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your grace will light our hearts
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prologue
Washington DC || Nineteen years ago
The party was already in full swing by the time the eighteen-year-old blonde arrived at the Washington "Palace" hotel.
Getting out of the cab as gracefully as possible was a hell of a lot more difficult than she had first anticipated; but of course, there was a difference between moving around in her usual set of BDU's and the elegant ball gown she had chosen for tonight.
After all, receiving an invitation to attend the annual "Air force Military Ball" was a great honour and only a few Cadets had been selected to represent the Academy for this very special occasion.
Admittedly, ascending the marble staircase in 10cm stilettos wasn't something the blonde young woman was used to do ether.
Halfway through, she decided to take matters into her own hands — literally. Lifting the fabric of her ocean blue dress proved to be one of the best ideas she had in a long time.
At least in her opinion; her friends would have only laughed at her had she uttered the thought out aloud; mostly because it was common knowledge that the blue-eyed beauty was a genius.
Though if anyone would mention it in her, she'd blush a bright crimson every time and tried her best to deny it.
She never considered herself to be much smarter than everyone else, the blonde simply loved everything about physics — always had.
Even as a little girl she drove her parents up the walls, mostly because she snatched several electronic devices and after a certain time period, all that was left were bits and pieces of what had once been a toaster or microwave.
Over the years, however, she had learned it the hard way that men usually didn't take it well whenever a woman outsmarted them.
She sighed inwardly.
Yes, being a woman in the military wasn't easy.
Nevertheless, the blonde held her head high and confirmed with a touch of her hand that her mask was still in place and properly covered her face before she entered the already crowded hall.
The sight that greeted her left her speechless for a moment. People were happily dancing, everyone was dressed in the most stunning clothes she had seen in a long time — woman dressed in floor length gowns in every imaginable colour, men wearing form fitting and equally expensive looking suits with matching ties. The most intriguing partm, however, was there was not a single person to be spotted without a mask. She could have sworn that at least a couple of people would have forgotten about it, since the decision to declare the whole thing as a "masquerade ball" had been announced rather late and spontaneously.
Still, she liked the idea — it gave the whole event a very mysterious and unmilitary flair.
...
Late at night, the blonde sat down on a high chair in front of the bar; completely exhausted.
One of her ex-boyfriends had shown up — uninvited and on top of that completely wasted — and it had taken the young woman all her energy to get him to leave without causing a scene in front of the hotel's ballroom.
In moments like these, she was so very grateful for her military training; after all, half shovelling, half carrying a large man who had at least twice her weight was already a difficult and indeed very unpleasant task — not to forget to mention the floor length gown that provided yet another difficulty.
She wasn't quite sure how much time had passed in the meantime, but when she had finally managed to put the drunk into a cab and re-entered the hotel only a few people had left and the party was still in full swing.
So now here she was, trying to get back in her earlier good mood, but naturally this was easier said than done.
And well, usually the blue-eyed cadet was no woman to drown her sorrow in alcohol, but the recent encounter with her Ex, the constant fighting between her father and brother and her deceased mother's upcoming anniversary were reason enough to make an exception. Besides, she had been drunk before and judging by the way her roommate danced on the floor, the night was about to end a lot later than she had first anticipated.
...
A couple of tequila shots later she another guest joined her and sat down on the vacated seat next to her.
The blonde watched, rather impressed, as he only held up two fingers and the bartender immediately started to prepare a drink for him.
Careful not to get caught, the young woman let her deep blue eyes wander over his body. The black suit he wore, accompanied by a white shirt underneath the jacket with a matching dark blue tie suited him perfectly — and most certainly left no room for speculation as to what his body looked like without clothes: one could clearly see that a damn well trained body underneath the fabrics. He's probably active in the field, she thought.
It was probably the first time that night that she really wished they were allowed to take off their masks; for she was indeed very eager to get a glimpse at the handsome man's face.
But naturally, apart from the short brown hair there was nothing else to be seen.
All of a sudden, the man slightly moved his head and the bartender put down a bottle of beer and a cocktail in front of him. He pushed the latter of the two towards the blonde.
For a moment, she only glanced at it suspiciously.
As if he had he had read her thoughts he swiftly added, "Tequila Sunrise. I saw you drinking shots earlier."
She chuckled a little. "Thanks," she answered amusedly and glanced up.
'Holy Hannah…' she then thought as her eyes met his. Stunning chocolate brown — the kind of eyes women were bound to get lost in if not handling the situation carefully.
Taking a sip from her drink, she smiled slightly. "You know, I would not have complained about a beer either."
