Saving Prince James: A James and Sofia Love Story
Set in an alternate universe, James is now 20 and usurped his father as king and conquered every kingdom to create an empire, but he has lived his years as a lonely king with only power and wealth to keep him company. When Cedric summons a banished Sofia, 18, to the castle to secretly save the kingdoms and James, something stirs in James's heart the moment he sees a grown and blossomed Sofia. Can a banished princess save the kingdoms and can a ruthless prince find his way into the heart of a princess he once lost?
Chapter 9: Sofia's Theory and Experiment
Sofia
Sofia was alone in her room in the late autumn afternoon, deep in thought as she lay back on her large canopy bed. Her arms left open at her sides and her long brunette hair sprawled everywhere. In the following months since her return, Sofia hasn't had any time to herself to simply just sit and think. Sofia enjoyed nothing more than to just sit in peace and allow her mind to wander, to let it get lost and empty itself from all the daily burdens that always weighs heavily on her.
But, as of late, she found that she's had less and less time to just enjoy the silence of herself. In just three days, Sofia's and Amber's "Welcome Back" ball would be here. With the closeness of their ball, Amber has been driving Sofia and the palace staff, Baileywick in particular, mad with all of the preparations. And if she wasn't occupied with Amber and the party plans, Sofia would either be busy James and his issues.
Several weeks following the night of James's outburst and the fight that came with it, Sofia could still remember how, after holding and tightly hugging her, James promised to open up to her as much as he can so he can prove to her that he is indeed changing. And while she does remember that, the only thing that continues to run rampant in her mind was how James held her so close to him. Somehow, she was still able to feel his warmth and heat, and how his hot breath still brushed against her neck as he pressed her tighter against him.
Since their discussion, Sofia found that James has been plaguing her thoughts. She was unable to think of anything else but how perfect James's body felt against hers. It was like this was the first time she was fully able to feel it. And now, James's appearance to her seems different somehow, like he suddenly grew incredibly handsome in her eyes.
And for a reason she still didn't understand, she would continue to find herself wanting to be back in his arms. To feel him so close to her that she could feel how warm his body was against hers. She wanted to feel the safety and gentleness of his arms around her body, like she was some precious gem to him, and stay there until she memorized every muscle of his body. Sofia understood that she wanted something more out of their embrace, but what exactly that was, she didn't know.
Why does my heart beat so fast when I'm thinking about him and being in his arms? Sofia thought as she laid on her bed. For crying out loud, this is James! My stepbrother! My brother! I shouldn't be feeling like this. Why am I even feeling like this? I just don't get it. He's family. I shouldn't even be noticing his body like that. So why am I?
During their walks and time together, as James tried his best to open up to her, Sofia would become all too aware of him next to her and she would find herself too quiet or stiff around him. She would hear him talk right beside her and she would try to remain in their conversation, but she would only find her mind wander back on James and his handsomeness. She didn't understand why she became so frazzled around him. Her heart would beat all too fast and she would always feel her cheeks grow hot. She just didn't understand it.
Why do I even blush so hard whenever I'm around him? Why does his presence alone make me become so frazzled? I just want someone to explain this all to me!
All too deep in her thoughts and confused feelings, Sofia didn't hear the several knocks at her bedroom's door until Amber barged through along with their guards.
"Sofia! I've been knocking on your door several times now, why didn't you answer back?" Amber asked as she briskly walked towards her. Behind her, both Cyrus and Edward held relatively large boxes.
"Sorry about that, I was just lost in thought." Sofia immediately propped herself onto her elbows and watched as Amber had their guards place the two large boxes on the floor near her table. Next Amber took out papers from the boxes and put them all onto the table in her sitting quarters. Well, there goes my ten minutes of silence.
"Well, since you're up now. Can you help me review who exactly responded to our invitations and agreed to come?"
"Didn't we do that like a week ago?" Sofia asked as she walked over to her sister.
"Yes we did, but we just recently got some late replies," Amber said as she waved around a white quill pen. "Really, now. It's been only five years since we've all been at Royal Prep, how can they have forgotten the royal protocol to respond to an invitation within a reasonable amount of time." Amber then sat down with an irritated huff.
