Maid For You 4

Chapter 37

"Thank you for accepting, Cassie," Coleman said, not so much as glancing at Nikolas. A small, wry smile rose on his lips. "You are an excellent dancer."

"Yes," Nikolas interrupted, squeezing my shoulder. "Her dancing has improved greatly."

I smiled, as one should with compliments, but I felt a little strange about it now. I pushed the thought aside. "Thank you," I said quietly.

"Shall we take our leave?" Nikolas asked me.

I nodded. "Sure," I said. I looked back at Coleman. "See ya."

"I'll see you around," he said, and I could feel his eyes on me as Nikolas led me away from him.

"Was he bothering you?" Nikolas asked me, watching me carefully. We walked off towards the side of the ballroom, into the thick of the faux trees.

"No," I said. "He was nice, actually. I think he feels bad about how he acted when he first got here. He's been a lot nicer ever since."

"Hm." It was his only response.

"Why?" I asked, taking a little step closer to him. Hidden within the fake, wintery trees, it almost felt like we were alone—just me and my ice prince. I lightly touched his face. "Are you jealous?"

He looked at me with those serious blue eyes of his. "Yes," he said after a couple of beats.

I rose my eyebrows, and he took my hand that had been by his face in his own and kissed the back of it, sending butterflies fluttering through my stomach.

"You look very, very beautiful," he said, still holding my hand in front of him and looking me straight in the eyes. "I am sure it could not have escaped his notice."

I adjusted our hands so that I interlocked my fingers in his, and held his hand down closer to our waists. "Princess Esmerelda looked very pretty, too," I noted.

A little smile played with his lips. "Were you jealous?" he asked.

I smiled. "Yes."

He just looked at me for a moment, and I saw his eyes wander to my lips before snapping up to my eyes again. "I wish our fake trees were even thicker," he said.

The butterflies hadn't gone away—they'd intensified. "Me too," I said, my voice barely above whisper.

"Are you hungry?" he asked me. "Do you want an hors d'oeuvres?"

"Sure," I said, though I was hungry for something else in that moment. We dropped hands, and I held onto his arm, as that felt more prim and proper than hand holding. However, I probably pulled myself a little closer than I should have, though Nikolas didn't seem to mind. Hadn't we promised that tonight was for us?

We ate our hors d'oeuvres, and he smiled at me and laughed at the way I tried to pronounce something in French. We danced some more, and at some point I felt so much energy between us that I just wanted everyone in the whole Winter Ball to clear out and to leave us alone in our Winter Wonderland. I felt their eyes on us—Volkov's, Queen Irina's, Queen Klara's. Couldn't the vultures all just go away? Couldn't they mind their own business and lives and leave us be?

Finally, Nikolas asked me if I wanted to turn in for the evening.

"Yes," I said. He and I slipped out through a side door, and he held out his arm very gentlemanly-like for me as we walked through the palace, several passerby's watching us as we went by. When we reached my hall, there wasn't a person in sight, and Nikolas dropped my arm and held my hand, locking my fingers in his own. I squeezed his hand and looked up at him and smiled brightly, and he smiled right back at me with his pearly white teeth.

"What is it?" he asked me.

"It's nothing," I said, shrugging.

"Why are you smiling?"

"Why are you smiling?" I countered.

"I asked first," he said, raising his eyebrows.

"Because." I swung our hands. "I had a good time with you. And you? Why are you smiling?"

"Because you are," he said, glancing down at me with his blue blue eyes. My hallway was long, and my room was at the very end. When we arrived at my door, I leaned back into the corner of the hallway, facing him.

"Tonight, I had a lovely time with you," he told me, taking both my hands in his.

"I did too," I said, looking into his eyes.

"I'm glad you accepted my invitation to come to the Winter Ball," he told me.

"Me?" I asked. "You're the one who had to deal with all the backlash." I pulled one of my hands from his to reach up and push back a stray strand of hair that fallen out of place and hung across his forehead. "I just showed up."

He sighed. "You still had to endure cold stares and snide remarks."

"Snide remarks?" I asked.

He glanced downwards. "Oh, well..."

"I guess it was in Russian?" I probed.

He said nothing.

"Enough about them," I said, placing my hand on the side of Nikolas's arm. "They're not here right now." I dropped my hand and looked down at our other hands, which were still holding onto each other.

"I suppose they are not in this hallway," Nikolas mused, and I looked up to see a funny little smile rising on his lips.

"They aren't," I said.

He let go of my hand and brought it up to my cheek, his fingers brushing against it as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. I watched his cheeks begin to turn pink, and I watched his eyes as they glanced down at my lips. Then, he leaned forward and I closed my eyes to feel him place a peck on my lips. I opened my eyes to see that his pink cheeks had turned red, and his blue eyes were wide.

His first kiss.

"Well, um—" He looked awkward, more unsure of himself than I'd ever seen him. "Goodnight, Cassie." He spun around in an instant and was already a couple of steps away by the time I grabbed onto his wrist. My action caused him to turn around, at which point I cupped his face with my hands, and stood on my tiptoes and pulled his face down towards mine and kissed him. A real, good kiss—not a peck. For a couple of seconds, he didn't react, but then I felt his lips move against mine and his arms wrap themselves around my waist. When we broke off our kiss and looked at each other in the eyes, we both knew in that instant that our night wasn't over.