Part 3
Rumplestiltskin reaches for her face after their mutual declaration of love. Belle's fingers still caressing his cheek, he moves carefully and a little uncertainly to mimic her gestures. But he withdraws before he actually touches her, looking away from her with guilt in his eyes.
Aware of his returned self-loathing, Belle's heart aches for him as he implicitly shows her once more just how little he thinks he deserves, that he is convinced that she wouldn't welcome his touch.
"It's all right," she says, hoping to encourage him. She takes his hand between her own and guides it back to her face, watching his eyes grow wide as the tips of his slightly calloused fingers brush against her skin. It's her turn to sigh happily and lean into his hand as he touches her with more tenderness than she expected from any man.
Wanting to be as close to him as she can without actually kissing him, Belle tentatively moves forward, closing the last distance between them. Keeping her movements slow and smooth, not wanting to startle him, she rests her forehead against his. Rumplestiltskin immediately bends his head slightly, accommodating her approach and making both of them more comfortable.
He is lightly caressing her cheek on his own accord and she takes the opportunity to lock her hands behind his neck, keeping him close to her and exploring the skin at his nape at the same time. He turns out to be yet more sensitive than she presumed and both of them smile in wonder at the sounds of delight she draws from him.
Belle closes her eyes, completely at ease with being with Rumplestiltskin like this. More than that, she is happy in a way she never imagined she would be, loved by the man to whom she has lost her heart. He might be the complete opposite of anything she imagined for herself when growing up, but there is nothing and no one she would rather have than Rumplestiltskin.
"Love you," he breathes, his voice so soft that she can barely hear him, and neither for the first or for the last time she is taken aback by the depth of his feelings for her. She'll probably never get really used to the knowledge that the most powerful and most feared creature of all the lands can also be the by far gentlest and most loving man she has ever known.
"Love you too," she whispers back, more than happy to say the words again, to share them like the air between them.
Their closeness reminds her of the tender kiss they shared just a few days ago. Belle wishes that she had been more attentive at that time, that she hadn't mostly focused on breaking his curse. The memory of slightly hesitant, perfectly gentle lips against her own is too vague for her liking. It's not as if she can just kiss him again, reviving the experience and not ruining its aftermath this time.
"Does the curse break whenever we would kiss?" she asks, her desire to feels his mouth against hers again driving her to learn more of the effects of True Love's kiss - and their limitations.
"Yes," Rumplestiltskin says, his frustration obvious.
"Does the curse only break when I kiss your lips?"
He goes still again, his hands halting abruptly at the side of her face.
"I... I don't know," he replies, breathless as he withdraws slightly to look her in the eyes. "Nothing happens if we just touch, so I suppose that..."
He swallows with visible difficulty, his expression turning hopeful, calculating in a way it never was before.
"Because I was wondering, if I were to kiss your cheek..."
She doesn't need to complete her sentence for him to understand her and Belle is grateful for it, finding it difficult to voice her thoughts. It's not just that she has always been taught that she can't discuss these things, let alone so openly, but it's mostly her own desire to actually experience such things which leaves her struggling to find words.
Clearly Rumplestiltskin is thinking along the same lines as she is. His eyes are widen as he takes her in with a stare which is almost tangible in its intensity. Belle licks her lip unconsciously, only aware that she is doing so when his gaze flickers downwards and a soft groan escapes him.
Kissing him on the cheek is not what she'd prefer to do at that very moment, but it's definitely the next best thing. So she moves towards him, closer than she has ever been before, until her lips are right before his unusually colored skin, her breath brushing against him. Rumplestiltskin trembles at their nearness, and so does she.
"Do you want me to stop?"
No matter how much she longs to move her lips against his cheek, achieving at least this type of intimacy, she'd rather never touch him again than accidentally doing something once more that they'll regret immediately afterwards.
"Please don't stop." Something deep inside of her flutters deliciously at the rough sound of his voice.
Having all the permission she needs, Belle experimentally brings her mouth to his cheek, the skin there just as soft to her lips as it was to her fingers. He lets out a ragged moan at the contact, but this time she is mostly oblivious to it, overtaken by his nearness. The texture of his skin seems more striking this way, the unevenness of it against her lips delighting her.
