The Beauty and the Beast (1st book of Fantasy Series)

Chapter 47- Belle's POV

"What if your father doesn't want you to come back?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper while he raised an eyebrow in question.

I ran to my room and opened the door, shaking my head while I stepped in with him following me. "Don't say something like that, Peter," I said, my voice barely above a whisper, too, "especially when the door is opened."

Peter bit back a small snort and rolled his eyes. He closed the door and went over to me as if he knew that I was going to need help getting out of this dress. "Fine," he said and started to help as gently and quickly as he could. "What if your father doesn't want you to come back?" he asked again, this time louder. "You know that there is a c-"

"I will leave and come back even if he doesn't want me to," I said, interrupting him. "Also, didn't I tell you not to say something like that?" I turned my head so that I could look at him, and he playfully growled and moved my head back the way it was so that he could work on getting the dress loose enough so that I could take it off.

"Don't move, Belle," he said, "unless you want me to rip this dress by accident."

I held back an eye roll but did what he said to do and stopped moving. "Answer my question, though," I said. "Didn't I tell you not to say something like that? Even if Papa doesn't want me to come back, I am going to."

"Why?" He continued to take the dress off, and I bit back a small sigh of relief when I could finally breathe.

Thank, Goddess...

My cheeks turned slightly red, and I looked down, not able to meet his gaze. "Because I think I have feelings for him," I said, my voice barely above a whisper, and my cheeks turned another shade of red.

My cousin stopped taking off my dress, and his heart skipped a beat before it started to pound faster in his chest. "W-W-What?" he asked, stuttering. "What did you say?"

"I will tell you if you can continue to take off my dress, Peterica," I said, and he scowled and rolled his eyes but did what I said and started to take my dress off again. "Hurry up. I'm running out of time."

Peter rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath. However, he did what I told him to do and picked up his pace, still being as gentle as ever so that he wouldn't rip the dress.

My cheeks turned another shade of red, and I cleared my throat and licked my lips. "I think I have feelings for him," I said again, my voice barely above a whisper. "He's shown me the man that he could be and has let love enter his heart again."

"You helped, Belle," Peter said softly. "You've helped him a lot." He cleared his throat and stopped undoing the dress, and I was about to say something when he beat me to it by saying something else. "Now, grab the dress in the front so it doesn't fall down and reveal your boobs. I don't want the king to have my head."

I bit back a small laugh and did what he said, grabbing the dress in the front so that it wouldn't fall down. "I have an under slip under the actual dress, Peter," I said, the laugh still in my voice. "Now go ahead and take it off. I have my hands over it."

Peter did what I said and took it off. He didn't say a word before he moved into a corner, and I had a feeling that he was still going to stay while I got ready to leave.

"Besides, you have already seen me naked before," I said and shimmied out of the dress as well as the under slip dress that Elenor helped me put on. "Many times."

"But we were young, then, Belle," Peter said. "We were young and didn't have mates that cared about us."

"Well, we had mates, but we haven't met them yet," I said and gave him a pointed look. I ran to my dresser where I still had clothes and started to pull something out to change into, not caring what it was. "I am sure that we had mates then, too."