Haven And Chaos

25) Why kiss him?

**********************
3RD POV
**********************

Knees shaking under the skirt, Maya slowly turned her body to face the man next to her as his arm fell from her back. The moisture in her eyes as she stared up at Gale.

"Pay your respects!" Stella hissed and grabbed Maya's wrist to force her when she caught Gale's stern glare at their hand contact. "My apologies," she said humbly and resumed her curtsey.

Gale read the look on Maya's face which seemed to say, 'Take me away from here'. He smirked and reached out his left hand. Knowing too well nobody would see this from their bowed heads, Gale mouthed down at her, "Pathetic".
He tucked a strand of the red hair behind her ear and then motioned her to curtsey like the other women in the large room.

She did so, her heart pounding with all sorts of negative emotions towards Gale and everyone in this damn ball.
"Rise!" Gale's voice boomed, permitting the many bowed heads to straighten.

The music resumed, but the attention of the attendees had now shifted to Gale, the most powerful man in the party. As the crowd began forming around him, Maya slipped away to avoid any awkwardness. She did not wish these pretentious nobles, including her siblings to figure out her relationship with Gale the archduke of Alabama.
And yet no matter how much she tried to hide, he kept showing up around her.

Anyone with a brain could clearly see he was almost following her around even though not directly. The glances he kept throwing her way were more than enough to link the two.
Standing near the balcony doors by herself, Maya sighed in relief. The long crimson curtains became her haven, shielding her from the darkness of the people present.

She instead chose to stare out into the night and wait until the doors were opened so she could waste away the hours on the balcony. 'I hate this. How will I explain to Danny about this damned dress?' Maya whined glaring down at the gown. 'I didn't want them to know I was related to Gale. I had hidden this truth from them for years in the past. But now Lori wants to wreck the peace in my family. How evil.'

"What are you doing here?" Came a deep manly voice that bled nothing but testosterone.

Maya gasped slightly before her head whipped to glare at the intruder. Scared about the prying eyes, she backed further out of sight and clung on to the curtains for dear life. "Get away! I can't be seen with you!" She whispered flushed.

Gale chuckled glancing at the busybodies a distance from them, and then back at Maya. He had come all the way here to 'save' her after the call he got from Lisa, but she seemed to be doing just fine hiding like a cockroach. He found the whole situation amusing. Why he had come to her rescue? One might wonder. But it was all because he didn't want her to break just yet, at least not by the hand of another.

He stepped closer, disregarding her concerns because he was finding joy in tormenting her in any way available.
"I'm not a villain. So why would you not want to be seen-" he reached out again and grasped Maya's arm before tugging it with a little force until her body came smothering on his, "-with me?"

Maya's scowl worsened while her hands struggled to escape Gale's firm hold. "Let me go! They'll notice this-"

"Well, maybe you just need to stay still!" He hissed and immediately pushed her body against the corner where the two walls converged. His body was devoured by the curtain, joining Maya in her hiding spot.
"Why did you agree to come here?"

She wriggled in hopes of pushing him further from her, but Gale responded by snaking an arm on her waist and gluing their bodies together.
'He's so close!'
So close that she could feel his manly package pressing just below her belly. Memories of the previous night suddenly flooded her mind, causing a furious blush to pop out. She hadn't forgotten Gale's cock, or the little thrust he had made in his sleep.

Annoyed that she wasn't even looking at him, he forced her to face him by pulling her chin up. Only then did he notice the deep color in her cheeks. Combined with her freckles, he couldn't help but liken her face to sprinkles on a vanilla ice cream.
That image alone was enough to have him laughing internally.
He looked away to save himself the laughter about to spill out. But when he began backing, Maya suddenly embraced and pulled him back in place by his waist.

From her angle, she had seen someone walking from the other east heading to the west. And if Gale emerged from behind the curtains right now, he might have been caught.
No, she wasn't saving him. She was saving herself.

His arm rested on the wall above her right shoulder which he was using to balance his body in order not to crush Maya between himself and that hard surface. 'Acting so brave yet so weak,' he scolded glaring at the top of her head.
Noting just how close he was to her hair, he tried to retreat, lest he lose himself to the raw desire to sniff it.
"She's still there!" Maya whispered hugging his waist even tightly, oblivious to how intimate their position was.

She had done worse with him. She just couldn't tell him or he'd cut off her hand.

"Fine. But could you let-" She was in the process of raising her gaze to meet his when her head smacked Gale's nose. "Argh! Fuck!" He groaned in pain. "Could you-"

She quickly shot her hand up to slap his mouth shut, "Shh! They'll hear you. I'll try to open the doors, maybe we can escape outside and you can come back in by yourself?" Her whisper was a bit authoritative, but what pissed Gale was the hand still covering his mouth.
Annoyed, he bite the fleshy mound of her palm just enough to have her moan out in pain.

"What was that?"

"I dunno, sounded like a rat."
Voices conversed from the other side of the curtains.

"Don't scare me, Angela. Such news would make headlines for a week. A rat in the count's home."

The women shared a laugh and glasses clinked. All the while Gale and Maya glared at each other each pressing a palm on the other's mouth.

"And the archduke?"

"What about him?"

"I heard that he got himself a young-"

"Shh! Don't speak nonsense, Angela!" The second woman warned fiercely. "Have you no fear saying such things in public? You're lucky it's just me who heard that."

The first woman giggled. "Don't be so uptight. Maybe this might get him to notice me. After all, I heard that his family asked him to take a wife or he'd be dismissed from office."

"What? Where did you hear that from-"

"A reliable source."

"It now makes sense why Lorien has been glued to him like a leech since last year. Did she intend to get close to him during his grief period?"

That statement had Gale's muscles tighten. He was about to burst through the curtains when Maya acted quickly and thoughtlessly.
Shooting on her toes, she grabbed him by his shoulders and smothered her lips on his.
Certain that Gale would not draw the curtains while they were in such a position, she tore her lips from his mouth and moved them to his earlobe. "You can punish me later. But please, don't let them see us together." She pleaded in a hot whisper.

As her mouth breaths landed in his ear, a savage roughness suddenly overwhelmed him. All the anger he had been bottling in him felt like it was bubbling up his throat.
Without thinking about it, he knocked Maya's hands from his shoulders and cupped her face. "How about I do it right here?" He whispered dangerously before diving down to devour her lips.