Maid For You 2

Chapter 32

"I said a lot of things," I said with a chuckle. "A lot of insults, to be exact. Truly legendary customer service."

He grinned, then stood up, now above me as I sat on the side of the bed. "I still have to show you the balcony, Miss Carmichael. That way you can see how the door and the latches work."

I stood up and walked over to the curtained glass doors with him. "You know, working for you, I do know how the balcony doors work," I said. But I didn't protest as he led me to them.

"I know, but it's still my Princely duty to show you," he responded as he unlatched the doors and swung them wide open. I walked out onto the balcony into the cool night air and took in the view. Though obscured by darkness, I could see the dark outlines of the west gardens illuminated by the smatter of stars in the sky and the crescent shaped moon. I leaned forward onto the stone railing with my forearms and felt a chilly breeze lick my face and brush my bangs to the side. A cold chill ran through my body and I let out a shiver.

"It's a nice view," I said, ignoring the cold.

"Well, only the best for the Queen Maiden," Prince Coleman said from behind me. Suddenly I felt a warm fabric plop onto my back, and as I reached up to grab the jacket now draped over my shoulders, Prince Coleman came into view on my left—noticeably missing his black military coat. I looked at him inquisitively as I reached my arms into the fleece coat sleeves and wrapped the large coat around myself—it was still warm from Coleman's body heat, and now his heat and his scent were wrapped around me.

"You looked cold," he answered simply in his white undershirt.

"What about you?" I asked.

"Please," he scoffed. "My muscles will keep me warm," he said as he flexed his arm.

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "I don't think that's how it works," I said.

He shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. But I am a very warm person." He pushed up his sleeve and held out his bicep for me. "Go ahead, you'll see."

Tentatively, I placed my hands on his arm, and to my surprise he was quite warm. I quickly drew my hands away, as I felt my own cheeks warming.

'If I acted like a gentleman towards you, you'd fall in love with me,' he had said.

I turned back to the balcony view and continued leaning on the railing. "You're right," was all I said, suddenly focusing intensely on a particular shrubbery off in the distance while I played with the cuff on his coat's long sleeve.

"So..." He said.

Despite my intense shrubbery watching, I sensed Prince Coleman leaning on the balcony just the same as I was doing out of the corner of my eye.

"You're a writer?" He asked.

It felt strange to refuse to look at him, so I peeled my eyes away from the plant and turned my head to the left to see him. He looked good, unsurprisingly, as he leaned on his forearms and looked at me with a gentle face. I decided to focus on his shaggy hair.

Despite being neatly styled, it's still shaggy. I thought. Does he think he's an anime character?

Prince Coleman rose an eyebrow. "Why do you look so intense?" he asked.

"Oh, sorry," I said. "What was the question again?"

He chuckled. "I just was saying that I didn't know that you are a writer."

"Oh, yeah." I rubbed the back of my neck. "I guess I am, sort of."

"What got you into that?" Prince Coleman asked.

I looked up at the sky thoughtfully. "I've always liked stories, I guess." I looked back out on the darkened gardens. "Books, shows, movies. All of it. It's like you get to be in a new world and you get to be a new person for a little bit. You get to live an adventure—be someone important. And so, I thought, why not go into creative writing?"

"I see," he said. "Have you written much lately?"

"Lately?" I fingered the gold embroidery on the cuff of the coat. "No. Ever since moving here, I guess I've been busy. I haven't really made it a priority, I admit."

"Hmm."

"What about you?" I asked, turning my head to look at him.

"Me?" He raised an eyebrow.

"What do you like to do—other than working to be the next king?" I asked. "You know, despite being your maid, I don't really know all that much about you. Not really."

His eyes seemed to pierce my soul as he looked at me. "Funny. We spend so much time together and yet know so little about each other."

"I guess we spend most of our time trading quips and insults, not facts and feelings."

"Duarte calls it flirting," he noted. "Funny kid."

"Yeah. What does a twelve-year-old know about it?" I said.

"Thirteen."

"What?"

"He's thirteen," Prince Coleman said.

"Oh, whatever. Twelve, thirteen—it's all the same to me," I shrugged. "Still too young to know anything."

"In his defense, Duarte is a sharp kid," Prince Coleman started. "Of—of course, that doesn't mean he's right about everything. Like the flirting thing, for example."

"Oh right. Of course," I repeated. "I don't flirt with you—you," I looked at his gorgeous self carefully, trying to find something to say. "You mangy hair you.

He guffawed. "Mangy hair?"

"You look like a sheep dog," I said lightly, though that wasn't true. I wrapped his coat more tightly around myself.

"A sheep dog?" His eyebrows were furrowed together.

I grimaced. Wow. Here he was being all nice, and I had to be rude for no reason. "I'm sorry," I said. "That was rude of me."

"It was," he conceded, though he didn't sound too bent out of shape about it.

"Look, it's just—your looks are so perfect and you know it but the only thing that maybe isn't as perfect is your hair and so it's the only thing that I can even say anything about. I mean, what else am I supposed to make fun of?"

"Well..." he paused. Perhaps he was choosing his words carefully. "I quite like it long. So do a lot of other people."

"That's fair," I said. "I'm just one person's opinion."

"You could also not make fun of me," he added.

I smiled lightly. "Yeah, that's true. But that's all we do, isn't it? You know, we are never just nice to each other?"

He looked at me for a couple seconds. "Well, tomorrow is a new day."