Chapter 8
Warming Up
Lina was content. It was odd but with Xellos holding her she felt warm and safe. She relaxed, warm in both body and heart. Slowly after a time of just enjoying Xellos' embrace, her mind became more active. She wondered idly why she was enjoying this so much when physical contact in a non-violent manner usually embarrassed her so. As she thought about it she realized that although physical contact had always embarrassed her, she had never spurned Xellos' touch. She had usually gotten very flustered, but she had enjoyed his touch. From the very beginning Xellos had invaded her personal space, and by and large she had let him. From the first time she saw him, when he leapt down to land scant inches from her, he had constantly gotten close to her. As she thought about it, she realized that while he occasionally invaded the others' personal space it was different from the way he acted with her. Has he been flirting with me all this time? The wind suddenly changed direction and blew sharply, breaking her train of thought. Cold, she thought, automatically snuggling closer to Xellos to try and get warm again.
She blushed as she felt Xellos wrap his other arm around her, and she could swear he got warmer. Or maybe that's just my face. She regained her comfortable level of warmth and relaxed again. Slowly she raised her face and looked up at Xellos, he appeared to be thinking. It was odd, seeing his face so open like this. Her blush intensified and she buried her face back in his chest. She started very slightly when she felt one of his hands lightly stroke her back. His arms remained around her, but one of his hands was lightly moving up and down on the skin exposed by the slight V of her dress. Her blush reached a new level of red, as she stood frozen in place. In spite of her utter embarrassment, she slowly began to relax again. Her face was flaming, but she found she enjoyed the light caress. The V of her dress didn't dip down very far, his other hand was on the small of her back, and safely on the outside of the fabric. His hand was warm even through his glove, and occasionally the hand would stray into her hair and smooth the curls slightly. She shivered slightly from the tingles that shot down her spine.
"Are you still cold Lina-chan?" asked Xellos.
Lina blushed, she was far from cold but she definitely did not want to explain why she was shivering. She shook her head, pressing her face into his shoulder to hide her blush. Xellos' hand stilled, and he wrapped his arms a bit farther around her, holding her closer. Lina was a bit disappointed that he'd stopped stroking her back, but she enjoyed his close embrace.
"What were you thinking about?" she asked softly. She raised her head just enough to peep up at him, at his inquisitive look she continued, "you looked like you had something on your mind." Xellos smiled down at her, and lowered his head so their foreheads touched. Lina's face was definitely red.
"Just remembering how I met you," he said softly. Lina barely registered what he said, it was distracting to have him so close. "What were you thinking about?"
Lina blushed a bit brighter, and decided to ignore her most recent thoughts, "the same thing." His smile widened and the tip of his nose brushed hers.
He wondered how close she would let him get, if he could kiss her again without pushing her away. She was so fascinating, he wanted nothing more than to observe her endlessly. But unless he was mistaken the chimera and swordsman were on their way to make his life difficult, with a very conflicted princess stuck consoling a shrine maiden. He didn't want to relinquish Lina just yet, but they were already moving across the dance floor. He'd have to act quickly. Smiling a bit at the thought that formed in his head, he lightly rubbed Lina's nose with his own, chuckling inwardly as her blush intensified again.
"I'd like to show you something Lina..." he paused as her ruby eyes regarded his own, fairly a glow with curiosity. "Come with me?" She nodded, and he smiled. He waited until the swordsman just caught sight of them, then captured her lips in his own, and teleported them away.