The Royal Contract

"What are you doing in there?" Alex finally asked when they were finally out of the kitchen and back in their tent.

He had been searching for her since he went back to their tent but did not found her anywhere. Luckily, Jacky told him that she left Dani inside the house. He noted that he needed to fix their mobile phone situation. They could not function efficiently without it.

"I was hiding from your cousin." She voiced out her actual reason for leaving the beach. "I figured that the kitchen would be the last place he would think of looking for me." She smiled at her brilliance.

"That was a clever thing to do. Yeah, you are right. Edward would never set foot in the kitchen." Alex could not help but feel pride with the woman in his arms.

The fact that she was not charmed by his cousin was a testament that she was indeed an intelligent woman and quite extraordinary. She did not even require his help to get out of that situation.

"Would you like to swim?" Dani asked Alex.

She quickly stood up and ran towards the water, enjoying the grit of the sands on her bare feet. It had been a long time since she tried swimming in wavy, moving water. She was looking forward to having some fun.

"Hey, wait for me." Alex pulled off his shirt again and left it on the chairs, moving fast on the sand, trying to catch up with Dani.

"Do you come here often?" She asked as she submerged herself in the water until only her head was barely floating in the water.

"Yeah, back when I was young. Lance, Edward, and some of our friends would love to hang out here when we were not busy with studying and our other obligations." He answered her question with a smile on his face, remembering the good times they had in this place.

"I think you used this place to escape your obligations." She stated with a hint of accusation. But she smiled, knowing that she probably did the same if she was in his situation.

"I am an obedient child back then. I followed all the rules and paid attention to all my responsibilities." He admitted. He seldom broke the rules. He only did it when he was trying to cooperate with his cousins. It was Edward who usually led them into trouble. 

"Unlike you, I used to do that. I would hide or escape from my father when he started piling up the things that I had to do." She confided with him her not-so-adorable childhood.

Her mother would usually support her and help her escape some of the things his father wanted her to do, but there were times that he caught them, and he would double her assignment as her punishment.

She was grateful for that because it had been her training that made her who she was today. A strong independent woman that could handle anything that life threw her way. She had her dad to thank for that.

"It would seem that we had a very strict childhood, but we still ended up rebellious in a way." He summed up what he had assessed with their childhood.

After a couple more swims in the water, they decided that he had won the race. Dani had to admit, Alex was a stronger swimmer compared to her.

"Come on. Everyone is probably looking for us. Dinner was about to get served in the dining hall in an hour, so we better get cleaned up and dressed." Alex took their things in the tent and guided her back to their room.

There was one problem when they reached his room. There was no walk-in closet or a big spacious bathroom in the room. It was just the single bathroom they had to share.

"Maybe you should go shower first. Then I will come next after you." Alex offered, knowing that they could not use the bathroom at the same time.

He decided to go to the balcony while she was inside taking her shower. He did not want to imagine what she was doing inside that room, so he opted to divert his attention to the beautiful view outside.

But no matter what he did, his mind kept going back to the kiss they shared earlier at this same spot he was standing on. He could not wait to have her in his arms again.

When he came back inside the room, she was already wearing a sundress and flat sandals. Dinner was not a formal occasion, so dressing casually was acceptable.

He quickly made his way to the bathroom and cleaned the salty remnants of the seawater and sand off his skin. But no matter how he ran the water on his body, he could still feel her body against his.

He quickly ran his fingers through his face, hoping to wipe away his unwanted thoughts. But it would seem the more he suppressed himself from thinking of Dani, the more his body craved to have her.

When he came out of the bathroom, Dani was now standing outside the balcony. She was probably waiting for him to finish. It appeared that Dani also found herself lost in her thoughts. He wondered if she was also thinking of him and their kiss.

After getting dressed in his casual pants and dress shirt, he walked into the balcony and joined her. "Hi." She greeted her, not wanting to startle her with his sudden appearance.

She looked up at him with a smile. "Hi!" She replied to him.

She did not look anything like she was guilty of thinking of something naughty, he thought as he studied her face. He was expecting that just like him, Dani would be reminiscing the kiss that they just shared earlier this morning.

But he was not ready to leave just yet as he moved closer to her. He needed to test one more thing before they joined the rest of their family and friends.

"Can I kiss you again?" He reached down to her hands and kissed them first, waiting for her acknowledgment of his request.

He knew that if he kissed her, she would never be able to refuse him. She wanted it as much as he wanted it to happen. But there was a possibility that she might regret it later on. He just wanted to be sure that they were on the same page.

When she told him that she wanted it to take it slow, he was unsure of what she meant. But he was not taking any risk of sending her packing and running away from him if he suddenly made the mistake of rushing things.

"Do you still need to ask?" She started to wrap her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her until they were only inches apart.

She was not sure how long she would last with her rule of taking it slow. Because every time they were together and alone, there was only one thing that was running through her mind. She wanted to rip Alex's clothes off of him.

She suddenly regretted asking him about taking things slow. Because she just learned the hard way that like before, he was a perfect gentleman.