice.“My assistant here booked a suite?”I bit my lower lip as Xavier spoke to the front desk clerk. To be honest, I hadn’t paid much attention to what I’d been clicking when I’d made the reservation. It had been in French and I hadn’t had time to look at a translator to make sense of what the website had said.“You made a reservation, right, Lola?” Xavier questioned me and I nodded indignantly.“Yes, for two rooms.” I handed him the paper I had printed out. He then read it and handed it to the front desk clerk, who nodded. They then spoke rapidly in French, and I didn’t understand the conversation until Xavier said ‘merci.’ I knew that meant ‘thank you.’“Merci beaucoup.” I beamed at the front desk clerk as Xavier and I left the lobby. I felt proud of my accent, even though that was one of only a couple of phrases I knew in the language.“Did we get a suite then?” I frowned as I followed Xavier to the elevator.“No.”“Why do we have one key for two bedrooms?” I stared at the card in his hands.“Because we have one bedroom.”“Oh no, did I get one room with two beds instead of two bedrooms?”“No.” He stopped outside of the door and looked at me.“What do you mean no?” I frowned at him as he opened the bedroom door and my jaw dropped as I looked in the room and saw the single bed. And it wasn’t even a king. “You need to go and tell them that we need another room.” I gasped.“They’re booked for the weekend.”“They don’t have one extra room?” I looked at him and frowned.“No.”“What about another hotel?”“The whole town is booked this weekend. There is some event.”“Oh.” I bit my lower lip and looked at the bed again. “What are we going to do?”“We’ve shared a bed before, Lola. Tell me you’re not scared of me?”“Well, it’s not like you’re innocent.”“I’m the big bad wolf?” He grinned, his teeth showing and making me shiver.“You could be.”“Are you a piggy or a girl in a red hood?”“Which one would be safer with you?” I whispered.“Neither.” His eyes laughed at me and he put his bag down. “Come now, Lola. We’re here to work. I shall not touch you, if you do not wish me to.”“I don’t wish or want you to touch me.”“That’s fine then.” He bowed his head. “Shall we go and look for some food? I’m feeling quite hungry.”“Sounds good to me.” I replied as my stomach growled. “I’m really hungry.”“What would you like? Escargot? Frog legs? Caviar?”“Um, a steak would do fine.” I paused as I tried to think of my French. “Le beouf?”“Boeuf?” He smiled at me and I rolled my eyes.“You know what I mean. A big fat juicy steak.” I grabbed the door handle and opened it. “With pomme frites.”“Yes, Lola. I’ll find you a nice piece of meat to chew on.” His voice was light as he followed me and I looked at him to see if he was teasing me. I tried to ignore the excitement roaring in my stomach at the thought of sleeping in the same bed as him. It would be delicious and it would be hard to keep my hands off of him. I really hoped that he didn’t sleep na**d. Oh my God! What would I do if he slept in the nude? What if I felt him next to me? Would I be able to say no? I could still remember that it had felt like the first time we’d made love. It had been so passionate and intense. I could still remember what he felt like inside if me if I closed my eyes and concentrated hard. I let out a small sigh as I realized that I was in trouble.“What’s wrong?” Xavier’s hands caressed my back and I froze.“Nothing. Why?”“You look troubled.”“I’m fine.”“Good, good.” He grabbed my hand and escorted me through the lobby of the hotel. “Tonight we shall eat and drink, and then tomorrow we shall go to Monet’s gardens.”“Then what?”“Then we can go to Mont St. Michel.”“What’s that?”“An old abbey.” He grinned. “I think you would like it.”“Why is that?”“Because you seem to be a girl that appreciates history and things of beauty.”“Oh, thanks.” I answered slightly breathlessly, touched by his seemingly kind comments.“Now let’s eat.”“Mange.” I grinned at him and he laughed.***“Dinner was so delicious.” I grinned at him as we made our way back to the hotel.“You seemed to enjoy the wine as well.” He held onto my arm tightly.“It was superb.” I giggled, feeling slightly drunk in the night air.“You should not have drunk so much.” He frowned as he escorted me to the hotel.“Why?” I hiccupped. “I feel good.”“I just don’t think—” His words were cut off by a crowd of photographers who started screaming as soon as we made our way to the entrance of the hotel. I looked up in a daze as lights started flashing in my face.“Crown Prince Van Romerius, who is your companion?”“Xavier, are you now engaged?”“Prince, does your mother know you are dating a commoner?”“Xavier, what are your intentions with this lady?”The men kept shouting and flashing bright lights at us and I clung into Xavier’s arm as tightly as I could.“What’s going on?” I whispered into his ear.He looked back at me and frowned as I stumbled alongside him. Before I knew what was happening he’d grabbed me up into his arms and hurried into the hotel, muttering something under his breath.“What’s going on?” I giggled as he carried me into the bedroom and placed me down on the ground.“Did you not see the photographers, Lola?” He stood there staring at me with narrowed eyes.“I see you in front of me.” I reached out to grab his shirt. “But I only see you.” I touched his chest and ran my fingers all the way to his waist. “I see a very hot you, but no photographers.”“Lola, I think it’s time for you to go to bed.”“You want to take me to bed?” I wiggled an eyebrow at him and then sighed as he took a step away from me.“Don’t try and seduce me,” I giggled as I attempted to pull my shirt off.“Dios mio, Lola.” Xavier sighed as he sat on the bed and stared at me. “You’re really drunk.”“That’s not French,” I stumbled as I pointed at him.“Do you need help?” His face was serious as he walked over to me.“Help with what?”“Undressing.”“You just want me to take my clothes off.”“I don’t seduce drunk women.” He frowned and grabbed my hands. “Come, let me help you.”“I don’t need your help.” I pouted childishly and pushed him away. “Who were all those people taking my photo?”“Your photo?” He cocked his head and smiled.“Yes, there was like a hundred different men calling at me.” My hands flew to my forehead. “All those lights.”“They were paparazzi,” Xavier frowned. “I have no idea how they know we are here.”“I have no idea why the paparazzi are interested in me.” I shook my head and sat on the bed. “I’m not famous or anything.”“They were there for me, Lola.” Xavier made a face and I frowned.“Oh?”“I’m a prince, remember? I’m one of the most eligible bachelor princes in Europe.”“Oh, yeah.” I made a face. “I almost forgot.” I lay back on the bed. “I just remembered that you were an inappropriate professor. I forgot you were an inappropriate prince as well.” I started laughing then. “I can’t believe you’re a prince.” I looked up at him and laughed.“Why’s that?” He had a half smile on his face.“You’re such as ass.” I laughed. “You have no people skills.”“And you have so many, don’t you Lola?” He gave me a pointed look.“Yes, I do.” I rolled over on my side and closed my eyes. “I’m a people person.”“Hold on, sleepy. Let’s get you in your PJs.”“You just want to touch me.” I mumbled sleepily as he pulled my top off.“If that makes you feel better.” He reached for my pants and unzipped them.“You just want to make love to me.” I mumbled as he pulled my pants down.“Then you’re lucky you’re drunk.” His voice was serious.