Part 34: link
Arthur steps quickly forward, fists clenched, preparing to pull her away from him and pound this interloper into jelly.
“Arthur, stop!” she says, stepping in front of the man. She faces Arthur, hands on her hips, and he stops, her tone taking him द्वारा surprise. She is stern. No hastily made denials, no, “It’s not what it looks like.” She simply stops him, and it throws him off balance momentarily.
“Step away from her, please.” Arthur’s voice is low and quiet, but menacing. The man does so, holding his hands up. When he turns Arthur sees a long tape measure draped around his neck. He also notices the man is wearing a metallic कमीज, शर्ट with his leather pants, and boots with flames embroidered on them. What the…
“Arthur, nothing is going on,” she tells him.
“He had his hands all over you!” he protests angrily.
They stand and regard one another for a few moments. Arthur squeezes his eyes shut, breathing heavily. The image of that man’s hands on her body floats into his mind, and he pushes it down, in an effort to check his own rage.
When he opens his eyes, he almost can see her clearly again. She doesn’t look ashamed. She doesn’t look guilty. That troubles him. She looks… annoyed. That troubles him even more.
Guinevere waits, watching as the anger on Arthur’s face melts into confusion. “Arthur, look around, please. What do आप see?”
Arthur looks, and finally sees. Mannequins. Bolts of fabric. Lacy things. Tiaras. Oh, crap.
“You’re getting a dress made?” he asks quietly.
“Yes.” She turns to the other man. “Cedric, can आप give us a moment, please?”
“Of course, darling. Take as long as आप need.” He pats her hand and tiptoes past Arthur.
Holy hell, he’s gay. Arthur’s head drops.
“Guinevere, I…”
“Arthur, I…”
They stop, having both started at the same time.
Finally Arthur speaks. “Why all the secrecy?” His voice is inscrutable; Gwen can’t tell how he’s feeling and it worries her.
“I’m sorry, Arthur. I truly am.” Her voice trembles slightly. She swallows and continues. “If I had known it would have come to this, I would have been up front with you. It’s just…”
“What?” He slowly starts walking towards her, his face still a mask.
“You’re going to think me foolish.” She sits on a padded bench.
“Go on.”
“I guess I’m overly superstitious about the dress.”
“Whatever for?” he says, exasperated. But he sits अगला to her.
“Well, um, I didn’t tell आप this, but I’ve looked at wedding dresses before.”
“You and Lance were engaged?” He looks at her, surprised.
“No. But I thought he was going to propose at one point. Before I found out I was pregnant, obviously. I was… looking at dresses at a खरीडिए and he caught me. He thought it was sweet at the time, but then when everything went to hell so soon after, well…”
“You didn’t want to take any chances,” he says, looking down at his hands.
“Arthur, please understand that I did not intend to deceive आप या hurt आप या make आप worry.”
“But आप did. I was worried. I was suspicious. I knew something was up Saturday morning.”
“I’m not a very good liar, am I?”
“Not really. I, uh, also saw आप on Sunday. At the café.”
She looks at him, shocked. “You followed me?”
“Not exactly. आप should have picked a meeting place that wasn’t on my route to work. I saw your car.”
“Oh.”
He put his hands to his face and confesses, “Then I got to the station, borrowed Paul’s car, Wayne’s sunglasses, and Brian’s टोपी and drove back for another look.”
“You did not,” she turns to look at him, stunned.
“I did.” He is still hiding. “It’s a lucky thing Merlin came along या I’d’ve made quite an embarrassing scene.”
“Arthur, really…”
“Well, if आप hadn’t been sneaking around…”
“I know. I know. I’m so sorry. I let my irrational superstition run away with my logic, and I hate myself for it. I’m sorry that I gave आप a reason to सवाल my faithfulness.” Her voice drops to a hoarse whisper. “So sorry.” She sniffs, and Arthur looks over at her to see her cheeks wet with tears, and it breaks his heart.
“You know my… insecurity, Guinevere. I let it take over.”
“I helped.”
“A little.”
“A lot,” she argues, her fingers playing with the hem of her slip. “And…”
“There’s more?”
“Well, I wanted there to be something over which I would have complete control for this wedding.” She looks down at her lap. I’m such a fool.
