Chapter 13 #2
He followed her up and into her room. On the surface it looked generally the same, but he could tell certain things had been moved or removed. She probably hadn’t wanted to move too much in case her mother became suspicious.
“I just need to pack the last few things. Diana! Did you find them?”
“Yes!” Diana called back from down the hall, then appeared a few moments later with several picture frames. Gabriel guessed they were images of her father.
“Which one do you want? I’ve already packed some of the small ones. They’ll be easier to carry once I leave with the VAC.”
“I’ll take them all, but not the frames.” Genevieve turned to him. “You wouldn’t mind if I hung some photos of my father would you?”
“Of course not. Though I’d prefer you didn’t hang them in the bedroom.”
“Gabriel!”
Diana cackled, then threw her arms around him in a hard hug. “I’m so happy I finally have a brother.”
“And I’m more than pleased for another little sister. Why don’t I take those out of the frames, while you both finish packing.”
Diana ran down the hall while Genevieve continued to pack the last of her makeup. “Helen hid most of papa’s pictures away after he died. She only kept one up in the main sitting room, in case guests came over. I didn’t want to leave without taking some with me.”
He simply nodded and finished his work, then slid them into a pocket in her suitcase. He noticed one fancy dress on top, the one she’d worn to the ball. He rubbed the soft fabric between his thumb and forefinger.
“I couldn’t bear to leave it.”
He glanced up to see sadness cloud her face again.
“I know it’s the dress I wore when we danced, but it’s also the dress I wore to my last ball with Sam.”
He nodded, understanding completely. “What about your picnic outfit?”
She blinked, as if suddenly realizing something. “It’s at the Kaurs. I changed before Sam and I…it’s at her house.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t ask for it back. Not now. It’s not that important anyway.”
She set her makeup box down and took a last look around the room, the closet, and the bathroom. She opened a drawer and took out an envelope with ‘Helen’ written on it, and taped it to her bedroom door. She paused only a moment before turning off the light and closing the door.
“Ready, Diana?”
Diana did the same as Genevieve and taped her own note to the door, but she didn’t pause to look back. She didn’t have a suitcase but a large duffel bag that seemed too heavy for her small frame but she carried it with ease.
Genevieve gestured to Diana’s bag. “Do you have all your papers with you? Birth certificate and the like? You know Helen won’t give it to you if you ask in the future.”
Diana nodded. “Yes, already packed.”
“Then let’s go.”
Gabriel took hold of Genevieve’s suitcase and asked Diana if she wanted help, but she declined.
Genevieve kept hold of her makeup kit and purse.
They headed down the stairs and, at the bottom, Genevieve closed her eyes and took a long inhale and slow exhale.
When she blinked her eyes open, she simply said, “Bye, Papa.”
She left her key on the table near the front door, Diana doing the same, and they left, locking the door from the inside before shutting it.
Once the bags were in the trunk and they were seated inside, Diana began giving the driver instructions to her friend’s house, while Genevieve watched her house become smaller and smaller until they turned the corner and it disappeared completely.
Then she sat back and cuddled in his arms while Diana chatted on about her plans.
GENEVIEVE
After dropping Diana off—and giving her a long hug, telling her she loved her, and threatening to hunt her down if she didn’t keep in touch—they headed to the palace.
It was much the same routine as had been the previous few times she’d been there.
However, this time, the car went towards a back entrance closer to the Royal Wing.
Corrado was there waiting with some staff. Once Gabriel helped her from the car, the staff began unloading her luggage. She’d purposely not brought a lot, so her mother couldn’t claim she was ‘stealing’ but now she wondered if it was enough. She couldn’t keep borrowing from Agnes.
“Is everything arranged?” Gabriel asked.
“Yes, Sir.” Corrado turned to her and gave her a small smile. “I’m very sorry for your loss, Miss Ruffin.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that.”
Corrado nodded once. “The staff will take your luggage up. Would you like them to unpack it as well?”
“No, thank you. I’d prefer to take care of that personally this time.”
“Of course. Tomorrow, we’ve set up an appointment with the security staff. They’ll grant you access to various parts of the palace. Until then, please travel with His Highness or feel free to page me and I’m happy to escort you as needed.”
