Which felt far too right.
“Is there anything you want to tell me?” he asked her, lacing his fingers together on top of his desk. As always, Kassim was very put together. He wore a suit that fit him like a dream. His hair was neat. There was no five o’clock shadow for the oldest Prince of Escana.
She stiffened. “Um, like what?”
“Are you all right, Miss Jones?”
What? Where was this coming from? He didn’t ask her personal questions, right? They were strictly boss and employee.
“I’m fine. Is there something wrong with the work I’ve been doing? I haven’t gotten as much done this morning, but I’ll stay later if necessary to get it done.”
He waved that away. “That’s not it. You always do exceptional work. I know you often work past the time when you are meant to go home. Which I’d rather you didn’t do. You need to get your rest.”
She did? Why? Did she look like crap? Oh hell. Maybe Adele was on to something. Perhaps she should lay off the cupcakes. And the tubes of icing. And the pineapple lumps.
She only had pineapple lumps and vegemite because Aleki had his cousins send that stuff over for her from New Zealand. And in return, she made him pavlova several times a year. Nobody else seemed to get the appeal of egg whites and sugar, fluffed up and cooked then coated in whipped cream.
“Pippa? Have I lost you?”
What? Oh shit. Kassim was talking while she was daydreaming about pavlovas and pineapple lumps.
“Sorry, your Majesty, I mean, sir, I, um . . .” Shit. She hadn’t stumbled over her words this much since she’d first come to work for him. This was embarrassing.
“You’re nervous about something.”
Yep, her nerves were pretty much shattered.
“I’m sorry. I’m a bit out of sorts today.”
“You’re not coming down with what Vivi has, are you? Wolfe has been most concerned about her. We were close to flying in specialists.”
Wolfe would want a specialist flown in if Vivi stubbed her toe. But she refrained from pointing out how crazy Wolfe was.
“No, I’m fine. You told me not to try and visit her again and I haven’t.”
He studied her and she resisted the urge to shuffle around on her seat. What was going on? These past couple of months, she felt like he’d been watching her more. But she wasn’t sure why and he’d never said anything.
“Very well. I need you to make travel arrangements. I have a meeting in London. We’ll be flying out next Wednesday. The meeting is set for Thursday. We’ll travel back Sunday night.”
“We?” He didn’t mean her, right?
“Yes, I want you to come with me. My brothers will fly over on Friday evening.”
Um, what?
“I need to come?”
He gave her another of those calm looks. Did anything ever rattle him?
“Yes, you will be traveling with me.”
“But I never travel with you.”
“This time you will be. Is that a problem?”
“No, of course not.” Other than the fact that she was terrified of flying.
Don’t be silly, Pippa. It’s one small plane ride. What can happen?
Crash. Flames. Death.
“We’ll take the jet, then it will come back for my brothers. We’ll all return together.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And book a suite for us. I want us all together.”
“Including me?”
“Yes, Miss Jones. Including you.”
“But I’ll be fine in my own room. A cheaper one. I don’t need to be in a suite with you all. Besides, I don’t know if you can get a suite with five bedrooms.” Well, maybe you could, what did she know?
“You won’t be in a different room on a different floor. You’re staying in the suite with us. We’re in a strange city and it will make it easier for the security team to look after us.”
Oh right. That made sense.
“Do I need to book them a suite too?”
“I think they’ll just need two rooms as they’ll work on shifts. But liaise with Judd as it’s team two coming with us.”
Great. Her favorite thing. Talking to Judd. The man was such a grouch. She swore he needed something to loosen him up.
“Like sex,” she muttered.
“Excuse me?”
Nope. That didn’t happen.
“Right, I’ll get straight on that.” She jumped to her feet and started towards the door. Yep, she was being rude. And acting crazy. But she’d just said the s-word in front of her boss.
“Miss Jones,” he called out as she put her hand on the doorknob. Shoot. She was so close.
“Yes, sir?”
“Please refrain from putting any more dye in any of my brothers stuff, okay?”
Shoot. Shit. She didn’t say anything, just slipped out the door.
And if there was a bark of laughter from his office, well, she knew that she totally imagined that because he never laughed. And he wouldn’t over Aric being turned green.
Really. What was she thinking?
* * *
By the time she got to her cottage later on that evening, she was exhausted. This day felt like it had gone on forever. Of course, that could be because she’d spent the day on tenterhooks, waiting for Aric to appear and attempt to get revenge on her. Or for Malik to pop up and say something else. Or Kassim to fire her. Or Tavi to cage her against the wall and spank her for some reason.
“I need to get over this,” she told herself as she reached her door. “It’s insane. I can’t want them.”
What she needed to do was take a bath, get in her onesie and spend some time in her playroom.
She was so busy thinking about ways to make herself feel better that she nearly tripped up over the boxes stacked on her porch.
But what the fuck?
She stared at the boxes in confusion. What was going on? Why would someone stack up shoe boxes in front of her door? Had they been delivered to the wrong place? What was in them?
She reached up to open one then suddenly thought better of it. What if this was one of Aric’s pranks? What if it was rigged to explode? It could be filled with some sort of goo or dye or something.