Through the small hole in his black mask she could see his lips twitching. "I will remember that. Though ol' Moe here was eager to serve something a little more, well, exciting. Weren't you, Moe?"
The bartender just grinned and nodded.
The blonde's eyes twinkled. "His name is Moe?"
The brown haired man shrugged. "I s'pose not. Never bothered asking… But he's at this shindig every year. Plus, he never complained about the name."
A soft giggle escaped her as the bartender bowed to them.
"Why 'Moe', though?"
His mouth twitched again; apparently he enjoyed their little conversation as much as she did.
"I'm a fan of the Simpsons," he explained with a wave of his hand, as if it was the most common thing to say, "and it's easy to remember."
The blonde laughed, already feeling slightly tipsy.
"Well, he does look a bit familiar, I agree."
This said, the rest of the night went by smoothly and comfortable. They didn't talk very much — the blonde had the feeling that the handsome man usually wasn't the 'talky' kind of guy. Though the beer seemed to contribute its part, making him more relaxed with each passing minute.
...
After some time, the blue-eyed woman let her glance wander over the dance floor again. Only a couple of people were still there, but that wasn't at all surprising since the ball was apparently drawing to a close.
Nor was the fact that her roommate from the Academy had already left without her. It was one of few moments that she sent a silent thank-you towards the skies that the Academy had taken care of their stay and included a sleepover in one of the hotel rooms.
Which was a relief because by now, she felt the effects of the many drinks she had consumed over the evening, and exhaustion was slowly but steadily getting the better of her.
For a brief moment she wondered whether or not it was rude to leave a fellow soldier alone — especially after spending such a nice evening with him — but before she had the time to think of what to say, her companion got up from his chair and offered her his hand.
He then looked at her with determined but very kind chocolate-brown eyes and insisted to accompany her to her room — which was probably a wise choice, considering that walking on her heels turned out to be even more challenging in a drunken state.
...
The next morning the blue eyed woman woke up with a blissful sigh.
She had never thought of herself to be the kind of woman inviting men into hotel rooms. But the way he had gently put one of his strong arms around her, carried her purse and jacket… Well, he was too attractive for his own good.
After he had made sure she was alright, he looked at her for one last time with his stunning brown eyes, and kissed her hand ever-so-gently before crossing the room and closing the door behind him.
She still wasn't really sure about what had been the final straw, but something had clicked inside her head and she had opened the door to see where he was going. To her own surprise, she had found him pacing right in front of her room; apparently having an inner discussion with himself.
When he had turned around, their eyes met; surprise clearly written in both.
Now she reached out and saw that the used sheets from the other side of the bed were neatly folded; the man with these lovely pair of chocolate-brown eyes had left.
But it didn't surprise her to see him gone.
She obviously hadn't planned on spending the rest of the night with him in the first place, and she could tell that he had been hesitant about it, too…
...
She had placed her hand around his neck and she felt his arms slowly going around her waist.
"I am supposed to report to my CO in the morning," he had whispered into her ear, the air from his breath tickling on her skin.
"I'd still like you to stay…" the blonde had replied and pressed her body closer against his.
Taking in a deep breath, he let his long fingers trace the outline of her collar-bone; his other hand gripping tightly around the fabric of her floor-length blue dress.
"You're drunk," he said in an attempt to find a reasonable excuse that this was not a good idea, but the sound of his voice didn't seem to be very convincing at all.
The blonde just smirked and shrugged. "So are you. But considering – "
...
A smile crept upon her face as she re-traced her lips with her slim fingers; recalling the wonderful memory of how he had placed his own lips upon hers and softly, but eagerly kissed her.
Sitting up straight, the blue-eyed woman removed the mask that was still covering the upper half of her face and looked around the room properly.
Scrambled sheets, shoes, the remains of her gown and panties had all been tossed around the room; careless as to where it would end up.
Admittedly, she was a little disappointed that she never saw his face properly; his mask had, too, covered half his face from his forehead to right under his nose.
Nevertheless, she had to get up. Moving the sheets and tightening it around her still naked body, she stretched her legs and made her way over to the bathroom when her eyes caught a glimpse of something black and shiny.
Right there, upon the little nightstand on the other side of the queen-sized bed, she spotted the silver mask that the chocolate brown eyed man had worn. Carefully, she picked it up and found a little note attached to it.
'Thanks for a wonderful night.
I hope our paths will cross again one day.'~ Always, J.
Her lips formed into a small smile and she clutched the mask along with the note closer to her chest.
'Yes,' she thought, the image of him flashing right before her eyes, 'I hope I'll one day see this face of yours without a mask.'