Part 35: link


    “I never knew room-temperature chicken could taste so good,” Arthur says, taking another bite from a leg.
    “That’s the beauty of fried chicken. Even cold, it’s still good.”
    They are sitting close together on the sofa, a regal spread from KFC arrayed on the table in front of them. Gwen has her feet tucked up, her toes snuggled under Arthur’s thigh. She is wearing her favorite t-shirt of his again.
    “You know, I have an entire drawer full of t-shirts you can choose from,” he teases her.
    “Yes, but I like this one. I also have my own pajamas from which I could choose as well…”
    “Don’t you dare! I mean, unless they’re something… interesting,” he grins devilishly at her.
    She ignores this and says, “Like I actually end up sleeping in anything anyway. I will need to wear more than just your shirt once winter comes or I’ll freeze.”
    “I’ll keep you warm,” he says suggestively, feeding her a lukewarm chip.
    “Only when you’re home,” she points out. He pouts.
    They eat silently for a bit, watching the news.
    “Would you be able to take Friday off? And Monday?” he suddenly asks.
    “What, this Friday?”
    “Yes. And Monday. I want to take you away for a long weekend. Where I can have you all to myself.” He gives her a smoldering look, smiling.
    She raises an eyebrow. “Well, I don’t know, I’ll have to see if I’m available,” she says coyly. “Wait, don’t you have to work Thursday?”
    “I can take time off, you know.”
    “No, I actually didn’t know that,” she smiles.
    “I got it all arranged while I was waiting for you to come home, actually. Can you make sure to have Friday and Monday off, then?”
    “I don’t see that being a problem. Did you have someplace in mind?” Now she is curious.
    “Yes.”
    “Are you going to tell me?”
    “No.”

WEDNESDAY

    The shower turns on and the slight noise wakes Arthur. Usually a heavy sleeper, his body is learning to listen for Gwen in the mornings so he doesn’t miss her before she goes to work.
    He rolls over and hugs Gwen’s pillow to him, remembering how they had clung to each other all night after making love again, this time gently, reverently, taking their time, with none of the desperate need they had experienced earlier in the evening. He closes his eyes for a moment before he replaces her pillow and swings his feet to the floor.
    “Have you taken your ring in for a clean yet?” Arthur asks Gwen, opening the bathroom door.
    “Not yet. And good morning,” she pokes her head out for a kiss. She ducks back into the shower and continues. “Been too busy sneaking around with unscrupulous fashion designers, you know.” Arthur chuckles at this. “Plus, I don’t want to have to leave it with them,” she admits.
    “Will you let me take it today, this morning, while you’re at work?” he asks.
    “Um…”
    “I will go as soon as the shop opens, and I’ll bring it to you at the library when it’s done. I also want to have it checked over to make sure everything is secure and in good condition.” Among other things.
    Gwen sighs. “Okay.” She reaches to turn the water off, but hesitates. “Is it safe to come out, or are you having a poo again?”
    Arthur barks a loud laugh at this and flushes the toilet as his answer. Gwen laughs and turns the water off.
    She steps out, and Arthur is holding her towel for her. She takes it and dries herself while Arthur brushes his teeth, watching her surreptitiously in the mirror, jealous of her towel.
    Gwen puts on a flannel dressing gown and reaches for a bottle of moisturizer. She puts her foot up on the edge of the tub, and Arthur intercepts her, siting on the edge of the tub himself. He takes her foot in his lap, and takes the bottle from her.
    “I promise I will stay there the whole time and wait for your ring to be finished,” he says, rubbing lotion on her leg for her, intentionally reaching up far higher than necessary. She smiles down at him, enjoying his attention.
    “If you time it right, we can have lunch when you bring it back to me,” she says and offers her other leg.

    “Oh, I was so worried something happened!” Autumn exclaims after Gwen has explained to her why she doesn’t have her ring on this morning. “You’ve been acting kind of… odd… lately, and I was afraid…”
    “No, everything’s fine. And you’re right, I was acting oddly. Well, I was being stupid, really.” She briefly explains to her friend about what has been going on, and concludes by asking her about Friday and Monday.
    “Totally fine. Go, have a great time,” Autumn tells her. “Make sure you tell me all about it when you come back, though!’
    “Deal. Though I may leave out some details,” Gwen laughs.