“Oh. That.” He looks at her again, and any anger left in him melts. “Guinevere, आप are in complete control. Me, your father, my father; we are all completely at your mercy, don’t आप realize that?”
She looks suddenly at him. She can feel the प्यार in his eyes as if it were a caress on her skin. “I suppose I don’t.”
“Yes, my father offered the house. But that’s all it was. An offer. A suggestion. But if आप want to get married at Westminster Abbey, the three of us would stop at nothing to make that happen. Even if the क्वीन herself had it reserved that day.”
Gwen laughs, a small snort. She reaches for a tissue from a box on a nearby table.
“No, I प्यार the idea of having it all at the house. I just wish…”
“That आप had thought of it?”
“That I had been a part of the original conversation.”
“Ah. It won’t happen again, I promise.”
“Thank you.”
They sit in silence for a minute, each contemplating the pattern in the rug under their feet.
“Aren’t आप cold?” Arthur asks, breaking the silence.
She sniffs again, with a small laugh. “Yes.”
He puts his arm around her, gently pulling her to him, not sure if she will accept the invitation. She does, melting into him, and he breathes again. He holds her for several minutes, letting her tears wet the shoulder of his shirt. A few slip from his eyes as well.
She looks up at him, and he kisses her forehead.
“Arthur,” she says softly, “I know now that what I had with Lance wasn’t love. Compared with what we have, it was nothing. Nothing. I was overcome द्वारा a fear to not let anything spoil what I know will be the happiest moment of my life, and somehow that turned into being overly superstitious about this damn dress. Arthur, every moment I am with आप I feel completely loved and cherished.” She sits up and takes his hands. “I प्यार how आप look at me, how आप speak to me. I प्यार how आप are so gentle and caring with me, how आप make me laugh. I प्यार each smile and caress आप give, no matter how small या meaningless it may seem. My दिल is full like nothing else I have ever experienced, and I don’t wish anything, even my nonsense, to ever बादल something so perfect and beautiful.”
Arthur stares at her, eyes wide with wonder. “My God, Guinevere, no one has ever कहा anything like that to me before. I… ah…” Overcome, he leans over and kisses her, pulling her into his arms again, onto his lap. His hands stroke her back, running along her spine. She holds his head in her hands, holding him to her, her fingers in his soft hair.
“How could I… have been so… worried?” Arthur gasps, चुंबन down her neck. I can feel her body far too well through this slip, he absently thinks, then remembers where they are. Oh well.
“Ahem.” A voice politely says, interrupting their reconciliation. Gwen pulls away from Arthur, giggling.
“If you’re going to go any further, please let me put some plastic down on my velvet upholstery.”
“Sorry,” Arthur says, not standing up.
“Quite all right,” he waves his hand dismissively. “I completely understand how आप might see me as a threat.” he teases.
“Um, yes, sorry about that, too.”
“No harm done, no harm done.” He steps closer. “Cedric, owner of this little hovel.” Arthur shakes the man’s extended hand.
“Forgive me for not standing,” Arthur says, blushing. Cedric laughs.
“The only thing आप need to know, sweetheart, is that I am designing something fabulous for your little उबाली हुई पकौड़ी, पकौड़ी, गुलगुला here, and I guarantee it will blow your socks off. Among other things. Not that आप need any encouragement, from the looks of things,” he grins.
“So. Now आप know. Go घर so we can get some work done,” Gwen shoves him.
He leans over for one और quick kiss, pauses a second, says, “Yes, I think I’m all right now.” Before he stands, he leans over to her again, saying quietly into her ear, “I प्यार आप so much, Guinevere.”
“I प्यार you, too. And I promise I’ll make it up to आप when I get home,” she says and looks into his eyes lovingly.
“Wow. I had better go before I can’t again.”
Arthur enters their apartment, and is briefly disoriented द्वारा the rearranged living room, having forgotten that they had done that. It really does look better this way.
He looks at his phone, sighs, then calls Merlin.
“You’re not calling from jail, are you?” Merlin answers.
“You have an odd habit of not saying ‘hello,’ do आप know that?”
He sighs dramatically. “Hello. Well?”
