Sawyer was mystified. Who the hell was this woman who was so enraged with him? He could totally understand her being upset about his spilling the drink. No excuse for that, but he tried hard to be apologetic, to help her to clean it up. He had no idea she was even the princess until Clementine referred to her as such, just before the woman stormed off.
Maybe that was the problem: she was your typical pampered princess, so accustomed to playing the diva that she couldn’t even find it in herself to forgive an accident. It’s quite what his parents would expect: a princess who acted like a princess. What a shame, as he was so smitten with her beauty when he caught that first glimpse. Though now that he knew she was royalty, he also knew there would’ve been no chance of taking her out on a date anyhow, so just as well.
He’d barely dared even look at her while attempting to dry off that spilled drink, because he was too busy trying not to drop dead of humiliation while also tamping down an encroaching erection, one of those damned involuntary things that crop up when you’re inadvertently putting your hands on a beautiful set of breasts that belong to a woman you’ve insta-crushed on. The slight consolation was it was near impossible to maintain that hard-on when someone was screaming at you and making a public fool of you to boot. Talk about a buzzkill.
As soon as the women fled the scene, he retreated to the kitchen staging area to regain his composure and try to get this night back on track. He knew this would all be cleared up when she saw that gorgeous cake, and all would be forgiven.
He was shaken by that scene, though. It was good for him to tuck away in a corner for a minute to try to quiet his mind by doing some breathing exercises. Even as a small child, he’d found that when things were at their worst, if he could block out all the noise, the shouting and fighting, and the sounds of his father hitting his mother, he could almost get past the stressors in his life and not let them overwhelm him. It had been years since something had even come close to resurrecting that feeling he felt flashing through his mind, that sensation of someone else’s uncontrolled rage affecting him. It was something that always hurt him to the core. But he knew he couldn’t control others, only himself, so after a few minutes of breathing with his eyes closed, he returned to the kitchen, feeling somewhat revived, the episode put out of his mind for the time being.
It was approaching eleven, which was the designated time for the cake reveal. He found Louie, who’d snuck outside for a smoke, something Sawyer could not abide.
“We’re in a food service business, Louie,” he said. “You can’t be reeking of dirty smoke when you’re handling and passing food. I feel like I’ve warned you about this before, and I don’t want to have to bring it up again. Now please, go wash your hands—I need you to help me with the cake because it’s time to remove the draping surrounding it.”
“Right, boss,” Louie said with what looked to Sawyer like a grin, oddly enough.
~*~
“Wait a second,” Clementine said. “This baker guy was at your boarding school? And he stuck a vibrating dildo in your backpack? What the hell?”
“I didn’t even know who the little prick was,” Isabella said. “I was just minding my business taking a test. Being a wallflower. Hoping no one would notice me, just like I did every other day.”
“So why did he do that?”
“Hell if I know. Maybe he thought it would be a great meet-cute scenario to put a remote-control dick in my backpack,” she said, pinching her lips together. “You know that scene from the movie Carrie? If I could have, I’d have probably pulled a Carrie that day, I was so freaked out. I’m sure the little weasel was so proud of himself, everyone laughing at his joke, but all at my expense.”
“In all the years we’ve been friends, how come I never heard about this?”
“Are you kidding? I was mortified. I left that school that day and never spoke of it again. Ever.”
“Oh, Bella, I’m so sorry,” she said. “And here I thought you’d be a good match for the man, not realizing all this time he was your nemesis. Damn. Well, look, you’re grown up now and well past that nonsense. Your best revenge is that you moved on, right? So let’s go up there, head held high, and not let it ruin your party, okay?” She tucked some stray strands of Bella’s hair behind her ears.
“I’d kind of rather just call it a night and head home,” Bella said.
“That would be worse, Bell. Everyone would want to know why you left your own party, which would just compound things. Even if the guy was a total asshole as a kid, he’s a grown-up now and until he accidentally knocked drinks into your cleavage, the party was absolutely perfect, right? He’s done a good job. The food’s been terrific, the drinks excellent. In fact, maybe we need a few more of those now...”
Bella shrugged, pouting.
“Supposedly he’s made this amazing cake for you, so let’s just be a big girl and go out there and pretend nothing ever happened. Deal?”
“Oh, all right, fine. But then I don’t want to ever see his miserable face again.”
“Consider it done.”