The Dance

*15*

As they lay in bed wrapped in each other's arms admiring each other and the view of the Alps, Prince kissed Emma on the nose and said,

'Have you thought about continuing this journey with me? I have concert dates through the month of August. Almost all of them are in Europe. It's easy to add you to our travel plans. You don't take up much space-honestly, just the right amount.' He gave Emma a devilish smile.

'Thanks for that,' she said, playfully pushing at his solid chest. 'I have thought about it constantly. This has been amazing so far, on all sorts of levels. I just don't know if it's real, because so much of it is not part of my boring day to day life.' Her hand remained on his chest, tracing random patterns across his chest, lightly scratching him with her fingernails as she looked at his beautiful skin.

'Hear me, parts of touring do get boring. Constantly moving into another hotel, trying to remember which city you're in, making cold, ugly dressing rooms comfortable, performing when you're sick, missing your normal food and Blizzards from Dairy Queen. It's not all as comfortable as this has been.' Prince took hold of the hand Emma was using to tease his chest, and brought it up to his mouth to delicately kiss each finger in turn. He continued,

'I have two weeks before our next gig. I thought we might go to Italy, or maybe the south of France. Have you ever been to France? It won't be boring, though. I'll make sure of that.'

'Well, that still doesn't sound like normal life, but it's certainly tempting. I've never been either of those places. It would be nice to see what you do when you're not performing. Do you have studio time booked?' Emma took her hand back and began outlining Prince's ear, giving it the smallest of tickles. 

Prince retaliated by moving his hand along Emma's ribs, not tickling, just caressing, to see if he could get her to focus on sensations. Connecting Emma with her body's sensations was the most gratifying job he'd had in a long time.

'Yes, when we get to Scandinavia. I've been writing lyrics and making DAT recordings to use in the studio later. If I don't have a piano handy, I use my guitar. I've been doing that before and after sound checks while I've been here.' Prince looked regretful. 'I don't think I woke you a few of hours ago. There was a song that had to get out, or I was never going to get any sleep. I can't always put them off until later.'

'Surely by now you've figured out how hard I sleep when I do finally sleep,' Emma replied. 'I can honestly say I had no idea you left the bed, which is kind of embarrassing,' she admitted. 'Do you feel lonely working in the middle of the night?'

'No, babe, I've been working by myself in the middle of the night almost all my life. I usually prefer it that way. I do know how to wake you when I come back, though.'

'You most certainly do,' she gasped, as she was flipped flat on her back, completely immersed in anticipating the sensations Prince could cause at her very core. She thought he would enter her immediately, but Prince, levered above her, ran one hand along the leg he had wrapped around his waist and said, 'Emma, invite me in.' 

When he didn't get a reaction, he repeated, 'Emma, invite me in, sugar,' and after she took a deep breath in, she was able to beg, 'Please...' It was all the invitation he needed. Once he reclaimed her body as his, she became too busy to say much of anything except Prince's name, over and over, louder and louder.

Later that afternoon, Emma went to the guest bedroom for some privacy to do something she'd been putting off for two days, and called her daughters. She texted ahead of time, asking them to get together so she only had to place one call. She was afraid this would be a difficult conversation. As she put the phone on speaker, she worried once again what they would say about this situation.