“I’ll have to fix that then.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “I can’t have you coming to Romerius thinking and acting like you think I’m an ass.”

“Uh huh.” I laughed. “Maybe it’s not such a good idea for us to go, is it?”

“We’re going.” The smile left his face. “You have no choice.”

“But class!”

“I’ll assign a museum assignment for next week.” He shrugged. “The students will be happy to step away from the theoretical.”

“But Anna will ...”

“What about her? I’m sure she will be excited for you. She seems the sort that would be happy to join me for a week.” He shrugged. “I’m sure she’d be packed already.”

“Whatever.” I tried not to grin. He knew Anna well. She wouldn’t hesitate twice, if she was in my shoes.

“She can come over next weekend with Sebastian, if you want.”

“I don’t want to go myself.” I frowned.

“Well, the offer is on the table if you want her to come.”

“I thought this was for one week?”

“It will be.” He nodded. “You can leave at the end of the weekend with Anna, in a heat of rage. I’ll have to leave the class, of course, but that’s a small price to pay to save your reputation.”

“Save my reputation? What about your reputation?” I gasped indignantly.

“I’ll get over it.” He laughed. “Trust me.”

“I’m sure you will.”

“Just like I’ll get over you.” His words were soft, and I looked up at him with a frown.

“Excuse me?”

“For what?”

“What did you just say?”

“I said, are you ready to visit Monet’s gardens?” He turned away from me. “I’ll think you’ll like seeing the lily ponds in person. It adds a whole new dimension to the paintings.”

“That’s not what you said.” I sighed. Why did he need to get over me? What was going on here? What was his problem?

“Don’t be difficult, Lola.”

“What?” My voice rose. “I know you’re not calling me difficult.”

“Would you rather me call you easy?” His voice dropped and we had a stare off.

“Let’s go.” I grabbed a cardigan from my bag.

“Want to get breakfast first?”

“I am human.” I rolled my eyes. “I need food to survive,” I paused and held my hand up, “but wait, don’t tell me. Your supermodel girlfriends eat air for breakfast.” My face grew red as I continued talking. I could see the smirk on his face, but I couldn’t stop myself. “Wait, don’t tell me. Air for breakfast and a side helping of a celery if they get hungry.”

“They don’t get hungry,” he answered with a wide smile.

“Of course they don’t,” I rolled my eyes. “Unfortunately for you, I’m not a supermodel. I’d like bacon, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms and a baguette please.”

“And some pastries, no?” He grinned at me.

“Yup, chocolate croissants and coffee. And I have milk and three sugars in my coffee.”

“Only three?” He tilted his head and I glared at him.

“Fine, more like five.” I responded and he burst out laughing.

“Come, Lola. I think we’ll have a great day.”

“Even with the paparazzi following us?” I made a face.

“You’ll soon forget them in the beauty of the day.” He smiled gently and took my arm. “Wait until you see the gardens, you’ll feel like you’ve been transported back in time. You’ll feel like you’re standing next to Monet himself.”

“It sounds magical.” I couldn’t keep the excitement out if my voice.

“It will be.” He held my hands and his face turned serious. “Thank you for being so good about this. I want to apologize for turning your world upside down like this. Most people would not have been able to handle it.”

“It’s okay, you can’t help being a prince,” I shrugged. He laughed so hard that I could see tears in his eyes.

“You’re so refreshing, Lola. Most women love that the most about me.”

***

“Are you full?” Xavier gave me a small smile as I finished eating my chocolate croissant.

“Yes, or should I say, oui.” I licked my lips and then took a sip of my coffee.

“I’m excited to show you the gardens.”

“I’m excited to see them. I had no idea we were going to come on a class trip here.”

“Okay, I think I need to let you in on a little something.”

“Oh?”

“There will be no class trip to Giverny.”

“What?” I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I told you a little porky pie.” He placed some money on the table and stood up. “After I saw how excited you were about Monet’s water lily painting, I knew I had to bring you here.”

“You lied to me.” I could hear the shock in my voice.

“I wanted you to see the pond and bridge in person.” He looked at me intently. “I thought you’d appreciate seeing exactly what Claude saw when he painted.”

“I don’t know what to say.” My heart thudded at his words. “That was so thoughtful of you, yet I don’t know why you lied.”

“Would you have come if I had told you I wanted to take you somewhere personally?”

“Maybe not.” I made a face.

“Exactly,” he shrugged. “I know that it has been slightly awkward between us, so I wanted to show you that I can be a thoughtful man.”

“Or you just wanted to seduce me.”

“You booked the rooms, Lola. Did you want to seduce me?”

“No.” I blushed. “That was a mistake.”

“I like mistakes.” He smiled gently. “But now let us go look in the gardens.” He pointed ahead of us and I saw a man waiting with an expensive looking car.

“You got a car?”

“Normally Max drives me around, but ...” He stopped talking and shrugged. “Now I have a chauffeur.”

“You didn’t need to do that.”

“Oh, but I did.” He nodded to the right and I followed his movement. “The paparazzi will be waiting for us all day and night. This will make it easier for us.”

“It’s crazy how they hound you.”

“It comes with my position.”

“It must be nice, being the playboy prince of Europe.”

“It has its advantages and disadvantages.” He shrugged. “It is what it is.”

“It is what it is,” I mumbled under my breath and made a face behind him. He was always so blasé about everything.

***

“Where is everyone else?” I looked around as we got to the gardens.

