Player's Princess (A Royal Sports Romance)(11)

Dee has already migrated to the kitchen table, where she points her thousand-yard stare at the kitchen. I walk Ana into the room and sit her down. Then I help the brothers carry the feast out and set the table.

Ana looks over our board of fare and asks, "Where's the fish?"

"You don't eat fish for breakfast."

"Yeah you do," Akele says, "just not around here. Here, pretty princess, try this."

He stabs a slab of Spam and drops it on her plate.

Ana pokes it with her fork. Then she examines her fork, flicking at the bent tine. She turns the cheap plastic handle in her fingers.

"Is milady's silverware not adequate?" I say.

"This isn't silver, but it will serve."

She looks around the table and fidgets before she uses the fork to carve out a tiny bite of Spam.

"This tastes like hot dog," she says.

Akele and Aheahe look at each other.

"I like it," she declares and starts shoveling Spam slices onto her plate.

I pile up a healthy meal, Dee loads up her plate, and the brothers chow down. It's like watching that scene in the dinosaur movie where they drop the cow in the raptor pen.

Princess Ana keeps up. She must eat an entire can of Spam herself, two stacks of pancakes, French toast with jelly and butter, and a half dozen eggs. She washes it down with about half a gallon of milk, chugging half a glass at a time.

"Good," she declares.

"High praise," Aheahe agrees.

"I have to wash your clothes," I tell her.

I grab the balled-up puke-laden garments and head down to the basement. To my surprise, she follows me down.

"I wish to apologize for soiling your shoes."

"It's okay, they were only my favorite shoes. Hand me that laundry detergent, will you?"

She looks at the shelf and blinks. "Which one is that?"

"Blue bottle."

She plucks it down and hands it to me, and watches, fascinated. I give her a look, but she just shrugs. After I load the machine and turn it on, she watches the water and clothes spin around through the glass door.

"I have to ask. You've never been in a laundry room before, have you?"

"No."

"Who does your laundry?"

She shrugs. "Servants."

She looks at the floor and scuffs her feet, and her cheeks redden. I stare at her for a moment, burning the image into my brain.

I clear my throat.

"Come on, upstairs. They have to dry after they're done washing. We'll have you out of here in a couple of hours."

The princess rubs her arms.

"You know, we could pick up where we left off," I say, moving closer to her. "You were telling me what being a princess is like."

"No, I wasn't," she says curtly.

"Maybe we could dance a little more, then."

"I had enough of that."

I don't let that deter me.

"You know, it was kinda cool how you charged at a guy twice your size to get my back."

She blinks. "What would I want with your back?"

"I mean, back me up. Support me."

"Oh." She shifts on her feet. "Yes. If you say it is cool."

"So you know what 'cool' means, but not 'got your back'?"

The princess glares at me. "I'm a foreigner. Not an alien."

I laugh a little. "Right, right, I'll remember that. What was all that you were saying about being a warrior? Your mom or something?"

She shifts uneasily on her feet. "Nothing. It is silly."

"Oh yeah?"

"How long does this machine take?"

"About an hour."

Huffing, she walks to the stairs and sits down.

"We don't have to watch the whole time. It has a buzzer. You can go back upstairs if you want."

She eyes me, chewing her lip. "Do you know where I'm from?"

"Jyvaslka."

"You're pronouncing it wrong."

"I don't think anybody can pronounce it right."

Her look could cut glass.

"Sorry. I just meant it's a difficult language. I speak a little Spanish. Took it in high school."

"I speak five languages."

"Well, aren't you fancy."

"I'm a princess."

"Are you? I forgot." I grin.

She props her chin on her hand. "I didn't."

"What's that mean?"

"Nothing. My people came to the island six hundred years ago. Until they found the oil off our shores, we were hunters and fishermen. While the men tended the nets and hunted whales, the women cared for our homes. That means defending them from raiders."

"So you are a warrior princess. Cool."

"Cool?"

"Cool. Go out with me."

"What? Out where?"

"On a date. It's something we earth humans do."

"I told you I'm not a—"

"You've demonstrated they have sarcasm on your planet. I'm sure you can understand the concept of 'humor.'"

She sighs. "Why?"

"What? I like you. I want to buy you dinner. We can go to Burger King. They treat you like royalty there. You'd like it."