The sheer adrenaline fueling our actions over the next couple of hours makes it nearly impossible for me to think. We spend them hustling through the building in last night’s dress, racing across town in a town car driven at breakneck speeds by Alec’s bodyguard and driver Nate, hastily scrambling up to my apartment to find an outfit suitable for air travel—”Get a few things, Jessica—we can buy anything you need in Saintland”—, making several phone calls to the Saintland equivalent of the State Department to sort out a last-minute Visa for me, and sprinting through customs to catch the only outgoing flight of the day.

It’s not until we reach cruising altitude, Alec holding my hand in first class, that I catch my breath.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” he says into my hair, and I lean my head against his shoulder, breathing in his masculine scent that I’ve come to love.

I’m quiet as he flips through the in-flight movie selections, but my mind is racing.

Holy shit, holy shit. What have I done?

Start at the beginning, I tell myself sternly. You’ve bought yourself some time to think, and that time is right now.

Memories of the first time I saw Alec flicker in front of my eyes. His out-of-this-world body, the confidence he exudes in every movement, the way he zeroed in on me from across the room and hasn’t looked away since. More than that, the way I felt is what has made such an impact. It doesn’t make sense—we’re still almost total strangers—but I recognized something in him almost immediately that makes my heart race, filling with unspoken promises and possibilities for the future.

And we’re not total strangers, are we? What we have is on another level, and I’m almost certain that the way we play off each other in bed, driving each other wilder the more we’re together, unable to quench our need for one another, is a reflection of something deeper than lust.

Maybe I’m kidding myself.

Maybe I’ve made a huge mistake. I’ve up and followed a guy who claims to be a prince, and could have any woman he wants, onto a plane bound for a country halfway around the world. It’s like I’m a modern-day Cinderella, only I’m not in need of rescue. I have a nice life in New York—good friends, a steady job…

But something was missing, I hear that pesky truth-sayer singing to me in the back of my mind. Something was missing, and you know it.

Something will be missing now if this doesn’t work out. People will think I’m missing! It’s not like I called in sick…

I bolt upright in my seat with a gasp.

“What is it?” asks Alec—Prince Alec, I remind myself—gripping my hand tighter, eyes wide with concern.

“I didn’t call in to work. I didn’t show up today!” I shriek in panic. “I’ll lose my job!”

Alec responds by laughing indulgently. “I’m sure you could get another job inside a week.”

It’s true—I could probably rely on Carolyn’s good graces until I found another job. She can afford the rent. Then again, I haven’t told her about me jetting off to some random European country with a prince yet, either.

Jesus. This is probably the most spontaneous thing I’ve ever done, and I’ve upended my life more than once. Only each of those times, I had at least a hint of a plan in mind. This time? I have nothing.

I pull my purse out from where it’s stored neatly under the seat in front of us and remove my phone from the middle compartment. The flight’s in-flight Wi-Fi makes it easy for me to send a few messages. I start with Carolyn.

I’m heading to Europe on an impromptu vacation. Not sure when I’ll be back. Don’t worry. Be in touch soon…

* * *

The scenery greeting us when we step out of the airport in Saintland takes my breath away.

The airport itself was small and meticulously maintained, a far cry from the massive scale and overall dinginess of LaGuardia, but instead of skyscrapers, bustling streets with honking taxis and throngs of people scurrying here and there, it’s surrounded by something straight out of a storybook. A sprawling town filled with Eastern European–style buildings encircled by lush rolling green hills and flower-dotted valleys, mothers and children strolling shining streets, and, no joke, a palace overlooking it all from the highest point.

We look up to see Nate in the driver’s seat of a shiny black town car, navigating his way across a couple lanes of traffic to pull up in front of us at the airport exit door. Several small Saintland flags lining the hood and bumper are flapping in the wind. Alec waits as Nate shifts the car into park and then comes around to where we are waiting to open the doors. Nate patiently stands at attention, waiting for Alec to give the signal. I slide into the back seat first, followed immediately by Alec, and then Nate closes the door behind him before he puts what little luggage we brought with us into the trunk.

I realize that Alec and Nate’s interaction seems very formal, and is a far cry from the way they bickered behind closed doors in New York. I’m beginning to realize that everything is going to be different here…but how much different, I don’t know.

It doesn’t take long for me to figure it out, though. As Nate pulls the car away from the airport, I notice that several other sleek black and official-looking vehicles seem to be falling into line behind us.

Then I hear the wailing sirens.

Alec groans. “Nate, you asshole, did you tell the palace that we were returning?”

Nate doesn’t take his eyes off the road. “Yes, your highness, since I would like to secure my employment in your household. Also, your father was keen on ensuring that your trip to New York appeared to be an officially sanctioned trip.”

“Oh, and a royal escort through the capitol is going to do that?”

“He seems to think so.”

Nate screws up his mouth, and I wonder exactly what I’ve gotten myself into.

Alec and I talked during the flight when the sky above the Atlantic was dark. He told me his full name is Alexander Charles Caldwell, and he is second in line to the throne of Saintland after his older brother, Marcus. It’s only been the three of them since his mother died of breast cancer when he was ten years old. I also got the impression from the way he spoke about his dad and brother that they hadn’t exactly approved of his vacation to the United States.

After Alec finished outlining his life story, I told him some of mine. How I wouldn’t take no for an answer about boarding school. How my closest friends are rich, but no matter how many years I spend in their world, I never quite feel like I belong. How I was thinking of leaving New York for a fresh start.

That’s when it hit me. Maybe this was divine intervention, and Alec was my fresh start.

Nah. But it was good luck.

“I guess,” I said to him in a low tone, “this could be the perfect distraction.” I keep it noncommittal. No need to promise each other forever, not this early in the process, not when emotions are still running high from our big escape from the paparazzi.

As I lean against Alec in the back of a royal town car—I still can’t believe that’s what this is—and absorb the beautiful quaint European countryside that’s giving way to a city that seems both modern and historic, I sigh deeply. Things are squared away with Carolyn. My job is probably a thing of the past, but it wasn’t my dream job anyway.

I feel light-headed as it dawns on me. The real adventure is about to begin.