Chapter Two

Chapter Two

“Miss Catalina, I’m glad you could join us.” She blushed at the chivalrous sentiment before she descended the steps and the others finally looked to her.

“You were serious? You invited the bartender to tag along?” Julien asked, sneering a bit, which earned him a scowl from Cat. 

“Actually, she offered to escort us to our final destination of the evening, remember?” She watched as Julien groaned before climbing into the back seat of the car with his blonde friend.

“Did I do something?” She asked Thomas, and he frowned.

“No, not at all. He’s just a bit irritated with me. He was expecting this night to be just me, him, and Patrick before things get a little too crazy for us.” Now, she felt bad. Maybe she shouldn’t have agreed to be their chauffeur to the lake. 

“Oh, maybe I should just-”

“No, no, don’t worry about it. There are very few things in this world that don’t irritate him. He's my best friend, but he can be pretty judgemental of a lot of things, things he doesn’t agree with.” Cat thought about it for a moment, weighing the pro’s and con’s of going on this adventure and decided just to throw caution to the wind. How often would she get a chance to hang out with a man like Thomas? Never!

“Alright. Let’s get going.” He nodded in agreement, and they both got in the front of the car. He drove out of the parking space, and she directed them out of town.

It took half an hour, but the car ride was booming with a conversation that Cat did not contribute to. She didn’t want to irritate Thomas’s companions more than she already had. She figured the remainder of the evening would go a lot smoother if she held her tongue and didn’t upset anyone. 

It was after all their evening together. She was just a tour guide. 

She was a little surprised that as soon as Thomas parked the car in front of the bonfire pit, cabin, and lake that the men from the backseat practically jumped out with hoots of excitement. 

Her mind instantly went to retort silently about how they were acting like they had arrived at a frat party.

Men are so strange… She laughed alongside Thomas as they both slowly got out. She watched from beside the car door as Patrick playfully shoved Julien when they were on the deck which made the asshole lose his footing, and he fell into the water. 

Cat gasped in surprise and covered her mouth to keep from laughing aloud. Thomas smiled at this as Patrick laughed carefreely. Julien quickly resurfaced and wiped the beads of water from his face, sending his hair into disarrayed spikes which made Cat gasp.

He looked absolutely ridiculous! 

“Come on, Julien,” Thomas called out as he climbed out of the water using the steps to the deck before shaking himself completely to get as much water off of him as possible. “Patrick didn’t mean any harm.” Patrick squealed as the water from Julien's body sprayed him and jumped back.

“Yeah, sure, sure, whatever. It’s just a little water. No big deal.” Patrick laughed at his friend.

“Are you sure you can handle a little water?”

“Of course! But the question is ‘can you?’” Patrick gasped right before Julien shoved him into the water before pulling off his soaked shirt, laughing aloud. 

Cat averted her eyes when she took notice of the ripped muscles coating his arms and chest. How does a guy get that ripped? Did he spend half of his day in the gym? How vain did a guy have to be to do that? 

It was so overwhelming; she couldn’t look at him. Her eyes moved to Thomas who was smiling at the scene.

“Are they always like this?” Thomas nodded as he approached her.

“Pretty much, but you know, it’s gotten to be more often with age. You know what they say though.” She looked at him curiously.

“What do they say?” 

“Having a Y chromosome gives men a reason to act like a fool and make stupid choices.” She thought this was funny. 

“More like an excuse, but that is mostly true.” He smiled at her little joke. “So, why aren’t you galavanting about with your friends?” she asked as he strolled with her over to the bonfire pit where they took a seat close together on an old log. 

“Let’s just say I don’t have the liberty to act up as much as my friends do.” She was a little surprised by this.

“Why? Everyone should be able to have fun.” He shook his head with a pensive frown.

“Should, but not all can.” She wasn’t sure what to make of his statement, so she changed the subject to an easier topic.

Conversation flowed easily between the two of them. It was almost like a first date, the way you asked the person hundreds of questions to get to know them. It was nice, chatting with such a grounded guy as Thomas. He was sweet, charming, and he had her undivided attention. 

“So which one of you is getting married?” She asked, still curious about that, and she noticed him stiffen, a look of panic in his eyes.

“What? Who said anything about someone getting married?”

“I overheard Patrick saying how your little get together was a bachelor party.” He noticed him relax some, but he still seemed nervous. “What?” she asked, a little suspicious.

“Um… It’s my bachelor party.” Shock flowed through her as he said this.

“Wha-What?” 

“Yeah.” She felt a little offended by this. Thomas hadn’t been flirting with her, but she had felt a bit of a connection between them. She had hoped it meant something more than just friendship and he could see this when she looked away embarrassed. “Wait, wait; let me explain.” She shook her head once she got her emotions under control.

