I have a theory about all this.

I think I’m on drugs.

It’s the only thing that makes any sense. A week ago, right before Prince Grayson and his friends walked into my diner and ordered breakfast, someone must have drugged me. Maybe Flynn, maybe Livia, maybe the other waitress working that day, I don’t know.

But they drugged me, and then I met the prince. And then the prince propositioned me in the diner, and I ran away, and now I’m hallucinating everything about tonight: Livia ruining my dress, Flynn saving me, Charlize/Thomas outfitting me, the whole nine yards.

And now I’m hallucinating Prince Grayson smiling at me and kissing my hand. I’m hallucinating him asking me to dance while every other woman in the entire kingdom stares at the two of us.

I’m hallucinating the band striking up a waltz, one of his hands on my waist and the other in mine as he leads me across the dance floor. Thank God my father paid for dancing lessons for me before he died.

“I didn’t think you were going to come,” he says as we start whirling around the dance floor.

That takes me by surprise.

“You thought about whether I was going to come?” I ask, the words out of my mouth before I can think of something better to say.

Step, step, whirl.

“I did,” he says. “I’ve been trying to find you ever since you turned me down at the diner.”

My stomach clenches, and I feel the heat rush to my face. I look away, over his shoulder, at the champagne fountain on the far side of the ballroom.

Prince Grayson just laughs.

“I threw a fucking ball to find you, and I don’t even know your name,” he goes on, whirling me again. “I’ve thought about almost nothing for a week except ten thousand ways to make you orgasm, and I don’t even know your name.”

I clear my throat, my face even hotter. Something else is hot too, something liquid and writhing deep inside me. No one has ever talked to me like this before, and... I think I like it.

“It’s Ella,” I say.

“Ella. Beautiful,” he says. “Too beautiful to be working as a breakfast waitress.”

“Someone’s got to do it, haven’t they?” I ask, finally finding my voice. “I won’t be a breakfast waitress forever.”

“Tell me, Ella,” he says. “What do you do when you’re not a breakfast waitress?”

I think for a moment. Besides Flynn and now Thomas, no one really knows about my weird situation. Working so much and then coming home just to work more kind of puts a damper on my social life, to say the least, and I’m always wary of what people will think.

“I’m a housekeeper,” I say lightly. “I work for a noble family with two daughters.”

For some reason, Prince Grayson just grins at that, and suddenly, I’m embarrassed.

“My father died when I was young and I had to make my way in the world early,” I say, getting defensive. “I did finish high school, and I just haven’t had a chance to go to college or anything yet, but I’d like to.”

“I wasn’t laughing at you,” he murmurs. “I was laughing at the fact that I threw an entire ball to find a girl who’s a part time waitress, part time housekeeper while every duchess in the kingdom is practically launching her daughters at me.”

“That sounds dangerous,” I say without thinking.

“What does?”

The music is slowing now, the song coming to a close. Prince Grayson pulls me a little closer, his hand tightening on my waist.

“Having women launched at you,” I say.

“Don’t worry, I can handle myself just fine,” he murmurs, pulling me closer again.

Now our bodies are pressed together, much closer than a waltz dictates, and suddenly I can feel his heat through his formal outfit.

Not only that, I can feel something else, something thick and hard and massive pressing against my belly, and it takes me a moment to realize what it is.

At the exact moment that I realize what’s happening, Prince Grayson leans down, his lips close to my ear. I can feel virtually everyone else in this ballroom staring at us.

But as he whispers, shivers run up and down my back. A river of fire flows through me, and I remember why I came.

I came because for a week I’ve been getting myself off, fingers inside my tight channel wishing it was him.

I came because, to my amazement, I regret not letting Prince Grayson bend me over the bathroom sink at work and take my virginity right then and there.

And I came because my life is dull and boring, punctuated by moments of stupidity and cruelty from my family, and this is for me. I want to do something sexy and exciting, something that I want to do for once.

I want the prince, and no one and nothing can stop me.

“Ella,” he says, his lips brushing my ear as my eyes slide closed. “May I have another dance?”