Slowly, Rumald began to wake, his dream of holidaying in the sun, Belle by his side, enjoying cocktails as they lay on loungers beside the private swimming pool of their chalet, palm trees and a white sandy beach in the distance, gradually receded. Cracking his eyes open, he found he was facing the wardrobe and the large chest of draws, his alarm clock on his bedside was just in the peripheral of his view. The large red numbers told him it was close to seven in the morning. Breathing in, he lifted the covers and turned over underneath them, and expected to find Belle lying beside him, but the other half of the bed was empty. His left arm instantly shot out, reaching for her, feeling a hint of warmth in the sheets. A smile pushed back the edges of his lips. Shifting the small distance to her side, Rumald pulled her pillow closer, snuggling his face into it as he wrapped his arms around it, crushing it to his chest.
Closing his eyes, he was hit with images of yesterday morning, waking up to soft kisses. Soft hands gliding down his chest. He had opened his eyes as Belle had ducked under the covers and sucked in a sharp breath, surprised and thrilled, when she took his cock in hand and licked the length of his hardening member. His hands had instantly found her under the covers and had sunk his fingers into her untamed curls, moaning at her taking him into her mouth. It had not been the first time, and he prayed to God, it was not the last time, she had given him a blowjob, but still surfacing from his deep slumber, his heart had raced, beating frantically, feeling more alive than he ever had. Sucking and slurping, Belle had taken him deep, stroking him with her hand, when her mouth had withdrawn to his tip, grazing him lightly with her teeth. He had clenched at her hair, desperate for more, torn between coming in her mouth and wanting her pussy. Just thinking about it, made him ache and hardened for her.
He rolled onto his back and opened his eyes, looking up at the ceiling above him, but all he could see was Belle above him. Hands pressed into his chest, she had ridden him like her life depended on it. Her unruly curls had draped forward, covering her beautiful face, swinging back and forth with her movements. He had barely been able to reach her face, parting her hair to reveal her face. Her eyes had been squeezed shut, concentrating on the rhythm and on the sensations. Stroking the pad of his thumb across her lips, Belle had immediately opened her eyes and caught his thumb with her mouth, and had teased it with her tongue, whipping circles around the tip of it.
Rumald rolled to his side of the bed and sat up onto the edge of the bed, throwing the covers to one side, exposing the tented crotch of his pyjama bottoms. The adverse effects of thinking of Belle. Raising hand to comb through his hair, he smirked, mentally correcting himself, 'his Belle'. It would make town meetings and boring business appointments more interesting. If a little embarrassing, if he did not calm down before the end of the meeting.
Smirking at the picture in his mind, he absently scratched at his chest, while his gaze went to his bedside, attracted by the foreign object he had placed there yesterday. For Christmas, one of the gifts, Belle had given him, was a framed photograph of them dancing in Boston. The picture had taken his breath away, when he had unboxed and peeled back the tissue paper covering it. She must have contacted the event organisers, who put her onto the photographer, who had been taking pictures during the competition. They had captured them as Rumald had been dipping Belle and she looked absolutely stunning. Her present had left him speechless as he had read the inscription, etched into the bottom edge of the silver frame, 'The happiest day of my life'.
He hoped it did not remain the happiest day of her life. If he had his way, it would be the day they walked down the aisle and started a new chapter of their lives together.
Before he got up, Rumald glanced down at himself and saw his erection had significantly ebbed away, now his thoughts had become tamer. Breathing in, he got up and went into the bathroom, imagining Belle in a white dress, swishing her way down the aisle towards him. Her father would have a disgusted look on his face, but he would not notice it. He would only have eyes for her that day. The left side of his mouth pulled back into a sly smile, knowing every day, he only had eyes for her.
The bedroom door began to open as he reached out his hand to push open the bathroom door. Pausing in the doorway, he was greeted by a tray with two cups of coffee and a plate with a stack of toast piled on top of it. Rumald lifted his gaze from the tray, he noticed she was wearing his dressing gown and smiled softly as Belle's gaze met his and she beamed a smile at him.
