25 Kisses: Foolishness

It was a relief to Cutler that his father had finally recovered from his sickness. Lord Ralston had been very grateful and impressed by his son's work ethic that he had granted Cutler leave for the rest of the month.

Cutler had celebrated his first day off by touring Port Royal with his mother, Mistress Adams and Adora. They traveled by carriage to different points of interest around Port Royal and eventually it turned into a shopping trip for the women. Cutler good-naturedly accompanied them and offered to carry their purchases as they walked from shop to shop. Finally, at the end of the day, they returned to the Adams' manor to dine.

"I wish to go for a walk by the shore," announced Adora after dinner.

"Oh, my dear, I'm afraid that Lady Edeline and I are rather tired from gallivanting about all day," said her mother.

"I would not mind in escorting Miss Adams," said Cutler. Adora raised her eyebrow at his sudden formal demeanor, but no one seemed to notice.

"Why, thank you, Cutler," said Mistress Adams. "I hope it will not be too much for you."

"On the contrary," said Cutler politely. "Perhaps Miss Adams may show me the shores of Port Royal." Mistress Adams smiled and Lady Edeline nodded approvingly as Cutler accompanied Adora out of the dining room.

"Why did you address me as 'Miss Adams' during dinner?" asked Adora as they walked hand in hand along the sandy beach.

"Our mothers would have a field day if they knew about us," said Cutler. "They would most likely send chaperones with us for every second we are together." He snaked an arm around her waist. "I think that would be rather mundane, don't you?" Adora laughed and danced away from him, splashing ankle deep into the surf.

"Why, Cutler, with this kind of behavior it may be safer to reconsider having chaperones!" she teased. Cutler grinned slyly and made a grab for her. Adora squealed and went to dance further away, but slipped on a wet patch of sand and landed with a plop onto her bottom. She sat there blinking in surprise and then looked up at Cutler with wide eyes. Cutler looked back with equally wide eyes and then held out a hand to help her up. Before he could blink, Adora had grabbed a hold of his hand and gave it a yank, making him plop into the wet sand beside her. Cutler sat looking at Adora open-mouthed and she couldn't help but giggle at him. Then, Cutler raised his hand and for one shocking moment Adora thought he was going to strike her, but he brought it down into the water and splashed her. She giggled and tried to scoot away from him, but he put one knee on the hem of her dress so that she couldn't go far and splashed her again. She squeaked as the cold droplets hit her and smacked her hand into the water, promptly splashing Cutler in the face. The water lapped at them as they continued their splashing attack on each other. Cutler was edging closer to her every time, but Adora had nowhere to run because of his hold on her dress.

They carried on laughing and splashing until a distant roar distracted them. They both looked out towards the ocean and saw that a good sized wave was steadily rolling towards them. They both let out yelps and started to try to scramble onto dry sand, but soon the wave crashed over them both. The tide drew back, revealing a very wet Adora and Cutler. They exchanged dazed looks. Adora sat up and started to wring out the hem of her dress, but another wave caught her and knocked her back into the sand. Cutler tried to suppress his laughter, but Adora had seen it. She launched at him and knocked him backwards into the sand as he made an "Oof" noise. He spluttered as another wave washed over them and she laughed and then promptly turned red when she noticed the position they were in. Cutler lay spread-eagled across the sand and Adora was almost sprawled on top of him. She cleared her throat and started to move away, but Cutler gently grabbed her arms and pulled her up so that her face was above his. Like so many times before, green eyes met blue.

Cutler looked up at her with an expression of utmost reverence that made her feel that she was all that he could see. Slowly, she put a hand on his chest over his soaked cravat and lowered her head, touching her lips to his. A hand came to rest on the back of her head, encouraging her to deepen the kiss. Her eyes slipped closed as she lost herself in his kiss and she rested her body against his comfortably. Her hand gently fisted his cravat when the kiss started to become more passionate. It seemed that for that moment nothing else in the world mattered to them except for the roaring of the waves and the other's touch. Eventually they had to break away for air and Cutler propped himself up on his elbows, letting Adora rest her head on his chest. They sat contently for a while, enjoying each other's company and the view of the sun setting on the blue horizon.

"We should head back." It had been spoken so softly that Adora would not have heard if she hadn't felt the vibrations from Cutler's chest as he talked. Cutler aided her in standing up and they both tried to unsuccessfully fix their sodden appearances. Adora giggled at the way Cutler's hair was sticking up at an angle and put her arm through his as they began their trek back to the manor. They kept exchanging glances every now and then and Adora kept thinking of how ridiculous they looked.

"We look like a pair of shipwreck victims," she said, reaching up to try and smooth down Cutler's hair. "How are we ever going to explain this?"

"Simple," said Cutler. "You slipped and I tried to help you, but slipped myself." He leaned over and put his mouth by her ear. "We'll just leave out the interesting part." Adora shivered as his warm breath tickled her ear. Cutler placed a kiss to her neck before opening the door to the manor. "Let me do all the talking."

A/N: Heehee, this chapter makes me giggle. I went to the coast this past Tuesday through Saturday and it was raining like crazy and I didn't have internet access! Alas, I spent my time playing Sims and trying to write my stories. I rather like writing this series and I'm trying to spread out the kisses a little more. I believe Cutler has received eight so far if I have counted correctly.

Hope you enjoyed!