A/N: Hello, my Sweets. It certainly has been awhile. And to hold you over until my muse starts cooperating with me and my other works in progress - I give you this little gem. It has been quite distracting for me at work with this scene roaming around in my mind….
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When she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into a closet he was more than a little bit…skittish.
He could tell she was upset about something. He could tell it had to do with the dance that they were currently attending. And he could also tell that if he didn't put some space between them in this impossibly small cupboard, he would have more than one problem to contend with.
"Prin- What!?" Her elbow pressed against his sternum as she turned to close the door behind them, pressing the air out of his lungs. His next breath allowed him to inhale the intoxicating perfume that he had been avoiding most of the night. He pressed his eyes closed and tried to get a handle on the situation. Trying not to panic about being confined in a small space was his first concern.
Problem number one.
"What are we doing in here?" He hissed at her. They were in one of the hidden closets off of the main floor that looked like the rest of the decorative walls. The ornate pattern on the outside, covered in sparkling gems and mirrored surfaces also contained holes in its twisting lattice pattern and allowed some light from the dance hall to filter in. They could see out, but no one could really see in.
She looked over her shoulder at him, seeing as how there wasn't really enough room for her to turn around again and face him. Her hips were mere inches from bumping back into his.
Problem number two.
"I'm going to get some answers out of you, Tin Man!" She whispered back with as much authority as one could muster without an actual vocalized tone. "What's this, I hear about you liking someone!?"
Unexpected problem number three.
"What are you talking about? Ophfff-" She had begun to turn around mid-sentence despite his thinking there not being enough room. She managed to elbow him again, brush her hip across his front, and step on his foot as they ungracefully shifted around the small space, which really couldn't have been larger than 2.5 feet wide and just as deep. What the hell use was this size of a closet anyway?
And again, with the problems one and two.
She poked him in the chest.
"I'm talking about the fact that there is someone you like out there, it's almost the end of the night, and you've been off to the side skulking instead of trying to impress this mystery woman!"
If the topic of her accusation wasn't so touchy to begin with, he would have been tempted to laugh. Her utter seriousness, despite the necessity of whispering, the fact that two claustrophobic people were crammed into a closet together, and how she seemed almost irritated with him for not wooing someone had thrown him completely off guard.
First things first.
"I was not skulking!" He tried to impress upon her as much vehemence as he could with a whisper. She started to say something else but he held up a finger and pointed at her. "I am not one to, how do you say it? 'Pick up women' at dances." He emphasized this with quotations that probably went unseen in the dark. "And why, under the entirety of the two Suns, does this conversation warrant being in this damn closet!?"
She ignored his first remark and leaned against him, staring up at him with excitement. "So you could point her out to me!" She whispered this with all of the enthusiasm she could muster as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She had suddenly transformed into a gossiping school-girl, a persona Cain avoided at all costs due to the trouble it caused him. "What girl doesn't want to be swept up at a romantic ball? I'm doing this girl a favor!" This time she held up a finger to stop his protest. "And seeing as how you didn't deny that there is someone…" She trailed off and let her conclusion hang between them. She seemed quite proud of herself which would have irked him, had he not been distracted.
The golden light filtering through the door made it look like a halo was resting atop her head with most of her face in shadows. He could just make out the curve of her cheek as she smiled, and the smooth line of light trailing down to her jaw and neck, revealed by her intricate hairstyle piled atop her head. He knew that she could see his face quite easily and if he didn't school his features soon, he would be in trouble.
"Please tell me who she is, Cain," she pleaded, tugging on his suit's sleeves. Her question was so innocent and that of a curious friend, that his disbelief over the entire matter must have shown on his face.
"Why would you think shoving me into a closet would make me want to tell you who I fancy? And who has been feeding you this line of crap anyway?"
She didn't seem perturbed in the least by his deflection. "I can guess if you'd like? You have to give me a hint though…"
"DG, we're not making this into a game…" He had vivid memories of the last time she tried to turn something like this into a game.
"So is she blonde?" Something primal flared to life inside of him. It always started this way. She was ignoring him again which always ended badly for Cain. He would get worked up in spite of himself to the point of wanting to just pin her against the wall to make her stop. Though he never did, he had come close a few times. She was very good at pushing his buttons in just the right way to drive him crazy. He was fairly certain that she had no idea she was doing it either.
Unfortunately for Cain, this time he feared that her already close proximity, the perfume that was still doing a number on him, and the liquid courage he had ingested earlier in the night would add up to problem number four – getting caught in a closet with a Princess.
"DG…" he warned.
"Or maybe a red head." He huffed at her.
"I'm not telling you who she is."
"Brunette?" He raised an eyebrow with his patented you-can-do-better look.
"You and I both know we wouldn't be in here if I was going to actually answer these ridiculous questions."
"Come on! Gray?" He scowled at her. She pushed his shoulder. "You're not being any help." She began to turn again, presumably to spy out of the door at the choices. He tried to stop her, but it was too late.
"Wait!"
He tried to grab her elbow but his hand ended up wrapping around her waist as she turned. His other hand pressed against her back to try and hold her away from him, but in the flurry of movement they had somehow both spun towards the side wall and it ended up getting trapped between them. One of her hands clutched the arm wrapped around her waist, while the sound of a thump against the back wall indicated that was where her other hand ended up. All of this happened in the few split seconds it took for her to lose her balance and fall back into him, brushing up against the very thing he was trying to hide. They both gasped, for very different reasons, and became very still.
The silence that followed featured, in Cain's mind, many horrible ways that he would be put to death or at the very least, be put out of his misery.
She slowly untwisted her feet, and after a hesitant moment, as subtle as a brick through glass to Cain, pressed her back against his front as she straightened up, almost as if to see if she had felt what she thought she had felt. He exhaled shakily and felt his hands begin to shake as they fought to not hold her closer or push her away. His jaw was working as if he was trying to say something, but no words were coming out. She slowly turned back to face him, carefully this time.
With their softly lit profiles, they hesitantly looked at each other. Her eyes were searching his face, while his looked apologetic. A million things crossed his mind to tell her. How embarrassed he was to be caught in such a state as this. How she was actually the one he had been pining for all of these months. How he didn't want to mess up the delicate balance of friendship and professionalism they had developed in their roles living at the palace. But mainly, his mind was whirling with the fact that she hadn't just stormed out of the closet. She had even turned back towards him.
"Black," he finally whispered. He swallowed the lump in his throat. "Her hair is black." He didn't realize that he had wrapped his arms around her until she sagged in them at his words. She glanced down at his lips, and back up to his eyes, shaking her head minutely. She needed him to make the first move. He could see it in her eyes.
"Wyatt?" She wanted to be sure.
He leaned down the few inches separating them and pressed his lips to hers. A heartbeat or seven passed, Cain couldn't tell for his was hammering in his chest, before she responded, moving her lips against his to kiss him back. And then he kissed her again. And again. And…
She moaned as he pressed her against the wall. He kept his hips away from hers as best he could for propriety's sake but her hands found the sides of his jacket and pulled them towards her anyway. Time between kisses was quickly disappearing though she did manage one more coherent sentence in between his kisses.
"We need to…get out of this…fu-mmm…closet."
Cain silently agreed. It would certainly help him solve…well, all of his problems.
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A/N: Just wanted to take the time to thank each and every one of you for your continued support. Your reviews and nudges have kept me going more than you know, and my apologies to those of whom I have not (yet) responded. You rock my socks, as always.
-B