"Oh, you're awake!" She nodded to the tray, whilst lifting the tray to indicate it. "I was bringing you breakfast in bed."
"We can still have it in bed, sweetheart." He hooked his thumb towards the bed. "You get into bed and I'll join you." Rumald told her, backing into the bathroom.
Belle smiled cheekily at him. "Don't be too long."
Taking her words to heart, Rumald took longer strides to get to the toilet, peed as quick as he could (without making a mess), washed his hands, brushed his teeth, quickly ran a comb through his hair, and hurried back into the bedroom, halting outside the doorway of the bathroom, when he saw Belle lounging on the bed. She had untied the dressing gown and had opened it out, revealing one of the silk nighties he had bought her for Christmas. He had bought her quite a few things, such as the nighties and other clothing, encouraging her to leave them at the house. Building up a stash of her things, setting it up for the moment, when he broached the subject of her moving in with him. Rumald did not want to push her into it, but he could not stand the mornings he woke up without her or the evenings he retired to bed on his own. He missed her too much, when she was not around. Being alone used to be the most natural thing to him. But now, not finding her curled up with a book, planning a book event for the library or listening to her chat with Ruby on the phone in the other room, sent him into a pit of despair.
"Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to come and join me, and share this toast with me?" Belle jibbed at him, crooking an eyebrow at him.
Starting towards the bed, Rumald said. "Dressed like that, sharing toast is the last thing on my mind."
A devilish grin broke out on her face. "I was hoping you'd say that."
"Were you now?" He questioned as he clambered onto the foot of the bed, propping himself up on his hands and knees.
"Hmm…" Belle seductively eyed him, while he crawled up the bed towards her, repositioning her legs to welcome him between them. "Bit hard to forget yesterday morning."
Lowering himself down, nestling his hips into her awaiting hips, Rumald stroked some of hair out of her face, whilst he posed most of his weight on his left elbow. She did not waste any more time, launching herself up to capture his lips. In unison, they groaned at the sensation of their mouths moulding together, tongues eagerly probing the other's mouth. His fingers carded through her hair, taking his hand to the back of her head, where he cupped the back of her head as he delved his tongue deeper into her mouth, stroking the roof of her mouth with the tip of his tongue. Belle's moan resonated into his mouth, encouraging him to do it again as he grinded his hips into hers. Wrapping her arms around him, she clutched him closer, moulding her chest to his, and readily opened her mouth wider for him.
He broke off their kiss and hungrily buried his face into her neck, smelling her, tasting her, sucking and nibbling at her sensitive skin. Her nails dug into bare back, scratching a path across his shoulders, whilst her other hand painfully tugged the hair at the back of his head. The pain did not deter him. Moving down to her chest, Rumald lightly bit at her collar bone, causing her to squirm underneath him. He grinned against her skin, progressing further down her chest, placing a firm kiss to the centre of her sternum. Her bright blue eyes peered down at him, watching as he hooked a finger around the thin strap over her left shoulder and pulled it down, peeling back the silk fabric covering up her breast. Their gazes held each other as Rumald kissed the mound of flesh, working his way to her nipple, and paused before slipping out his tongue to tease her nipple. Her reaction was instant, with her legs pulling up to his sides, squeezing him between them, bucking underneath him.
"I love it, when you do that." Belle confessed, releasing his hair at the back of his head, and moved her fingers through his hair, messing up his combed locks.
Angling himself to loom over her other breast, he smirked at her as he uncovered her other breast and swooped in to do the same to her other breast, whilst pinching her other nipple. "I know you do."
Sucking her nipple into his mouth, he used his weight to counter her hips springing up from the bed. Both her hands were in his hair, musing her fingers through it, tugging it un-expectantly, causing tuffs of it to stand on its ends. Rumald closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of her playing with his hair, the short intakes of breath she took, the natural taste of her skin in his mouth. Gripping his hair, she moaned loudly at him grating her nipple with his teeth, increasing her pleasure by sucking hard on the little bud of nerves.