“There’s no need. You’re getting married. Congratulations, I guess.” She mumbled the last couple of words and was surprised when he took her hand in his, holding it firmly.

“It’s a little hard to understand, but I actually haven’t picked who I’m getting married to. I don’t have a fiancé yet.” Cat looked at him baffled.

“Wait, I don’t get it. How can you be getting married if you don’t have a fiancée?” He took a nervous breath before affectionately tucking a stray hair behind her ear, looking intently into her eyes. 

“I know it’s strange and I was hoping to go the rest of this evening with just being me and not explaining all this. People look at me differently once they know and I like to just pretend that I’m your average guy.” She bit her lip and searched his eyes for any answers. All she saw was pleading.

“Sorry to break it to you, but it’s obvious you aren’t any other guy, at least not where I’m from.” He looked at her surprised as she placed her hand over his. “You are so good and kind and decent, almost like you were hand craved by God as a model of what a man should be like. I’ve never met a guy like you, Thomas.” She noticed that he blushed and averted his eyes before looking back to her. 

“Thank you, Catalina, but some of that is because I’m no normal man. I have a secret that many know about where I’m from, but I rarely tell people I don’t know well when I travel about.” She nodded, egging him on, and he took a nervous breath. “My name is Thomas Evan Baker the Fifth, Crown Prince of Cordova.” A silence rang between them for a minute as his eyes reflected truth to her and a soft, quick gasp left her lips.

“Um, can you repeat that? I think I am hearing things. I could have sworn you just said that you’re a prince.” She pushed out in her baffled state which he nodded to.

“I know it’s a lot to take in.” 

“Wait, wait, are you serious? You aren’t just pulling my leg? You’re a-a-a prince?” He nodded with a solemn frown.

“I know it sounds strange, but it’s true. My mother and my father are the Queen and the King of Cordova, my country. My brother was the Crown Prince, but he abdicated.” She had never heard this term before.

“Abdicated?” He smirked at her from her lack of knowledge of this term.

“He decided it was best that he back out of his position which left only me to ascend the throne when my father steps down. I’m now at the age where I’m supposed to step up, but my country has a tradition where I must pick someone to marry before I take my place as King.” She felt like her head was spinning. How could this be? She had never met anyone who claimed to be royalty before and now this guy, this prince, claimed to be the next King of a country she had never heard of before.

“I’m a little confused. Do you have to pick a fiancée or is it like a suggestion?” His eyes widened in surprise before he laughed. 

“Well, it’s not written in stone, but it would be very difficult to circumnavigate that. My family hosts what is called a social season where all of those that are eligible for me to pick come to my home and I spend time getting to know them before my coronation. I’m expected to pick someone the night of my coronation and then well you know where it goes after that.” Her mind started to clear up from the shock and let out a huff.

“But what about love!” She asked, and he chuckled wholeheartedly.

“Are you one of those women who is a hopeless romantic?” 

“Of course! If you get married, love should always be a factor in who you married. Not you specifically, but in general. I would never marry someone I didn’t love,” she confessed, and he frowned sadly. She could see that her little speech had upset him and she felt like she had put her foot in her mouth.

“I don’t have that luxury.” His eyes met hers, and she frowned. She didn’t understand how someone couldn’t have love be a factor in who they marry. “Whoever I marry will govern beside me, and I have to put my people first. I can’t marry someone who just wants to marry me for the title of Queen or who is marrying me for me. I need to marry someone who can put the needs of my people first and have their best interest at heart, but also can handle the scrutiny royalty is subjected to.” Now, she understood. She didn’t agree, but she got it.

“I’m sorry. That’s just…” She couldn’t figure out the right words to say about his problem. 

“It’s okay. I’ve known this was coming for a while now. Now that it’s here it’s just overwhelming.”

“I get that. I really hope whoever you marry you can find love with even if it’s not what you were aiming for with them.” He gave her a sweet smile before he took her hand between his.

“Thank you. To be honest, I wish I could be like everyone else. Have some normal job where I work hard every day to support my family, have a wonderful woman to come home to every night, a woman like you….” She flushed, and his hand went to her cheek before her eyes met his. “That is what my dream life would be. To be completely average. It’s what I had planned for until my brother stepped down. I had enough of the glam and wished to live a carefree life like Julien does.” Cat stifled a laugh before it finally broke through and he stared at her confused. “What?”

“Something tells me Mr. Grumpy Pants over there does not live a carefree life.” He raised an eyebrow at her in a challenge.

