Pinches and Protests

Altan stepped closer to me, and with each step he took, I felt my heart beat faster. It was becoming a replay of what had happened on the roof. I knew what he was doing. He was stepping closer to kiss me. And yet I wasn't stopping him.

He took another step, and I found myself toe-to-toe with him

"Your Grace-"

"Shshsh" he silenced my protest and grabbed my other hand. He brought it to his other cheek, and I found myself cupping my hands around his face. I could feel the soft skin of his cheeks and the prickles of hair growing on his chin.

He held my hands to his face and lowered his head to my height. He looked me in the eyes, and I felt the intimacy of the gesture. It was almost as if he was looking into my soul. He was going to kiss me again... My lips trembled in anticipation of his touch, but it never came. He simply stayed at eye-level with me and.... waited.

~Dear god.... he's waiting for me... He's waiting for me to make the first move.~

With that realization, my sanity returned.

He was waiting for me to make a move. He was waiting for me to kiss him first. But why?...

No...I knew why... because then I would be reciprocating his affection. That would be exactly what he wanted.... proof that his feelings were not one-sided. It would be the affection that he sought from me. And I couldn't give that to him. Especially if I planned on running away.

If I ran away but he felt that I still had feelings for him....

He may never give up looking for me...

"Your Grace." I spoke, and my sharp tone seemed to slice through the air thick with tension.

Altan blinked at my tone as if it had awoken him from a dream.

"Your a horny drunk." I said. And pulled one of my hands from his grasp. The other hand I left on his cheek, though. I left it there, and grabbed hold of his skin, pinching it between my thumb and index finger. I pinched hard until Altan yelped and pulled away.

"Ouch!" he cried. Then when he looked back to my face, he was pouting. "Why did you-"

"Sorry to ruin your fun." I shrugged, "But it's time for a certain drunk Duke to go to sleep."

Altan followed me with disappointed puppy-dog eyes all the way back to his chambers, and I was almost tempted to feel bad for him.... Almost.

The guards that always stood watch outside of Altan's chambers seemed surprised to see me dragging an overly-intoxicated Duke across the floor. Although they didn't move to help me upon my approach, nor did I expect them to. The guards in the Palace were not allowed to touch Altan, out of respect of his royal-ness... I guess...

~I'm not really sure why they can't touch him.~

"Thank you for bringing me here." Altan said as we entered his room, and it sounded to me like he was attempting sobriety. Maybe my pinch woke him up a little.

After we entered, the guards closed the doors behind us and I felt my throat tighten at the realization that we were alone together in his chambers. "You should go get some rest." I said and attempted to unhook his arm from around my neck. "You have to leave early tomorrow morning."

"You're right." He agreed, and I watched him walk in a zigzag across the floor until he fell face-forward onto the bed.

~I don't need to help him anymore. I brought him here already, he's in his bed. I don't need to help him anymore.~

I turned to leave his room then heard him shuffling on his bed. When I looked back I saw that he was attempting to kick off his shoes simply by moving his feet quickly.

I sighed.

~he's hopeless..... No. Even more so, I'm hopeless.~

"Your Grace," I said approaching him, "I'll take off your shoes for you."

Altan rolled onto his back, placing him more in the center of the bed. And I placed my knees on the edge of the mattress in order to reach his shoes. He watched me silently as I worked at the ties of his shoes to take them off. "Thank you." he said slowly then looked up to the ceiling and began unbuttoning the top of his tunic.

I tried to not pay attention to the new and larger amounts of tan skin that were becoming visible in my peripheral as I continued to pull at the ties of the shoes. Finally, his shoes were off, I threw them onto the floor, and feeling resolute about leaving the room before seeing Altan's now completely bare chest, I turned to sprint to the door.

And I probably would have done it, if Altan hadn't grabbed my wrist.

My body tensed at his touch. Since the moment we had been left alone together in this room I had felt on edge, not to mention the memory of him attempting to kiss me was still fresh in my mind. I had been trying to ignore the tension I felt; I had been trying to ignore that I had felt his eyes on me while he was removing his shirt. But when his hand touched me it was suddenly hard to ignore anymore.

"Before you go." Altan spoke and my eyes darted to his face then back to my folded knees on the mattress, "Could you help me with me belt, as well."

I released some breath that I didn't realize I was holding.

~Just his belt. That's fine. I can help with his belt and then go.~

I nodded my head, he took his hand off my wrist, then I moved tentatively to his belt. Again he watched me silently as my hands moved numbly to the mechanism that I had never seen before. Many things on this planet were similar but not quite the same as they were on earth. This included simple-machines like buckles on belts. My fingers fumbled with the metal piece that was at the center of the belt and held the leather strap in place, but I was unable to get any part of it un-done.

With Altan watching, and the deafening silence in the room, I felt more pressure than I probably should have to get the belt unbuckled quickly.