    Twelve seventeen, and Gwen’s phone bleeps a text message. Almost done. Will bring lunch.
    Twenty minutes later, Arthur comes strolling into the library. He pats Dr. Gaius on the shoulder as he passes him at the desk, heading straight back to Gwen’s office.
    “Walks around like he owns the place, now, doesn’t he?” Gaius laughs with Autumn.
    “My lady, I bring you gourmet delicacies from McDonald’s,” Arthur announces as he walks through the door.
    “And my ring?”
    “And your ring.” He sets the bag down on her desk and produces a tiny velvet bag from his pocket, which he opens and draws out her ring. She holds out her hand and he puts it back where it belongs.
    “Nice,” she says, noting its extra sparkle.
    “And it’s been given a clean bill of health as well,” he says, bending to kiss her before he sits.
    “I had to guess, sorry,” he says as he pulls items from the bag. He’s purchased three different sandwiches and a salad.
    “Whom are you feeding?” she laughs at all the food.
    “I wanted to give you some options,” he says.
    She selects one of the salads, and Arthur takes a Big Mac.
    “Arthur, I was going to ask you…”
    “Hmm?”
    “Did you want to… help choose your wedding band, or…”
    “No. I want you to pick it out,” he says, as if he’s been thinking about this as well.
    Gwen chuckles at this, saying, “Okay, now I have something else to try and keep secret. You don’t happen to know what ring size you have, do you?” I doubt it.
    Arthur grins, saying, “I do now. Had them measure me this morning while I was at the jeweler.”

THURSDAY

    “No, he still won’t tell me, the pain.” Gwen is on the phone with Morgana, in her office at the library.
    “And you have no guesses?” Morgana asks.
    “Well, of course I do, but they’re probably all wrong. I don’t think we’re flying anywhere, so that narrows it down a bit. I don’t want to guess, though, and get my mind set on where I think we might be going, only to be wrong.”
    “You may have a point there.”
    “I think he’s enjoying torturing me this way.”
    “Probably.”
    “How’s Wayne?” Gwen changes the subject.
    “Unbelievable. Entertaining. Frustrating. Magnificent.”
    “Care to elaborate?”
    “He’s a complete scoundrel, which would be a bad thing if he wasn’t so very… good at it. He flirts shamelessly with anything that has breasts. Even when we’re out together. Then when we’re alone, he treats me like the sun rises and sets on me. He’s very… passionate. Attentive. Almost too much so, sometimes,” Morgana laughs.
    “Yes, Arthur’s had days like that,” Gwen says, remembering one certain Sunday, and it suddenly feels warmer in the room.
    “I don’t know if I love him or if I am just infatuated with how he makes me feel. It’s very confusing. And exciting.”
    “Well, you did say you wanted a man that can hold your interest.”
    “He definitely does that.”
    “Arthur tells me that he occasionally disappears into a storage closet with his phone…” she ventures, trying to get confirmation about what the lads think is going on inside the closet.
    Morgana laughs. “Yes. Um… yes. He does.”
    Aha. “And I assume he’s phoning you?”
    “Gwen, what are you insinuating? Out with it.” Morgana knows full well what Gwen is asking, but is going to make her say it.
    “Are you two having phone sex when he’s at work?”
    “Wow, you went for it. Good for you. Yes. And he’s amazing at it. I’ve gone through more batteries in the past two weeks than—”
    “I don’t want to know the details, Morg.” Gwen cuts her off, laughing.
    “You’re no fun at all,” Morgana teases. “Oop— client is here, gotta run, love. Have a good time at dinner tonight. Try to get that destination out of him.”
    “I’ll try.”
    “Then let me know immediately.”
    “I will. Go do your job.”