“Merlin, if I was calling from jail, I wouldn’t be calling from my phone, would I?”
“So, what happened?”
“We’re both idiots, that’s what.”
“Us we या आप two we?”
“Gwen and me we.”
“Go on.”
Arthur hangs up the phone and looks at it. He has an idea, and he dials another number. He just finishes his last phone call when Gwen gets home. As soon as the door goes click, she drops her keys and her पर्स and launches herself at Arthur. She wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him immediately, fiercely, pushing him backwards until she reaches a place where she can set down the bag of रात का खाना she brought घर for them.
He wraps his arms around her, lifting her up, and she brings her legs around him, hanging on, clinging to him.
“I प्यार you, Arthur,” she gasps against his lips. Vaguely she is aware of him walking back to the bedroom, his hands grasping at the स्कर्ट of her dress, scrunching it upwards, inching his hands under the material.
“I प्यार you— oof!” he staggers into the doorframe, hitting his shoulder on the way into the room. Gwen laughs and he drops them to the bed. She rolls him onto his back. It always impresses me that she can do that, Arthur thinks as she grabs his कमीज, शर्ट and yanks it off over his head, pulling him upright in the process. She gets up and turns around so he can undo the zipper on the back of her dress, which she drops to the floor and kicks aside without a सेकंड thought. Then she pulls her slip off over her head, tossing it as well. She reaches down and pulls of Arthur’s shorts and underwear all at once.
He scoots back onto the बिस्तर and watches her remove her cream-colored bra. She leaves her panties on, just to tease him. गुलाबी today, boyleg, lace. He takes a moment to admire them as she climbs back atop him.
Arthur brings his hands around to cup her backside in his hands, stroking the bit of flesh peeking out from under the bottom edge of her knickers. Gwen leans over and kisses him while his hands rove around, just enjoying the feel of her. She kisses her way over to his ear, nibbling, running her tongue along the outer edge of his ear, giving him delicious chills.
He slides his hands into her panties, inching them downwards. She adjusts herself slightly so he can remove them. Following her lead, he flings them across the room using two fingers, as if her knickers were a giant rubber band. Gwen cracks up laughing at this, and falls against his chest.
Arthur seizes this opportunity to roll her over onto her back. He gives her a smoldering look before bending to take a breast in his mouth. As he does so, she reaches down for his erection, encircling it in her small soft hand. She feels him groan against her breast and she holds his head with her free hand.
He reaches down and plunges two fingers into her, exploring her familiar contours as his kisses his way across to her other breast.
“Arthur…” she breathes, “please…”
“Please what, Guinevere?” he teases her. I want to hear her say it.
“Please… प्यार me, Arthur… I need you… inside me… now… now…” she gasps, arching against him.
Well, she कहा ‘please.’ He grins wickedly and scoots himself upward, kneeling between her knees and plunging into her forcefully, making her cry out with pleasure.
She grabs his head and pulls his face to her, clenching his hair in her fists and चुंबन him passionately. Arthur continues his rhythm, hard and fast, driven द्वारा their mutual need.
“Oh…” she cries out, releasing his head and clutching his shoulders. “Oh…”
Arthur lifts a hand from the mattress to stroke her cheek, a sudden tenderness coming over him as he watches her in her throes, squirming with pleasure beneath him.
She turns her face into his hand as she climaxes with a great gasp, eyes flying wide open, black with desire.
Her eyes fix on his and he clutches Gwen’s head, gently, and he feels himself flood into her; hears himself shout his release.
Arthur rolls to the side, अगला to her, pulling her immediately into his arms, holding tightly. She clings to him, wanting to stay there forever.
“I’m sorry I was sneaking around getting a dress made, Arthur,” she whispers.
“I’m sorry I turned into a jealous stalker,” he whispers back.
They look at each other, and suddenly they both start laughing at how ridiculous they both are.
“We are both so dumb,” Gwen says, giggling.
“I know. Good thing we’re stuck with each other so we can’t inflict our stupidity on anyone else,” he laughs.
“I प्यार आप so much, Arthur.”
“I प्यार you, Guinevere.” He pauses. “Guinevere?”
“Yes?”
“What did आप bring for dinner? I’m hungry.”
