Genevieve
It wasn’t the most romantic proclamation, but Carrie was willing to let me stay, to let us explore this heat between us. I knew I was prolonging the inevitable showdown with my parents, but I couldn’t resist spending more time with her.
I stared into my coffee and tried to sort through my feelings.
I’d already been half in love with Carrie before we had sex.
Well, okay, that was a lie. I’d already been in love with her, there was no halfway about it.
I’d never felt this way about anyone, but how could things possibly work out between us?
It wouldn’t be fair of me to drag Carrie into my world, and she’d hate it anyway.
I could step back from my royal duties of course.
I’d already been separating myself from that world a little more each year.
It wasn’t that I needed to be a princess and go to parties for any ego-related reason, it was more about my sense of responsibility.
I’d grown up privileged thanks to my country and my status in the royal family.
It seemed selfish and ungrateful to throw it all back in people’s faces.
Maybe we could just date on the down low while I was in Seattle?
I didn’t like the idea of keeping Carrie a secret, but for the most part I had anonymity here.
Unless some overeager reporter started following me around, I could probably have a relationship with Carrie and keep it out of the public eye. If she wanted one.
“You look like you’re thinking awfully hard over there.” Carrie’s dry tone broke my reverie.
“Just spacing out,” I lied.
I could tell by the look she gave me that she didn’t believe that for a minute, but she let me off the hook.
“I’m going to take a shower,” she said. “It’s a beautiful day today and the weather is supposed to be perfect. How do you feel about going for a hike?”
“I’ve never been hiking.”
Carrie frowned. “It’s walking outside in nature, you haven’t done that?”
I shrugged. “I mean, I’ve walked in city parks before and stuff. But I haven’t gone anywhere… rugged.”
“Okay, that’s it. You cannot be a real Washingtonian if you don’t hike. It’s practically against the law in the Pacific Northwest.”
“Well, I hate to have the Nature Police coming for me,” I smirked.
“Great, we’re going hiking. I know the perfect place.”
***
Hiking was different than I expected. In the movies people wore cute clothes and were smiling and happy as they walked over neatly groomed trails and stared out at beautiful vistas. It looked fun and easy.
This was not fun and easy.
The scenery was definitely beautiful. But the trails were uneven, full of trip hazards, and muddy as hell from recent rain. The mud sucked at my borrowed shoes with every step, and I’d tripped over roots so many times that Carrie had taken to calling out ‘root!’ every time one appeared.
We reached an overlook and I practically wept with joy when Carrie suggested we take a break.
We sat side by side on a big rock, staring out at a valley below us.
We were high enough that it seemed like we were on top of the world.
The valley reached out beneath us, mountains in the distance, while birds sang from within the tree canopy.
“I love coming up here,” Carrie said as she handed me half of her protein bar. “It’s beautiful.”
“It is,” I agreed. “How far did we hike?”
I’d pulled up the hem of my shirt to wipe off some of the sweat that was dripping down my face, so I thought I’d misheard her when she said, “Only about a mile and a half, maybe two.”
I pulled my shirt down and blinked at her. “We’ve been hiking for hours, and we went less than two miles?”
She smirked, then pressed a button on her watch. “Lemme look. We’ve gone one point eight miles in just about an hour.”
Damn, that was the hardest walk of my life. Then again, I couldn’t remember a time I’d walked two miles on flat land, so it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that walking two miles uphill through mud was difficult. I really needed to do more than go to pilates I guess. My cardio fitness sucked.
While I was a tired and sweaty mess, Carrie looked perfectly comfortable. She wasn’t even sweating despite the unseasonably warm temperature.
“Do you hike often?”
“As much as I can,” she replied. “I love that we have so many trails within a short drive from Seattle.”
I took a long drink of water, glad that Carrie had suggested we both carry some.
“We used to hike with our parents,” she continued. “Mom and Dad would pack backpacks, and we’d hike up somewhere and have a picnic lunch.”
“Do your parents still live in Seattle?” I asked.
“Yeah. They’re spending the month in Arizona right now, helping my aunt who had surgery, but otherwise I usually see them regularly.”
“What about your sister?”
“She’s here too. She works at Phoenix Software.”
“Why does that sound familiar?” I asked.
“It’s one of the local success stories. Super smart lesbian starts one of the biggest software companies in the world while creating a company that values and openly embraces LGBTQ+ folks and women in general.
Their CEO Madison Phoenix gives a ton of money to local charities, she seems like a great person. ”
“Oh that’s great.”
“Tell me about your sister.”
Carrie handed me another piece of a protein bar, and I took a bite before answering.
“We’re about as different as two people can be, but we’ve always been close.
She’s got this enormous responsibility as the future queen, but she’s never been resentful about it.
She also never did a single thing to make me feel like I was less important because I’m the spare, unlike some other royal families. ”
“Do y’all know each other?” she asked. “All the various royalty I mean?”
I shrugged. “Sooner or later you meet them all at state events or whatnot, but we aren’t friends.”
“What does your sister think about you living in Seattle?”
“She understands why I need to create my own life here, but she misses me. And I miss her. But we talk most days and get together a few times a year. She’s my best friend.”
Carrie turned to say something else, and I turned at the same time, and we both stilled, staring at each other for a long, charged moment.
Then we were kissing, mouths meeting roughly as our hands slid over each other’s bodies.
I was immediately turned on, my core clenching and ready to go even though this wasn’t the time or the place.
We kissed until we were both breathless, then pulled back reluctantly.
The trail was pretty quiet, but we weren’t alone here.
“Should we start heading back down?” Carrie asked, her voice a little breathless. “Unless you’d like to head up to the next vista? There’s a great view up there and it’s only another mile or so.”
“We can head back,” I said so quickly that Carrie smirked.
The walk back to the car was a little easier because it was mostly downhill. We were near the end when we headed down an incline and I lost my footing, my shoe sliding in the mud. I cried out as I fell, sliding down to the bottom of the hill on my ass like something in a cartoon.
“Oh my God Genny, are you okay?” Carrie called as she hurried to catch up with me.
I couldn’t help it. I collapsed down on my back in the mud, stared up at the sky, and started to laugh.
Carrie dropped to her knees next to me, watching me carefully. “Are you hurt?”
“Just my pride,” I laughed.
She reached out a hand to help me up and instead I pulled her down. She landed on top of me with a thump that briefly knocked the air out of both of us.
“You’re a disaster, you know that right?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
She lowered her head and pressed her lips against mine softly, then lifted her head and pushed some hair back behind my ear.
“We’d better get you home so you can get cleaned up.”
Carrie helped me get to my feet then looked behind me. “We’re going to have to hose you down before you get in the car,” she laughed.
“Is there a hose down there?” I asked curiously. Given the amount of mud here that made sense.
“No, but I have a blanket in the trunk we can put over the seat before you sit down. That’ll be easier to clean.”
By the time we drove back to Carrie’s house the mud was caked and falling everywhere. It wasn’t just me though. Carrie’s shoes were coated, despite her efforts to scrape off the worst of it before she got in the car.
We pulled into the garage and after the door closed Carrie gave me a stern look. “Strip.”
I made a show of looking around the garage. “I don’t know, this doesn’t seem like the best place for sexy times. There’s no place comfortable to lay down.”
She stalked towards me and I darted away, laughing. “Okay, okay, if you want me naked I’ll get naked.”
At her direction I tossed my clothes right into the washing machine, and when I turned around my temporary housemate was also stark naked. I raised one eyebrow and she shrugged. “I might as well wash my clothes too. Now how do you feel about showering together?”
“I heard showering together is good for the environment,” I said solemnly.
“It really is. Let’s go.”