by Ali Parker
A young woman met us when we arrived. “Mr. Walters,” she said, nodding her head. “And Ms. Holmes. I’m Katherine. Welcome. I’m excited to work with you today on clothing for your trip. I’ve already put aside some things.”
She turned away and walked through a side door, beckoning us along.
Sophia touched my arm. “How does she know my size?”
“Justine is very observant.” I wasn’t about to tell her that I was the one who guessed Sophia’s size based on the time I’d spent with her. She might think I had thought about her body way more than I should have. It was the honest truth, but sharing that might turn her off completely.
“Hm,” Sophia said and followed Katherine into the next room.
The room was the size of my walk-in closet. A plush gray love seat sat in the middle of the room in front of a trifold mirror. On one side of the room was a door that I guessed was the changing room.
“Mr. Walters, if you wouldn’t mind taking a seat,” Katherine said, opening her hand in the direction of the chair. “Ms. Holmes—”
“Sophia,” Sophia said. “You can call me Sophia.”
Katherine smiled tightly. “Sophia. Please come through here with me so I can point out some of my choices for you.”
Sophia gave me a look and then followed Katherine.
Unbuttoning my jacket, I sat down on the couch. I slung my arm over the top, then thought better of it and put it down at my side. I didn’t want to appear too comfortable in front of Sophia, as if I did this a lot. Though, why did I care? In the short time since our arrangement was made, I’d been unable to think of much else. I wouldn’t tell her that, though. She was here for the story. I had to remind myself of that.
After a few moments of rustling around in the dressing room, Katherine came out and smiled at me. “Would you two like some champagne?”
“No—” I said at the same time Sophia called out a loud, “Yes!” from the room.
I smirked. “Whatever the lady wants.”
“Very well,” Katherine said with a small bob of her head before leaving the room.
“Justine nailed it,” Sophia said, opening the door.
She stepped out of the room, and I unconsciously sat up straighter.
Sophia wore simple khaki pants that brushed against the floor since she wasn’t wearing shoes. The deep red top flowed across her chest, reaching up to the base of her neck while the sleeves reached her wrists.
While I appreciated the jeans and V-necks she wore on a regular basis since I’d met her, I was quite fond of the outfit in front of me.
“This is really nice,” she said, staring at herself in the mirror.
I locked eyes with myself in the mirror and saw the dumb look on my face. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t seen this woman almost every single day since she arrived in the UK. Still, it was like seeing her for the first time again.
“It is,” I said.
“It’s light,” she said, moving her arms up and down.
“It’s hot at home,” I said. “Even though you need to cover up, that’s no reason to sweat the whole time.”
“I like that idea,” she said.
Katherine brought champagne for the both of us while Sophia went into the dressing room to try on a few other pieces.
We weren’t going to be at the palace for long, so I opted for Sophia to pick about six outfits. She could easily mix and match them if necessary.
Katherine had certainly earned her commission. With each outfit, my interest in Sophia grew more.
Going shopping with my girlfriend, real or fake, seemed like an intimate thing between two lovers. While she was in the dressing room, it took all of my strength not to open the door and drink in how she looked in a bra and panties.
I wasn’t a pervert, but I appreciated the gorgeous woman in front of me. And with her taking my family’s traditions so seriously, that somehow made her more attractive.
The last outfit was my favorite. It was a long gray dress that covered Sophia but clung to her body as if it were tailored to her. I imagined a hijab on her head, and she would fit in perfectly with my family.
“I had this sent over when Justine told me where you were headed,” Katherine said, beaming. She was proud of herself.
“It’s beautiful,” Sophia said, pressing her hands against her hips as she turned to see the dress from all angles.
“It really is,” I said a little breathlessly.
Sophia locked eyes with mine in the mirror. “Thank you.”
Sophia decided on which outfits to buy for the trip, and I handed over my credit card to Katherine to ring up the bill.
When we were left in the room together, Sophia was finishing changing into her regular clothes.
“Thanks again,” she said from the little dressing room.
I stepped closer to the door so that Katherine wouldn’t hear us. “It’s my pleasure. Anything to make this plan work.”
The door opened, and I came face to face with Sophia. She stopped in front of me and tilted her head up to look at me. The side of her neck was exposed, and I wondered what it would be like to touch or kiss her.
“Excuse me,” she said, smirking.
“Oh,” I said, moving out of the way. The moment was gone, but the lingering effects remained with me for the entire ride to her hotel.
“I just want to be clear,” I said as Sophia’s hotel came into view almost fifteen minutes later. “While we have the clothes and our story straight, Father is very traditional, and Mother will not like you.”
“You know how to make a girl feel special,” she said with a smile.
Mine tightened. “I want you to have those expectations. You don’t need to work hard for them to love you, but you have to be someone that they accept. If Mother doesn’t feel that you are right for me, then she will keep trying to set me up, and this whole thing will be for nothing.”