“It will just be us today.” He walked ahead of me. “I wanted you to enjoy and explore and feel like you can be one with nature.”

“That was very thoughtful of you.” I looked around me, and my breath caught in my throat as I saw how beautiful our surroundings were. I’d never seen so many different shades of green in one place before. The grass and the trees all seemed to be positively thriving in the setting and the flowers were all so bright and beautiful. I half expected to see some animals dancing on the grass and having a picnic. As soon as I saw the pond, I started running. It looked just as I remembered it from Monet’s paintings. It was magnificent. I ran hard and fast, and I felt my hair flapping against my back. The sun warmed my face and I gazed at the pond and green bridge in awe. There were purple flowers hanging overhead, and I just stared at the picture in front of me, my eyes taking in every color and flower.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Xavier’s voice whispered into my ear as he stood next to me.

“It’s just like the paintings. He captured the essence so brilliantly.” I nodded, not looking away. “Look at the lily pads.” I pointed into the pond. “It feels almost magical being here after seeing the photos so many times.”

“Being with you feels magical.” His arm slid around my waist and we just stood there taking it all in.

“Thank you for bringing me here, even if it was due to a lie.” I smiled up at him. “This is really wonderful. And I’m sorry about the paparazzi. I’m sorry they got the wrong impression of us.”

“Don’t be sorry.” He grabbed my face and tilted it up to look at him. “Everything happens for a reason.” He leaned down and kissed me hard and I kissed him back. I lifted my arms up as he pulled my t-shirt off and then we fell to the ground. He undid my bra and I grabbed the front of his shirt.

“I’m going to make love to you in the fields.” He groaned as he kissed down my neck. “Are you okay with that?”

“I don’t have any ...” I gasped as his teeth bit down on my nipple.

“I have protection.” He grinned at me as he looked up and switched over to the other nipple. He bit down again and I cried out. His lips moved quickly to my shorts and he pulled them down swiftly. I felt the cool breeze against my na**d skin and shivered. “I’ll keep you warm, Lola.” Xavier sat up and pulled his shirt off and then his pants. I stared at his manhood, hard and bulging and then reached out and grabbed him.

“I’m looking forward to you keeping me warm.” I laughed as he groaned and pushed me back down on the grass. His face immediately fell between my legs and his tongue explored my folds while he lips sucked on my clit. I felt my wetness against his face and I squirmed beneath him.

“What are you doing?” I moaned as he lifted my legs up and his tongue slid from my cl*tdown to my other hole.

“Relax.” He groaned as he licked my anus. I felt the tip of his tongue enter me slightly and I bucked against his face in shock. “Close your eyes and relax.” He chuckled, still holding my legs up as he tongue moved back to my clit. I groaned as his tongue entered me and moved back and forth inside of me. I felt my orgasm come hard and fast and he licked me up eagerly as I came.

“Get on your knees,” he groaned and pulled me up. He then pushed my arms forward so that my ass was up in the air. I felt him up against me and the tip of his c**k was at my entry. “Have you ever done anal?” He moved his c**k up and my body stilled.

“No.” My voice was shocked and I reached behind me to push him away.

“Don’t worry,” he laughed. “All my lessons don’t come in one day.” He moved his c**k back down and slowly entered me. “Oh fuck, you feel good.” He groaned as he entered me. I fell forward slightly as he started moving faster and faster. “You’re so wet, Lola. You’ve been dying for me to fill you up since this morning, haven’t you?”

I moaned as I felt his c**k inside of me, hard and deep. This time wasn’t for my pleasure. This time was for him. I could feel it with every thrust and the way his hands gripped my hips. Xavier was ready to come, and even though he was rougher than before, I loved it. I closed my eyes and gripped the grass beneath me as he f**ked me senseless.

“Oh shit,” he groaned. “I’m going to come.” He pulled my butt back into him hard and I felt his whole body trembling against me as he erupted inside of me. He pulled out after a few seconds and I watched as he flung the semen-filled condom on the ground.

We lay back in the grass, na**d and hot under the midday sun. My body was still trembling from our passionate lovemaking, and I stared at him as he played with the grass.

“That was fun, wasn’t it?” he asked softly, his expression impenetrable.

“It was definitely an experience.” I nodded, unsure of what to say.

“I want to give you more experiences like this. I want to take you on journeys that you’ve never been on before. I want to learn the landscape of your body inch by inch, so that I could paint you from memory.” He leaned down and kissed my br**sts softly.

“Do you think that Monet ever made love out here?” I wrapped my arms around his neck and closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of being wanted.

“I don’t know, but if he didn’t, he sure missed out.” Xavier’s voice was hoarse and I opened my eyes and looked down at him. He was staring at me with such a strange expression that I didn’t know what to think. “Let’s get our clothes on,” he pulled me up off of the ground. “We should leave now.”

“I was having fun.” I sighed, sad that we were leaving already.

“We shouldn’t allow this to become more than it is.” He spoke to me, but I felt like he was really talking to himself.

***

“I thought Paris was the other way?” I frowned as I stared out of the window and looked at the green fields as we drove past them in the back of the Bentley Xavier had conjured up out of thin air.

“We’re going to the airport.”

“Why?”

“We’re flying to Romerius.” He shrugged.

“Oh. I didn’t know. I could have booked the flights.”

“The royal plane will take us.”

“You have your own plane?”

“Doesn’t every royal family?” His eyes were light with mischief. “Try not to be overwhelmed.”

“That’s not going to be easy.”

“Try not to look too eager, either. That will turn my parents off.”