Maid For You 4

Chapter 4

Nikolas looked into my eyes, tilting his head slightly. "I do not think I've ever found myself in love," he admitted.

"Really?" I asked.

He picked at his chicken. "Well, of course, there are women I have found to be beautiful." He fidgeted in his chair. "But, well..."

I waited for him to finish his sentence.

"Well?" I prodded. And there it came, that slight pink stain on his cheeks that his pale skin was no match for. "Nikolas, are you blushing?!" I asked with a laugh.

"I am not," he denied, staring intensely at his chicken that he'd been poking at for a minute without taking a bite.

"Does talking about your feelings make you embarrassed?" I teased.

He forced himself to look me in the eyes, a tight set in his jaw. "I am not embarrassed," he told me quite determinedly, his demeanor turning colder. "I just find that I lack ample experience in the matter, so I do not have much to contribute to such topic of conversation."

"So have you really never been in love?" I couldn't contain my smile. Oh, it was too fun to poke him like this. Nikolas was always cool, collected, and had everything under control. To find him blushing and at a loss for words was honestly enamoring and I couldn't help myself.

"No, I would say that I have not been. I have not subscribed to such feelings in which man loses control of himself."

He sounds like freaking Coleman, I thought. I smiled a bit wryly.

"What lies beneath your smile, Cassie?" he asked me.

"You just sound like Coleman," I told him.

His expression darkened. "I am nothing like Coleman. How could you suggest that?"

"Oh you are far more principled than Coleman, to be sure," I said. "But he's got basically the some idea as you, that he can't love so that he doesn't lose control or whatever. The idea of love, I think, is something that scares him."

"I am not afraid of love," Nikolas informed me.

"Fine, but you want to avoid it."

"I did not say that. Just because I have not been in love, does not mean that I refuse to take part of such a venture in the future. I hope that I will come to love my future wife, I truly do. However, unlike Coleman, I have not engaged in an overabundance of interactions with those of the fairer sex."

I processed what he said for a moment as I took a bite of my chicken. "So, basically, you're telling me that you like, you've never been in love because you never talk to girls?"

"That is false!" he assured me. "I have indeed communicated with members of your sex my entire life. There are female politicians, nobility, royalty, and more that I have had to work with, which work is effectively accomplished through talking. You will not find me for a loss of words around women merely because they are female."

I pursed my lips; it would be rude to laugh. "I see," I said slowly. "But like...have you ever just...talked to girls."

"Yes! I have just explained—"

"Not about politics and junk like that!" I cried.

"Such matters are hardly junk."

"I mean, did you ever have just like nice, casual conversations?" I asked. "Or like, friends who were girls?"

He sat for a moment. "Yes," he told me, looking down at his chicken again and poking at it. "I was quite good friends with my cousin," he said rather quietly.

"Your cousin?!"

"And you are also my friend."

"But we only became friends like a few months ago."

"It's been four months."

"Short enough time that you're counting months," I retorted.

"Well, our friendship aside, it is not as though I have had no experience with females."

I smiled softly. "I'm sorry for razzing you," I said. "It's not bad that you don't have much dating experience or anything. Honestly, it's cute. And I'm very touched to be your friend. You can practice talking to females with me."

"I am not so hopeless as you think," Nikolas told me, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't think you're hopeless at all," I said. "I'm sorry if I offended you."

"I am not offended," he said rather quickly.

Right, I thought. "Really though, it's very endearing that you haven't had much experience with girls," I told him. "And—"

"I've had experience," he told me.

I looked at him curiously. "Wait, have you kissed someone?" I asked him gleefully. Honestly, it was hard for me to imagine him kissing anyone.

He stabbed his chicken again, and the pink twinge on his cheeks made a reappearance. "I am not referring to that kind of experience."

Well, I'd said I would stop, but I couldn't help myself. "So have you kissed anyone?"

"No," he said after a moment.

"Aw, Nikolas!" I crooned.

"What do you mean, 'aw, Nikolas'?!" he asked irritably.

"That's so cute."

"Cute?" He seemed to find the word disdainful.

"It's a compliment, Nikolas," I assured him, though the dubious look across his face didn't seem particularly convinced. "Seriously," I said, trying to brush off the giggles. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with the fact that you've never kissed anyone."

"I never said it was wrong," he said, a little bristly.

"I think it's sweet," I told him, a soft smile on my face. "Really. And your future wife is a very lucky woman."

"I suppose so," he said. "She will be the queen of Nikoto."

"I mean, that too I guess," I said, laughing a bit. I watched Nikolas, the way his eyes were cast down onto his plate and the tightness of his body. "I'm sorry if I've made you uncomfortable," I said.

"You do not make me uncomfortable," Nikolas told me, drawing his eyes upwards to meet mine. "You must understand...such topics of conversation have not been too commonplace in my life, and I find myself a bit...off-put. Of course, marriage is something that has often been discussed, but the underlying tones of the conversation were far more political. Furthermore, such matters of love, marriage, and courtship were theoretical, and not put into practical application."

I nodded as I listened to him.

"Though now," he started. "I am finally implementing what has for so long been merely discussed into my real life."

"Oh?" I asked, drawing the glass of water to my lips and taking a drink.

"Indeed," he said, relaxing his shoulders and wearing a confident gaze. "Afterall, I am courting Princess Esmerelda of New Spain."

WHOOSH my water blasted out my nose, giving me the impression I was drowning. I quickly brought my lap napkin to my face and was coughing profusely into it.

"Cassie?!" Nikolas asked, panicked. "Are you alright?"

Oh CRAP. I thought, remembering a key event from the day before. I forgot about Esmerelda!