Chapter 14 #4
She dipped again into the water, a slick stream licking her skin and changing the pattern of her hair across her breasts.
“Well, My Lord,” she began. She was sarcastic at first, but then her face changed.
She looked away, and when she looked back to him, her eyes were full of inexperience, and it was the first time he had seen this face on her since she was young.
It roused intense feelings inside of him.
“Philippe,” she corrected herself, using a smile to hide her nerves and giving him the rare gift of his name.
“I don’t trust myself,” she said. She lowered her gaze.
“I am weak. I fear I would get attached. To someone who isn’t as attached to me.
” She brought her hands up to follow the ripples in the water.
“And besides, it could never be what I hope for.”
“What do you hope for?”
“I don’t know,” she murmured. “To feel special, I suppose.”
He said nothing for a moment, her words having struck him deeply.
He wanted to take her in his arms, to hold her body close in the hot water, but he feared she would run like a wild animal if he tried.
Instead, he spoke softly, earnestly. “Alex.” He made sure to look deep into her eyes and hold her gaze.
He wanted her to know he was sincere. “You are special. Don’t you know? ”
She broke his eye contact. “I am strange,” she said with a smile before letting it fade from her lips as she spoke her next words. “It is not the same thing.”
He watched her, still pressing closer, unable to stop. “A man would be lucky to have you,” he said.
She laughed away his words. “You are being kind,” she replied. “But now it is my turn to ask a question.”
Why didn’t she believe him, he wondered. Did he not seem sincere? He wanted to press further but instead acquiesced, still afraid of pushing her too far. “Alright,” he said finally.
With his assent, her brashness returned. “Why,” she began with a teasing smile, “do you wait for me to go to bed each night in the towns? Do you fear I will run off with your horse?”
He stared at her for a long moment. “I thought it was obvious,” he said, looking into her eyes as bright as the stars. “I want you to see that I go to bed alone.”
She had come to the end of the pool by then, and they both stopped moving.
The air around them was swollen and thick with moisture.
Her hair glistened, her skin shimmered. Philippe watched her chest rise and her lips come apart.
He ached with want. It hurt how badly he wanted to touch her.
But his desire was far beyond physical. He wanted to kiss her, to wrap her legs around his waist, to be inside her, but more so he wanted to confess he felt things for her that he couldn’t describe.
He didn’t know what was happening between them. He only knew he didn’t want it to end.
When he could fight it no longer, he moved to make some kind of contact. He edged closer to her, desperate to touch her. She was cornered now and couldn’t back away any further.
As if by reflex, her hand shot out, and she pressed the tips of her fingers against his chest to stop him. They looked at each other for a long moment, and he felt his breathing deep and heavy. His heart thumped arrhythmically in his chest.
“Stay there,” she said, her voice soft but persistent, like the mist on the water.
He didn’t move closer, but nor did he back away.
Instead, he grabbed her hand and pulled it tight against his chest, against his pounding heart.
“Alex,” he whispered. He wanted to say everything he felt but could think of no words that would be right.
Instead, he brought her hand up and touched her fingers to his lips. “I shall do anything you ask of me.”
The water grew too warm, and soon, they decided it was time to leave.
They dressed quickly, enough words having already been said.
It was a pleasant walk, though the moisture on their skin and cool evening air urged them not to linger.
Some great wall had been broken, and there was an ease between them that hadn’t existed in a very long time.
As they approached the town and slipped through the streets once again, they spoke for the first time of their childhood, of the days when Alex chased Philippe through the gardens of Chevalerie.
Soon they were on the doorstep of the inn, and it was time to end the night.
The next day would take them to their final destination and require their wits to be intact.
They passed through the tavern, unnoticed by the men loudly engaged one way or another and stood before the hallway that led one way to Philippe’s room and the other way to Alex’s. Philippe faced her.
“Well, goodnight,” he said. Suddenly, he leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before she could protest. Then he turned and disappeared into his room.
Alex stood in the hall alone, looking after him, her hand to the spot where he had kissed her.
Her body was still damp and her clothes were heavy with moisture, but her heart was light.
She smiled a private smile, still stroking her cheek.
She turned to her room, her heart content.
For the first time in many years, she could not think of one thing wrong with that man.