novelxo Scarlet Princess: Chapter 24
We kissed for hours, until the kisses turned languid and lazy and I could barely hold my eyes open. Then Theo softly kissed each of my eyelids.
“You should rest.” He propped up on one elbow, and I pulled him back toward me.
“But this is so much more fun than resting.” I spoke the words against his lips, and felt his mouth stretch into a smile.
“Indeed, but it won’t be when my brother asks us why we’re so tired tomorrow.”
Well, that effectively doused whatever heat had been in this moment.
“Indeed,” I echoed, backing away.
He chuckled softly, a deep, rumbling sound, then rolled off the bed. Part of me wanted to tell him it was stupid for him to sleep on the floor now, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to.
Laying with him on the floor for warmth was one thing. Even kissing felt relatively innocent, but I couldn’t deny I was grateful he was chivalrous enough to sleep somewhere else.
Although, if I had thought it was awkward before asking him to untie my dress, it was excruciating now. I briefly debated whether I could just sleep in it, but I could hardly move my arms. Already, I felt suffocated.
I cleared my throat, forcing the blush from my cheeks, and once again asked for his help. He froze, but made his way over to diligently help me out of my dress, averting his eyes like a gentleman.
Then he returned to the fur blankets he had neatly lain on the floor.
“Goodnight, Rowan,” he said softly.
“Goodnight, Theo.”
Sunbeams streamed in through the window, and I couldn’t help but notice the way they danced across Theo’s chest and glorious bicep where he slept on the floor.
I ran a finger across my lips, remembering the way his mouth felt against mine and how much I wanted it there again.
But that thinking was dangerous, because he might just wake up and freeze me out like he did yesterday. Soft snores interrupted that unhelpful line of thought.
Sitting up, I quietly removed my sheath and dagger from beneath my pillow, strapping them back to my thigh. Then I grabbed the pillow and threw it at Theo’s perfect face.
He barely flinched.
One eye peeked open, and then the other, before a sleepy grin tugged at his mouth. “Good morning, Princess Rowan.”
“You snore, Lord Theodore.”
A low chuckle escaped him and he wrapped an arm around the pillow, tucking it underneath him before shaking his head. “I do not.”
“In that case, we should all run for cover because I swore I could hear another thunderstorm rolling in.”
“What, one that your weather toe didn’t tell you about? I thought it was never wrong.”
I grabbed another pillow to throw at him, and he placed his in front of his body like a shield. We were both laughing when the knock at the door sounded, bursting whatever bubble we had found ourselves in.
“We leave in ten.”
The guard’s voice, the reminder of what we were doing on the road, sobered me instantly. Theo lowered his pillow, his countenance more serious than it had been before.
He opened his mouth to speak. I was torn between desperately wanting him to say anything that explained what in the hell we were doing, and not wanting him to say anything that made this situation more complicated than it already was.
In the end, though, all he said was. “We should get going, then.”
“Yes.” I nodded my agreement. “Yes, we should.”