Sympathetically nodding to Amber, Sofia just sat down and agreed to help her sister. And for long hours, the two princesses and their personal guards sat around and sorted through the invitations. With tea and late afternoon snacks, they managed to finish just before dinner time.
"Well, it looks like it's only Prince Hugo that hasn't responded to our invitation. Everyone else said yes," Amber said as she looked over her long list of guests and attendees. "That's a shame. Now our little reunion would feel a little incomplete."
"You invited Prince Hugo?" Cyrus asked with surprised eyes.
"Yes," Amber said with a sip of her warm tea. "Our Royal Prep class was a bit on the small side, so I just invited everyone. Why?"
"You haven't heard?" Edward said as he tried to neatly stack the pile of replies back into its proper box.
"Heard what?" Sofia asked.
"Prince Hugo has disappeared," Edward replied.
"What?" both princesses said, astonished.
Nodding, Edward continued on. "Shortly after your exile, King James returned back to Royal Prep and took command of the academy. From there, he had Cedric create a powerful force field around the school so that no one got in or out. He then announced that every prince and princess be returned back to their respective kingdoms and expected them to hand over their kingdom's deeds to him. Prince Hugo and Prince Zandar were the only ones that tried to fight against King James's command and failed."
"Oh my gosh," Amber gasped.
Solemnly nodding, he went on. "Angered by his retaliation, King James had Prince Hugo's kingdom of Albrosnia to be conquered first. His kingdom was the only one who was able to put up a powerful fight against King James. Their battle lasted for months on end until King James tried a dirty tactic and had his father assassinated. Albrosnia lost their king and was short on weapons and soldiers, so Prince Hugo's older brother, now King Axel, heavy-heartedly handed over their kingdom's deed. But, on the night that King Axel was signing over his kingdom to King James, Prince Hugo disappeared. No one had heard or seen him since."
"Wait, why did he disappear? Did he leave anything as to explain why?" Sofia hastily asked, wanting to know why her old Flying Derby partner would disappear like that.
"He did but King James burned his note," Cyrus said with a hard and heavy tone.
"Cyrus?" Looking over at him now, Sofia saw how quiet and guarded Cyrus looked. His brows were furrowed and angry looking, his lips here in a tight line and she would see how hard set his jaw was.
"Prince Hugo left a note stating that he didn't want to be under the rule of a ruthless and evil king. So he decided to leave his kingdom and find a way to stop King James." When Cyrus looked over at Sofia, she saw a fire within his eyes and was almost taken away by the fury and passion that danced in his brown eyes.
"How do you know if James burned Hugo's note?" Amber asked curiously.
"My father was Hugo's father's top knight. We became friends whenever I would visit his kingdom."
"Wait, then why are you here?" Amber asked.
"My father had me sent to the top military school when I was only 13, and well, that was here."
"That still doesn't answer the question on how you knew the contents of Hugo's note." Sofia asked suspiciously.
"We were there," Edward answered for him. "Cyrus and I were there when Prince Hugo's note was found. We witnessed how one of his guards read aloud his note and were ordered to burn it."
Edward tried to continue on and answer more of their questions, but Sofia just continued to watch Cyrus and his behavior. It was as if their conversation about Hugo and his disappearance hit a nerve in Cyrus.
But it was how the fury and anger that danced in his eyes that captivated her the most. It was all too familiar to her, like there was a distant memory in her mind that Cyrus's eyes reminded her of. She just couldn't place her finger on it. No matter how hard she tried.
Sofia was certain that Cyrus's eyes reminded her of something…. No, wait. Someone.
But just as she was about to delve deeper into her mental searching, Sofia heard Amber began to speak.
Obviously not wanting a heavy silence to befall them, Amber tried to change the subject back to the invitations and brought Sofia back from her deep thought again. "Well, enough for today. All but one of our good friends from Royal Prep agreed to attend, so I guess that's it for today."
Friends… the word rang in Sofia's thought. Good friends…. Best friends…. Ruby! Jade! Lucinda!
