Playing Dirty(83)

I giggled. “Yeah, I suppose.”

“Anyway, there’s a chance that he might be your boss soon, right?” Sarah said. “Awkward…”

“He’d be my boss’s son,” I said. “But how much time do you think he spends amongst the servants?”

Sarah nodded. “Probably not much. So you’re really still going to England?”

“Yep. I haven’t heard back from the Palace regarding the second round of applications yet, but that’ll take a couple more weeks, and it will give me time to do some sightseeing in London. And if I don’t get that particular job, there’s always others. Why?”

“I was hoping you’d change your mind. I’m gonna miss you.”

I smiled; the feeling was mutual. “You won’t even notice I’m gone. You’ve always got other stuff to do.”

As if to prove the point, a strikingly handsome man clad in only a pair of shorts wandered into the lounge, nodding a good morning to us before entering the bathroom and closing the door.

“Does he have a name?” I asked with a grin.

Sarah shrugged. “No idea. So when do you leave for England?”

“First thing in the morning on Monday.”

“We’ll have lunch at Clancy’s before then. One more time to say goodbye.”

“I’d like that,” I said, still smiling.

Sarah stood up. “Okay. I’m gonna take a shower.”

“But your guy’s still in the bathroom.”

She looked at me with an expression of puzzlement. “In many ways, you and I are very different people.”

She winked and continued on to the bathroom, and I grinned and retreated to my bedroom to start the packing process. I was going to be in the UK for a long time, so I needed to take as much stuff as I could cram into my suitcases, and as I surveyed the contents of my top bedside table drawer a moment later, my eyes lingered on an unopened box of condoms that Sarah had bought for me a few months ago in a previous hint at me needing to ‘get good and laid’.

I pushed them to the back of the drawer, not even considering taking them with me for a second. If the opportunity arose, then condoms were readily available in England, and I doubted the opportunity would arise anyway. I was going there to work and check out all the amazing art, not to pick up men, and besides, after last night’s failed hookup attempt, I was quite sure I wouldn’t be deciding to pick up any other random men in bars for a long time. My love life could damn well wait till after my gap year was up.

I sighed as Drew’s face inadvertently popped into my head again, and I wondered if I’d see much of him at Richmond Palace if I ended up getting the maid job there. Hopefully not. The palace had over seven hundred rooms and four hundred staff members, so the chances of me running into him were slim. On top of that, members of the royal family were always going off on overseas trips, or spending their time at other royal residences, so I’d probably never even encounter Drew at all.

At least that’s what I was praying for…





Chapter 2

Andrew



“Another drink, your Highness?”

“Yes, thank you,” I said, smiling up at the pretty stewardess. She blushed and returned my smile as she topped up my glass.

During a schooling that had taken me to the best educational establishments that Europe had to offer, politeness had seldom, if ever, been emphasized. And politeness to the ‘help’ had been somewhat frowned upon—given your station in life, people would always be doing stuff for you, and if you say thank you to all of them then you’ll be saying it all the time. I’d always been grateful, therefore, that my mother—better known to the world as Queen Constance—had been scrupulous in teaching me manners. The Queen always said her ‘pleases’ and ‘thank yous’ and ensured that her children did the same.

The stewardess kept smiling as she finished topping up my glass. She really was extraordinarily pretty, with vivacious blue eyes, a delightful smile, and an ass that had made the long flight a much more pleasant experience for me as I watched it wiggle up and down the plane. I was a member of the mile-high club with frequent flyer miles, and in the ordinary scheme of things I would have been working my magic on the gorgeous stewardess (Kathy—I’d taken the time to ask her name). I was relatively sure she’d been flirting with me, as women tended to do, and it was a private plane, so by the end of the flight we would’ve both been thoroughly satisfied.

But I hadn’t even tried, which was damn well surprising. What was more surprising was that I hadn’t even wanted to. That was almost inexplicable—I always wanted to; a fact to which previous stewardesses could attest. Was it something about Kathy? I watched her slink away again. No, definitely not something about Kathy. I found her attractive, sexy and powerfully desirable, but I just didn’t desire her right now.