Real-Life Prince Charming: A Friends To Lovers Romance

by Lauren Wood

  “I don't know what I'm thinking, Gemma. I will talk to the clients and try to get this all straightened out. Not everything has to be done face to face.”

  “You are the one that has always told me to see them face to face when possible, so problems can be handled properly.”

  It sounded like something that I would say, but obviously it did not work in the current scenario. I hated it when someone used my words against me.

  “You’re right, Gemma. I probably did say that, though, I am sure I said something about adapting, as well. This is going to be a change. I have property that I need to take care of here, and instead of selling it, I’m thinking of turning it into something.”

  “What happens when you guys break up and you’ve relocated to hick town?”

  It was a legitimate question, but one that I wasn’t quite prepared to answer. I didn’t want to think about that. That scenario made my stomach hurt. Gemma was not making me feel better about the situation, at all. She was just basically regurgitating my worst fears back to me, and I can't say that I liked the look of it.

  “I don't know, Gemma. I just know that I'm not ready to leave yet. I will try to do as much as I can from here, but maybe we should hire somebody for point to take care of things there. Unless you think you can handle some more responsibilities. You know that I trust you over just about anyone else.”

  That changed her tune altogether, especially when she realized that I was completely willing to give a little more money as well. She was going to be picking up part of another job, so I wanted her salary to reflect that. It was about time, anyway, and I'm sorry that it took this situation for me to realize that Gemma was due for a raise.

  Now, she was happy, and instead of being the Debbie-Downer that she had started to become, she gave me lots of ideas of how I could make it work where I was. I didn't know how to feel about her complete one-eighty, but I was just going to take it as a good thing. It was easier to take it at face value, than to worry about all the other problems. I had enough to worry about when it came to me and Frank.

  Because there was so much in my head and I just needed some time to myself, I went back to Grandad’s house and packed up a few more boxes. It was hard to do so, going piece by piece and remembering each thing that triggered a memory with them. It seemed like it is been so long ago that I had seen him. I hadn't visited enough. If I would have known...

  My phone rang a little while later, and I was so engrossed in some love letters between my grandparents, that it made me jump. My phone was all the way across the room and I just let it ring. I was just going to get it later.

  It started ringing again and still I ignored it. There wasn't anybody that I wanted to talk to besides Frank, and he usually worked pretty late. Now that everything was out in the open, it was going to take me time to realize and adapt to the fact that he already had a family. It was small, granted, but it was still his own. I needed to learn how to work around it.

  The man on my mind was at the door about ten minutes later and he didn't even knock. Instead, he strode right to the room I was in and told me that I wasn't leaving.

  “What?”

  “You can't just come into my life and then leave again. I won't let you do it.”

  “What are you talking about, Frank?”

  He gestured to all the stuff I was thinking about getting rid of or selling. He had read the whole thing wrong.

  “You. Why are you packing again? You can't keep going back and forth and messing with my heart. Didn't last night mean anything to you?”

  It was actually quite funny after a moment. After I got over the initial shock and the abruptness of his words. It started to make sense. He thought I was ignoring his calls, and I guess he didn't quite take the time to realize that I was packing up my grandfather’s things. If I was ever going to take over the master bedroom, I needed to get his things out first. There was a plan formulating, but I wasn't sure about it yet, and I certainly wasn’t going to say anything out loud to anyone.

  “What did it mean to you?”

  I didn't answer any of his questions. I wanted an answer of my own. All of this that I was doing, it mattered. Gemma had made me see the reality of the situation, but it didn't deter me like she wanted it to. It did show me, though, that if he didn't feel the way I did, in love, none of this was worth it. If it was just a fling like it had been in the summers, while I'm not going to say that it wouldn't be worth it, I didn't want to set myself up for that kind of failure.

  He moved toward me and I took a step back, just because I couldn't think clearly when he had his hands on me, and the only way to remedy that, was to keep my distance a little bit. It might seem childish, but it was the only way that seemed to work.

  “Do you really not know, or do you just want to hear it?”

  I honestly wasn't sure what the answer to that was. I wanted to say that I needed to know, but maybe I already did. Why was it so hard to imagine that he felt just like I did?

  Maybe it was just too hard to believe it.

  “You know that I love you.”

  “Love me?”

  Frank took another step forward, and I took another step back. I wanted to hear the words, before I felt the touch. The touch was what got me every time.

  “Yes, I love you. I think I loved you back when we were teenagers. I just didn't know it, then. I thought we would have more time. I thought I would see you again. A lot of things that I thought turned out to be wrong, but the feelings I had for you never changed. Even now, after all this time, I don't feel any different. I love you more if that's possible, and I want you more. I wanted you back then, but now, I can have you, and I wish you would stop backing up from me because all I want to do is get my hands on you.

  “Because you know I'll cave if you do.”

  “Cave to what? I should have told you about Caroline, but I didn't know how to. We are pretty damn young to worry about raising a child.”

