Page 32 of Once Upon a Prince

It was obvious what she was implying and if it had been a year ago, even three months ago, my response would have been very different. But I wasn’t interested in her, the only woman I was interested in was sitting in her chair with her back to me and her shoulders so tense I could bounce a quarter off them.

“Thank you, but no. I need to be doing some work. We shouldn’t need anything from you until lunch. If we do, we know where to find you.” I was dismissing Hannah and by the look on her face, she understood.

“Certainly, sir. We should be taking off shortly,” she said and walked briskly toward the cockpit.

I waited until she was gone before I walked over, took out my computer, and sat down across from Ella. The seats were set slightly apart, giving enough room for a table to go between them. I had originally thought about enjoying a nice meal with her, chatting, even having a glass of wine as we flew down to Buenos Aires. I could see by how Ella sat, how she wouldn't look at me, that the trip had taken a wrong turn from the start.

“Ella,” I began but didn’t get any farther as the pilot came out and spoke to us for a few minutes. When she left, Ella and I put our stuff away for take-off. She didn’t look at me as we did. Her eyes were glued to the window. I wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t want to talk or if she was fascinated by the plane taking off. She kept her eyes looking out the window as we gained altitude.

I sat back and watched her. I could see the wonder and excitement in her eyes as we climbed into the clouds. I wondered how many trips she had been on and where she and her father had gone. The little bit she said about her stepmother and sisters made me think they hadn’t gone on many vacations. Seeing how happy she looked watching the clouds made me want to see her smile like that all the time.

“It never gets old, does it?” I asked.

Ella turned and looked at me. Her smile was gone. She wasn’t exactly scowling at me but she didn’t look pleased at the thought of me sitting across from her. It certainly was not how I wanted to start our time together or how I wanted the flight to go.

“Nothing happened between me and Hannah,” I said.

“I wasn’t asking,” Ella said.

“You didn’t need to. Your silence spoke volumes.”

“It doesn't matter. I’m sure you’ve dated before. I’m sure you had a lot of fun with women like her.”

“Women like her?” I asked.

“Yes. Ones who are good at flirting and teasing. Ones who look good in anything they wear and can get a man by looking at them.”

“That certainly is my type of woman.” I leaned back in my chair and tilted my head as I looked at her.

“Figured,” Ella muttered.

“I also like women who are intelligent, witty, and kind. I like a woman who isn’t afraid to call me out on my shit and tell me if she thinks I’m being an asshole.”

“I didn’t say you were an asshole.”

“Nor did I say I was talking about you,” I teased.

“You weren’t?” Ella lifted her eyebrows at me.

“See, you call me out. You are one of the few who does. You don’t seem to be intimidated by me. You see me for who I am—”

“The occasional asshole?” She asked with a slight smile.

“Exactly. You’ve always been honest with me. It’s one of the things that annoyed me about you when we first met but now, I can see what an asset it is. I want to do the same with you. I hope I’ve done the same with you when it comes to your work. I want the same thing between us, whatever that may be.”

I wanted to reach out and take her hand. I wanted to pull her into my arms and reassure her that she was the only woman I could think about, much less look at. She didn’t answer me but looked away. I could tell it wasn’t in annoyance this time but because she was trying to find the right thing to say. I didn’t push it and waited for her to say something.

“It’s okay, if something happened between you two. I didn’t expect you to be a monk. I’m not even sure what, if anything, I can expect from you while we try and figure out whatever this is.” She turned to look at me.

“I would never do anything to disrespect you. That includes being with any other woman while I was with you, or trying to be with you. I might have flirted with Hannah because that was how I was. I flirted with a lot of women. It was what I did. But the only woman I want to flirt with, the only woman I want to think about doing anything with, is you.

“You are right. I wasn’t a monk, but I wasn’t as much of a rake as everyone would like to think. I enjoyed life. I enjoyed women, I won’t deny that. I would love to say I would have not spent any time with any other women if I knew you were waiting for me, but I doubt you would believe me. I will say that being with the other women allowed me to see what I didn’t want, and what I was missing. It allowed me to recognize a great woman when she is sitting in front of me.

“Believe me when I tell you, nothing has happened between me and Hannah and nothing ever will. You are all that I want and I do hope that you will still allow me the chance to show that to you while we are in Buenos Aires.”

Ella smiled slowly at me and said, “Of course.”

Chapter 19