Sofia jumped up from her seat and stood with a horrified look. "Oh my gosh! I almost forgot about Ruby, Jade, and Lucinda! Amber, we need to get invitations to them!"
"Ruby…? Jade…? Lucinda…? Oh my gosh! How did I forget about them!" Amber replied with the same shocked look. "Do we have anymore invitations? I know we had at least ten more made as a precaution." She began to rummage round in the box that held the invitations.
"I don't know, but do you think there would be enough time to get it mailed to them?"
"I don't think so." Amber replied sadly as she continued to look through the box. "Do you think the coachman would be fast enough?"
"No, James is in charge of that and you know how long it takes for us to convince him to let us use the carriage."
Ever since their last argument, Sofia made sure that he knew of their conditions as an attempt to prevent any more massive explosions. Spending almost an entire day, Sofia and Amber both drew up a list detailing what he can and can't do to them. With only as much as they could think of, they gave him a short list. Down on paper, the two of them stated that James must try to control his anger and not yell at them. He can't order them to do anything. The three of them stand as equals. He can't use their mother or anyone close against them. And lastly, they have the freedom to add more conditions as they see fit.
And with that, James added only one for himself. Sofia can't leave the castle grounds without telling him.
It shocked her to hear this but she could see from his point of view somehow. Sofia couldn't explain it but she understood why he wanted it. He was just afraid of losing her so suddenly and she knew that he wouldn't be able to bear it if she was just gone like that.
And following his one condition, Amber and Sofia would both have long negotiations with James in order for him to allow them to use the carriages and coachmen. They were only allowed to mail things and have their items shipped back and forth. It was only Sofia that wasn't allowed to actually go out in the carriages.
Slumping in defeat, Amber tried hard to hide her sad tone. "Then, I don't know what to do…. The coachmen won't be fast enough if we would have to go through James first. Mailing it won't be fast enough either."
Sofia couldn't believe it. Since returning back to Enchancia after five long and hard years, she forgot all about her three best friends from the village and was about to have her first ball back at the castle without them.
Sofia felt hard tears pooling at her eyes.
But just as they were about to freely fall down her cheeks, she felt strong hands on her shoulders. Looking up, she saw that Cyrus was standing in front of her, smiling supportively as he handed her one of his handkerchiefs. "Hey, hey. It's going to be okay."
"No it's not." Amber said, her voice thick and strained from trying to keep her tears at bay. Beside her sister, Sofia saw Edward kneeling down and handing her a handkerchief too. "Sofia and I both forgot about our friends from the village and now we're going to host a party without them."
"Well, it's not you would have been able to get them into the castle anyway," Edward said somberly. "King James forbids any commoners from entering the castle unless they are part of the staff."
"Wait why? Our father always kept the palace open to everyone." Sofia was confused by what she heard. She thought that James kept all of their father's laws and protocols, why would James change this one?
"Sadly we don't know, Sofia." Cyrus answered back as he wiped one of her tears.
Suddenly, Sofia didn't know what overcame her. Maybe it was the frustration or what, but then she just stood tall and marched towards the door. "Well, since we know that James isn't going to give us the carriage in time and have the coachmen hand our invitations to Ruby, Jade, and Lucinda. Why don't we do it ourselves?"
"What?" All three of them gaped at her.
Sofia ignored their collective gasp and marched towards the door, determined to make it past the palace front doors and into the village.
"Sofia, wait!" Amber jumped up from her seat and held her back. "Think this through first before jumping head first."
"I agree with Amber here, Sofia." Cyrus said as he ran in front of Sofia and blocked her from the door. "What were you even planning? Just go out, hand the invitations to them, and face King James's fury again?"
"Not if he's going to find out. I'm planning to sneak out."
"But Sofia, it's still light out," Edward said, standing beside Cyrus as another door block.
"Look, Sofia," Amber said as she turned Sofia around to face her. "I kind of agree with your plan here but you need to let us help you to iron this out so there can't be any holes in it. Okay? I don't want you to go through with this plan and have it backfire on you."
"Wait, you agree with Sofia?" Cyrus exclaimed aghast, looking at both Sofia and Amber like they've lost their minds.
