by Marci Fawn
She sits up straighter in her seat, really paying attention now.
“I want to come with you as you travel, to see the historical aspects of the world with you… if that’s okay.”
“I, err… I don’t know what to say,” she giggles nervously.
“That’s a bit… crazy. And first class tickets?”
“Well you said that you couldn’t wait to head to Belgium, and I would love to come too. So why not travel in style?”
I shrug my shoulders, trying to act blasé as if it doesn’t matter what her answer would be, but inside I was praying for her say yes.
“But… this isn’t an airline that I recognize?” She asks curiously, really studying the tickets now.
“Okay, I’ll admit it,” I’m forced to concede.
“These tickets are fake. We can go on my private airline… if you like. I just wanted to do something symbolic.”
“Wow, this is…” she’s floundering and I know that I need to be silent to allow her to make her decision by herself.
I don’t want to pressure her in any way because the last thing I want is for her to regret her choice later on. This is her trip and I don’t want to impinge on it if she doesn’t want me to.
“I would normally say no, but… I don’t know, this seems like a cool idea.”
“Really?” I ask, wanting her to be really sure. I’m not going to do this unless I’m convinced that she definitely wants me.
“Really,” she nods and smiles, confirming this finally.
My heart lifts with excitement as I realize it’s actually about to happen. She said yes, and we can travel together across Europe – I’m not losing her after all!
“I’d love to go travelling with you.”
“Great,” I grin, feeling happier than ever before.
“I didn’t want to tell you this in case you thought I was pressuring you into saying yes, but I’ve also organized some tours by European history curators, so we can see things that aren’t normally open to the public again – I know how much you enjoyed that.”
“Wow,” she gasps eagerly. “I can’t wait.”
And neither can I…
On the plane over the Belgium, we write a list of all the places that we really want to visit, and by the end of it, I can’t help but joke.
“We’re never going to get home at this rate,” I insist, as we both laugh.
“We have Paris, Rome, Cork, Helsinki, Budapest, Gothenburg…”
“Okay, okay,” she finally concedes.
“I know that we can’t see them all, but we can do quite a bit of it can’t we?”
She gives me pleading eyes, which I really struggle to resist. I know that I only have a limited time before my royal duties kick in once more, but in this moment, I really want to give this woman the world.
The way that she’s looking at me is making me feel all funny inside, and I cannot believe my luck that we’re here together, about to explore the world – or some of it at least.
“We’ll see what we can do,” I promise her.
“But we can be certain of one thing; this is going to be amazing.”
And I’m not wrong.
Each city that we visit is beautiful, astonishing and I fall in love with each and every place. I even picture myself living everywhere, living a normal life with no title and no responsibilities… although I know that can never happen. Once born into royalty, there’s just no escaping it.
But I can fantasize at least.
On top of that, Faith and I get on amazingly, growing closer every single day.
The only slight struggle we have is when one of her friends emails her a candid picture that must have been taken of us while we were in Venice, which sparked a small media interest.
Luckily, and by some miracle, the national press didn’t manage to get their hands on the picture, so it died down pretty quickly – but it did upset her, and understandably so. She didn’t sign up to be in the public eye, and I know firsthand how unnerving it can be.
I didn’t want to explain to her that being watched is what my life is all about.
I can never do anything in complete privacy, and if she were to choose to spend more time with me, that would be her life too. I don’t want to do anything to put her off me, so that shock has caused me to keep my distance. I don’t want to drag her in unless that’s really what she wants. I would never do that to anyone. When booking this trip, I thought that it was going to be the most romantic few weeks of my life, but I’ve been forcing myself to keep my distance until she lets me know that it’s something she wants. We’ve been acting more like friends than anything else, which does break my heart, but it’s better than not having her in my life at all.
If I’d lost her back in Cornwall, I would have been spending this time utterly bereft.
Luckily, everything changes when we get to Ireland. Just as I’ve started to give up on anything romantic ever happening between us, she does something very brave and she actually asks me about it, forcing me to explain.
“Edward?” She queries, as we’re sitting gazing out over the river.
“Do you… do you not like me? Really like me, I mean?”
“What?” I gasp, feeling awful.
Have I really made her feel that bad?
“Of course I do. I just… I didn’t want to do anything that you didn’t want to.”
“You English boys are so different to what I’m used to,” she muses thoughtfully.
“I’m more used to guys being overly forward.”
“I… I’m sorry that I’m not like that,” I start to feel self-conscious.
Have I been rubbish? Have I put her off me forever with me typical English politeness?
“No, no,” she insists, giving me that gorgeous smile once more.
“I like it. It’s different. It’s nice.”
And then she leans forward and kisses me with a renewed vigor, sparking my emotions all over again.
