The Keys' Prince (The Royal Heirs) (9 page)

“Wyatt. Get down. You know better than that,” Dario said, peeling the dog’s monster paws off of Stella’s shoulders and trying to coax him to sit down, which he evidently did not want to do.

“You finally got a dog,” Stella said, dropping her tote bag to the floor and getting down on her knees to wrap the dog in a huge hug. “What a handsome boy he is.”

“I did finally get one. But he thinks he’s a lap dog. All sixty pounds of him. You know how much I always wanted one, but I didn’t think it was fair to leave him so much while I travel.”

“Well, what changed? You’re still traveling a lot, I assume.”

“That I do. But I finally decided that there was no reason I couldn’t just bring him along.”

“You take this beast everywhere you go? He’s not exactly the size to fit in one of those designer puppy purses.”

“No. No, he’s not,” Dario said and laughed as Wyatt continued licking Stella’s face and sunglasses. “But he’s sure good company. I even think Stefan enjoys messing with him, which, by the way, means I owe Stefan a huge thank you for bringing him here from the condo I was renting across the bay. The poor boy must have been going nuts because I didn’t come home last night. Not that my staff wouldn’t have spoiled him rotten, but he is kind of a daddy’s boy. Well, he was till he met you.”

“He’s a Portuguese water dog, right?” Stella asked.

“Indeed. And as ornery as they come,” Dario said, leading Wyatt by his collar out the front door and doing his best to walk the dog without a leash. “You don’t mind if he goes with us, do you? Just for the r-i-d-e, not to the gardens. He loves to g-o for a r-i-d-e.”

“You have to spell it out?” Stella asked unable to keep from laughing not only at Dario having to spell it out but at how excited Wyatt was to get to go along. So much for the spelling system. The boy knew exactly the treat he was in for.

Stella couldn’t hold it in any longer and laughed out loud. It definitely wasn’t Dario walking his dog. Wyatt was walking his master.

“He’s very smart but a little out of control,” Dario said, doing his best not to trip over Wyatt’s large paws as the dog basically dragged him toward the car.

“Here. Hold up, Your Highness. I’ve got his leash,” Stefan said, quickly coming toward them with a thick red leash.

“Have you tried to hold up when you’re walking Wyatt?” Dario asked laughing right along with them.

“Good point, Sir,” Stefan said, straddling the dog to get his leash clicked into place. “There now. That should be a bit easier.”

“Should being the operative word,” Dario said, holding on for dear life as Wyatt continued yanking him toward the waiting vehicle.

Franco was in the front passenger seat of the Range Rover, waiting to take them to the gardens. Judging by his huge grin, he was also quite entertained by Wyatt dragging Dario down the sidewalk. Stefan had pulled up to the top of the home’s circular drive so luckily they didn’t have too much further to go.

It seemed like an eternity since Stella had travelled in a luxurious SUV. She and Franco had decided she’d be much safer in Sarasota, and stand a better chance of remaining incognito, riding around town in Auntie Elo’s Fiat 500 Pop. Stella really did love that little car. And she’d love to give it a spin herself. But she’d never bothered to get a driver’s license. It wasn’t as if she’d ever needed one or would need one.

Until her new life in Sarasota, she’d always been chauffeured in a high-end sedan or SUV with plenty of room for at least Franco and another member of her security team. Thinking of the motorcade that she’d always been protected by made her shutter. Tiny goose bumps covered her arms. What would it be like to simply get in the driver’s seat and go wherever you wanted to go, all by yourself? She sighed, resigning herself to the fact that she’d probably never know that kind of freedom.

Trying to refocus, think positive and celebrate the small things in life, Stella thanked the powers that be that so far, they’d been able to keep the press off the trail of their new digs in Casey Key. She could only hope it remained that way.