Her hips grinded into his obvious erection, inciting a deep guttural moan from him. "Oh, Belle..."
Thrusting his hips into hers, wanting to invoke the same response from her, he moaned in time with her as he locked his lips with hers, combining their moans into one. Rumald rocked his hips into her again, spurred to do it again, when her hips raised to meet him. Their kiss became messier and slippery, and clumsily they mashed their teeth together. A need to consume the other took over both of them. Clawing and clutching, they gyrated together, clothing the only barrier between them. The bed squeaked and creaked as they moved. A care for other occupants of the house forgotten.
"Rumald, please!" Belle begged him, pushing her hands into his chest, impelling him to rise off her.
He did not need to clarify what she wanted. Her feet were awkwardly trying to push his pyjama bottoms down from his hips. In haste, Rumald pushed himself up and knelt on his knees, and quickly pushed down his bottoms, while Belle surged up off of her bed, needing to touch him, to kiss him, mushing her face into his stomach. He drew in a sharp breath, when he felt her hot tongue, trailing the short path of hair down from his belly button. Her arms wrapped around him, keeping him exactly where she wanted him as she nuzzled his bobbing erection, lightly gliding the soft peak of her nose along the length, placing small faint kisses in the wake. Holding his breath, he observed Belle firmly clasped his cock in her hand, steadying him, and then she looked up, meeting his gaze, as she took him into her mouth.
Rumald cupped her face in his hands, his fingers threaded into her hair, muttering. "Sweetheart…"
Bobbing her head, Belle took only the head of his penis into her mouth, pressing him with her tongue into the roof of her mouth. The welcoming warmth of her mouth, the soft but rough caress of her tongue on the underside of his cock, the solid thud of his head hitting the roof of her mouth – God, he could have died and gone to heaven. Without warning, she took him fully into her mouth, slurping at the length of him as the tip of his dick hit the back of her throat, causing her to gag and the muscles of her throat pushed back against him.
"Ah, fuck!" He moaned, seizing her hair in his hands.
She did it again, holding him there this time. The sensation was agonising. His hips itched to thrust into her mouth, fight back against the muscles of her throat trying to banish him. Adjusting his hold in her hair, he grasped the bunches in his hands, feeling her groan reverberate around the head of his cock. She forced him further into her mouth, choking on him, smothering her face into his crotch.
"You're going to kill me doing that." He admitted as Belle pulled back, releasing him from her mouth, and eyed her handiwork as she stroked her hand up and down the length of him.
Teasingly, she swiped the end of his penis with the tip of her tongue, smirking at the sharp intake of breath he took. "Not today."
Rumald rolled his eyes at her and told her, stroking his thumbs down either side of face. "Lay back."
Slowly, Belle laid back onto the bed, the look on her face giving him no doubt that she wanted him. Walking forward on his hands, he lowered himself, settling over her, mindful as he rested his weight on her and snuck his hand between them, and guided himself to her entrance. She hummed her approval, feeling him probe at the heart of her femininity. Pushing himself inside, Belle hiked her legs up and wrapped them around his waist, helping him ease into her. It was his turn to hum as he sheathed himself inside of her sex and closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation of her hot, wet core, tightly embracing him.
"You always feel so good." Rumald told her, opening his eyes to see her.
"So do you." She remarked as she touched his face, caressing his stubbled cheek.
The corners of his lips twitched with a smile. Without even meaning to, his mind conjured up circumstances, where he was caught out with his lies, the half-truths he has told, the truths he has twisted, all in the cause of protecting of his family. He had to tell her. Confess the truth before Cora retaliated or Emma found her evidence. But this, wrapped in her arms, deep inside of his love, was not the time to tell her.
"What's the matter?" Belle asked, a concern look on her face.
He shook his head at her. "Nothing, sweetheart. Nothing that can't wait."