“You’ll still give me the interview, right?” she asked, falling back into reporter mode. “I don’t want this to turn into the cafe or the French restaurant.”
“I will give you the interview,” I said. “But if we can make this arrangement work for the both of us, that would make me feel at ease with this plan.”
“Don’t worry about it, then,” she said. “I will keep my end of the bargain, especially since you’re footing the bill.”
She had no idea that that was the easy part. I had enough money to make the trip on a daily basis. What I didn’t have was Mother off my back.
I pulled up to the curb and my stomach twisted. I didn’t want to be too eager, but I had to let her go. I had a lot of work to do up until the trip that had nothing to do with Sophia.
I got out of the car and so did she. I met her at the trunk, grabbing her bags of new clothes.
Flagging a bellhop, I instructed him to take her things to her room.
“I can get them,” she said, unwilling to let go of one of the bags.
“This is something you will have to get used to,” I said.
She nodded and handed over the bag. “I suppose so.”
“Remember, the servants at the palace have a job to do. Allow them to do it, and that will earn big points with my parents.”
“Okay,” she said, digging her hands into her jacket.
“I should be on my way,” I said. “I’ll pick you up on Thursday, and we won’t be back until Sunday.”
“It seems so long,” she said. “Especially if we’re playing the roles of boyfriend and girlfriend.”
“Hopefully, it won’t be too hard,” I said. “We have our stories straight.”
“We do,” she said, looking up at me through her thick eyelashes.
“I will give you your interview then,” I added.
“Sounds fair,” she said. “Well, goodnight, Luke.”
“You have my number in case you have any questions?”
“I do,” she said. “I’ll be sure to send some along. I always have questions.”
“I
had a feeling you might.”
She glanced around us, trapping her lip under her teeth. I could tell she didn’t want to end the conversation either.
I was the first to initiate one of us leaving. She was trembling so hard. As much as I wanted to comfort her, we weren’t on the clock yet.
“Goodnight, Sophia,” I said and left. I wasn’t able to take a full breath until she was out of my sight.
14
Sophia
The next two days went by in a flash. I’d locked myself in my room at the hotel and researched everything I could about Luke’s home country. I checked out blogs and articles written by women who had visited the country as well. But after a while, all of the words started to blur into incomprehensible blobs.
The articles were helpful, but they didn’t mimic the experience that I was about to embark on with Luke. I was about to visit a palace! I didn’t doubt that I would be stared at, but it wouldn’t be for my clothing. I would be the girlfriend of a prince. There would be those—his parents and family—who wouldn’t be happy with him for choosing a woman like me. And others would be curious about how I captured the eye of a prince.
I thought of Kate Middleton—the only princess I knew of—and how she must have felt to be in my position. Though our situations were totally different, as I was sure she loved her husband, it was probably a strange thing for her and the royal family alike to have someone plucked out of the royal line even to date the prince.
I doubted Luke would entertain the idea of mentioning us getting engaged or married, but I had told him I’d be in for whatever he needed to say or do to keep our ruse going until Sunday. Even if he proposed in the palace, there was no harm in answering yes to get the job done.
He could always make up some excuse later on when we, in fact, didn’t get married.
The idea of being a princess piqued my curiosity. So, instead of losing my eyesight while staring at the computer for long periods of time, I tried to imagine scenarios that might take place while we were there.
His mother was someone that I would probably come into contact with the most. She had the most invested in his romantic future, and she’d probably grill me for information. I wasn’t a stranger to disapproving people when it came to doing my job, but this was different. I had to take the role of Luke’s girlfriend seriously. In a way, she might attack me personally, and I was happy that I’d grown such thick skin over the years to handle it.
At least, I hoped I’d be able to.
The flight wasn’t scheduled until late Thursday morning, but I had already been up for hours by the time Luke came to the hotel to pick me up.
I wasn’t sure how Mr. Fraser would feel about my hotel room remaining empty for a few days, but Luke assured me that everything was paid for. Even my place in the hotel. That would go over well with my boss.
I still wasn’t used to the casual way that he spent his money, but he was in a different social category than me. I couldn’t even fathom having that much money at my disposal. I supposed it worked in his interest to spend it however he wanted.
I did wonder what his home looked like. He’d briefly mentioned that it had some really nice views of the city. And for him to think that it was a nice view—considering he’d grown up in a palace—it probably was over the top by my standards.
Getting to know more about him, I realized he was over the top in so many ways, yet completely modest about all of it. I didn’t think people like him existed in the top half of the one-percent.
I bet he was one of the few, at least based on what he told me about his family. He did say his little brother Abir was a sweetheart, and we both hoped that Abir would like me enough so that someone in the palace was on our side. Though, I wasn’t sure how much difference it would make.
Luke tended to steer away from any talk about him taking the throne, which was fine with me, so I didn’t push. The time would come later to ask my questions, and I hoped that by helping him out with this, he would be open and honest about all of it.