At least she and Dario didn’t have to sneak out some side or back door in a disguise, or worse yet, sit around all day and wait to go out until they were protected by cover of darkness, only to then be swarmed by multiple cars in a protection detail. She’d done that way too many times. She also couldn’t imagine once again having to add Dario’s detail to the massive number of cars in hers. What a circus that had always been.

Taking her place in the back seat—with Wyatt, one extremely happy boy, parked between her and Dario—Stella settled into the plush leather of the seat and tried to enjoy the ride. She had to admit that having Wyatt to hold onto and cuddle with did calm her nerves. But it didn’t stop all kinds of thoughts from racing through her mind.

Maybe she needed to see if Wyatt could be part of their future photo ops. He’d definitely take a bunch of the interest away from her and Dario. Maybe she needed to get a dog of her own. Maybe all of this was just a crazy dream. Although, she sure hoped it was real.

• • •

Franco and Stefan had arranged for the first photo op to take place in the lush rain forest of Selby Garden’s Tropical Conservatory. There, in front of a beautifully cascading waterfall, Stella posed with her prince for their first official photos as a couple. Blinded by the spotlights set up and the flashes from dozens of cameras going off simultaneously for what seemed like forever, Stella willed herself to stay in the moment and not drift deep within like she normally did when faced with this kind of press. To make their plan work, she had to own it and play the part of a princess-in-the-making.

After answering questions about how they’d hooked up after all of these years, whether or not she would be going to Kristianico and if so, when that trip would be made, they bid their farewells and promised to talk with everyone again the next day.

As they made their way through the crowd of reporters—hand-in-hand—along the path taking them away from the mayhem, Stella wished the trees in the thick forest would swallow them whole.

“That went well, don’t you think?” She needed Dario’s opinion. He was much better at dealing with the media circus than she was.

“It did. Feeding the beasts a morsel of hot scoop a day might just work,” he said, still holding her hand while they put enough distance between themselves and the news crews that they could no longer hear any clicks from the cameras. “It definitely looked good that we were both at the commissioners’ meeting to support a cause we believe in. Also, the fact that we’ll be returning to Kristianico in a few weeks will make major headlines. I’m certain that all of the reporters and cameramen and women were thrilled to hear that they’d end up with a trip to Kristianico, paid for by their producers and editors.”

“I loved how you phrased our run-in at the commissioners’ meetings as sweet serendipity. Boy, did they eat that up,” Stella said, remembering one reporter in particular from one of the major networks who repeated the phrase out loud and smiled as she wrote it down in her notebook.

“I’m pretty stoked about that one too. It will make for great copy. But, if I do say so myself, our running into each other was sweet serendipity.”

Stella swallowed and came to a stop on the path leading them to what would hopefully be freedom for the afternoon. Was she starting to believe the fairy tale they were spinning, too? And if she was, what would it do to her if once again, it didn’t come true? They were in very dangerous and way-too-familiar territory. Surely, Dario knew, like she did, how this would end?

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Dario motioned for them to sit on a bench in the middle of the bamboo grove they were roaming through.

“How can we keep on doing this? Pretending that we’re together?” Stella asked, swallowing the lump in her throat.

“Who says we’re pretending?” Dario asked, hurt registering in his eyes.

“Well, if you’re not, you should be. And so should I,” Stella said, not meaning to sound as harsh as she did, but she couldn’t soften the fear tossing and churning waves worse than any tropical storm throughout her body.

“And why’s that? Tell me. Why shouldn’t we have a second shot at finding our happily ever after?” Dario asked, his tone now mirroring the frustration in hers. “We’re adults. We’ve both tried to move on. But something brought us back together, Stella. And, I for one, plan to make good on that.”

Stella didn’t know what to say. She wanted to throw her arms around him and say to hell with everything else, that he was right. And deep inside, she so hoped that he was. But how were they ever going to make all of this work? They’d tried once before and failed. She couldn’t take that kind of pain again.

“Are you trying to tell me that you don’t feel the same way about me that I do about you? Because if that’s it, I’ll put a stop to this right now,” Dario said, his eyes flashing with the same sharp spears of raw pain that Stella felt stabbing at her soul.

