Neglected Desires

Chapter 22

My chest heaving as I tried to catch my breath while resting back on the plush carpet of the office floor. Prince was sprawled out next to me, my hand resting aimlessly on his sweat dampened chest. My legs were tired, hips sore, and I could feel part of him dribbling out of me. Lifting my head slightly scanning the room for our missing clothes, a small part of me laughed as I took notice of the perfectly good bed across the room that we never made it to.

"So what was that?" My question slightly breathless sounding as my heart was still attempting to find it's normal pace. Turning my gaze to him, studying his cheekbones as they lifted with his quiet laugh.

"Ah mama, if you gotta ask then I must have done something wrong." Rolling on his side, watching me as his quiet laugh continues.

"That's not what I mean." My voice solid as he reaches out, wrapping an arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. Landing soft kisses on my nose, my cheek, my forehead as he tries to change the subject.

"How about we continue this in the shower?" I reflect the smirk on his face as he leaves a trail of goosebumps in the wake of his fingertip along my rib cage.

"Explain it to me first." His silent response comes in the form of a cocked eyebrow. "You're arguing with your father," his body visibly tenses at the reminder of his encounter with his father a short while ago, "then the next thing I know you have me bent over your desk screaming your name." The visible change in his demeanor takes me back slightly as I watch his eyes narrow and his shoulders tense just be for he releases me and stands up.

"I just wanted to finish what we started, sorry." His back to me as he gathers his clothes, heading towards the door. My mind races for a moment as I jump to my feet and walk after him, wrapping both my arms around his shoulders just before his hand reaches the door knob.

"Hey," my voice soft against his moist neck as he stops his forward motion, "look at me, please baby." I can feel his heart pounding hard under my hand just before he turns in my arms to finally look at me and that's when I notice his piercing eyes.  The layers of emotion hidden under that beautiful mixture of brown and green are breathtaking and heartbreaking at the same time. Slipping the palm of my hand over his cheek I watch as he silently pleads with me to leave this alone and move on for now, and the hurt buried in his eyes convinces me to do just that. "Ok," nodding at his wordless request with a soft smile, "how about that shower." The rest of the day passed without incident as we spent our time in the shower, then reading through some books in the library, catching up on the past week, and finally in the kitchen that evening cooking a simple dinner for the two of us. Honestly had it not been for the events of that morning I would have easily said this was one of the best, most peaceful days we'd had together in weeks. I found myself wondering that day if this is what a relationship is like with an average man; are quiet, calm days like this the norm with the average guy walking down the street, instead of being the rarity they seemed to be with us.  I let the peace of that day wash over us and had I known it would be the calm before our first storm I would have enjoyed it more; the storm started building the very next day.

"Has Adrienne shown up yet today" my words hasty as I inquired with Kellie at the front desk early the next morning before Prince had even made it out of the living quarters at the back of Paisley Park. Part of me knew I should just leave this whole thing be, she was his personal assistant, this was a "business" problem, but my overwhelming desire to protect him wouldn't let my mind be.

"Uh, yeah." Kellie spoke as she focussed on her computer screen. "She just came in a few minutes ago, said she was heading up to the office."

"Thanks Kellie." Turning and heading in the direction of the office. I wanted to get a minute or two with her before Prince did. We actually didn't speak at all yesterday about what happened, so I had no idea how he intended to handle this situation. Opening the door I found her pacing slowly in front of the familiar desk. Hearing the door click closed behind me she turned, looking at me with wide eyes.

"Where is he?" The thick layer of nerves coating her words surprised me. She stood with the same self assured confidence I'd seen from her in the past, but I did notice her tight, red blouse was a little lower cut and her black skirt was a little shorter today.

"You think more cleavage and a little more thigh is going to keep him from firing you?" My words, surprisingly, weren't accusatory, rather they sounded much more like an honest question.

"He's going to fire me?" Sighing as the look of defeat covered her face I motioned for to sit down in one of the white chairs as I took the other one.

"I don't know, but that," nodding towards her attire, "won't stop him if he wants to." She nodded in silence, studying her nervous hands resting in her lap. "Why the hell would you bring John here?" Her head snapped up, eyes resting in mine, looking as if she was about to say something. "You work for Prince, not his family or anyone else. You follow his instructions and if you come to a situation he hasn't talked to you about, you ask him."

"Tell me Alexa, what would you have done in my position?" Clearly annoyed with my addressing this situation as her voice raised slightly "John said he wasn't being allowed to speak to his son. He made it sound like someone was keeping them separated. I thought I was doing the right thing." Shaking my head, frustrated with her still trying to defend her actions.

"I would have told him I would let Prince know. I sure as hell wouldn't have hauled his ass over here unannounced." Her eyes squinted at me, standing from the chair, hands defensively resting on her hips.

"I don't know where you get off thinking you know everything about. . ." Standing to meet her gaze head on.

"You don't know anything about his personal life and what's going on with all. . ."

"Ladies?" His deep voice came from the doorway, where he stood in his white pants and an oversized, wide neck yellow shirt. As he made his way into the office, he silently took in the sight of the two of us standing toe to toe, looking as though we were about to let this conversation devolve into something far less civilized. We both watched him walk toward us then around the desk, before sitting in his chair and turning his eyes back to us. His face was nearly as blank as it had been yesterday when I watched him behind this very desk talking to his father and my heart sank realizing that I was now on the receiving end of that cold expression.

"Good morning Prince." Her voice finally cut through the silence, sounding as though nothing had happened, his eyes quickly shifting to her.

"Adrienne," taking a deep breath as looked at her face, his eyes never once taking note of her desperate attire, "you ever pull a stunt like that again and you're fired." Her gulp as audible as her head nodded. "Kellie has a list of things for you to take care of today." His eyes shifted to the papers on his desk and without a single sound Adrienne turned on her red fuck me heals and scurried out of the room. Once the office door closed those sad hazel eyes came up to mine finally and I unconsciously held my breath, waiting for whatever words were going to fill the space between us.  As he pursed his lips and furrowed his brow something told me those words weren't going to be the soft, friendly words I've been so used to.

"Just what the hell do you think you were you doing Alexa?"