  “You're doing it.”

  “Yeah, but that's my choice. I come with a little bit of baggage, and I didn't want to scare you off.”

  “Did you really think that was an option?”

  “I don't know. It's been so long and all I know is that I can't let you leave again. I don't want to go another decade without seeing you. Especially not now.”

  Frank was the type of guy that knew exactly what to say and funny enough, that made me nervous. Not only did his words seem to echo in my mind, but the idea of raising a child was daunting. A new relationship and another new relationship with his daughter. He said that we weren't ready for that yet, and I tended to agree.

  I had nowhere else to go. The wall was pressing against my back now, and I finally had to look forward and study the man advancing on me. He didn't stop, but he had this twinkle in his eye like he had finally caught me. I felt like I was the prey and I was caught in a trap. I didn't know if I liked the feeling, but as soon as he pulled me into his arms, the driver was gone. I was captured, and it was now just time to give. There was no need to fight it anymore.

  “Are you really not going to say anything to me?”

  I told him that I didn't know what to say and that was the truth. How was I supposed to respond to that? He had just poured out his heart in front of me and I didn't know how to take it. This was Frank after all. He had basically said everything that I wanted him to say since I was a teenager, and now all of the great things that I was going to say were gone from my mind. And then he kissed me, and I could no longer think.

  His lips were gentle at first, pretty quickly becoming insistent, and since I had nowhere to go, it wasn't long before he was picking me up into his arms and holding me there. In that way I had to hold on and he had more control over me. I didn't know if that's what he was thinking, but that was exactly what happened.

  It wasn't much longer after that until he was trying to get my pants off, slip inside of me, and when he managed all of that, we both cried out with the pleasure. I didn't think I
could ever get sick of that feeling.

  It was intense like it had been the night before and the day before when we had done it in his office. There was such an urgency to Frank at this moment, it was kind of intoxicating. I didn't think we were ever going to finish any kind of conversations if they all ended like this, but a few minutes and a couple of orgasms down, and I really didn't care. I was starting to think that talking in general was overrated.

  Things we're going pretty good, now that I knew what Frank was doing. I wasn't near so worried about seeing him all the time. I still wanted to, of course, but I knew that he had other priorities. Other priorities that was in another life.

  We had talked a little bit about me meeting his daughter, but that was still something that I thought needed more time. At least I needed more time. I had never even considered being any sort of stepparent. It was a lot to wrap my mind around, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I did know that I wanted to meet her, just not just yet.

  I ignored the calls from Gemma. It wasn’t the responsible thing to do, but it was the right thing to do for the moment. She had a tendency to make me question everything and right now, I just wanted to ride on this cloud and not look down.

  19

  Frank

  Caroline was starting to notice that I was gone a bit more. She’d woken up a couple of times to me not being there and that had set off a whole whirlwind of questions. She wanted to know where I was and who I was with. She didn’t believe that it was work.

  We were in the middle of another one of those conversations, and I just told her finally that I had a friend. She immediately knew what that meant, and I had to wonder what they were teaching her at school. Or, what were her little friends talking about. Either way, Caroline had questions.

  “It’s not like that, Caroline.”

  “Is it a girl?”

  I agreed that it was.

  “Is she a friend?”

  I agreed.

  “Then she’s your girlfriend.”

  “Well, I guess you’re right, then.”

  “See, I told you.”

  I agreed that she had. Caroline was getting to something, but she was taking a long way about it. I waited patiently to hear what she was going to say next. I had a pretty good idea what it was going to be.

  “So, why haven't I met her? You bring all of your other friends over.”

  “I guess you're right. She's just been really busy. We both have been, and I guess it hasn't happened yet.”

  Even as I was struggling to find an excuse, I knew that it probably sounded just as made up as it was. Even my young daughter that hadn't yet reached double digits could see that I was lying.

  The truth was that I wanted them to meet. It was Amber that was acting like she didn't want to. Amber was worried about it, and when I asked her why, she wouldn't give me an answer. She just kept saying that we weren't ready, but I don't think it was we. She wasn’t ready. What was holding her back? I had no clue.

  Caroline said something about how she hoped that my friend could come visit soon and I agreed. The two most important people in my life were going to have to meet, eventually. For a while, I was waiting for it to all come together naturally, but now I was going to have to push Amber. I felt like at this time I really didn't have a choice. For whatever reason, she was moving too slow, and I was ready to start a life with her. I had already started looking at rings and was planning to ask her to marry me. How could I do any of that when she hadn't even met Caroline? I was getting ahead of myself and Caroline asking to meet her just added more perspective. They should have already met by now. I was still clueless why they hadn’t.

  I got her off the subject talking about the weekend that she had planned with my mother. She always looked forward to them, and I was glad for the distraction. I was thinking of the visit, as well, and what I was going to do with the time that I was given. I decided that I was going to take Amber out, and now I had decided that we were going to have the conversation that I’d been putting off, the one that made us more concrete.

