The Tattooed Prince 2

85.

Mateo rested his chin on top of my head, enjoying our little moment. "You know, all this doesn't matter. I don't care what my parents think or if Gisele tells them nonsense. All I want is to spend time with you." He confessed quietly. "I haven't been the best man and I was at fault for some of the problems Giselle and I had, but I learned and I am a better man."

I hugged him tighter. It is funny how we as people understand we aren't perfect yet we expect our significant other to be. When my relationship fell apart, I blamed Sebastian for a lot of things, yet I was part of the problem too. We had issues and we couldn't communicate clearly enough. I haven't been the best woman, but I have gotten better. It the reason why I don't judge Sebastian anymore, instead I pray he gets better. I hope he finds the peace he much deserves because I know I'm still trying to find it. In moments like this, the peace finds me and I soak it in and enjoy it.

I looked up at Mateo and his eyes met mine. Mateo is a great guy with a huge heart, I can't imagine him being like Sebastian. I raised my hand towards his cheek and I cupped his face. Mateo has his own baggage and I'm going to sound cynical, however, I am glad he isn't pitch perfect. Mateo is a little broken and I'm able to fully see that now.

His eyes were saying what his mouth couldn't and at the moment I knew. Mateo hand moved down to the middle of the back and relax there, while his other hands placed a few strands of hair behind my ear. The air around us became intense and we didn't dare say a word. Suddenly, he closed the distance between us and his lips touched mine. I responded back, surprising myself by doing so. My mind blanked out and I gave in to the kiss. His lips were softer than I had anticipated and the way his lips touched mine was slow and calm.

It was a kiss I had never experienced before. Suddenly, he backed away from me as if my lips had burned him.

"I'm sorry, Adalyn. " his voice cracked. "it wasn't right for me to do that."

"No, it's okay." I quickly said. "I kissed you back."

Mateo took in a deep breath. "I should go." He stammered.

I didn't want to sound disappointed by his reaction and I tried my best not to. "It's okay we kissed..." I grabbed onto his hand trying my best to reassure him. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"I chose a wrong moment to kiss you, we are back in my home so I can deal with my ex-girlfriend. I don't want you to think about this day like that." He sounded disappointed.

"Mateo, all I am going to think about tonight is our kiss nothing more."

He shook his head. "It wasn't how I wanted our first kiss to go."

"Well, to me it was perfect." I smiled.

"Okay." He said. "I'm going to head out, I'll talk to you soon."

"Okay," I responded and walked with him to the door. He gave me one last hug and left.

I closed the door and sighed heavily. With him now gone, I can process the kiss. Mateo and I kiss and I don't feel sick to my stomach or wrong about it. I touched my lips with my finger, reminiscing the kiss.

If I wasn't so tired I'd probably have overthought the kiss and the emotions going through me, however, I showered and went to bed. I didn't realize how jetlagged I was until Mateo was hovering over me, waking me up.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "What's wrong." My voice croaked.

"I tried calling you yesterday but you wouldn't answer. I figured you'd be asleep but it's nearly ten in the morning and you are still asleep." He chuckled quietly. I stared at him a bit perplex, there was something different about him today.

He was smiling a little bit wider and he looked less miserable than yesterday. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize how tired I was. Jetlag hit me and I needed to sleep it off." I smiled, innocently.

"It's fine." He said. "I got a jet ready for you. I told them to be ready to take off at one. I didn't think it was a good idea to have you fly off in the morning again."

"Thanks. It's easier to fly in the afternoon, plus I'll be arriving in Barcelona at night, right?" I asked him, I wasn't sure how far Barcelona was from here, although I doubt it is more than a five-hour flight.

"It's three hours give or take."

"That's not bad," I said. "How were things when you got to the palace?"

He sat down on the edge of the bed and sighed. "They went a bit better than I expected. I explained to my parents about what happened between Gisele and I. I always expected them to be furious if she and I broke up, turns out they were furious at me for seeing someone else while I was with her." He rolled his eyes. "Of course we hadn't been dating for awhile now and once they knew that, they calmed down. Their still bit disappointed I took so long to confess to them."

"That's good, right? You didn't have to be scared of anything, they'll love you no matter what you decide to do." I gave him a soft push.

He laughed. "Yeah, Amy said the same thing, they love Gisele so much I didn't want them to force me to be with her." he got quiet. "I've heard stories about Royals being forced to arrange marriages and I didn't want to become another story."

"And are they going to force you to marry her?" I joked around.

"Of course not. I need to talk to Gisele though and clear somethings up. I don't want her to go to the media and sell a sob story like she threatens my sister to do so." He responded. "Maybe when I apologize she'll drop the idea."

"If she does, it is okay with me. I've been divorced for a year and I don't owe no one an explanation, people will talk regardless. I agree though, she deserves an apology, it'll help her heal." I assured him.

If Sebastian apologized for some of the mistakes he did, the healing process would have been easier. Instead of forcing me to punch him during the charity event, if he had apologized for pushing me away and lying to me, I would've felt better.

"Yeah, hopefully, she'll understand."

"Hopefully, take as a lesson, if you stop loving someone don't drag them along until you grow a pair to cut it off. You'll end up hurting yourself more at the end."

"Ouch. The truth hurts."  He murmured.

"Yup." I responded. "So, when are you going to talk to her?"

"Tonight, I asked her to come over to the palace and I have a rough draft of what I'm going to tell her."

"You wrote out what you are going to apologize for?" I asked, stunned.

"No, I have a rough draft in my head of what I want to apologize for and what I need to talk to her about."

"Oh okay, are you going to tell her about me?" Curiosity lingered and I wondered if he was going to bring it up.

"I am positive she's going to bring you up, so I'll have to tell her. You and I are friends."

"Friends huh?" I raised a brow. "Friends don't kiss."

"I agree, friends don't kiss, nor do they sleep in the same bed or at least male and female friends don't. You and I have a different version of the word friends, and I think we both agree it's a way we should keep it for now."

I nodded. "I'd like that."

"Maybe, when things are less hectic for us we can see where it can take us. I enjoy exploring different places with you and spending time with you. I don't need to be in a relationship with you to stay." He looked down at his hands. "I was wrong when I said you were going to be the one to break my heart. This is my karma, coming home and dealing with the mess I left behind."

"So, what will I be to you?" I asked him.

He shrugged, "I don't know maybe you'll be the right girl, at the wrong time."

***

Next stop Barcelona. <3