His Royal Badness and the Mistress of Muscle

Chapter 32: Midwestern Comfort

"Girlie, you ought to watch who you slap! We are some of the best players in the game!" This athlete scolds as he grabs my shoulder- hard. Then he pushes me. I stumble backwards.

Prince catches me by putting his arm around my waist. "You ought to watch who you catcall! You know who the fuck I am?" I yell.

"Just another one of Princess's ho's"

Prince glares up at the athletes. "PENELOPE IS NOT A DAMN HO!" he hollers. "There's our car,Sweetie. Let's leave these fools."

As we walk to our limo, we hear them laughing.Prince seems unhappy. All of his prior joy is gone. I put his arm around me. He's not into it, but keeps it there. He's quiet the whole way home. The sad kind of quiet.When we are home I say," Why don't we go to the bedroom and you can help me out of my dress?"

"No. I'm just going to the studio."He replies

"Can I come too?"

"I want to be alone."

Amethyst rubs up against Prince's leg. "Good luck shaking her." I smile.He pets her. She purrs. I think she knows he's upset. She runs after him, all the way to the studio. Amethyst likes the studio.

I change and go to bed, feeling bad for Prince. He's upset and probably trying to work through his feelings with his music. When I'm in dreamland I feel him finally get into bed. I wake up and turn on a lamp. "Feel better, Sugar?" I ask as I run my hands through his chest hair.

"Next time there's an event in the sports industry, you're going alone." He states flatly.

He's not fully over it. It must suck to be teased by a bunch of athletes like that. I start hugging him. "I think that would be a shame. We met plenty of people who enjoyed you being there." I say in my best soothing voice. He doesn't say anything. "I think you're perfect just the way you are."I kiss him and stroke his hair.

"This isn't something you'd understand." He sighs.

"Maybe not but some of my clients have poked fun at me" He looks at me, his expression encouraging me to go on. I continue,"When I started bodybuilder photography. More than one man said things like 'Aren't you a cute little girl?' before lifting me above his head like a barbell. Then he'd inform me that he benches so much more than what weigh. It's weird to continue a shoot after that. At least it happens less now."

"Bodybuilders are so charming aren't they?"

I laugh. I kiss him. "Is there something you want to talk about?"He just holds me real close. "I'll listen if you want to tell me" I say reassuringly.

He quietly, almost in a whisper tells me stories of the taunting he has endured because of his size throughout his life. People can be so cruel. I don't know how anyone could say mean things to someone who seems rather vulnerable tonight. I don't interrupt him. He clearly needs to talk. I just keep holding him. Tonight probably made him recall bad memories.

When he finishes talking, I kiss his forehead."Stature isn't what makes a man a man, if you ask me. It's how he treats people, especially his lady. And you treat me real well." I tell him."

I have money, so that makes it easy" He replies with disinterest.

"I'm thinking of the things that don't take money. You love me and you're faithful. I like that you sometimes snuggle with me on the sofa and when you make me breakfast. I love that you make me feel I'm beautiful in your eyes, how you encourage my photography and never laugh really hard when I strip for you. You personally checked on me after I had my car accident because wanted to be sure I was okay. Also, you never do anything outside my boundaries during sex. Those things are what I like in a man. "

Prince smiles a little.He kisses me and tells me he loves me.

The next day, I insist on making lunch. For dessert I bake a small cake from scratch. It's the same recipe I used for his birthday cake. With the awards show a week away, I have no business baking. I haven't baked since before I knew about it. I figure after last night, Prince could use some of my cake.

As the cake is baking, I hear a couple of employees talking. One says,"Smells like the Mrs. is baking something." The Mrs.? I guess that's a nickname the staff has for me. Could be worse, but I don't think of myself as a wife figure to Prince. I do all the same things here that I did when I lived with Grace.

Prince wanders into the kitchen as I'm frosting the cake. "Looks good." He says."How your shoulder?"

"A little bruised. I'm fine though." I reply

"You shouldn't slap people bigger than you. You could get seriously hurt."

"Those guys made me mad."

"I cannot believe my classy, polite, sweet Penelope has a hood girl side"

"Only when she's REALLY pissed."

"I'd better watch myself" he laughs.

After lunch we start on the cake. He's really enjoying it and so am I. I've hardly eaten desserts since I started dieting for the awards show. "Don't tell Jasper about the cake." I say."He told me not to eat things like this."

"Ooh...cheating on your boyfriend? You're bad." He teases. I roll my eyes. "That's right. I get to fire him soon."

"Speaking of employees, one of yours was referring to me as 'the Mrs.' " I giggle. "Isn't that silly?"

"I've known about that for awhile . It's probably because you are kind of domestic for a musician's girlfriend. You cook, mend your own clothes and clean. On top of that, you often schedule work around me. "

"Just living my normal life."

"I think it's cute."

We finish our cake. Prince says "Do you know what I need now? I need to love you."

We get to the bedroom we cannot stop kissing each other. What a great start to the afternoon! He unbuttons my plum shirt, slides it off and  he  eyes the big, dark bruise on my pale shoulder. "That's not exactly a little bruise" He tells me.

"Forget about it and drive me out of my mind." I insist, grabbing his collar. 

Prince lays me down on the luxurious red bedding once he gets my clothes off. Then he puts my long flowing hair over the bruise . This makes no sense to me. Why wouldn't a man want to see the evidence that his girlfriend had gone to bat for him?  Maybe he just wants to not have reminders of last night.

He takes his clothes off and kisses my forehead, then gazes into my eyes. "There's no one else like you in the whole world, Penelope," He whispers. His fingertips make light contact with my neck and slowly journey downwards.My body tingles with anticipation. He kisses my temple, lips, neck and the un-bruised shoulder. I kiss his cheek and blow softly in his ear.

His eyes have me spellbound (as usual). I stare into them and say,"You're unfairly beautiful."

"Life isn't fair." He laughs.

I fidget with the chain around his waist. "How can I pleasure you?"

His sultry voice whispers, "Make me scream. "

He gets on knees and smiles down at me as I bring my legs up against his shoulders. He strokes my legs as his body finds unity with mine. I move my hips in a manner that I learned in striptease class. His screaming takes over the room. I hope if there's any staff around they can't hear that! We grind upon each other until I've had my release drip on the bed, we're breathing heavy and I can't hold my legs up any more.

Cake and sex, what more could one need after a rough night?