Oh God, this girl is amazing and I really want her, but I need things to be right between us. I need to ensure that we’re solid before anything else can happen between us – I don’t want to do anything that could mess this up. Not when it’s so wonderful.
“Where do you want to go next?” I ask as we pull apart, thinking of all the romantic places that I could possibly take her in the world.
Now that we’ve decided to bring love – or at the very least lust – back into this, I want our next move to be the right one.
“Paris,” she replies breathlessly, and I instantly know that will be perfect.
Paris is known as the city of love – what could be better than that?
5
Faith
My heart is buzzing with excitement as we land in Paris. For some reason, I really feel like things are going to kick up a notch for Edward and me here, and I’m really excited for that.
Our trip has been so amazing so far, even better than I could have ever hoped for, and that was solidified with that electrifying kiss that we shared just before we left. That kiss we shared held a lot of promise, and I can’t wait to see what turn we take. It’s exciting and terrifying in equal measures.
I felt scared to ask him why things hadn't progressed between us in a romantic sense even though it was bothering me for quite a long time, but now I’m so pleased that I did.
If I hadn't been brave, we might have gone home as only friends, and I’m not sure that I could have ever been happy about that. I’m sure now that he was just being a gentleman and waiting for me to make the first move, which in a way makes me like him even more.
I like him so damn much that it feels like my heart could explode.
“Wow,” Edward gasps, as he stands on the French soil just outside of the airport.
“Paris is amazing.”
“This isn’t Paris,” I laugh bemusedly.
“Well, technically it is, but I mean there is so much more to it than this I’m sure. Have you never been before?”
>
I only know what Paris has to offer from the pictures that I’ve seen in books and online, but I would assume that a European prince has been to one of the most famous cities on the planet!
“When I was younger,” he admits, turning to give me that amazing melting smile.
“But I can’t remember it at all.”
“Does that mean we can do some touristy stuff too? I’ve always wanted to go up the Eifel Tower.”
I haven’t been bothered about doing any of the typical touristy things anywhere else because we’ve been so busy with our fascinating history tours, but that’s one thing I’ve always wanted to do.
Doesn’t everyone? Surely, it’s the one thing on everyone’s bucket list.
“Of course,” he insists.
“Let’s go today. I’ve not been before either.”
We excitedly step into the nearest cab, and it whizzes along the city towards our hotel. I have no idea where it is that we’re staying, but so far, Edward has only booked us into the most gorgeous, luxurious places going so I have no doubt that it’ll be somewhere just as amazing.
But when we pull up, my face screws up in shock.
This is on another level – if we’ve been enjoying five star luxury so far, then this must be ten star!
My heart starts to thump loudly as I stand out on the street gasping loudly. I don’t even know what to think about this, it’s wonderful.
I can barely even speak as my eyes scan up and down the building – I don’t even know where to look. I feel a little awkward that I can’t even begin to contribute any money towards it, but every time I bring it up, he shuts me down right away, telling me that it’s fine.
“Come on,” Edward smiles, seeing my impressed reaction.
“Let’s go inside, I want you to see your room.”
Your room.
This suggests to me that we’re still staying in separate rooms, which means that the next move really is up to me.
Of course I know where I want things to go between us, but it’s nice to know that I have options if I change my mind. Edward is great because there is never any pressure coming from him, and that actually makes me like him even more.
He really is perfect, and he proves that to me every single day.
“Okay,” I grin, following behind him happily, practically skipping as I walk.
As we’re shown to our rooms by some very well dressed bellboys, which are right opposite each other, I bounce inside and what I find is absolutely amazing – I even have a hot tub in my room!
When does that ever happen? But that isn’t what I’m attracted to; I barely even give it the time of day, it’s the view of the Champs Elysées which is unbelievably breathtaking.
I can see right down the street from where I am, and watching the French people go about their daily business on this iconic road is fascinating. I can’t stop staring, and I don’t move from the window until a knock from the door shakes me from my thoughts.
As I swing the door open, I see Edward’s smiling face looking at me, which makes me heart melt all over again.
I just cannot believe how much I like him, it’s feelings that I’ve really never experienced before and I don’t ever want them to go away!
He really does make my heart flutter and my insides turn to jelly. I almost don’t know what to do with myself because of it.
“Are you ready to go?” He asks, showing me those dimples that I love so much.
“Do you need some more time to get changed?”
I glance down at my travelling outfit, knowing that I should really say yes. I know he wouldn’t mind if I did decide to stay behind longer to get myself looking a bit more spruced up, but my desire to see what Paris has to offer me overshadows it completely. That’s far more important than how I look.
Plus, Edward is used to seeing me not looking my best by now anyway, and he still kissed me so I’m pretty sure that it’s fine.
“No, come on, let’s go.”
“Oh my goodness, this is like being on top of the world!” I squeal happily as we stand at the highest point of the Eifel Tower.
“This is amazing.”
