I top the stairs and make a left, pausing only to speak to the doves before making my way to the door of Prince's suite. I turn the knob and enter quietly, the room is silent, I see no sign of him so I make my way to the bedroom. I can barely see the outline of his small frame in the darkness, but he's still and his breathing is even.
"Prince?" I whisper, no response. I make my way to the bed, he's hugging a pillow the way he holds me when we sleep together. I have the hardest time holding back an audible, "Awwwww," as I go around to the other side. I lift the blankets and slip in behind him, scooting tight, then I kiss his bare shoulder like he does to me. I hear a low satisfied moan, then he whispers, "Sugar," a second later he rolls over towards me. I sit up and lazily run a hand over his chest, the softness of his skin is complimented by the texture of his body hair. He watches my hand stroke for a second then smiles up at me, "Good... morning?"
I nod, "Yep, still morning, it's not even 10 o'clock," I continue petting his chest hair. "Did you get much sleep?"
"Not really, you're earlier than I thought you'd be," his voice is sleepy and for some reason, it's really turning me on. "Did you find some flowers?" I laugh, to which he responds with, "Uh, oh," a chuckle, and a head shake. "Sugar," he admonishes me teasingly. "You find the money okay, then?"
"Yeah, what's up with that?" He frowns, shaking his head. "You've got $10,000 in there, well, $9,500 now."
"Yeah?" He seems unphased.
"Why so much?" I ask. He just shrugs, so I drop it. "I noticed the flower in the Atrium," I smile at him, he raises his eyebrows and nods, I lean in and kiss his forehead. "Hey, your flowerbeds out front look pitiful..."
I get a throaty chuckle, "That's my girl, I was waiting for that." I can see his eyes sparkling with humor in the dimly lit room. "They're all yours if you think you have time."
"It shouldn't take but a day, I can get started tomorrow after Angel flies out," I say as I'm already picking out flowers in my head.
"Take more money if you need it," he mentions as he sits himself up against the headboard. Still needing to touch him I place my hand on his thigh, surprised when I feel the skin/hair combination, "You're nude!" I get a devilish grin in response. "Oh, no, we can't. Angel's waiting on me."
"I know," he throws back the covers and crawls off the edge of the bed. He grabs a nearby robe and secures it around his waist.
I stand, "I guess I better get back downstairs."
"Are you headed home, already?"
"I was, but we can hang out a little longer if you want."
"Just while I have my tea, I know you want to get back to the garden. Could you ask Ray to prepare one for me? I'll be down in a minute."
"Sure," I kiss his cheek and make my way back downstairs to the kitchen.
I thought I had been gone for quite some time, but the look on Angel's face shows surprise when I enter from the kitchen.
"Prince is going to sit with us for a minute before we go," I explain as I take a seat.
Marcus stands, "I'd better, go then." He turns to me, "You know how to find me if you need anything. You ladies have a great day," he leaves the area.
We can hear some talking coming from around the corner where Marcus had disappeared to, it's brief, and then Prince strides in looking bright and alert, as if I hadn't just woke him up.
He takes a seat beside me, "Good Morning, Angel."
Ray steps out of the kitchen with his tea, more pleasantries are exchanged. Taking a sip, he focuses on Angel, "Are you excited to head home tomorrow?"
"Yes," although she looks a little sad. "I do miss Derik something awful."
We both smile and look at each other as she says this, under the table, he takes my hand in his. Prince says, "I'm sure. I'm sure he misses you, too."
Angel makes a face, "Maybe, he was very upset I was going to see 'Pwince' without him," she laughs. "He really took to you," Angel says seriously.
Prince smiles bashfully, then changes the subject, "I'll have to make sure we all get together when we come down."
"Yes! Definitely!" Angel grins, "Just let me know when, he'd love it."
"I was thinking the end of next week, or maybe next weekend," he smiles at me because I look surprised. "That okay with you, Sugar?"
"Yeah, it sounds fine, I really need to go through some things more thoroughly at the house anyway, so Angel can start moving in." I didn't know he had plans to return so quickly, but I don't mind at all.
He nods, it's a done deal as far as Prince is concerned. Finishing his tea he kisses my cheek and stands, addressing Angel again, "I can't say I'll make it home tonight, so, Angel it was great to see you again. I hope you enjoyed yourself even though it wasn't the best of circumstances that you came to visit," he reaches, placing his hand on mine.
"I did, all considering. I appreciate you taking care of the flight," she's sincere.
With his free hand Prince waves away her thank you like it was no big deal, "My pleasure, and thank you for coming up."
He releases his hold on my hand, and looks at me with disappointment on his face, "I'm sorry, but I'll probably won't see you until tomorrow when you come to work on the flowers."
"It's okay," again I keep it light, and hoping the expression on my face cooperates. I really thought he'd come with me to see Angel off.
Prince strides off towards the Atrium, I know he'll be back in the studio before we make it out the doors. I look at Angel, "You ready to get dirty with me?" Her eyes get big for a second before she laughs, we grab our purses and head to the house.
We arrive at the house to find the flats of flowers already delivered, they're sitting in the driveway close to the gate, where I had instructed on my order. We immediately head upstairs to change, then I gear Angel up with some gardening gloves and we get started clearing the remaining area on the one side. With two people working it goes much faster, and I'm still amazed at what I'm finding buried in the overgrowth. Angel does the initial clearing, pausing only to verify if I want something kept or removed, I follow behind digging up roots, tilling the soil, and fine tuning the shaping of remaining grasses and shrubs.
After several hours, we stand back grinning like fools at what we've accomplished, it looks good, damn good. As we're patting ourselves on the back, my stomach growls, "Are you hungry?" I ask her.
"Starving!"
"How does Pizza sound?"
"Perfect, actually, that vegetarian stuff is great, but I think all this hard work calls for pizza."
"Plus, we can eat dirty. We still have flowers to get into the ground, if you're up to it?"
"You bet, I want to see this done before I leave."
I place an order for pizza and a 2-liter of soda to be delivered to the back yard. We dive back into the job by hauling the flats to the back so we can start placing the flowers while we wait.
I decide on the yellow flowers for this area, since there is white and pink already in the newly discovered, but existing, butterfly bushes. The yellow draws the eye away from all the green of the ornamental grass that I decided to keep for the time being.
The pizza delivery arrives just as we are critiquing the layout. I pay the man and he barely clears the gate before we have our gloves off and start eating, we're famished.
We polish off the last slices, and before I know it, Angel has her gloves on, she's ready to go. The placed flowers are planted in no time, and we stand back again in amazement.
"Angel, thank you so much for this! I can't believe how quickly things went," I start pulling off my gloves.
"We aren't done yet," she looks at me sternly.
I'm not sure if it's the gardening or the girl talk, but she is not ready to quit. We have talked about everything from the event, to Derik, her move, as well as Prince and Marcus. I'm thinking it could be the combination of both.
I put my gloves back on and we dive into the back portion of the yard with full bellies and work until dusk. Later, showered and tired, we sit in our pajamas and enjoy a glass of wine while we talk even more before heading to bed.