Maid For You 2

Chapter 18

"Wait, is that him!" Calvin shot forward from his seat on the couch.

I quickly hit the mute button on my keyboard, took the laptop off my lap, and walked to the door.

"Prince Coleman," I said as I opened it. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you today about that stunt at the festival," Prince Coleman said, stepping into my room quite uninvited. His eyes then landed on my laptop, which was facing out into my room. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, I was talking to my family," I said, hurrying over to the laptop. "I'll just call them back later."

"Wait, don't hang up on them!" Prince Coleman said as my click icon hovered over the red end button. I looked at him, and he had a funny smile on my face.

"What?"

"Well, you've gotten to meet my family. Only fair I get to meet yours."

"What?" I repeated, staring at him in confusion.

My stupid family was all eagerly waving at him through the camera, and he waved back.

"Why can't I hear them?" he asked me, walking over to the bed and looking down at the laptop. "Your laptop is on mute!"

"Prince Coleman, this is really, um, weird."

But he completely ignored me, scooped up the laptop, and sat on the side of the bed with the laptop on his lap. He tapped the unmute button to my dismay.

"Prince Coleman!" I protested. "Come on! This is—"

"So you're Prince Coleman!" My mom's jubilant voice rang through the speakers.

"Yes. You must be Mrs. Carmichael," he answered.

I reluctantly sat next to the Prince, and he adjusted the screen so that we were both in frame.

And then Calvin sealed my fate. "We were just talking about you!"

His dark, perfectly sculpted eyebrow rose. "Really?"

Coleman's eyes darted to the small rectangle on the screen that showed our faces to see me dissolving into a blushing mess.

Calvin!

I was going to murder my own brother. He was lucky that there was a screen and thousands of miles protecting him.

"What was she saying?" Prince Coleman's voice held an amused tone, and this time he turned to look at the in-person me.

"All good things, all good things," Calvin assured Prince Coleman.

I couldn't believe that Prince Coleman was talking to my brother. To my parents.

Dad looked rather taken aback, and hadn't said anything yet. Perhaps he was the only sane member of my family at the moment.

"You're just as handsome as Cassie said you were!" Mom chirped.

Great. I guess I had to kill my own mom now too.

"I didn't say he was handsome!" I yelped, my face heating up even more. Prince Coleman's grin was only widening.

"Yes you did," Mom said.

"When? When in this conversation did I say that?"

"You didn't say it today, but you've mentioned it before," Mom answered.

My eyes widened, and I wanted to stare at her very hard, but of course Coleman could see my expression in the small window that showed what we looked like.

"Mom," I breathed. I noticed Dad lightly touch Mom's arm. It was his way of telling her to stop.

But no. Mom was on some match-making roll straight from hell itself.

Mom continued. "We are all so excited that Cassie is going to be the queen maid!"

"Maiden, Mom. Not maid," I grimaced.

"Right, right. Now, are you going to be in the parade with her?" Mom asked Coleman.

"Yes, I am." He said. The smug idiot looked real thrilled about this humiliating conversation. "Though, I am not sure yet if we'll be in the same carriage yet or not."

"I see," Mom said. "Well, I hope you two do get to ride together, since you already know each other fairly well."

"I'll see what I can do, Mrs. Carmichael," he told my mom elegantly, still wearing a big fat grin.

At this point I was going to need therapy to get over this trauma.

"Cassie, are you going to ask Prince Coleman to be your honorary prince while you are queen maiden?" Calvin asked me.

"I—I don't know. I—I haven't really, you know, thought about it," I stammered while Prince Coleman turned his head to look at me with a smile.

"You two kids are going to have so much fun!" Mom said, bringing yet another comment to the table that literally no one asked for.

"Mom, don't refer to Prince Coleman as a 'kid.' It's 'His Royal Highness'."

"Since when have you been a stickler for such titles?" Prince Coleman asked me.

I ignored him. "Okay, fam, it's been so great to catch up, but obviously Prince Coleman didn't just stop by for a social visit, since he is my employer and also royalty and I'm just his humble servant."

"Humble?" Prince Coleman laughed but I ignored him once again.

"So, I'm hanging up now. Bye!" I smashed the heck out of the "end call" button, and snapped my laptop shut.

I smiled at Prince Coleman awkwardly, fully aware of my flaming red cheeks.

"They're crazy," I told him.

His smile made my heart skip a beat. He leaned forward ever so slightly, his voice quieter and a hint husky. "Are they now?"

I didn't say anything, and neither did he. Prince Coleman's face hovered less than a foot away from mine, and the tension of his close proximity started to give me irrational, foolhardy ideas. We looked into each other's eyes, and I saw his green ones flicker down to my lips. I could see a moment in my head; suddenly I wanted to feel his lips against my own, to tangle my hands in his thick, black hair, to feel his warm hands hold me.

Before I knew it, our faces were drawing closer. My rationality was starting to give way to his enticing lips, his enticing body, but just when we were but a few inches away from each other, I sprang from the bed like a jack in the box and was suddenly on my feet.

If I didn't believe in miracles before, I certainly did now because that act of willpower was basically the most impressive thing I had done in my life to date.

You have a date with Luke tomorrow. Pull yourself together, Cassie!

"Um..." I stood now several feet away from the Prince, who just now seemed to be grasping what had just passed between us. "Why, uh, why did you come?"

Prince Coleman blinked, and stood up slowly. "I can't remember." His own cheeks held a rosy hue. Without another word, he walked across the room and left. Just like that. My heart was beating so erratically that for a moment I thought I might have a heart disease or something.

I lowered myself onto my bed—it was still warm where Prince Coleman had sat.

What is wrong with me? I wondered as I leaned back and stared up at the ceiling. My phone buzzed, and eager for a distraction, I quickly opened up my phone to see that I had one text from the only member of my family that I had not yet disowned.

Dad: I think he likes you.