"Well, kind of." Amber shrugged. "I've never agreed to James's stupid laws and whatnot. Really, I've never agreed with James at all. So I kind of like that Sofia wants to rebel a little and try to find a sneaky way around James. It'll do her some good to be bad once in a while."
Here, Sofia saw both Cyrus and Edward look stunned and stood there with their mouths open.
"So, Sofia, tell me your plan," Amber said, ignoring the guards' shocked expressions.
"I was just thinking on sneaking out on one of the flying horses and give the invites to Ruby, Jade, and Lucinda. I was just going to wing this entire plan, really."
"Okay, bad idea to wing it," Amber said, matter-of-factly.
Behind her, Sofia could hear Cyrus scoff, "that's not the only bad idea here."
Glaring at him, Amber continued on. "I like that you plan on using the flying horses, less noise than a carriage. A couple flaws though, what if James tries to find you while you're gone?"
"I don't know…."
Biting her lips, Amber asked, "what time were you planning on doing this?"
"Like right now."
"Bad. It'd be best if you did this tomorrow night, when he's asleep. That would give us all enough time to get everything ready for your sneak out. Duh," Amber poked at Sofia's forehead. "Now are you going alone or what?"
"Oh, she is not going into the village at night all alone," Cyrus interrupted. He stepped forward and looked down at the both of them. Sofia could see the determination in his eyes, telling her that he isn't taking "no" for an answer. "I'm going with you, Sofia. I can't let you just go out there at night all alone when I'm your personal guard. Amber, you and Edward stay back and try to distract James if he does wake up late in the night and tries to find Sofia."
Sofia saw that Amber was taken aback for a moment, but then she recognized a small, knowing and secretive smile grew on her lips. Nodding her agreement, Amber turned to Sofia and asked, "so what do you think about this plan? We cleared it all out and made your plan almost foolproof."
Smiling at all of their help, Sofia said happily, "I love the plan. We'll start the plan later tomorrow night, after my and James's nightly tea."
And with that, Sofia and everyone patiently waited until it was time for their plan to commence tomorrow night. In the meantime, Sofia had Amber prepare the extra invitations for their village friends and their guards chose and prepare the two flying horses for their fast trip while Sofia had her usual after dinner tea with James. Sofia was sitting in James's personal study room talking and trying to think through with her plans, rebellious excitement running through her.
Originally, their post-dinner tea time was held in the family room and Amber was a part of it, but after his massive fight with Cyrus, James persuaded Sofia to personally have tea with him in his study room.
Looking around, it was a simple room that held a massive book collection and a large oak desk by the floor-to-ceiling windows with velvet curtains pulled aside. In the far back corner of the room, on the left side of his windows, there was a locked door. With a large leather sofa and several loveseats seated in front of the fireplace, James's personal study room was cozy and warm even though it was located far down the dark hallways that occupied their bedrooms.
Being in there with only James, Sofia couldn't help but feel a closeness and personal companionship with him. It was like she was the only person that he allowed into his world and that made her feel special and… loved. Like, he would only let his walls down in front of her and allowed himself to be vulnerable with her.
Sofia even remembers, at one of their cave meetings, that Baileywick mentioned how no one was allowed into James's personal study. Not even the maids or even Baileywick. It was forbidden for anyone to even come close to it.
And for Sofia to even make it that far as to have tea in there meant that she was making a breakthrough with him. Since returning, Sofia had never seen Baileywick that happy at any of the news Sofia would bring in regards to saving James. He was nearly jumping up and down from happiness.
It was in this room that, for some reason, Sofia was able to release all of her nervousness and awkwardness whenever she was around James. Somehow, she was able to relax and allow the coziness of the room to calm her down.
And, as for James, she noticed how he was able to open up better in this room. He managed to tell her his feelings and how alone he felt for so long, but at the same time, she knew he was holding back something. But Sofia was more than determined to find out just what he was hiding from her.
That is, after her plan was finished and she managed to successfully give her friends their invitations to the ball.
"Sofia?" she heard James's voice ripple through her thoughts as she was running through her plans for tomorrow night.
"Yes?" she replied, looking over at James, who sat at beside her on his leather sofa.