“Sure, he has his stressors, but he doesn’t have the fate of an entire kingdom resting in his hands. Plus, you don’t know Julien very well. It might not seem like it from your first impression, but he knows how to have a good time better than I do.” She still didn’t believe him. 

“I remember once when we were kids, Julien and I were playing in the palace like normal kids do, and we made it to the chapel within the palace and he had the brilliant idea to mess with our priest by turning all the candles upside down, taking all the banners and laying them over the benches, and then hiding all of the bibles behind the statue of Jesus.” She didn’t get to joke here, but she was raised as a spiritualist as well. She didn’t know much about religion. “The priest was so freaked out that he made everyone in the castle do confessions and we all had to do ten Hail Marys. Julien thought it was hilarious and I admit I did, too. Our priest was pretty superstitious as well.” She snickered at the idiocy of the whole thing.

“Okay. That is pretty funny. My mom was a Gypsy, and they are very superstitious, but that definitely takes the cake.” His eyes widened, and his jaw slacked.

“A Gypsy? Like a real Gypsy?” She nodded proudly.

“Yup, my mom was Romanian, and I’m not really sure what my father was so I can only say that I’m half Romanian.” He looked a bit confused.

“Was?” Sadness echoed within her at the reminder of her mother’s passing.

“She died years ago, not long after I graduated high school.” He frowned intensely, an echo of sadness within his gaze.

“I’m sorry. That must have been hard. Is your dad still around?” She shrugged a bit nonchalantly.

“I don’t remember my father. He left when I was very young. I know what he looks like from pictures and his name, but I can’t remember things like his voice or his smell.” His down emotions intensified, but she shook her head. “It’s never really bothered me, him not being around. I had a full childhood. All I needed was my mom, and she kept everything interesting. There was never a dull moment in the Graham household. That’s for sure.” He snickered at her joke before gently taking her hand in his. 

“You aren’t...weirded out by me being a prince?” She shook her head with an indifferent shrug.

“No, not at all. Well, it’s not every day a prince holds his bachelor party in my bar and invites me along for a night at the lake, but there is nothing wrong with being a prince. I’m sure you’ll make a great king, Thomas. You seem very passionate, and I think that’s very important when it comes to a position of power, no matter the kind of position.” She tried to give him some encouragement, and her words touched him. 

“Thank you, Catalina.” She nodded her retort and the evening continued on smoothly. 

She and Thomas continued to laugh through their conversation until it was interrupted by both Julien and Patrick throwing a bucket of water on each of them. Where they found the buckets, she had no idea.

Cat jumped up and screeched in response from the sudden soak as Thomas did the same and laughed at the refreshing soak. 

“What the fuck!” She screamed as Julien simpered mischievously and Patrick laughed wholeheartedly. The whole time Thomas looked at Cat appalled by her cussing. He wasn’t used to hearing women cuss, only really Julien.

“You looked like you needed to cool off,” Julien quipped humorously, and Cat stifled a laugh, faking a grimace.

“We didn’t think Thomas would allow us to chunk you into the lake, so we brought the lake to you.” She rolled her eyes at this.

“Geez, thanks,” she replied sarcastically before shrugging out of her jacket and kicked off her soaked shoes. 

“Are you alright, Isabella?” She nodded as the two jokesters went back to the water and leaped back in just wearing their underwear.

“They always pour buckets of water on people?” She watched the water droplets fall from his strands down his forehead to his nose and down towards his lips. Hmm, those lips did look tempting, but she wasn’t about to push him like that. 

“Julien and Patrick, you learn to love them,” he teased, and she nodded as she turned her eyes to see the two splashing about in the water like two carefree children. The scene warmed her heart just a bit, seeing two grown men acting like there was nothing wrong in their world. 

A sudden flash of brilliance flashed through her brain as she looked back to Thomas who was also marveling at the scene.

“Why don’t you join them?” she asked, and he looked at her amazed.

“Uh, I actually can't swim. I prefer to watch others enjoy the water than trying to myself.” For this, she found Thomas to be weird. She had never met a full-grown man who couldn’t swim, but it was his party, and he could do what he wanted. 

“Well, like my mother always said, 'dacă nu puteți bate-le li se alăture'.” He looked at her confused, and she snickered, amused. “It means if you can’t beat them, join them.” He looked shocked as she pulled her shirt over her head, pushed down her pants, and peeled off her socks. 

“Are you sure?” It seemed undignified to him for her to be streaking like she was then and jumping into a lake with a couple of full-grown, hormone-fueled men. 

“Absolutely. Să învețe să trăiască un pic. 'Learn to live a little'.” With that, she sprinted at the dock and jumped over the men’s head, screeching in excitement, before plunging into the cool water.