Part 36: link
Arthur steps quickly forward, fists clenched, preparing to pull her away from him and pound this interloper into jelly.
“Arthur, stop!” she says, stepping in front of the man. She faces Arthur, hands on her hips, and he stops, her tone taking him द्वारा surprise. She is stern. No hastily made denials, no, “It’s not what it looks like.” She simply stops him, and it throws him off balance momentarily.
“Step away from her, please.” Arthur’s voice is low and quiet, but menacing. The man does so, holding his hands up. When he turns Arthur sees a long tape measure draped around his neck. He also notices the man is wearing a metallic कमीज, शर्ट with his leather pants, and boots with flames embroidered on them. What the…
“Arthur, nothing is going on,” she tells him.
“He had his hands all over you!” he protests angrily.
They stand and regard one another for a few moments. Arthur squeezes his eyes shut, breathing heavily. The image of that man’s hands on her body floats into his mind, and he pushes it down, in an effort to check his own rage.
When he opens his eyes, he almost can see her clearly again. She doesn’t look ashamed. She doesn’t look guilty. That troubles him. She looks… annoyed. That troubles him even more.
Guinevere waits, watching as the anger on Arthur’s face melts into confusion. “Arthur, look around, please. What do आप see?”
Arthur looks, and finally sees. Mannequins. Bolts of fabric. Lacy things. Tiaras. Oh, crap.
“You’re getting a dress made?” he asks quietly.
“Yes.” She turns to the other man. “Cedric, can आप give us a moment, please?”
“Of course, darling. Take as long as आप need.” He pats her hand and tiptoes past Arthur.
Holy hell, he’s gay. Arthur’s head drops.
“Guinevere, I…”
“Arthur, I…”
They stop, having both started at the same time.
Finally Arthur speaks. “Why all the secrecy?” His voice is inscrutable; Gwen can’t tell how he’s feeling and it worries her.
“I’m sorry, Arthur. I truly am.” Her voice trembles slightly. She swallows and continues. “If I had known it would have come to this, I would have been up front with you. It’s just…”
“What?” He slowly starts walking towards her, his face still a mask.
“You’re going to think me foolish.” She sits on a padded bench.
“Go on.”
“I guess I’m overly superstitious about the dress.”
“Whatever for?” he says, exasperated. But he sits अगला to her.
“Well, um, I didn’t tell आप this, but I’ve looked at wedding dresses before.”
“You and Lance were engaged?” He looks at her, surprised.
“No. But I thought he was going to propose at one point. Before I found out I was pregnant, obviously. I was… looking at dresses at a खरीडिए and he caught me. He thought it was sweet at the time, but then when everything went to hell so soon after, well…”
“You didn’t want to take any chances,” he says, looking down at his hands.
“Arthur, please understand that I did not intend to deceive आप या hurt आप या make आप worry.”
“But आप did. I was worried. I was suspicious. I knew something was up Saturday morning.”
“I’m not a very good liar, am I?”
“Not really. I, uh, also saw आप on Sunday. At the café.”
She looks at him, shocked. “You followed me?”
“Not exactly. आप should have picked a meeting place that wasn’t on my route to work. I saw your car.”
“Oh.”
He put his hands to his face and confesses, “Then I got to the station, borrowed Paul’s car, Wayne’s sunglasses, and Brian’s टोपी and drove back for another look.”
“You did not,” she turns to look at him, stunned.
“I did.” He is still hiding. “It’s a lucky thing Merlin came along या I’d’ve made quite an embarrassing scene.”
“Arthur, really…”
“Well, if आप hadn’t been sneaking around…”
“I know. I know. I’m so sorry. I let my irrational superstition run away with my logic, and I hate myself for it. I’m sorry that I gave आप a reason to सवाल my faithfulness.” Her voice drops to a hoarse whisper. “So sorry.” She sniffs, and Arthur looks over at her to see her cheeks wet with tears, and it breaks his heart.
“You know my… insecurity, Guinevere. I let it take over.”
“I helped.”
“A little.”
“A lot,” she argues, her fingers playing with the hem of her slip. “And…”
“There’s more?”
“Well, I wanted there to be something over which I would have complete control for this wedding.” She looks down at her lap. I’m such a fool.