"Is everything alright? You seem to be deep in thought." James turned his body so that he was facing her.
"Oh…," Sofia said, trying to think of a quick excuse. "Well… I… er… heard… um… today that you forbid any commoners to enter the castle. Is that true?" Sofia surprised herself at how earnest her excuse turned out. She looked at James, actually wanting to hear his answer.
"Yes… it is."
"Why did you lock the gates, James?"
"Honestly?" James looked at Sofia in the eyes and she could see the raw and pure emotions that only this room can produce out of him. "Shortly after that night, everything in the kingdom was in chaos and everyone was trying to get into the castle to demand answers. I couldn't take it, so I just locked the gates and forbid anyone from entering unless they were staff members. In those early years, I just wanted to be left alone."
Sofia noticed how hard he clenched his hands; it was to the point where his knuckles were turning white. Gently reaching out, she reached out her hands and made him hold onto her hands instead. In recent days, Sofia found that, whenever James was reminiscing about a painful memory, if he was just holding onto her, then it made the pain lessen for him. Sometimes, he would refuse to let go and, then, it would take a stern warning from her to make him release her.
"Can you somehow revoke that rule, James?"
"No! I can't!" James cried out. Now she saw the fear echo through his eyes.
"Okay, okay. James just try to tell me why you can't." Sofia tried to soothe him back down, gently rubbing the back of his hands with her other free hand. She could feel how tightly he gripped her right hand.
"If I open the gate, then the people will try to get in and demand answers that I can't give. I don't want that. I can't explain to them what happened that night when I don't understand it myself." James explained, falling towards Sofia and resting his head on her shoulder.
Since having their personal tea time together, Sofia couldn't help but notice how much more James has been touching her. Every now and then, he would reach out and kiss her knuckles or just twist her strands of her hair between his fingers.
And admitting this only to herself, Sofia began to like it. She liked feeling the closeness and how hot his breath was against her whenever he would lean in close to her. Like right now, when his nose and lips were so close to her that she felt his warmth against her skin.
It was like each one of his touches left searing marks all over her. Sofia could remember how soft his lips felt on the back of her hands and how much she wanted to lean into him as he stroked her hair or cheek. Sofia even found herself wanting more from him, but each time, he would lean away and cut short their skin contact.
She didn't understand when she became so needy for his touch nor did she really wanted to understand it in moments like this, when it was only the two of them. The only thing she really understood was that she wanted it more than anything whenever she was in his presence. She wanted to feel his hands all over her body and savor his touches. She to feel his kisses not on her hands or cheeks, she wanted it on her lips so that she could deepen them into something passionate.
Oh my gosh! What am I thinking! That's James for crying out loud. Your stepbrother! It's not natural for a sister to feel like this! You can't think of kissing him like that!
Wait, what does it mean if I want to kiss him and have him embrace me like that? Mom always said that the moment she knew that she had feelings for dad was when all she could think about was to kiss him. Does that mean I have feelings for him? Have all I've been thinking about was to kiss him? If I'm being honest here, I do stare at his lips a lot. But then, I stare at his body too.
Do I have feelings for him? I mean, I care for him like a brother... Right?
No, it's more than that. But what?
Thinking over my feelings, I know that I like James for more than his body. I like that he treats me special and looks at me like I'm something more. I always see that there's some sort of light in his eyes whenever it is only the two of us. He only smiles honestly at me and laughs hard with me. Am I being selfish if I say I'm happy that it's only between us and that I'm the only person that gets to see him like that? Is it selfish to only want him to continue to make me feel like I'm something special to him and be around only me? Does that mean I have feelings for him?
Following Mom's theory, if always thinking about kissing him meant she knew she had feelings for him. Does actually kissing him mean you'll know for sure? If you like the kiss, you'll know. Right?
And that thought alone made her heart beat erratically. She was certain, with his closeness, that he could somehow hear her heart beating like a hummingbird.
But something in her made her not care. She just wanted to test out her theory.
"James?" Sofia quietly asked, realizing how long she and James were seated like that in a peaceful silence.