  While Amber said that she liked kids, I wondered if that was true or not. What if that was it? What if she just didn’t like kids?

  It was later that evening and I was thinking of what my daughter had said earlier. It made me realize that there were some things that we needed to talk about. There was also something I needed to ask her, but I was still working up the courage to do so. Could I really ask Amber to marry me, when she hadn’t even met my daughter?

  When I got to her grandfather’s house, I noticed that everything was completely different. She must have really been busting her butt on some project, and I asked her what she was doing.

  “I am going to set up a fashion house.”

  “In Hampton?”

  “Why does everyone keep saying it like that?”

  Surely, she had to see how strange that was. She was in high-fashion out of Paris, and there was none of that to be seen in Hampton. I didn’t know if she was being serious or not. Considering she had moved everything around and a considerable amount of effort was put in, I guess she was.

  “How is that going to work?”

  She shrugged. “I don't really know. I just thought if I'm going to be staying here, I'm going to have to justify it, somehow. I went from Paris to the middle of nowhere. The only thing that I have going for me right now is this house. I know Grandpa would want me to use it, instead of selling it and it leaving the family. He wouldn’t want that, and it’s too beautiful of a house to let it go to waste.”

  I stopped listening after she started talking about staying. Here I was so worried that she was just going to take off again. I knew there was a possibility of it, just like I knew her staying could be, too. I just didn't think she would. Now she just gave me another reason to clear things up.

  Now I knew that I had to bring up what came next. I felt like we were finally there, even though I’d felt that way for a while, now. She was finally catching up.

  “You don't know how happy I am to hear that.”

  “In what way?”

  “You know that I've been worried about you leaving. It's good to know that you're going to stick around awhile.”

  She said that she wasn't making any promises, but that she was trying to make it work. To me, that was better than any promise. If Amber put her mind on something, she was going to make sure that it worked.

  “So, what did you need to talk about?”

  “We can talk about it some other time, if you’re busy.”

  Coward.

  She said that she wasn't too busy for me and it was just another sign that what I was thinking, may not be as far-fetched as it may seem. We hadn’t been together very long, but there was history, and I didn't understand why we would wait any longer than we had to. I felt like I'd been waiting for Amber way longer than I wanted to admit.

  “No, it's a good place for me to stop. I thought we were going out. Do you not want to go now? Maybe you want to stay in and not talk?”

  I told her that we were going out, but there was still something I had to get off my chest, and it was better to be done in privacy. I didn't know why I was so nervous, just that I worried she would be unhappy with the plans. It wasn't like Amber had come right out and said it, but every time I mentioned her and Caroline meeting, she kept putting it off. When I asked her why, she wouldn't really give me an answer. It just made me wonder what was going through her mind and what her pause was about Caroline. Did she even like children? I hadn't even asked.

  “It's up to you. We can have the conversation wherever you want, as long as it happens.”

  “You're starting to scare me. You're acting like this is very serious business.”

  I told her that it was and there definitely was some apprehension on her face. Amber didn't like surprises, and I tried to explain to her that it wasn’t a surprise, but she said it still felt like it.

  “There is nothing to be worried about. I just wanted to talk abou
t some future plans. Every time we get together, all we seem to do is roll around in the bed.”

  “And you find that a problem?”

  I felt like I was on shaky ground and I had to be very careful with my words. I wouldn't want to mess up what was currently happening. It's not like I didn't really like what we were doing, I just wanted more. Was it too much, too soon? Was I going to scare her away? Was I ever going to not worry about that, or was the time away always going to play on my mind?

  “I am definitely not saying that it is a problem, I just figured that you would want to do a little bit of talking this time before we got there.”

  “You're the one that seems to have something on your mind. Why don't you tell me what's really going on?”

  I could see that the approach I was taking was not a good one, so I needed to change it. I didn't like how stressed out she was looking all of a sudden. This was supposed to be a good thing.

  “I think you are taking this all the wrong way, or I am really screwing this up.”

  “Just tell me what’s going on, Frank. Obviously, you need to get it off your mind.”

  “I have just been thinking about the future and what that is going to look like for us.”

  She looked away after a moment and I could tell that I was already losing her. What was her hang up?

  I chickened out. There was no other way to put it. I was so worried about what she was going to say, that I couldn't say it out loud. Instead of sticking around and stuttering about like an idiot, I went to the bathroom pissed off. What the hell was wrong with me lately? I had been in wars, killed men, and no one and nothing that I had ever done in my life scared me more than Amber. Funny how that worked.

  20

  Amber

  After he stormed into the bathroom, I didn't try to go after him. He needed a moment and I had no idea why. Sometimes Frank got in these moods and I was lost at what to do with him. He was mad about something and I wasn’t really sure what it was. With him, it could have been anything. Frank kept his feelings so close to his chest.