He handed her a card, which she slipped into her purse. “Thank you.” She wanted to apologize to him for adding more work to his plate, but she wasn’t sure if that was the ‘appropriate’ thing to do, so she didn’t say anything further.
Once again, they walked into the Royal Wing and towards his apartments—their apartments—but it felt different somehow. Leaving that house for good, coming here…so much had changed recently and she wasn’t sure she was going to manage them all as effortlessly as a potential future queen would.
Now she had made a confession—to both herself and to him—maybe it was time to take things a little further.
Gabriel had also changed in recent days and weeks; he’d become someone more attentive, someone who listened to her rather than ordered her or demanded things from her.
He was careful and caring with her, and it only made her love for him deeper.
“Would you like something to eat? I can’t imagine you had much of anything at the Kaurs.”
She took a long look at him, dressed elegantly in his black suit and tie. Her future king and her current prince.
“There’s only one thing I want right now, and it’s you.”
He smiled. “I’m not sure you realize how sexy that sounds. I don’t believe you meant it that way.”
She grabbed his hand and started leading him towards the bedroom. “I know exactly how it sounded. That’s why I said it. I meant it.”
He tugged her hand, forcing her to stop just outside the bedroom door. “I hope you don’t think I’m forcing you into anything. I never would, but especially due to your…past experience. You don’t owe me anything for living here.”
She decided to be amused instead of outraged and rolled her eyes. “I know I don’t owe you anything. I want to be with you, physically I mean. If you’re interested, of course. I would never force you either.”
He stepped closer and brushed a loose lock of her hair back.
“I know you wouldn’t. I’m only trying to understand your frame of mind.
You’ve had several trying days, even weeks and months and likely years because of your mother’s treatment of you.
You’ve only just left the home you grew up in and you buried your dearest friend.
” He paused. “This isn’t because of Samira, is it?
Another way to honour the promise you made her? ”
She shook her head. “I understand why you think that, but no.” She reached up to cup his face, the edge of his mustache scratching her hand slightly, but she didn’t mind it at all.
“I love you, Gabriel, and I don’t want to hide that anymore.
I don’t want to hide us anymore. And I don’t want to avoid being intimate with you because of something that happened to me in the past. I don’t know how I’ll respond.
Maybe I’ll need to stop like I did in my bedroom when you visited me the first time.
Maybe I’ll keep going. But I want to try again. ”
She lowered her voice, even though they were the only ones there. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it, you know. About our first kiss, and the way your mustache felt against my thighs, and the way you knelt before me during the picnic, and-mmgh!”
He interrupted her with a hard kiss that turned gentle, his tongue easily coaxing her mouth open. His arms banded around her, and he crushed her against him.
Through a haze of kisses, she vaguely noticed him walking backwards into the bedroom, then hitching her up so her knees were by his hips, and he sat down on the bed with her straddling him.
He drew back and she gasped for air, his lips moving to her throat and kissing her pulse.
She felt constricted in all her clothes, and started gesturing for Gabriel to unzip her dress.
“Not yet,” he murmured against her ear, sending a shiver through her.
She wove her fingers through his hair and gripped tightly, forcing his head to come up. “Why not?”
“Because I plan to enjoy you. Slowly. Reverently. Completely.” He pulled back for a moment. “If you need to stop, at any time, for anything, you tell me.”
“I will. I promise.”
He flipped them so she was laying on the bed and he was over her. He watched her for a moment—maybe waiting in case she needed to stop?—but then continued his exploration of her body.
His hands were sliding down her stockinged legs towards her feet. “Did you bring that nightgown you wore the first time I came over?”
“Yes,” she breathed, then cleared her throat. “Yes.”
“Good. We’ll have fun with that one another time.”
“What kind of fun?”
He gave her a devilish grin. “The kind where you stand before me naked and put it on—without the panties of course—and then take it off slowly. Or maybe it’s the kind where you’re laying here just like this wearing only that and I slowly peel it from your body.
Or maybe it’s the kind where I fuck you hard while you’re wearing it.
Or maybe it’s the kind where I force you to wear only that in our apartments so I can have you against every wall and every surface until I’m satisfied. ”
His hand slid under her dress and towards her center. She tensed but then relaxed and opened her legs wider as he dipped beneath her underwear and toyed with her.