Okay, this will just be simple. If I like the kiss, I have feelings for him. If I don't, then he's nothing more than a brother to me.
"Hmm?" He responded, like he was close to sleepiness.
Oh, good. If he's a little sleepy, then maybe I can use that as a way to pretend that he just dreamt the kiss or something if this kiss goes bad.
"Can you… look up…. Please?" Sofia squeaked out, her heart beating at the top of her throat.
"Hmm?" he responded again as he began to raise his head up.
Almost immediately, the moment she saw his lips in front of her face, Sofia closed her eyes and plunged forward. She pressed her lips against his, wanting to find her answer in this kiss between them.
And, to her surprise, she found that she liked the kiss. It was sweet and tender at the same time. She felt small shots of electricity as her lips touch his, starting from the kiss and running down her spin. She was able to examine how James's lips were perfectly soft and gentle. She could certainly feel his surprise at how forward she was being, forcing a kiss on him like that.
And at the back of her mind, she thought, what if James doesn't want this kiss? Oh my gosh! Then I would have forced a kiss on him and he would hate me!
Despite how much she liked the kiss, Sofia began to pull away.
But then, she heard James growl beneath her lips.
"Oh no you don't," she heard him grunt and began to crush his lips onto hers. And soon, their sweet and tame kiss became savory and passionate. There was an excitement that ran through her body and made her ache for the kiss to grow into something else.
He pressed hard and she could feel the wanting that came from him. There was this desperation and deep need that came from his kiss, like he didn't want their kiss to end. And Sofia felt it herself. She wanted this kiss to last forever, even if it was an experiment to see if she had any feelings for James. She wanted more than anything to just remain in his arms and continue this blissful kiss.
Sofia felt him open his mouth and ran his tongue across her teeth, motioning for her to open her mouth too and allowing him access into her mouth. He began to deepen it to an extent that she knew that she could never achieve. Sofia felt their tongues began to dance together and explore each other's mouths. Soon, Sofia began to grow bold and ran it over the roof of his mouth and began to tease him by running it over the top of his tongue.
Sofia smiled against their kiss at hearing a low and deep moan come from James and how it rumbled through their kiss.
Sofia felt his arms wrap around her waist and pulled her so close to him that she was now straddling his lap. With her arms around his neck and running her hands in his soft blonde hair, Sofia pressed herself even harder against his body. And she felt how positively James reacted to how hard she pressed herself against him. His hands reached downward and held tight onto her hips, crushing her even harder to him.
All that was heard in his silent study was their heavy breathing and desperate, long awaited kissing.
As close as she could get to him, Sofia felt an ache come from deep within. She wanted something more out of this kiss, but she couldn't place it.
But her mind soon went blank when she felt James's muscular hands began to roam all along her back and run up into her hair. She began to shiver at how much pleasure it gave her to feel James's hands touch her. Mentally, she was happy that she just let her hair down today and refused to allow Amber to curl or style it. Sofia was certain that he was messing with her hair and disheveling it.
To her dismay, James was the first to break their kiss. Sofia instinctively tried to lean back in and continue their kiss like it never stopped. She was surprised at herself, just one kiss and already she wanted more; it was like his kisses were a delicious dessert and she craved more of it. She wanted more of his kisses and touches.
But James leaned back and just kissed her nose instead. And Sofia could tell that both just need to calm down and try to regain their breathing. Neither one of them was able to speak and could only continue to breath heavily.
After several minutes of just leaning their foreheads together and trying to relax their breathing, James was the first to speak. "Sofia, please tell me this isn't a dream."
Sofia liked how hoarse his voice sounded, like he was as much affected by their kiss as she was.
And remembering her original plan to just tell him that he dreamt this kiss if she found herself disliking the kiss, all Sofia could do was laugh and plant a small kiss on his lips. "No, James. This isn't a dream."
James broke out into an ecstatic and almost childish smile, pulling Sofia into another hot and heavy kiss. But Sofia was disappointed to feel that the kiss was broken short and she almost grumbled for James to return his lips back to her.