She opened her mouth to say something else, but with a hard swift thrust, whatever Belle had been about to say was quickly forgotten and was replaced with a low moan. Withdrawing and plunging again into her pooled moisture, Rumald ignored his troubling thoughts, promising to tell her as soon as they were done. The lies had gone on long enough. As he had been telling himself, when he had met Belle, she deserved better and he wanted to give it to her. Even if he was scared of losing her, Rumald had to believe their love was strong enough to overcome anything and they could work through it. With a little shouting, maybe some harsh words, which were warranted, and lots of grovelling from him.
The pace had become insistent, their skin slapped together as their hips slammed into each other, their moans and groans defending out the loud creaks of the bed. Belle clung onto him, pinching the loose skin on his back, hurting and exciting him. Rocking their bodies against one another, moans became grunts as he slowed the pace and pounded himself into her, invoking a small cry from her, which grew louder on each thrust. Drawing in her lower lip, she bit hard into it, giving him the tell-tale of her approaching orgasm. He leant back and slithered his hand down to junction of her thighs, and drew circles around her clit, not having to wait long for her to force her head back into the pillow, clenching her eyes shut, as she came with a loud wail of pleasure. Taking his hand away, Rumald held himself up, giving himself more leverage, and fucked her so hard, he was knocking her head into the headboard. He chased his own orgasm with her own still fluttering around him, sucking him deeper, encouraging him to come, and came with a throaty grunt, spilling his seed into her.
Slumping down on top of her, he panted for breath, unable to move, needing to hold her to keep him grounded. She cuddled him, stroking his back, combing his damp hair with her fingers, as she kissed the side of his sweaty head. Her legs laxed around him and fell to drape over the back of his thighs. There was nowhere on Earth, he would rather be than cocooned inside of Belle's embrace. Which made telling the truth that much harder.
Rumald compelled himself to move and rolled off of Belle onto his side, leaving an arm draped over her, possessively keeping her by his side. "I need to talk to you about something."
Smiling, she raised her hand to stroke her fingers down the side of his face. "You sound serious."
"It is somewhat ser…" He was interrupted by his phone shrilling to life on the bedside behind him.
"Those damn tenants." Belle joked, slapping her hand playfully on his arm.
Unamused, Rumald rolled away from her and snatched up his phone, swiping it as he put it to his ear, falling back onto his back. "Gold."
"Marco says, the picture house is more or unless done. How soon can I get in there?" Regina demanded.
"Good morning to you too." He told her in a dry tone, while Belle snuggled into his side, resting her head onto his shoulder.
"Yes, yes. Morning." She conceded. "I haven't got time for niceties."
Taking a breath, Rumald was still recovering as he spoke. "Marco has a few things to sort out before tomorrow."
"Okay… But when can I get in there? I need to organise the dressing rooms, seating area, put up posters, get my light and sound guy in, I need to take everyone through a quick rehearsal either today or early tomorrow morning, I've got…" Regina babbled off a list of things as Rumald was distracted by the fingers tracing patterns on his chest.
Removing Belle's fingers, Rumald rolled to his side of the bed and sat up on the edge of it, looking at his pyjama bottoms pooled at his feet. "Marco is supposed to be there this morning, finishing off. If you give me an hour, I'll meet you there and show you around."
"Good, good. That would be great." She said quickly, her mind already racing off to million and one other jobs she had to get done.
"Okay, I'll see you in a bit." He told her and hung up the phone.
"So much for lounging in bed today." Belle said behind him.
Twisting to see her behind him, she was sat up with a pillow propped behind her, leaning against the headboard of the bed, holding a cup in her hands. "Sorry, sweetheart. It shouldn't take long."
"It's okay." She smiled that understanding smile he did not deserve. "Since the toast and the coffee has gone cold, do you want to get some breakfast at Grannies?" Belle inquired, nodding her head to the tray on her bedside.
"If that's what you want to do, sweetheart. I'm happy to do whatever you want." He said as his answer, tossing his phone onto the bed as he kicked off his pyjama bottoms and collected them off the floor, throwing them to join his phone.
Belle put the cup of cold coffee back on the tray, telling him. "Ruby's been interested in seeing what they're doing in the picture house. Is it okay, if I get her to meet us at the picture house and then we can walk back to Grannie together?"