“Oh. That.” He looks at her again, and any anger left in him melts. “Guinevere, आप are in complete control. Me, your father, my father; we are all completely at your mercy, don’t आप realize that?”
She looks suddenly at him. She can feel the प्यार in his eyes as if it were a caress on her skin. “I suppose I don’t.”
“Yes, my father offered the house. But that’s all it was. An offer. A suggestion. But if आप want to get married at Westminster Abbey, the three of us would stop at nothing to make that happen. Even if the क्वीन herself had it reserved that day.”
Gwen laughs, a small snort. She reaches for a tissue from a box on a nearby table.
“No, I प्यार the idea of having it all at the house. I just wish…”
“That आप had thought of it?”
“That I had been a part of the original conversation.”
“Ah. It won’t happen again, I promise.”
“Thank you.”
They sit in silence for a minute, each contemplating the pattern in the rug under their feet.
“Aren’t आप cold?” Arthur asks, breaking the silence.
She sniffs again, with a small laugh. “Yes.”
He puts his arm around her, gently pulling her to him, not sure if she will accept the invitation. She does, melting into him, and he breathes again. He holds her for several minutes, letting her tears wet the shoulder of his shirt. A few slip from his eyes as well.
She looks up at him, and he kisses her forehead.
“Arthur,” she says softly, “I know now that what I had with Lance wasn’t love. Compared with what we have, it was nothing. Nothing. I was overcome द्वारा a fear to not let anything spoil what I know will be the happiest moment of my life, and somehow that turned into being overly superstitious about this damn dress. Arthur, every moment I am with आप I feel completely loved and cherished.” She sits up and takes his hands. “I प्यार how आप look at me, how आप speak to me. I प्यार how आप are so gentle and caring with me, how आप make me laugh. I प्यार each smile and caress आप give, no matter how small या meaningless it may seem. My दिल is full like nothing else I have ever experienced, and I don’t wish anything, even my nonsense, to ever बादल something so perfect and beautiful.”
Arthur stares at her, eyes wide with wonder. “My God, Guinevere, no one has ever कहा anything like that to me before. I… ah…” Overcome, he leans over and kisses her, pulling her into his arms again, onto his lap. His hands stroke her back, running along her spine. She holds his head in her hands, holding him to her, her fingers in his soft hair.
“How could I… have been so… worried?” Arthur gasps, चुंबन down her neck. I can feel her body far too well through this slip, he absently thinks, then remembers where they are. Oh well.
“Ahem.” A voice politely says, interrupting their reconciliation. Gwen pulls away from Arthur, giggling.
“If you’re going to go any further, please let me put some plastic down on my velvet upholstery.”
“Sorry,” Arthur says, not standing up.
“Quite all right,” he waves his hand dismissively. “I completely understand how आप might see me as a threat.” he teases.
“Um, yes, sorry about that, too.”
“No harm done, no harm done.” He steps closer. “Cedric, owner of this little hovel.” Arthur shakes the man’s extended hand.
“Forgive me for not standing,” Arthur says, blushing. Cedric laughs.
“The only thing आप need to know, sweetheart, is that I am designing something fabulous for your little उबाली हुई पकौड़ी, पकौड़ी, गुलगुला here, and I guarantee it will blow your socks off. Among other things. Not that आप need any encouragement, from the looks of things,” he grins.
“So. Now आप know. Go घर so we can get some work done,” Gwen shoves him.
He leans over for one और quick kiss, pauses a second, says, “Yes, I think I’m all right now.” Before he stands, he leans over to her again, saying quietly into her ear, “I प्यार आप so much, Guinevere.”
“I प्यार you, too. And I promise I’ll make it up to आप when I get home,” she says and looks into his eyes lovingly.
“Wow. I had better go before I can’t again.”
Arthur enters their apartment, and is briefly disoriented द्वारा the rearranged living room, having forgotten that they had done that. It really does look better this way.
He looks at his phone, sighs, then calls Merlin.
“You’re not calling from jail, are you?” Merlin answers.
“You have an odd habit of not saying ‘hello,’ do आप know that?”
He sighs dramatically. “Hello. Well?”