"Hell, Sofia. You don't know how long I've wanted to kiss you. It drove me crazy to hold back every day and try to restrain myself. I honestly thought that I would be the one to do it first and kiss you like that just now," James admitted, bringing his hands up to cup her cheeks. Sofia saw how glazed his eyes were and she was more than certain that hers were too.
Sofia let out a small and bubbly laugh, "well to be honest, this was just a test of mine to see if I had any feelings for you." She reached up and tentatively touched her lips, feeling how swollen they were.
"Test?" James asked, gently placing a small feather of a kiss on her fingers that touched her lips.
"In my head, I thought that since I kept on thinking about kissing you to why not just test it out. It was all to see if I have feelings for you or not," Sofia explained.
James laughed a little at her explanation. "Well, you always were a logical and rational girl."
Laughing back at him, Sofia leaned back down and began to kiss again before James broke it with a pained and aggravated groan.
"Sofia, please," she heard him say, his tone heavy and hoarse. "I can't continue on like this if I don't know. Tell me what were the results of your test, please."
Sofia could hear the heavy and deep meaning of his question. It was like something in James wanted more than anything to hear just what Sofia had to say about her feelings for James. She saw in his eyes and heard in his voice how much he cared for her. He loved her and wanted only her. She felt his feelings for her in that first kiss.
And Sofia knew right there. She understood her confusion now. Sofia had feelings for James.
Letting out another laugh, Sofia kissed him again. "James, if that first kiss wasn't clear enough for you, I guess I'm just going to have to say it aloud for you. I have feelings for you."
Sofia watched as her words sank into him. She saw how wide his eyes grew and could only begin to laugh. Soon a large smile began to form on his lips and then he was smiling like she's never seen him do before, James happily held onto her cheeks again and resumed to kiss her like crazy. Sofia continued to laugh and reached up to hold his hands on her cheeks. And in between his kisses, all she heard was him call out her name.
But suddenly, James pulled back and looked at her with a raised brow. "Wait. Was that your first kiss?"
"My first kiss?" Sofia asked confused.
Thinking it over, realization began to dawn on her as she started to understand what James was asking her.
Oh my gosh! I was so into my theory and experiment that I didn't realize that it was my first kiss I was going to put into my test!
Sofia felt her cheeks grow hot and immediately put her face into her hands in hopes to hide it from James. "Yeah, that was my first kiss…," she groaned, mortified at how she executed her first kiss and how forceful she was with their first kiss together.
She then felt James began to pull her hands away from her face and looked worryingly at her. "Do you regret it? Did you hate your first kiss?"
Looking at him, Sofia saw how much worry and fear ran through his eyes and tone. It was like he was afraid that she just might have changed her feelings for him already. In some way, she kind of saw him like a small puppy that was about to be put out for being bad. It almost made her laugh, but she knew she couldn't do that to him right now.
"No, silly," Sofia said with a smile. "I wouldn't have continued to kiss you like that if I hated my first kiss."
Smiling happily again like a puppy that got a treat, he returned back to kissing her full and hard. And the rest of the night, Sofia remained in James's study, happy in his arms as she drifted off into a deep and peaceful sleep.
Chapter nine! Whoo!
Again, I would like to thank all of those that read, reviewed, favorited, and followed this little story of mine. And much thanks to everyone that fave and followed me as an author. I would continue on about all of the thanks and shoutouts that are due to everyone, but then I would just be blabbing on and on. So, I'm just going to cut it short here.
I'm sorry that it took me so long to post this chapter. I got sick and with that came writer's block. But, I'm all better now and I'm almost halfway done with chapter ten. Did you guys liked how I set up their first kiss? Whoo! Our girl made the first move! Like always, tell me what and who are you excited to see in the next chapter.
Read and review because the reviews make me happy.
Thanks :)
PS: I'm sorry, everyone. There seems to be a problem with chapter nine. Some people have been messaging me that they haven't been able to read and access the chapter. In my account, it says that chapter nine was published but the story still wasn't updated. So one of my solutions was to just completely delete chapter nine and just reupload it. So I'm sorry if you all keep getting emails about me releasing chapter nine. If you've already read it, then just ignore it. Until then, I'm just gonna keep on trying to figure out what's going on. Thank you for understanding.
