BECOMING THE PRINCESS'S LACKEY

FOUR

Matthias POV

I got the final draft of the work on her desk at exactly six thirty that morning, nothing amiss, after close to two hours of intense work. When I finished, I began to look through her schedule for the month. Four state functions, two board retreats, a royal gala, all in the same week with zero buffer.

When arranging it on her calendar, I decided to add breaks. She’d probably remove them, but I added them anyway.

My phone buzzed.

My driver is still out of town. Pick me up soonest – I.A.

It was an unknown number, but I understood what the initials stood for.

Isabeau Arendall.

***

We arrived at the office a few minutes to seven. The ride was awkwardly silent. I can’t believe she’s still hungover about what happened in the elevator. Maybe she isn’t.

I followed her closely when we arrived at the office, and nothing could have prepared me for when she totally ignored the elevator and headed for the stairs. I stopped dead in my tracks. She took a few steps before turning to me, shocked at the bottom of the stairs.

“Are you resigning today?” she asked.

Might as well, I almost said.

I bit my tongue and raked my hair. “Your Highness, you don’t plan to reach the twenty-first floor like this.”

I was only suggesting, but she didn’t seem to take it that way.

“I have met men with weaker spines,” she continued walking, and on those dangerously high heels at that. I had no excuse.

I followed her closely and decided to pay more attention to counting the steps. She didn’t say much to me; only her heels echoed as they hit the tiles. You would think she’d feel safe after unilaterally firing the elevator tech.

Then, somewhere around the nineteenth floor, her heel got caught in a c***k on the tile, and she lost her footing.

As she came crashing towards me, my first instinct was to catch her, but her weight shoved me off balance, and we landed straight on the floor. Well, I landed, and she landed on top of me.

Was it two, three seconds, or four?

But I seemed to notice every detail about her. How her hair was styled in her signature high ponytail, how the dark circles under her eyes were tucked away under a nice layer of make-up, how her breath scented like coffee, and one thing I couldn’t help but notice was how hot her body was.

Like literally hot.

Was she running a fever? I had to look into that later. Or now?

She straightened and adjusted her white suit. “Sorry about that.”

Wow, she really must be sick and out of her wits today.

“I’m just asking out of curiosity,” I began, “how are you feeling today, Your Highness?”

I braced myself for the coldest reply and maybe some overtime work. I wonder why I do things sometimes. Surprisingly, she continued on the stairs as if nothing had happened. But her steps were damp with exhaustion.

I caught up to her and grabbed her arm to support her.

She brushed me away. I held her again, but this time she gave me a tired stare and let me.

“You seem to have a lot of willpower today, Mr. Cole.” Her voice was shaky.

“My eyes were tired of watching you try, your highness,” I said as I opened the door that led out of the staircase.

She stared dangerously at me for a while before shrugging her arms away from me.

“Did I interrupt something?”

I was a bit late to notice her brother, the prince and heir to the throne, standing in the waiting room at the door of my office. He looked at me, then back at his sister.

“You took the stairs?” he acted astonished.

“The elevator was slow,” she sighed as she walked past him.

“It's seven am in the morning.”

“Your Highness,” I greeted.

“no. just Lucien. Save the formalities for when I want something.”

No formalities? Yeah, right, he was the next in line to the throne. I wasn’t about to be caught slipping.

He took one look at my empty office. “I was actually rooting for Felix, and I actually knew his name this time,” Lucien winced dramatically, “so what’s your number, twenty-two?”

“Matthias Cole.”

“I should root for you, but today should be what, day three?”

“Two.”

“You should try putting on more pounds,” he laughed

I smiled dryly, while I negotiated how fast I could get downstairs and get some pain relief and antipyretics.

From the window: “Lucien, stop corrupting my assistant. Matthew, get me a cup of coffee,” she said from her office.