"Here." Altan spoke, and I nearly jumped out of my skin when his low voice broke the silence. Then my heart jumped into my throat when his hands touched mine. "You've never used a belt before." he assessed. I nodded, and as I did, my eyes flew up to meet his again.

But that was my mistake. Because on the way to his eyes I caught sight of his chest.

And god, was it really a chest?

To me, it was more like a shining, golden, abdomen of the gods. At the sight of it, my eyes slowed, taking in his visible abs, his defined pectorals, his strong hip bones and the bit of hair that started at his belly button and disappeared where his pants began.

~Shit, what am I looking at right now?~

I dragged my eyes away from the view and back to his face. It was then that I noticed he had stopped working at his belt buckle. In fact, he wasn't looking there anymore. He was watching me... He was watching me watching him.

I swallowed with my realization.

His eyes held mine steady, and they looked like.... God, they looked like a world on fire. Like someone had taken his slow burning eyes and thrown gasoline on them. They were blazing, and they were blazing for me.

"I-" I cleared my throat when I couldn't make words properly form in my mouth. "I should-"

As if he knew what I was about to suggest, Altan reached for me. He grabbed me before I could protest, or tell him that I would leave, and he pulled me to him.

In the next moment, my back was on the bed and Altan was over top of me, holding me there.

I gasped at our new position, and at how quickly and swiftly he had moved. Just moments ago he had moved like a drunken slug, but in that movement, he rivaled the agility of a panther.

"Don't go." Altan pleaded with me, and his lips moved beside my ear. I gasped at the nearness of him. His lips were so close... all of him was so close.

~Like I could go even if I wanted to...~

He perched over top of me, with one hand holding my wrist and his other hand pressed against my waist. His face was level with mine, but instead of leaning in for a kiss, he brought his lips to my neck, to me ear, to the place where my hair met my scalp. He didn't kiss me there, he simply hovered as if imagining it. Even with him not kissing me, his presence was enough to make every hair on my body stand.

"Stay, Azul." He whispered to me low and sweet, and this time it felt less like a plead and far more like a command. I felt my body react to his words and his proximity in a way I wish it would not have.

As if he knew exactly how my body was reacting to him, he shifted. One of his legs moved between my own then traveled up... Up, until his thigh came in contact with the softest part of me. I gasped for air at the forbidden touch and he pressed harder with my reaction.

"A-Altan." I attempted protest, but realized as it came out of my mouth that it didn't sound like a protest. It sounded like I was calling his name; like I wanted more. And god.... I was calling his actual name, I never used his actual name...

Altan tensed all over at the sound of his name, at the intimacy of me calling him by something other than 'Your Grace.'

I didn't know anyone who called him by his first name, as far as I knew it was forbidden except between family. I felt his entire body above me stiffen and then heat suddenly radiated from him as if the fire in his eyes was catching the rest of him on fire too. He brought his lips to my ear again and a deep growling sound passed through him, and when he spoke I felt the heat of him move against me.

"I like that Azul." He whispered, "I like when you call my name."

~Is this man really drunk? Cause he seems like he's having no trouble with his sobriety at the moment.~

"Should I do something that I know you'll like?" He asked and raised his head to meet my eyes. His eyes were flaming like before, and when he was so close they looked... incredible and dangerous, as if I got too close he could catch me on fire too.

"I don't-" I began to answer his question, but again he moved before I could turn him down.

His hand found the bare part of my leg that was coming out from under my dress. He grabbed me there, lightly with his big hands, and began moving. He moved slowly up the length of my calf, over the curve of my knees, and up the bare skin of my thigh pulling my dress with him. Leaving in his wake a trail of delicious warmth and fire that was quickly followed by a cold breeze as my bare skin was exposed to the room.

I knew what he was doing. It was the same thing he had done on the night that I had the desert cold. It was how he healed my cold... it was how he made me moan.

His hand continued over the curve of my hip and came to a halt in the crook of of my waist. When he stopped I was breathing harder, and my head felt dizzy. It was like he was putting warmth under my skin, but maybe something else too, something that made me feel drunk on his touch.

"You won't moan for me, tonight?" Altan asked. and I felt my cheeks heat at such an intimate and embarrassing question. He moved his hand over my hip again and I bit my tongue at the good feeling. "Ever since that night," he began speaking into my ear again, "I couldn't get that sound out of my head. The sound of you enjoying my touch..." his words were too much, "The sound of you wanting my touch."

I turned my head away from him and pinched my eyes closed. This was all too much. The way he was speaking, the way he was touching me... I think I liked it... I think I wanted more.... I know I was turned on ~a lot~.... But I-

"Your Grace." I attempted to speak through the haze of horny in my brain and body. "I don't want to-"

He was off of me before I finished my sentence.

And I was suddenly cold.