“Isn’t it just?” Edward asks, casually tossing his arm over my shoulder.
That physical connection is enough to have butterflies floating all over my body. I glance up at him, trembling lightly at the prospect of being in the most beautiful place on the planet with this amazing man.
This moment couldn’t be more perfect if it tried. I’m so glad that we made it here together.
Then just as I’m really drinking in his appearance, he leans down and he kisses me, and with that the rest of the world just melts away.
It’s only us, and that’s all that matters. As his hands run through my hair and my arms snake around his waist, I really lose myself in him.
I’m so glad that we randomly met and that we’ve had the opportunity to do this together. Sure, I could have done this alone, and I would have had fun on my European trip, but this feels like I’ve finally found something real, something special and I have a feeling that it’ll change the rest of my life.
I know that I’ll never be the same again.
As we pull apart and he rests his forehead against mine so that he can look into my eyes, I wonder where we’ll go from here. I know that we both need to get back to our real lives soon enough and that this will probably be the last city that we visit, and I can’t help but feel sad about that. I can’t help but worry that the second this trip ends, and the moment that real life starts to interfere, we will end up being torn apart and I don’t want that at all.
“I don’t want to leave,” I say to him, the moroseness evident in my tone.
“I want to stay here forever with you.”
“Me too,” he replies.
“I really wish that, but don’t think that this is the end. There will be plenty of opportunities for us to be together, so let’s not get sad. Let’s just enjoy our time together. It’s been so amazing; I don’t want it to end on a bad note.”
“I know,” I agree.
“Me too.”
I agree with him, but I can’t stop my heart from breaking inside.
“Let me take you out to dinner tonight?” He asks, giving me a curious look.
“I think that we deserve a night of fun, don’t you? I don’t like seeing you sad.”
“I would love that,” I gush happily, cheering up instantly.
He has this way of turning my mood around, and I adore that about him.
“That sounds amazing.”
With that, we start to make our way back to our hotel to get ready for our night out.
This time as Edward knocks at the door, I’m dressed up to the nines. I have a sleek black dress on that I picked up in Italy somewhere along the line, and I have tied my hair back up into a complicated chignon.
I’ve even gone as far as to dolling myself up with makeup. I’ve really made the best of myself, and I hope that he appreciates that.
“Oh wow,” Edward practically pants, looking me up and down, giving me exactly the reaction I was hoping for.
“You look… phenomenal. I don’t even know… there are no words… I’m gob smacked.”
I laugh happily, “That’s what I was going for!”
My eyes scan over him too, drinking in his appearance. He’s gone for the most stunning tailored tuxedo that I’ve ever seen – he takes my breath away.
“You don’t look so bad yourself,” I say appreciatively.
“I cannot wait to go out.”
Then he takes my hand in his and he leads me down the hallway. Walking with him, having him hold me, it makes me feel like the most special woman on the planet. I feel on top of the world, like nothing can ever pop this bubble I’m in… not even the fact that we will be leaving soon.
We end up at the most beautiful restaurant that I’ve ever seen.
Luckily it isn’t so fancy that I feel out of place – especially not in the outfit th
at I’m wearing – but it’s lovely all the same.
The waiting staff treat us really well and make us feel incredibly welcome. I’m not sure if it’s because they know who Edward is or not, but it feels nice all the same. I’ve certainly never been looked after in such a way.
I have the night of my life, laughing and joking with Edward, feeling even more connected to him than I ever have before. He’s romantic, sweet, and he goes out of his way to make me feel special.
This date is going even better than our first one, which is really saying something. At least this time I don’t have the worry that I might have to meet the queen afterwards! I couldn’t go through that again.
That was an experience that I never wish to repeat.
By the time we are walking back to the hotel, past the River Siene, I feel like I never want this night to end, and the only thing that I know for sure is that I will not be spending this night alone.
We have waited for far too long to be together, and tonight is definitely going to be the night. His wonderful nature has been making me even more excited, and I cannot wait to get him alone.
I don’t make my move until we are standing outside our hotel room doors.
We look at each other a little awkwardly, before I decide that I cannot wait for even another second longer. I lean in and I kiss him with all the passion that I’m feeling inside, hoping that he’ll get the message.
At first, he seems a little blown away by my bold move, but he soon leans into me and returns the kiss with equal enthusiasm.
Before either of us can change our minds, or something can get in our way, I unlock the door behind me and we both tumble inside, falling apart as we do.
For a split second, we both stop and stare at one another, just drinking in each other’s appearances, both panting heavily with passion coursing through our veins.
Then he takes the first step towards me and he scoops me up into his arms, literally sweeping me off my feet.
I wrap my legs around him and we continue devouring one another, until eventually he settles me back onto bed.
“You’re so beautiful,” he gasps against my mouth, causing my heart to melt and my body to turn into jelly.