    “You can tell Leon that he owes you a fiver,” Gwen says to Arthur as she walks in the door.
    “Good work, Holmes,” he grins, standing to give her a kiss.
    “It really wasn’t that difficult.” She snuggles against his chest for a moment, then looks up at him. “So. I still need to pack. Can you give me a hint, please? Do I need to pack anything… specific?”
    “No. Maybe one nice dress, but mostly casual. Ooo. Pack that red one.” Can I request specific pairs of knickers?
    “That’s not very helpful. I guess you get what you get, then. I will bring the red dress, though.”
    “Guinevere, I honestly don’t really care what you wear. You could spend the weekend in that t-shirt of mine if you like. Or wearing nothing at all…”
    “Well, if I was going to do that, you could save your money and we could stay home.”
    “My point is that you look beautiful no matter what you’re wearing.”
    “You may be biased.”
    “Perhaps. Just go put some things in a suitcase. I’m hungry.”
    “All right, then.” She sighs and walks down the hall to the bedroom.

    After a delicious dinner of Chinese food, they return home, and Arthur decides to tell her where they’re going.
    “You want to know?” he pulls her into his lap on the sofa.
    “Yes, I do.”
    “You’re going to have to earn it,” he teases her.
    “Oh really? What if I’m content to wait until we leave tomorrow?” she asks seriously, calling his bluff.
    He raises his eyebrows, not expecting that response. “Oh. Well. I guess, then, you wait.”
    Gwen laughs at him, and he realizes she was toying with him.
    “Oh! You…”
    She stops his lips with a kiss, her hand on his jaw. Soft and warm at first, then with increasing intensity, her tongue roving. She presses against him, making him moan into her mouth as she takes his hand and places it on her thigh. He slides it up, under her short skirt, higher, until he reaches her backside.
    Gwen sucks his lower lip into her mouth, pulling gently before she releases it to kiss his neck. His hand caresses her rear under her skirt, surreptitiously (or so he thinks) groping to see if he can discern what kind of panties she has on. She smiles against his ear before taking his earlobe into her mouth as he feels around and discovers that she hasn’t got any on.
    “Guinevere!” he breathes, delighted shock mixing with arousal. She has a split second to chuckle into his ear before he stands up with her in his arms as if she weighs nothing at all. But instead of carrying her back to the bedroom, he sets her on her feet, pulls her shirt off, then his, and loosens his belt.
    What is he— oh! Gwen’s thought is interrupted as he lifts her up, his hands under her backside, and he kisses her, walking with her until they reach the wall on the far side of the living room. He presses her into the wall, using it for support, and she somehow manages to slip a hand down between them, shoving her skirt out of the way. She pushes her hand down further and frees him from his trousers, fingers teasing.
    “Mmm…” Arthur moans into her neck and she guides him into her. He is surprised that she is already wet and ready to receive him, and he throws his head back for a second before tipping his head forward, moving her bra strap off her shoulder with his teeth.
    Gwen hangs on to his shoulders, back against the wall, mindless with desire. She has never been taken quite like this before, and the excitement of it is running away with her. She gasps as Arthur kisses her breasts, trying to work one of them free from the cup of her bra. She lets go of his shoulder for a second to help, and once freed, Arthur dives into it, redoubling his thrusts below.
    “Arthur…” she breathes, resting her head back against the wall where he has her pinned.
    He grunts some kind of response, then cranes his head forward to capture her lips with his own, kissing her fiercely, driving her over the edge. She pulls suddenly away from his mouth and cries out, her own orgasm taking her a bit by surprise, having come on so quickly.
    “Oh…” Arthur responds, smiling, also surprised, and as he heads towards his own, Gwen’s seems to continue, as she isn’t quieting down much at all.
    Arthur’s climax hits, and by this time he is so amused at Gwen’s noisiness he laughs with his release and stills, deep inside her, pressing her against the wall as he stops her cries of pleasure with his lips.
    He slowly eases her to the floor, kissing her the whole way down.
    “What was so bloody funny?” Gwen asks after some time.
    “You. You wouldn’t quiet down, and it struck me funny,” he chuckles down at her, running his finger along her cheek.
    “It just kept… going.” she says, laughing now as well, adjusting her bra back into place.
    “Getting dressed for a reason?” Arthur asks at this.
    “If you must know, it was digging into me uncomfortably.”
    “Sorry.”
    “I only just now noticed,” she says, laughing again and shoving him lightly out of the way.
    As they go down the hall to the bedroom, she asks, “So where are we going?”
    “The Cotswolds.”
    “Really?” she stops and looks at him in disbelief. “You were able to get a reservation, in summer, on that short notice?”
    “Don’t need one,” he kisses her. “Father has a place there.”

Part 37: link