"Sure." Rumald stood up and pivoted to face her. "I'm just going to shower. I won't be long."
As he went to turn away and head to the bathroom, Belle told him. "There's just something so satisfying about seeing you naked."
Raising his eyebrows at her, he gave her a pointed look. "Even though, I don't have the chiselled physique like someone else did."
"Rumald, I've never cared for that." She crawled across to his side and pulled him closer, slinging her arms around his neck. "I love you, no matter what."
Staring into her blue sapphire eyes, all he could see was the truth shining back at him. "I love you too, sweetheart."
Unwrapping an arm from his neck, Belle brazenly swatted at his ass, earning herself a small moan from Rumald and the very satisfying sound of skin smacking skin. "Go and get the shower warmed up, and I'll come and join you in a minute."
They mutually met for a kiss and parted with a smile. She scrambled back across the bed and got her own phone from her bedside, sitting on the side of the bed, already tapping out a message to Ruby. Opening and closing his mouth, Rumald knew he had fucked up. He had been about to tell her until Regina had interrupted him. The opportunity was still there, waiting for him to open his mouth and confess his secret to her. She so enthralled with messaging Ruby, she did not notice he was still stood there, watching her. Oblivious to his inner turmoil.
Letting his cowardice win, Rumald left her there in the bedroom and went into the bathroom, and opened the glass door to the shower to turn it on, doing as she asked. The cold spray caught him, but he did not jump out of it. Instead, he slumped against the glass wall of the shower, closing his eyes as his head rested on the glass, silently cursing himself for not being brave enough.
Nearly an hour later, they were both showered and dressed, and heading down the stairs, hand in hand. Collecting her coat, he held it for her as she twirled, giving him a grin over her shoulder, and slid her arms into it. As she was flicking out her hair, Rumald grabbed her scarf and hat from the pegs, handing them to her, and unhooked his own overcoat to put on, whilst watching her put on her scarf and hat. He could not help his smile. She was radiant as she spun round to collect her handbag from the end table in the foyer. 'If you had told her the truth, she would've ran for the door and slammed it after herself like so many before her.' The voice inside his head argued. 'And you'd be alone again.' His smile slowly died with the realisation, hearing some truth in its words.
Belle turned, rummaging in her bag, and glanced to him, opening her mouth to say something to him, but the twitch of her brow indicated she had noticed something. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." He forced a smile for her.
"You look miserable." She stepped closer to him, extending her arm to touch his arm. "Is it something to do with what you wanted to say upstairs?"
"No, no. It's fine, sweetheart." Rumald assured her as he tugged on her arm, persuading her to come even closer, and embraced her, whilst mentally kicking himself.
Leaning back in his embrace, she offered. "If there's something playing on your mind, you can tell me, Rumald."
"I…" His words got caught in his throat.
The concern on her face overwhelmed him. "What is it?"
"When we were in New York," He began to tell her, looking off over her shoulder, unable to do it if he saw the disappointment grow in her eyes. "I saw…"
The pounding on the front door interrupted his train of thought and startled Belle. On the other side of the front doors, Rumald could see Emma stood there, looking at them through the clear panes of glass. Belle chuckled at being so easily frightened. Though as she did that, rolling her eyes at herself, he knew why Emma was there. The stern look she was giving him, told him she thought she had her evidence, proving what he had done to the Mayor. Clutching handfuls of Belle's coat, this was not the way he wanted this to go down and for Belle to find out like this. All the sneaking around, things he had done in the name of family, protecting them, could possibly cost him Belle. And there was no doubt in his mind, she would leave him.
They always left in the end.
Belle gave him a strange look as she returned to her original question, sounding uneasy. "Rumald, what's wrong?"
Gently moving her aside, he went to the front door and opened it, putting on façade as he greeted her. "Morning, Deputy Nolan, what can I do for you?"
"You can accompany me down to the station and answer some questions I have for you." Emma informed him, taking a step to the side, holding her arm out to the patrol car parked at the kerb.