Luke was quiet on the way over to the airport. I quickly learned that we weren’t about to travel first class on a commercial flight as he veered off the main road nowhere near Heathrow. We headed toward a smaller airstrip.
“Of course, you have a private plane,” I said as we pulled up. The plane was almost the size of the plane that I rode to England on.
“Didn’t I mention that?” he asked with a smirk. “Okay, this is your last chance to back out.”
“What are you talking about?”
The corners of his eyes were tight, something I didn’t notice on the ride over.
A man walked up to the car and stood outside as if waiting for Luke to make the first move.
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” he said. “I know it’s a strange proposition. My driver will take you back to the hotel if you want.”
“I’m in this with you,” I said.
“You are?”
“Of course. I know how important this is to you.”
“And so is your story.”
I wanted to tell him that it was him who made me want to come, but he was right. Reality came crashing down. I couldn’t disappoint Mr. Fraser or myself.
“You’re stuck with me for four days, Mr. Walters. Whether you like it or not.” I opened my door, and someone outside pulled it the rest of the way.
A blast of cold air found its way down the back of my jacket, and I shivered. I couldn’t wait to get into the heat again. At least I’d be able to somewhat enjoy it over the weekend.
Luke escorted me onto the plane, and I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.
It looked like someone had carved out the inside of a commercial plane and inserted big, plush couches and mahogany tables. Gold embellishments flourished over the furniture, and there were several big screen televisions just in the main space.
“Holy cow,” I said.
Luke gently grabbed my arm and brought me through into the next area.
“We’re asked to sit here during takeoff and landing,” he said.
There were two sets of four chairs on either side of the plane with a table between. Each was wide enough to fit two of me.
“I think you’ve ruined me for flying commercial,” I said, plopping down on one of the chairs. Smoothing my hand across the fabric, the leather was like butter.
“They recline too,” he said, scooting in front of me to get to the window seat.
There were plenty of chairs, but he chose to sit next to me. I tried not to overthink it.
A flurry of activity took place in the cabin, and I kept to my seat. Flight attendants appeared left and right to fulfill drink and food orders. I knew the flight was long, but I had no idea I would experience two whole meals and as many snacks and appetizers that I wanted.
“Is there a kitchen on this plane?” I asked when the flight attendants left us.
“Of course,” he said.
“Of course,” I muttered.
“No bags of peanuts on this plane,” he said. “You better get used to it by the time we get to the palace. You’ve seen nothing yet. Mother and Father will expect that I’ve been treating you the way a prince should.”
I turned to him. “And how should a prince treat me?”
As soon as the words slipped out of my mouth, I realized they sounded way more suggestive than I’d intended. The statement held fast to the air between us, and I froze.
His gaze fell to my lips, and I had the urge to close the space between us.
“Please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for takeoff,” the pilot said from the overhead speaker.
I jumped and sat back in the seat.
Luke cleared his throat. “Try not to be surprised with everything we do. That’s all I was saying.”
“Yeah,” I said, deflated by his comment. I wasn’t some naive child, but he was right. I was far too star-struck to make the king and queen think that I was remotely deserving of
their son.
Once we were in the air—after the smoothest takeoff I’d ever experienced—there was no going back. As if Luke realized that, he took off his suit jacket and tossed it over his chair.
Within seconds, a flight attendant grabbed it and whisked it away.
I had the urge to throw something on the floor and see how quickly it got picked up, but I quelled it. My giddiness about this whole experience was bordering on immaturity.
I had two glasses of delicious champagne, much better than the one at the New Year’s party at work. Soon after, we were given a three-course dinner. Probably the best meal of my life.
“How did you get into journalism?” Luke asked after a little while.
He’d been on his phone for most of the time since takeoff, and I didn’t want to disturb him.
“My mom got me a notebook when I was about six. There wasn’t much to do in our small neighborhood, so I started to spy on our neighbors and write down their daily activities.”
“I could see a little Sophia doing that,” he said with a chuckle.
“I did it for a while until Mom found the book and scolded me for prying into other people’s business,” I said.
“I bet that went over well.”
“I did make it my job,” I said, smiling.
“You don’t like when people tell you not to do something,” he said.
“I’m glad you finally appreciate that part of me,” I said with a smirk.
He laughed. “I never said I appreciated it. I understand it, though.”
“To be honest,” I said, feeling the effects of the champagne, “this story would be a big career step for me. I’ve been waiting for one piece that will earn me a promotion.”
Luke nodded. “I understand. And I’ll do anything I can to get you that. After we deal with my parents, of course.”
“Tell me more about them,” I said. “What was it like growing up in a palace?”
In the time we’d spent together, he’d stayed away from revealing much about his past. I couldn’t walk into his parents’ home and not know anything about it. I bet his mother already had a list of questions to ask me about our relationship and how well-suited we were. Other than the typical questions of our meeting, I bet she’d want to know how much I knew about his past.