“And this is our office space,” Jessica says, gesturing towards the wide-open space in front of me. We’re inside a freshly renovated building in the heart of old Dubreva. She bought the building as the home base for her Celestro Communications operation, and I have to admit…

“Wow, this is awesome, Jessica.”

The interior is a mix of stucco and exposed brick. There are hints of Dubrevian character here, such as a white column in the center of the room with the customary swirls, and the glass in the window panes is old and warped.

She looks back at me and grins widely. “Isn’t it? It was a bit more expensive than I wanted to pay, but I saw it and the view, and I just couldn’t say no.”

“The view?”

“Oh! Yes!” She runs over towards the window in her stilettos—I still have no idea how she manages to make that look good—and points out the window. “You can see the Mediterranean from here.”

I walk up behind her, and my mouth falls open at the sight. Beyond a few buildings across the street, the azure water stretches beyond us, glittering like jewelry in the sun. It’s so beautiful, I find it hard to breathe for a moment as I look outside. Some yachts are sprinkled near the horizon and I see some tourists parasailing. Seagulls flock in formation.

I thought I could smell the ocean strongly here when we came in, but this confirms it. I could throw a pencil and hit a tanning beach-goer.

“Oh my god,” I whisper. Never in my life would I have thought I could work in a place so stunning. Croft Towers in New York City overlooks Central Park, which is gorgeous in and of itself. But I can’t imagine anything ever comparing to this.

Jessica crosses her arms proudly and nods. “I’m ecstatic.”

And she is. I’ve never seen her so happy and chipper. As the CEO of Croft Media, she’d been more reserved and professional, since she had a multi-billion-dollar corporation riding on her shoulders and her reputation. But here, since she has nothing to lose, she’s a dreamy-eyed owner of a start-up once again. I hope she was like this when she started Croft Media.

I hope Celestro Communications goes the same way for her. Well, without the whole disastrous end.

“We’ll probably run at a deficit for the first few years,” Jessica says with a short laugh. “I dipped a little too far into my pocketbook for this place.”

Not that it would matter. Not only is she a self-made billionaire, but so is Phillip. I know that a lot of his money goes towards charities, but they could probably spend a million dollars a day until the sun burns out.

They’re that well-off.

“What do you think?” she asks, breathlessly.

“I love it,” I say honestly. “This is truly amazing, Jessica.”

She grins and nods. “I was thinking we could have an open floorplan, with a cluster of desks here,” she says, pointing to an area with room enough for ten desks. “And we could have the monitors for the different news stations over here…” She points to a brick wall. “We’d have to have a kitchen somewhere…I’ve been thinking about hiring a chef full-time to cook, since we’re going to have long hours.” She glances at me. “It’s going to be a lot of work, but I hope it will be rewarding.”

I believe her.

She shivers excitedly. “And maybe, this time, I can build a media outlet that will change the world instead of observe it.”

“You will.” I walk up to the brick wall and run my fingers along it. This feels like it’s actually happening. Like someone’s dream is coming true. “This is exactly what you wanted.”

“Yes.” She watches me carefully, and I know she’s waiting for me to say that I’ll take the job, but there’s something still holding me back. I don’t know what, exactly, maybe it’s to see if I really can handle Henry when he’s on his best behavior—if there is such a thing. I mean, he showed up on the doorstep of the Palais Dubrevs drunk off his ass last night.

Either he had been really torn up about the news of me being pregnant or there’s something else going on.

And then he offered to take me out for dinner…and that was cute. “To get to know each other,” he reminded me.

I sigh, remembering how his gaze on me still warmed my core. Even though he’d been a bit of a scoundrel last night and hungover this morning, there’s something so vulnerable and endearing about him that I can’t put my finger on. Combine that with the hotshot prince I met at the banquet, and you had Prince Henry of Dubreva.

“Are you having a good time?” Jessica asks softly.

I laugh at her question. “Of course I am. This is amazing. I mean, I’ve been to the beach, I’ve seen some beautiful places. This. I feel like this is all a dream.”

“It is dreamlike, isn’t it?” she asks, looking around.

I somber, debating telling her what happened between Henry and me this morning. Instead, I say flatly, “I told Henry yesterday.”

She knows what I mean, and she raises her eyebrows in surprise. “How did that go?”

“About as well as can be expected.” I give a shrug. “I saw him at the hospital when I was there visiting the women’s clinic—honestly, I really liked Dr. Yamamoto, by the way.”

She smiles. “He came from a good recommendation.”

“But I saw him there, and it was like, what do I do? So, I told him.”

She waits a few seconds before prompting me further, “And?”

And, he got really drunk last night and showed up at my hotel room.” I laugh at her shocked expression. “He spent the night passed out on the sofa. But when he woke up, he said that he wanted to get to know me better. For the baby.”

“Wow,” she says, impressed. “Well, that’s good news.”

“Yeah, I just…” I fumble for words. “I keep thinking he’ll wake up and realize that I’m Catherine Collins. A personal assistant.” I realize that my words echo his sentiment from that morning.

Jessica frowns at my words. “You’re Catherine Collins,” she says gently, putting her hands on my shoulders, looking down at me. “Stanford graduate. Smart. And the best damn assistant I ever had. And—” she adds, raising her voice, “—she has the opportunity to help start something special.”

I put a hand over my stomach, feeling the flutter there that may or may not be my baby.

It seems like I have many ways of starting something special.

I’ve nearly made my decision.

It’s time that I start taking care of myself.