Did he think she was born yesterday? Stepping away, she stared at the boxes for a while, trying to see if there was any way she could tell what was in them?
Hmm. What to do?
Finally, she decided to call Vivi.
“Girl, I am sooo bored,” Vivi greeted her. “Come visit me.”
“Last time I tried to visit you, I ended up getting a half hour lecture from Wolfe on the way that germs are spread,” she said dryly.
“So sneak in my bedroom window.”
“I am not sneaking in your bedroom window.” She hadn’t been sure about Vivi when she’d first arrived. Pippa found it hard to relate to other women. But Vivi was a sweetheart with a strong core. She had to be in order to deal with Wolfe on a daily basis.
“If you were a real friend, you’d sneak into my bedroom window with a supply of cupcakes. Wolfe won’t let me eat anything but healthy stuff. Honest to God, he tried to make me eat liver last night because he claims it will help build up my immune system.”
“Eww, that’s disgusting.”
“I know, thankfully Aleki and Caleb intervened. But I’m going insane over here.”
“Look, can we talk about me for a minute.”
“Why? What’s going on? Have one of those idiots finally made a move on you?”
“You can’t call them idiots, Vivi! That sort of stuff will get you arrested.”
“Like my guys would let that happen.”
Well, that was true. Her men would never allow anything to happen to Vivi. They adored her.
“Yes, but still. They’re princes. You can’t call them idiots.”
“Uh-huh, you know your scolding might hold more weight if it wasn’t for the fact that I heard a certain idiot had his shampoo tampered with and now resembles a
giant spearmint leaf.”
“How do you know that was me?”
“Shoe incident ring any bells? I know it was you. Thankfully, for you, not many people know about your prank war. Because orange does not look good on you, my friend.”
“I know,” she groaned. “He was really mad too. I thought he was going to tell Kassim on me. Look, that’s partially why I’m calling. I have a problem.”
“What sort of problem?” Vivi asked.
“I think Aric is trying to prank me back.”
“So soon?” Vivi groaned. “You two are insane.”
“He must have already had this one in the pipeline,” she muttered to herself. “Thing is, I can’t work out what is going on.”
“All right, what’s happening?”
“I just got home and there’s like ten shoe boxes piled up in front of my door.”
“Shoe boxes?”
“Yep.”
“Put me on camera and let me see.”
She fiddled with her phone then let Vivi see all the boxes piled up.
“Well, hell. What do you suppose are in them?”
“I don’t know. I was thinking maybe I’d like get a big stick and try to open one then jump back in case it’s filled with fake rattle snakes or paint or something.”
“Do you think it’s safe? What if it’s dangerous?”
“It can’t be dangerous. Aric wouldn’t do that.”
“And if they’re not from him?”
She thought about that for a moment. “Security would have checked them. I’m gonna do it. I just need a stick.”
Why was there never a stick when you needed one? She swore whenever she was trying to walk somewhere, one of those buggers jumped out to trip her up. Or they’d give her a heart attack, thinking it was a snake.
Some sticks looked very snake-like.
Yes, she knew how ridiculous that sounded. She was scared of stick snakes.
“Okay, got one. You ready?”
“Yep. Be careful.”
She used the stick to knock off the top box then she jumped back and raised her hands over her face, her heart racing.
“What is it? What happened?” Vivi demanded.
Lowering her arms, she stared down at the items on the porch in shock.
“They’re shoes.”
“What?”
“They’re shoes,” she explained. Then she moved closer and picked one up. “Oh, holy shit. They’re not just shoes, these are Manolo Blahniks.”
“You’re fucking with me.”
“I’m not. Oh God, what if I scratched them?” She rubbed the gorgeous pair of bright blue high heels. Crap, how much were these worth? Likely more than she made in a month.
“Someone must have put them in the wrong place.” She reached for another pair, groaning in delight as she drew out more heels, these ones with a distinctive red sole.
“Pippa? Pippa, are you still there.”
“I feel faint,” she whispered.
“Sit down,” Vivi barked at her.
She sat where she stood, wincing as her already sore ass connected with the ground. Ouch.
“Put your head between your legs and breathe, woman. Shit, should I come over there?”
“No, I just need to find out who owns these.” Maybe. Eventually. Would it matter if she just tried one or two on? “Do you think their new owner would notice if I tried on some?”
“Are they your size?”
“Yep. All of them. Someone went on a spending spree. Oh bugger, what if they’re for Satan’s bride? She doesn’t deserve beautiful shoes.”
“But she doesn’t live at the palace.”
“No, but she could have had them sent here as an excuse to come back to the palace to collect them.”
“Wouldn’t put it past her. It’s a wonder she hasn’t accidentally fallen on Kassim’s dick yet.”
“Vivi!” she protested.
“What? I wouldn’t put it past her. I doubt these are hers, though. She’s got enormous feet. You’ve never looked at them?”
“I try not to look at evil too long. I don’t want to harm my eyes.”
“Fair call,” Vivi told her. “Thing is, her feet are much bigger than yours. Um, Pip-pip?”
