Principessa Diana

Chapter Six: Dave

The next morning, I made sure that I was at Diana's door bright and early. I had seen the panic in her brown eyes the night before and I didn't want to give her the chance to run from what could turn out to be a very good thing for the both of us.

Just as I raised my hand to knock, the door opened and I came face to face with a surprised Diana.

"Dave," she smiled nervously. "What are you doing here so early?" She was dressed in jeans a white t-shirt and had her purse slung over her shoulder and chest.

"I was going to ask if you wanted to have breakfast with me but it looks like you're on your way out." I nodded at her purse. "Where are you off to, cara?" I inquired. The conference didn't start until the following morning so she couldn't be on her way to a public appearance.

"To play tourist," she giggled uneasily. "I was going to visit JFK's birthplace and take a Kennedy themed walking tour in the North End."

"Mind if I come along, Principessa Diana?" I gave her my most charming smile. "My rental car should have been delivered to the parking garage this morning so it'll save you from having to waste money on a cab. We can call it our second date."

She bit her bottom lip, ran her hand through her hair and seemed to wage some sort of internal battle with herself. Finally, she sighed and stepped back into her room, waving her hand to indicate that I should come in as well. Once we were inside, she closed the door and leaned her back against it, her eyes closed.

"What's wrong, dolcezza?" I didn't make a move closer so as not to invade her personal space. "You can talk to me, you know." I stuffed my hands into the pockets of my jeans and kept my tone casual. I would do whatever it took to keep Diana from retreating into herself and away from me.

"You could really hurt me, Dave." She opened her eyes but didn't look at me or move away from the door.

"You could really hurt me too, Diana." I couldn't help but take a step closer. "It might be hard for you to wrap your pretty little head around but you're not the only one feeling things that you've never felt before."

This got her to actually look at me. "We live in different states," she pointed out. "You said you work all the time and my anxiety can't handle a lot of travel. And what about the fact that you're twenty-one years older than me? That is a whole old enough to drink person older!"

I could see the panic attack coming before it even started. Now, I did invade her personal space. Walking to stand directly in front of her, I took her purse off her shoulder and set it on the table by the suite door before taking her hand and leading her to the loveseat in the small sitting area. I took a seat and gently tugged her to sit down next to me.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and was a little surprised when she didn't pull away. She was tense and didn't move closer but she still didn't pull away. I took this as a good sign. "Age is nothing more than a state of mind, bella. It matters how old you are on the inside, not how old you look on the outside... and you, mia tesoro, are a very old soul. You just happen to have a very beautiful, young wrapper." She giggled and blushed but she also relaxed a little bit more. "And, if we work out, there's always options to solve the distance problem. You could move to Virginia with me or I could retire again and move to Orlando with you but... let's not worry about that right now." I gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze. "We have a week together to see if this is something we both want. Let's enjoy it and worry about the rest when it comes."

She turned to me and smiled. "I like that idea," she said softly. "Wanna be my date today?"

"I'd love to, cara," I reached up with my free hand and brushed some of her dark hair behind her ear. "But I want to try something first... if it's okay with you?" I was about to press my luck and I knew it.

"What?" she asked curiously.

"Can I kiss you, dolcezza?" I watched her closely to gauge her reaction.

She looked startled for a moment before her face flushed and she nodded, "yeah."

Relived that she said yes, I cupped her cheek in my hand and placed a tender and chaste – I didn't want to scare her – kiss on her lips. When a happy little sigh escaped her, I couldn't help but smile as I pulled away.

"I think that's something I'm going to want to try again later," I said jokingly although I was completely serious.

Diana laughed and I was starting to think that red was now the permanent color of her face. "Me too," she nodded.

Not wanting to push her any further for the moment, I got to my feet and held out my hand to help her to her feet. "So, why a tour of JFK's birthplace?" I asked as we walked hand in hand towards the door.

"I'm kind of a history geek who has an odd fascination with the Kennedy family." She laughed as she retrieved her purse and we headed out. "I know, I'm a nerd."

"We're headed to Brookline then?" I laughed at the look of shock that came over her face at the fact that I knew the location of JFK's birthplace. I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her closer as we entered the elevator. "You're not the only history geek in this relationship, cara."