Amara Meadows has always placed her job first, but with her journalism career slowly failing, she seems lost.
Although when she ends up spending a month in the palace covering the coronation of White Bridge's prince, she finds more than herself.
F...
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"Oh no, did I miss them?" Xavier smiles as I walk into his hospital room.
"You mean, did you miss the meeting with my parents when going for a two-hour doughnut run?" He places the magazine on the bedside table. "Just by a few minutes." I place the box at the edge of his bed before walking to his bedside and placing a kiss on his forehead.
Xavier's been in the hospital for a week and even though I've enjoyed our daily visits he's finally getting out of the hospital on the condition of bed-rest. The timing couldn't be better either. Wendy is in Paris for fashion week and Peter left for New York yesterday. I think it'll be easier for us to get used to this kind of dating, but also kind of not dating situation when we're alone. Xavier is still adjusting to the cast, but he hasn't thrown something at the wall in a while so that's a small win. The wound on his chest is being checked every day by Alexei, a doctor that Xavier flew in from the Barclay's palace. He's the only one Xavier trusts to treat him.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He shrugs.
Today was the first time his parents came to visit him, they were supposed to come the day following the accident. But they ordered Marie to return to Whitebridge instead and that was the end of that. The news of him skipping out on his own coronation had got out faster than they wanted it to, so they decided to deal with that instead. The whole ordeal left quite the embarrassing spotlight on the royals. Not to mention the fact that his parents were already not my biggest fan, or at least his father. His mother actually seems to like the idea of Xavier being in love, that didn't get her to come here any sooner though.
"I'd rather not." He looks at the plastic bag sticking out from my coat pocket and his face falls a little. "Your turn?" I nod while taking the medical supplies out.
Alexei had to return home as well, something about Irene and some sort of emergency. He taught me how to change the bandage a whole back before he left, just in case he couldn't be here, but also because I need to do it when Xavier stays with me. The idea in itself makes me beyond nervous, I see the way he flinches when Alexei cleans the wounds and I hate that I'd be the reason for him being hurt or uncomfortable. Plus knowing that he hates it just as much as I hate doing it doesn't exactly help.
"You know Xavier, this isn't that bad." I sit down next to him on the side of his bed where he sits shirtless. He laughs as I do so.
"Of course not. I mean you get to touch my flawless torso. What do I get?" That was very cocky, slightly offensive as well but mostly I have to admit that he's not wrong.
"You get to tell me what to do if I do it wrong. Don't you love that?" He watches my movements as I pull the rubber gloves over my fingers. He grins as our eyes lock.
"Among other things." I roll my eyes and he laughs.
"Move up please, mister? After I change it the on-call doctor is coming to check on your arm again before discharging you." He shifts a little and almost shuffles to the other side of the bed, waiting patiently for me to position myself.
With slow slides, I remove the long band-aid from his chest and push it into the empty bag. The large red and slightly swollen scar stretches from the tip of his left shoulder to the center of his chest, it's surrounded by more bruises and smaller scrapes. The stitches have to stay in for a little while longer and I know Xavier disapproves of that as well. The man is quite full of shit come to think of it.
I take a little squire piece of gauze and after soaking it with the saline solution I bring it up to the scar where I stop a few inches away. Xavier rubs a hand over the side of my leg that is resting against him and he nods. "It's okay." His voice is calm and reassuring.
I take a deep breath and slowly start patting the edge around the stitches. I feel Xavier flinch every time the burning liquid touches the sensitive surface, although his face doesn't show anything. I dry the area with a tissue, making sure it doesn't stick to the stitches.
"I don't like the idea of hurting you..." I bite the side of my cheek as I throw both the gauze and the tissue into the bag as well. Xavier laughs as he leans forward to make it easier for me to replace the band-aid.
"I love the way you worry, Miss Meadows." He keeps watching me as I remove the cloves, his face is slightly misleading. His mouth still plays with a large grin, but there is something missing in his eyes. "I love quite a few of the things you do..."
"Does that make this more or less terrifying?" He throws his feet over the bed before carefully standing up and picking his shirt up from the floor. He struggles slightly while pulling it over his chest and I carefully help him pull it down completely, hovering in his presence as I wait for his reply.
"Both. I know that I want to be with you and I want that more than I've wanted anything in my life. I also know that my title is waiting for me to go back to. But I was willing to throw it away without a second thought if I had so much as a possibility of being with you. That scares me. The infatuation that I have with you, it's like a drug and I'd do just about anything for a fix. I'd do anything for you, Amara, and if I feel like this after mere weeks with you... "
"Imagine what it'll be like after two years..." He puts a hand on my back and continues by kissing the top of my head. "You make me happy." He smiles. " Xavier, I haven't been truly happy in years and you... Everything you've done. Who you are..." I take a breath before continuing. " The people in my life tend to disappoint me and hurt me."
"I will never ever hurt you." He pulls me closer.
"I know, without a shadow of a doubt I know that."
"Because I make you happy?" I nod in reply and a smile forms on his lips, bigger than before, and softly he pushes me into his chest folding both his arms around me. I wrap my arms around him as well enjoying the new freedom to just be together. "For the record, you make me happy as well, indescribably happy."
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Anyone else enjoying this new version of Amara and Xavier?
Is anyone curious as to what happened to Irene?
How will things go once Xavier's out of the hospital?