God, that nickname sucked. “Yep?”
“Any chance they’re for you?”
“Yeah, right, who’d send me over ten thousand dollars’ worth of shoes?” she scoffed.
Then something came to her. “Uh-oh.”
“Wondered how long it would take to occur to you,” Vivi replied dryly.
“He wouldn’t!”
“Did you tell him about your shoes?”
“Well, yes, but he wouldn’t do this.” She groaned. “He totally would, wouldn’t he?”
“Think so,” Vivi said cheerfully.
“What am I going to do?”
“Be thankful it’s not a prank and wear the fuck out of those gorgeous shoes. Do you think any of them would fit me? I wonder if I put some dye in Aric’s shampoo if he’ll buy me some new handbags?”
Good Lord.
Two hours later, she sat on her fluffy beanbag in her playroom, surrounded by shoe boxes. She had her phone in her lap. She was gearing herself up for this call and she had all her armor on to help support her. Cranky was sitting on one side of her. She was wearing her Batman onesie and her crocodile slippers. When she walked, the crocodile jaws would open and close. They were seriously cute. She had a thing for crocodiles after visiting a zoo with her Dad when they were in Australia. And Batman had been their favorite cartoon to watch together.
Her hair was up in two pigtails which she’d braided.
She also had a tube of pink icing ready in case she needed some false courage. Yes, she knew how bad it was to eat straight icing, but she intended to have a banana afterward for dinner, so it would cancel itself out.
She drew her pacifier from her mouth. Her pacifier helped her when she was feeling anxious or lonely. Some weekends, she spent all her time in her playroom. She even had a small fridge in here and the bathroom was a Jack-and-Jill between the two bedrooms. She watched cartoons, played with her cars or performed surgery on her toys after Cranky tried to munch them. He was a grouchy crocodile.
Blowing out a breath, she brought up his contact.
He answered after three rings. “I still have green hair.”
“Um, well, I don’t know how to help with that.”
“And the palms of my hands are green. I can’t go out like this.”
Good.
“You’re in so much trouble over this, brat.”
“Hey, that’s not fair! You put flour in my shoes.”
“And you think things are even?” he asked in a dark voice.
Okay, that sent a shiver running through her. She wasn’t used to Aric sounding like that. So forceful.
That shit was sexy.
She pressed her legs together. She needed Mr. Buzzy after this.
“Yes, I do.”
“I bought you new shoes. You can’t buy me new hair.”
“About the shoes. I can’t accept them.”
“Why not?” he asked.
“Aric! I threw out three pairs of cheap shoes. They probably didn’t even cost a hundred dollars for the three of them combined. You just bought me ten thousand dollars of shoes. That does not make us even.”
“You can get shoes for less than a hundred dollars?”
“Aric!”
She knew he was playing with her.
“And it was more like fourteen thousand, some of those shoes are limited edition.”
“Aric, that’s a terrible waste of money.” She could only imagine what someone could do with that much money.
There was silence on the other end and her stomach dropped. Shit. She’d said the wrong thing.
“You don’t like them?” he asked coolly.
What was wrong with him? He’d never acted like this around her. There had to be something in that green hair dye. But then
why were Matek and Kassim acting odd as well?
The only one acting himself was Tavi. Although, when she thought about it, he’d actually been acting odd for the last three months.
“Aric, I love them. They’re the most beautiful shoes I’ve seen in my life.”
“Good. I know you like pretty shoes and I felt bad after you said you had to throw some of yours out because of me.”
Well, now she felt terrible.
“I shouldn’t have told you that. I mean, they were old with holes in them or the sole was coming away. I should have thrown them out ages ago.”
“Why are you wearing shoes with holes in them?” he asked.
“Um, because I have a hard time throwing out old shoes?”
“I don’t want you wearing shoes with holes them.”
She looked down at her phone to make sure she was talking to the right person. What did it matter to him what sort of shoes she wore?
“Pippa?” he asked.
“What?” Oh shit. What had she missed him saying?
Get on top of your shit, Pippa!
“Do you have any other shoes that have holes in them? How did I not notice the state of your shoes when I was pouring flour into them?”
“I’m sure I don’t know,” she said dryly. “By the way, how did you get into my cottage?” Thank goodness she locked everything away in her playroom, except Cranky.
“How did you get into my room?” he countered.
“Hmm, touché. So about these shoes you bought me . . .”
“Yes,” he said in a warning voice.
“Well, I don’t feel like I deserve them, they were a lot of money and I—”
“Pippa,” he said in a low, growly voice.
Seriously. Was it a full moon out or something? What was going on?
“Yes?”
“You’re keeping the shoes.”
“But—”
“They’re non-refundable. And I chose every pair with you in mind. A lot of thought went into those shoes.”
She sighed. Well, he had her, didn’t he? And the thought of him choosing every pair of shoes did kind of make them special.
Damn, you’re a sucker.
“But if it makes you feel better about accepting them, I’ll donate an equal amount of money to a charity of your choice.”
Claimed by her Daddies Page 4