Despite the overwhelming sensations at being so close to Rumplestiltskin, at kissing him like this, Belle pulls back slightly after only a second. She has no idea yet of the impact of this sort of kiss, but she is persuaded of its harmlessness when the seconds pass and not any physical change presents itself.
He has come to the same conclusion, turning his cheek back towards her lips before either of them can voice their conclusion that they appear to able to kiss like this without causing any currently unwanted reactions. His probably involuntarily sound of need has her only more eager to return to his cheek, moving her lips slightly harder against his skin.
Emboldened and acting purely on instinct, Belle opens her mouth a little, briefly moving her tongue against his cheek. The sounds he consequently makes has her heart racing in response, awed to have the power to evoke such reactions and, more importantly, that he enjoys this as much as she does.
There is no more place for hesitation or awkwardness after that. Clinging to him, fingers digging into his arms through his thin shirt, she repeats the gesture with more fervor, dragging her tongue over several inches of his skin.
Belle never suspected that there could be anything like this, the delight and warmth of touching a man like this. It doesn't matter all that much any longer that they can't kiss each other on the mouth. The joy of these kisses is already almost too much; she isn't certain whether she would be able to manage the supposedly more intense sensations of her lips against his.
Throughout his growls and moans, she ends up covering each inch of his cheek, from the edge of his brow to the curve of his ear to the line of his jaw, but never venturing too near to his mouth. She kisses and she licks, not truly knowing what she's doing, only that she never wants to stop.
That's exactly what Rumplestiltskin does though, gently pushing her away from him after a few minutes. She is distraught, immediately missing his nearness and, more than that, afraid that she has done something wrong. But his look of unadulterated pleasure and wonder persuades her very quickly of the opposite.
He takes a small step towards her, limiting the distance between them to mere inches once more. He angles his head until his mouth is near her cheek, his breath teasing her skin. He lingers and she nods eagerly at the unspoken question, hardly able to wait until he touches her the way she just did with him.
Belle's knees buckle at the first contact, the touch of his lips on her skin sending fire through her and taking her already limited breath away. She'd almost think of it as magic, if it weren't for the fact that Rumplestiltskin seems far too distracted for anything like that, his noises of enjoyment barely differing from those he made when she was the one kissing him.
Just like she did before, he starts hesitantly, as if not certain what to do and whether the touch will be appreciated. This too changes quickly as he luckily doesn't mistake her sharp intakes of breath for anything other than what it really is: utter approval.
Soon, he is kissing her just like she did him, his lips and tongue worshiping every inch of cheek, hungrily and tenderly at the same time. Her breath quickens, desire of a kind she never knew before developing within her, and her heartbeat not slowing down in the slightest.
He doesn't stop there. His lips make their way to her brow, her forehead, to peck and to caress and to lick, before continuing to the bridge of her nose, giving it the same treatment. Belle sighs, her eyes firmly closed, happily surrendering to the unfamiliar sensations swirling inside her.
Rumplestiltskin is muttering words of love and affection to her, whether his lips are on her skin or not. She returns them for as far as she is able, her first real foray into this kind of intimacy so much different - so much better - than anything she could imagine with any other man.
Warmth continues to blossom within her, the sensation as delightful as it is unfamiliar. There is no time to consider it however, not when one of his hands slides down to caress her waist, occasionally venturing slightly lower than before.
He reaches the other side of her face, combining his earlier strokes of lips and tongue with the slightest hint of teeth. Belle trembles in his arms, feeling out of her depth yet safer than she has ever been, cherished, beyond delighted both by his touches and the knowledge that there'll be as much of this as they want from now on.
When Rumplestiltskin moves away at length, Belle is very pleased to see that some of the doubt in his expression is replaced by something infinitely lighter than anything she expected to see there just a few hours ago.
Their kisses having come to an end for the time being, Rumplestiltskin pulls her against him, neither of them needing words to express their love at that point. Belle happily snuggles against him, her eyes fluttering closed once more as he continues stroking her hair, her own fingers not idle on his back.