Multimuse

Belle glanced up at him for a moment, wondering what exactly he was thinking when he was initially silent, but she didn’t ask. He probably had so much going through his mind at the moment, and she didn’t particularly envy that. God only knew how her mind had raced when she found out herself.

“I don’t have the energy to explain to you how wrong you are,” she replied. “The ‘naughty’ ones were especially awful, and you took too much enjoyment in reading them.” She had spent that whole time blushing and laughing, simultaneously trying to get him to stop and wondering how people came up with those things.

Her cheeks flushed slightly, and she looked up with a small smile on her lips. “I think she’ll have both parents to thank for her assured future brilliance,” she replied. She hesitated, but reached out to give his hand a gentle squeeze. She had missed such casual touches with him, and everything else. The feeling of his hand in hers was still so familiar.

She wanted to say something, but nothing really felt right. There were no apologies she could give that would be good enough, and nothing she could say to make what was about to go down any simpler.

Adam couldn’t help himself, and his lips quickly found her knuckles as she gave his hand a squeeze. “That will be one of the things we discuss then later. The merits of filthy limericks.”

He would also remind himself of that in a few minutes. A quick glance out the tinted window made it clear that they were pulling through the security gates of the royal residence.

Adam only hoped that once he finished this nightmare that perhaps he and Belle could pickup where they left off. Maybe it wasn’t realistic, but all he could think about was how eager he was to bury his face in her hair and press his forehead against her own.

She focused on that sentence, because it was all she needed. She doubted that his father would trim m try anything drastic now, but she still didn’t want to just let him go and do this. She felt like a coward for it, and wanted nothing more than to tell him to just have the car drive off, and they could leave together.

Belle paused, glancing between him, Catherine, and the residence they had finally reached. She tried to keep her face even, but she didn’t doubt that her work was evident in her expression as she thought about what was going to come next.

Sticking her tongue out at him would be childish, right? She didn’t do it, as much as she might want to, and she let him get to work at making the coffee, even if it annoyed her that he did it with such ease. “Well, I’d rather you not have a caffeine-induced heart attack while it’s just us here, so maybe pace yourself if you’re gonna go for ten,” she remarked.

It was her turn to lean against the counter, and she paused a second when he knew how she liked. “Uh, yeah. Thanks,” she said after a moment of watching him.

She was glad that she had left her suit jacket at her desk, because she was starting to feel ridiculously overheated. She tried to subtly tug at her collar where it felt suddenly too tight, hoping he was too focused on the coffee to notice.

“Ten is on the light side for this office and we both know that,” Adam countered easily.

He stole a quick look at her as he set her mug to the side and felt something in his chest tighten at the fact that she was turning a lovely shade of pink. It also tightened…. other things… but he was trying to ignore that for the sake of not becoming the office predator.

“There you go,” He muttered as he began to make his own coffee.

“Thanks,” she repeated, reaching to take the mug from where he set it, and missing his look at her. The steam curled from it, and she turned to leave the kitchen, and this horribly awkward conversation behind. But she stopped and looked back at him, ignoring that her face still felt too hot.

Was she really going to do this all because of one bad decision they made?

“What are you still doing here Leroux,” Adam said, leaning against the break room counter as Belle fidgeted with the Keurig. “I thought you had a hot date tonight.”

God, that made him sound like a creep. Adam yanked on the tie he had already loosened ten times that evening, suddenly feeling a flush along his neck. “Not that I was paying attention or anything. Just heard Betty mention it earlier.” Real smooth.

"Maybe I did. Maybe I don't. What I definitely have is case work I need to do," she replied, noticing him tugging on his tie. She had had a blind date, set up by Betty, but when she had spotted the creep who had been trying to date her for years and wouldn't take a no, dressed the way her date was supposed to be.