"Questions?" Belle laid her hand on his shoulder, confused as she came up behind him. "Emma, what's this about?"
Emma did not even look at Belle as she said. "Following a line of inquiry." She reached behind her and there was a click before she revealed the cuffs in her hand. "Mr Gold, we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way."
Scoffing at her, Rumald crossed his arms. "Does your father know you've come here to arrest me?"
"Arrest you? For what?" Belle asked with her gaze bouncing, back and forth, between them.
"This is my investigation. I will inform the Sheriff, when he gets back into town tomorrow." Emma answered his question, jingling the handcuffs as she spoke.
"So, you think you've found enough evidence to pin something on me?" He provoked her on purpose, wanting her to show her hand to him, giving him ample time to form a story to explain it away.
Emma used her hand with the handcuffs to gesture to Belle. "Don't make me do this in front of Belle."
"On the contrary, I'm not forcing you to do anything, Deputy Nolan." He countered, clasping his hands in front of himself.
Belle squeezed his arm, putting herself more into line of sight, partially blocking Emma on the porch. "What's going on!"
Giving her his sole attention, Rumald hid the pain he felt as his gut twisted and knotted itself up in his guilt. A whole month he had been lying to her. Keeping a secret from her. Plotting behind her back. No matter how many times, he had told himself it was her benefit, Neal's and Regina's benefit. Did not make any of it right.
"Your boyfriend decided to smash in the Mayor's face, for whatever reason he had." Emma stated it coldly, in the same tone her mother used when she had no choice, but to speak to Rumald.
"What?" Belle whirled round so fast to face Emma, her hair flared up behind her.
Shrugging her shoulders, she waved her hand holding the handcuffs at Rumald, saying. "Ask him."
She whipped back round, her face scrunched in disbelief, eyes filled with uncertainty as she requested the truth from him. "What is Emma talking about? Did you do that to the Mayor?"
He ignored Belle's questions and addressed Emma. "What evidence do you have that I did this?"
"Rumald?" Belle uttered his name with such pain in her voice.
"We can discuss this at the station, if you willingly come with me." Emma said, still waving the handcuffs as though the tactic would scare him into going with her.
Rumald shook his head and peeled back his overcoat, removing it, and turned his back on them to hang his coat onto a peg. "I don't have to do anything, Deputy Nolan." He pivoted round to face them again. "We can discuss it here, or you can arrest me."
"It'd be more appropriate to do this at the station, Mr Gold." Emma insisted.
"Then you know, what you've got to do." Rumald said to her and waited for her to make her choice.
A second lapse before Emma grinned and held up her cuffs, showing him her choice, and marched through the doorway, weaving her way past Belle. Meeting Belle's gaze as Emma waltzed around him, grabbing both his hands to cuff behind his back, he was accustomed to the look she was giving him. Hurt, disappointed, regret. His fear had come true and he only had himself to blame.
"I don't understand." Belle said to him.
Shoving his cuffed hands up his back, propelled him forward towards the open doorway and straight past Belle. He stumbled a step onto the porch, the heel of his shoe caught the doorstep as he exited the house. Emma grabbed him by his right arm and led him to the porch steps, taking each step as he did, descending down them together. Glancing at Emma, while she escorted him to the patrol car, he recognised the smug look on her face and could not wait for an opportunity to wipe it off her face. Doing this in front of Belle, making a scene. It was unforgiveable.
At the patrol car, Rumald glanced back to the house, Belle was stood on the porch, what looked to be his overcoat in her arms, hugging it to her chest. She was torn between believing Emma and giving him the benefit of the doubt. He could not bring himself to deny it in front of her. If he denied it, then he was proving to himself and the world that he could not be the man she deserved. Withholding the truth was not any better. Directing his gaze away, he could not bear to see her look at him like so many had done before, right before they left him. He wanted to hold on to the memory of how she looked at him in bed, wanting nothing else but him. Picturing that in his head, Rumald ducked his head and got into the back of the patrol car with Emma guiding his head.