She maintained her composure as long as she could, but by the time Reine reached her suite, all of her pent up feelings erupted to the surface.
Shutting the door behind her, she threw her mask and hat onto a side table. "No, no, no, no, no! You can't fall any deeper. This has to end now," she mumbled to herself.
Saying the words out loud was comforting, and she continued to undress. After removing her disheveled wig, she looked in the mirror and ran her fingers through her flattened hair. She tried to return it to its original shape, but her hands were shaking uncontrollably, and the results were less than ideal. "Look at you. You're a complete mess."
After taking a deep breath, she walked toward the large oak cabinet lining the adjacent wall. Opening the first door on the bottom, she found what she was looking for.
It was a typical hotel mini-bar, and she grabbed the first small bottle she saw. She rarely drank hard alcohol and the clear, cool liquid burned her throat as she downed it in one swig. It had a pungent aftertaste, but she could feel it warm her body. She briefly felt more relaxed, until knocking interrupted the fleeting moment.
Reine tossed the bottle into the nearby waste basket, and walked to the door. She looked through the peephole expecting to see a mistaken stranger, but she saw Gabe standing there instead.
"Forget something?" she asked as she opened the door.
He held up the shoes she had taken off during the boat ride. "No, you did."
"Oh, right." She scrunched her nose. "Thanks."
She'd been so preoccupied with putting Gabe out of her mind, she hadn't even noticed being only in her stockings. She basically gave him the excuse to come to her door, which now made her head spin. Exhaustion and the alcohol compounded the effect, and she lost her balance.
"Whoa. Are you okay?" He asked, stepping inside just in time to catch her.
"Yeah. Of course." She lied. She wasn't okay. In fact, she felt very far from okay. But she couldn't tell him that, especially with his arms still tightly wrapped around her.
"Good night, then." She pushed her hands against his chest and took a step backward, trying to get him out of her room as quickly as possible before she changed her mind.
To her horror, instead of leaving he shut the door behind him. "Are you going to be able to get out of that dress by yourself? I mean, someone had to have helped you with all those ribbons and hoops and stuff?"
He was actually making a sound argument. She did have to call the woman at the front desk to assist her with the gown earlier in the evening. It was clear she'd never be able to take it off by herself. "I'll call downstairs for help again."
"The entire ground floor was empty when I came in, and as long as I'm here . . ."
His offer was extremely tempting, but she had trouble enough saying no to his beautiful blue eyes even when she was completely sober. However, it had already been a day of giving in – she had done it with the ball and that turned out fine – so Reine turned her back to him as an indication of her agreement.
Facing the mirror, she saw his reflection step up behind her, positioning himself close enough to where she could feel his breath against her ear.
After examining the secure bow at the small of her back, he gently pulled one side of the golden ribbon holding the bodice together to unfurl the loops. Individually loosening and removing the lacing, he worked upwards until he reached the last eyelet holding it in place.
Fearing her rapid breathing would betray the calm façade she was trying to maintain, Reine held her breath for as long as she could. The gentle caress of the fabric against her bare skin was nothing compared to the electrifying sensation caused by the occasional brief touches of Gabe's fingertips. Closing her eyes, a shiver ran down along her spine after each one. She was sure he was working as slowly as possible, and she had goose bumps even though her skin felt as though it was on fire.
When the movements stopped, she opened her eyes and saw his motionless reflection looking back at her.
"Done," he said quietly.
Reine couldn't move. Her feet had become rooted to the floor. Her thoughts, however, were frantically rushing through her head, each one contradicting the one before it.
He needs to leave before this gets out of hand, but I so want him to stay.
It didn't help her confused state of mind that he was still quietly studying her face in the mirror, obviously waiting to take the cue from her next move.
What the hell.
Going with her heart rather than listening to her head, she slowly wet her lip and tilted her head slightly. It was the unmistakable signal he needed.
She watched as he slowly lowered his head toward the base of her ear. His lips felt warm, and his kisses were slow and gentle. As she suggestively offered her neck so he could reach even more of the exposed skin, he was driven to continue with greater intensity.
His tongue floated over her carotid artery, and she was sure he could feel her elevated heartbeat through his lips. She couldn't think of anything else except the pleasure she was feeling from his touch, his warmth, and his scent. And she didn't have the willpower to stop it.
Unfortunately, another knock at the door did exactly that. Both turned their heads toward the source of the interruption, but Gabe took charge.
"Go in there." He motioned toward the bedroom. "I'll see who it is."
There was a hint of agitation – but not quite surprise – in his voice. As she continued to stare at the closed door, an inexplicable feeling of danger flowed through Reine's body. Hopefully her usually reliable intuition was just playing tricks on her again, and she heeded his instructions. Gripping her unlaced bodice to her chest, she took refuge in the other room.
Walking those few steps made her head feel like it was spinning uncontrollably again, so she headed straight for the bed. Unceremoniously plopping herself on top of the covers, she focused her remaining energy on listening to what was taking place next door.
Even with her perfect hearing, she couldn't make out anything more than muffled sounds coming from a hasty conversation. The people in the other room were either whispering or the liquor had also affected her ears.
The bed was irresistibly soft, and she was too tired to care about anything else. Giving up her fight to keep her eyes open, Reine drifted off to sleep.