“No. No. I do feel the same. I’ve never stopped loving you, and I never will. But that wasn’t enough the last time,” she said, her voice dropping to barely a whisper as the pain of their past once more became all-too-real.

“Maybe it wasn’t enough then, but I’d like to think that we’re both smarter now and stronger. We can do this, Stella. If we want it bad enough, we’ll find a way.”

“I do want it more than anything. That’s all I’ve ever wanted,” Stella said, squeezing his hand and looking into his eyes, glad to see relief had washed away the anguish that was there moments before. “Maybe I just needed to hear it from you too. To know that you’re not pretending either.”

“Maybe this will convince you,” he said, capturing her lips with his and doing a sensual tango with their tongues.

Every part of Stella’s body tingled. She felt as if she were floating through the gardens instead of sitting on a bench in the middle of them.

“I think with a few more of these, I’d be even more convinced,” she said, reveling in the desire surging through parts of her that only he could stir.

“That’s the spirit,” Dario said, nibbling at her lower lip one last time before helping her off of the bench. “Do you want to see the rest of these gardens or would you rather go back to the house?”

“I doubt we can get out of here. I’m sure the crews are still around, waiting to see if we’re by chance leaving early,” she said, wishing for nothing more than to be able to run away with him forever.

“Good point,” he said and sighed. “So show me these gardens. And wow could I really use something cold to drink.”

She pinched his ribs and playfully swatted at him for his sweet tease of a suggestive remark. But she wasn’t going to deny his urge for something cold. She was in the same boat. The heat of the gardens wasn’t anything compared to the heat Dario created when he kissed her.

With a nice distance between them and where they’d left the press at the waterfalls, they took their time exploring the tropical oasis. They enjoyed bamboo and banyan groves, a cactus garden, a bonsai garden, hibiscus and fern gardens, a mangrove forest and the property’s private tidal lagoons along the bay.

Stella had no doubts as to why the gardens were on the National Register of Historic Places, and she totally agreed with the brochures that it really was a living library of plants.

She especially admired the incredible orchids—all twenty-two thousand species the gardens contained. The tulip orchid, a rare species from Colombia, was her favorite. She’d never seen or heard of anything like it. It looked as if a tulip bloom sat on top of the long, precocious stem of an orchid. Truly breath-taking, especially in the lovely color of lemon sorbet.

While butterflies flittered around them, some even landing on their shoulders and hats while they walked, they came across a beautiful, hidden pond filled with koi fish.

Taking a seat on a blanket that Dario had purchased in one of the garden’s gift shops, they kicked off their shoes and relaxed, enjoying a wonderful picnic lunch that he’d also surprised her with.

“Interesting isn’t it that one of the things the gardens are known for is their selection of epiphytes?” Stella asked, studying the beautiful book that Dario had picked up for her.

“You’re going to have to help me out on that one, princess. What’s an epiphyte?” He asked, leaning over her shoulder to look at the page she was reading.

“It’s a type of plant that grows on other plants but doesn’t take sustenance from them.”

“I’m not sure I’m following you. No, on second thought, I’m more than sure you’ve lost me. What’s interesting about that?” He said, handing her a napkin and a boxed lunch.

“I think it’s a sign for us.”

“A sign?” He asked.

“You and I have always lived our lives with people attached to our hips. Even now, we’re not alone. Franco and Stefan, and the rest of our teams, are somewhere in the bushes watching our backs,” she said, taking a bite of a barbecued tofu and lettuce leaf wrap.

“Ah. I get it. The people attached to our hips get all of their sustenance from us, unlike the epiphytes. We could each use more epiphytes in our lives, right?” He asked, offering her a bottle of herbal tea.

“Exactly,” she said, focusing on the bright orange and white koi fish, her and her father’s favorite, as they gracefully went about their business in the pond. She sure knew how it felt to live life in a fish bowl.