Page 19 of Tempted By the Princess

“Yeah, but my back is not happy about my activities tonight.”

We met at the back of the van and Carrie knocked her shoulder against mine, giving me a teasing smile.

“What’s the matter, princess? All that manual labor tire you out?”

“You know it did,” I said. “I have developed a new respect for everyone who works at these events. I mean I’ve always been polite to service people, said please and thank you while I stood around bored out of my mind, but I didn’t realize how hard carrying those trays is. Or how rude other people are. I’ll never look at the servers the same way again.”

“Good. My work here is done,” she teased.

We headed into the kitchen and Carrie stashed away the boxes of leftovers she’d brought with us.

She was a good boss, I’d seen that tonight. She gave clear instructions, provided positive feedback to her team, made sure they took their breaks and took home boxes of leftovers before she took any for herself. And the way she’d stormed over ready to let Bob have it after he pinched my ass and yelled at me? That had been awesome. She’d looked like a sexy Amazon warrior, her fingers curled into fists and her eyes flashing with anger.

I’d been glad to have her in my corner, even if I didn’t technically need her. I’d spent years dealing with handsy assholes who thought they were God’s gift to women. When I was in my princess role they were more subtle about it, but I’d experienced enough ‘accidental’ touches of my butt and breasts to last me a lifetime.

It made me happy that Carrie wouldn’t hesitate to help her team members, most of whom were single moms, college students, and minimum wage workers just trying to make ends meet.

Despite my aching back and sore feet, I was glad I’d gone. It felt good to help Carrie, especially after she’d helped me.

I sighed as I realized that I needed to figure out my next move. I couldn’t hide out here forever, we both knew that. My boss was pretty flexible, but I needed to get back to work. Plus according to my sister my parents were genuinely worried about me. Not that I was surprised. I knew they loved me, and I loved them. I wasn’t one prone to such impulsive behavior. Running away and disappearing was out of character for me. It was the kind of thing I might have done when I was a rebellious teenager, though I never had. No, I needed to woman up and work things out.

But not tonight. Hopefully not tomorrow.

At Carrie’s urging I headed into the bathroom, drawing myself a hot bath and pouring in a liberal amount of my host’s lavender bubble bath. As I eased beneath the bubbles I tried to figure out what I was going to do about Carrie. My job, my parents, I had no doubt I could work things out with my family. But Carrie was something entirely different.

Would she be open to dating once I left? And what would that look like? I tried to imagine her accompanying me to the numerous social functions I attended, either for work or for my parents, and I couldn’t imagine it. The woman didn’t own a dress, and she didn’t do small talk. Even if I could convince her to be my date, she’d hate every minute of it. Hell, I hated every minute of it.

I wished there was a scenario where I could just stay here and help her with the catering company, but that was a scenario for a normal person with a normal life. Unfortunately I was about as far away from normal as a person could get.

Breathing out a sigh, I sunk lower in the water until everything but my head was submerged. There had to be a solution, right?

Then again, I didn’t even know if Carrie wanted to find a solution. I knew she was attracted to me. That kiss last night had certainly proved that. We got along well and were starting to have a genuine friendship. But would she want more?

When I was shriveled up like a prune and the water had gone cold I finally got out of the tub and headed into my bedroom to put on my pajamas. Well, Carrie’s sister’s pajamas. My stomach growled, and I realized that I was hungry. We’d had a small meal before we left for the event but other than those two bacon wrapped scallops I’d stolen I hadn’t eaten for hours. I needed a snack, otherwise I wasn’t going to be able to sleep.

Apparently Carrie had the same idea. Like me, she was in her pajamas, her feet bare. She was leaning against the counter eating something off a napkin, a bottle of beer next to her.

“Hey, how was your bath?” she asked, her eyes moving over me like a caress.

“It was great, but now I’m hungry.”

She nodded towards the two boxes of leftovers we’d brought back. “Help yourself.”

I took a couple of the same mini quiches I’d smeared on Bob as well as a few other things that looked good, then boosted myself up on the counter next to her to eat.

“Do you always eat at the counter when there’s a perfectly good table five feet away?” I teased.

She smirked. “For some reason it feels like a snack instead of a meal if I eat here. Besides, I’m right next to the sink. Less mess to clean.”

“Brilliant.”

“Do you want a beer or something else to drink?”

“Beer sounds good, thanks.”

She looked surprised. “I didn’t take you for a beer drinker.”

“It’s an acquired taste,” I said, nodding my thanks as she popped off the lid and handed me a cold bottle of IPA. “One I acquired in college courtesy of my dorm mates.”