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“You go in first,” Bexley told her. “I can’t trust you on this wall by yourself. You almost fell over the edge there, Princess.”
Alex chuckled and made her way down into the water, still holding on to Bexley’s hand.
“So,” Alex began when Bexley joined her and moved across the much smaller pool. “Wait a minute,” she added when she saw it. She then moved over to Bexley without thinking and reached out to touch it. “You have one, too.”
“Oh, yeah,” Bexley said, looking down.
“I didn’t notice it before,” Alex admitted.
“It’s pretty small,” Bexley replied.
“When did you get it?” Alex asked, gliding two fingertips over the tiny bird at Bexley’s collarbone.
“When I was sixteen.”
“Sixteen?” Alex asked.
She noted that Bexley hadn’t pushed her hand away, which must have meant something, right? Alex continued to touch the bird as if it were precious, and it was toherbecause it was on Bexley’s soft, hot skin, and in a spot Alex wanted to kiss.
“It’s a dove. My mom’s favorite bird was a dove. We always had them somewhere on our Christmas tree every year, and she even had my dad paint two of them on our mailbox.”
“When did she pass away?”
“When I was fifteen.” Bexley looked down at the water.
“What happened?”
“She just got sick one day,” Bexley replied. “And it got worse and worse. She thought it was the flu at first, but my dad finally made her go to the hospital. A couple of days later, she was gone.”
“Jesus.Wasit the flu?”
“No, it was meningitis. Somehow, she got it and got the worst of it. I was about two weeks away from turning sixteen, so when I did, my dad agreed to let me get this.” Bexley nodded down toward the tattoo. “Since it was for her and wasn’t in the middle of my lower back.” She met Alex’s eyes and gave her a small smile.
“I’m sorry, Bexley,” Alex offered and took a step back, reluctantly removing her fingers from Bexley’s skin.
“It’s been a long time,” Bexley said. “I miss her. I still think sometimes about how she never saw me graduate high school or college. She wasn’t there when I got my doctorate. I couldn’t call her when I got the director job. She won’t be there to help me get ready for my wedding or for the birth of my children, assuming I have more than one. My dad won’t be there to walk me down the aisle. I’ll never have another Christmas with them.”
Alex reached out and cupped Bexley’s cheek before she could stop herself, wanting to offer any comfort she could.
“They raised an amazing woman,” she said.
“Hey, we’re going to–” Alice stopped herself. “Oh. Never mind.”
“What?” Bexley asked.
Alex took a step back and dropped her hand instantly. One of the things she hated about being a royal were the interruptions. There were always interruptions. Someone would walk into a room to announce someone else, her mother would just show up whenever she felt like it, or her friends wouldn’t recognize from afar that Alex was finally touching Bexley’s cheek and thinking about how she might ask her on a date for the very first time. Hell, Alex had been thinking about kissing Bexley for the first time, too.
“We’re going to check on the kids,” Alice replied to Bexley, nodding toward Nora, who was standing next to her. “Relieve the nanny so she can come out here and enjoy this place for a bit. Do you two want to come? We’re going to have dinner in the cabin. Elizabeth and Palmer are going to change and join us.”
“Sure,” Bexley said quickly.
“Why not?” Alex said through gritted teeth.
???
Alex stared up at her ceiling with her arms behind her head. Dinner had been fun. The six of them had eaten by the fire, taking turns holding and entertaining the twins. When Alice and Bexley had gone to put them down while Nora talked to Palmer about work, that had given Alex the perfect opportunity to slip out of their cabin and walk back to hers alone. She’d spent all day around her friends, and she was grateful for them, but she’d almost had a moment with Bexley in the pool. No, shehadhad a moment with Bexley in the pool. And yet again, they’d been interrupted. Of course, she’d been thinking about kissing Bexley right after she’d told Alex about losing both of her parents, so not exactly the perfect moment for a first kiss… But Bexley hadn’t pushed her away, and if Alex was right, Bexley had actually leaned into her touch before Alice had ruined their moment.
There was a knock at the door, and Alex thought about not saying anything and pretending like she wasn’t in the cabin, but there were at least ten security guards outside that would say otherwise, so there wasn’t a point.