“Merlin, if I was calling from jail, I wouldn’t be calling from my phone, would I?”
“So, what happened?”
“We’re both idiots, that’s what.”
“Us we या आप two we?”
“Gwen and me we.”
“Go on.”
Arthur hangs up the phone and looks at it. He has an idea, and he dials another number. He just finishes his last phone call when Gwen gets home. As soon as the door goes click, she drops her keys and her पर्स and launches herself at Arthur. She wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him immediately, fiercely, pushing him backwards until she reaches a place where she can set down the bag of रात का खाना she brought घर for them.
He wraps his arms around her, lifting her up, and she brings her legs around him, hanging on, clinging to him.
“I प्यार you, Arthur,” she gasps against his lips. Vaguely she is aware of him walking back to the bedroom, his hands grasping at the स्कर्ट of her dress, scrunching it upwards, inching his hands under the material.
“I प्यार you— oof!” he staggers into the doorframe, hitting his shoulder on the way into the room. Gwen laughs and he drops them to the bed. She rolls him onto his back. It always impresses me that she can do that, Arthur thinks as she grabs his कमीज, शर्ट and yanks it off over his head, pulling him upright in the process. She gets up and turns around so he can undo the zipper on the back of her dress, which she drops to the floor and kicks aside without a सेकंड thought. Then she pulls her slip off over her head, tossing it as well. She reaches down and pulls of Arthur’s shorts and underwear all at once.
He scoots back onto the बिस्तर and watches her remove her cream-colored bra. She leaves her panties on, just to tease him. गुलाबी today, boyleg, lace. He takes a moment to admire them as she climbs back atop him.
Arthur brings his hands around to cup her backside in his hands, stroking the bit of flesh peeking out from under the bottom edge of her knickers. Gwen leans over and kisses him while his hands rove around, just enjoying the feel of her. She kisses her way over to his ear, nibbling, running her tongue along the outer edge of his ear, giving him delicious chills.
He slides his hands into her panties, inching them downwards. She adjusts herself slightly so he can remove them. Following her lead, he flings them across the room using two fingers, as if her knickers were a giant rubber band. Gwen cracks up laughing at this, and falls against his chest.
Arthur seizes this opportunity to roll her over onto her back. He gives her a smoldering look before bending to take a breast in his mouth. As he does so, she reaches down for his erection, encircling it in her small soft hand. She feels him groan against her breast and she holds his head with her free hand.
He reaches down and plunges two fingers into her, exploring her familiar contours as his kisses his way across to her other breast.
“Arthur…” she breathes, “please…”
“Please what, Guinevere?” he teases her. I want to hear her say it.
“Please… प्यार me, Arthur… I need you… inside me… now… now…” she gasps, arching against him.
Well, she कहा ‘please.’ He grins wickedly and scoots himself upward, kneeling between her knees and plunging into her forcefully, making her cry out with pleasure.
She grabs his head and pulls his face to her, clenching his hair in her fists and चुंबन him passionately. Arthur continues his rhythm, hard and fast, driven द्वारा their mutual need.
“Oh…” she cries out, releasing his head and clutching his shoulders. “Oh…”
Arthur lifts a hand from the mattress to stroke her cheek, a sudden tenderness coming over him as he watches her in her throes, squirming with pleasure beneath him.
She turns her face into his hand as she climaxes with a great gasp, eyes flying wide open, black with desire.
Her eyes fix on his and he clutches Gwen’s head, gently, and he feels himself flood into her; hears himself shout his release.
Arthur rolls to the side, अगला to her, pulling her immediately into his arms, holding tightly. She clings to him, wanting to stay there forever.
“I’m sorry I was sneaking around getting a dress made, Arthur,” she whispers.
“I’m sorry I turned into a jealous stalker,” he whispers back.
They look at each other, and suddenly they both start laughing at how ridiculous they both are.
“We are both so dumb,” Gwen says, giggling.
“I know. Good thing we’re stuck with each other so we can’t inflict our stupidity on anyone else,” he laughs.
“I प्यार आप so much, Arthur.”
“I प्यार you, Guinevere.” He pauses. “Guinevere?”
“Yes?”
“What did आप bring for dinner? I’m hungry.”
Part 36: link
