One more time 2

One more time 2
“Well, you're the woman I feel that way about now,” he said, looking at her tenderly. He stepped back, bowed just like he had that night, held out a hand and asked, "May I have this dance, Your Majesty?"

“You may,” she said, placing her hand in his.

He placed one hand against her head and laid her head against the crook of his neck. The other hand went to her lower back as he swayed with her to the soft melody flowing through the grand ballroom.

“I could dance with you this way.” He spun her around and pulled her back to his front.

She gasped in surprise as he molded his body to hers, pulling her into him harder than that night at the club, more forcefully, before letting his hands travel down her body and finally settle on her hips.

“Or this way,” he whispered against her neck, “forever.”

When the dance ended, he took a firm hold of her hand again, pulling her through corridors, rushing her past people and almost bumping into them. The next stop was the throne room. He plummeted down onto Henry's throne and invited her to join him on the one next to it.

“I really don't think we should be doing this,” she smiled.

“Which is exactly why we should!” he said, jumping down and picking her up to put her in the chair next to his before sitting back down.

Again she was laughing. They both were.

“See? I look fantastic up here. You always look gorgeous. Done. Hot king and queen. That's super important, you know.”

He watched her as she held onto her stomach, laughing like there was nothing wrong in her world.

“And I get to listen to that laugh every day,” he sighed, staring at her, no doubt with pure love in his eyes.

When she stopped laughing and started staring too, started looking uncomfortable, he jumped back out of the chair and said, “One sec, okay?”

She panicked.

“What?! Aaron, no.”

“Just wait there!” he called after her.

When he came back 10 minutes later, it was with a violin case in hand. She recognized it immediately. It was the one he had given to her, the one with Del in it.

“I meant to give it back before I left, but things got so crazy and I was so heartbroken about leaving you that—”

“You were?” she asked, taken aback. “You just looked so happy all the time.”

He sat back down next to her and opened the case.

“Maybe I was right about you that first night after all. Maybe you are a stupid woman.”

He took the violin out of its case with its bow and held both out to her.

Aria pouted.

“I don't know. Hey. The violin is one of the most complicated instruments to learn and I've been playing since I was five, but maybe you're right. I'm too stupid to remember how to play,” she said, folding her arms angrily.

Aaron smirked. He was even in love with that quick temper of hers.

“All I meant was I was obviously putting on a brave face, Adele. There wasn't a step that I took from you to that plane that didn't feel wrong.”

She looked at his face. He wasn't hiding today. He was happy, but the memory had clearly brought him pain and she had done enough of that. Aria took the violin and the bow from him and started playing for him. It was the song she had played for him when they went up to the castle ruins.

“Hope this is okay. You never quite seemed as taken with anything I played as you were with this.”

But it hadn't been about the song. Or at least not just the song. It was her, standing there on that balcony, soaking wet, putting nature to shame with how beautiful she was in that moment, just like she was now.

“It's still absolutely, unforgivingly, gorgeous,” he whispered. “More so than before.”

“It really was a perfect day, wasn't it?”

“Until you shoved me off of you and said that the date was over, sure.”

They shared another grin before he got back up again, took the violin and bow, placed them back in their case, and held out a hand for her again.

“What now?” she asked. “You sure have me running around a lot.”

“That's the job. You've been slacking since you got here.”

Her mouth dropped open.

“I almost never see you out in the courtyard!”

“Care to find out why?” he asked, offering her his hand again.

This time, he took her to a personal gym.

“Only a select few are allowed down here. Consider yourself honored.”

She took the place in. It was stupidly overwhelming, complete with any and all types of training equipment and even a boxing ring.

“This is something, isn't it?”

“Come on then, let's see what you got,” he said, putting a pair of boxing gloves on her hands.

“I didn't know you were this serious about boxing.”

He gave her a look, his eyes going around the room.

“Right. You're serious about all types of fighting styles.”

Aaron laughed.

“Not all, but certainly a few. Especially since James got back, and I started obsessing about kicking his ass.”

He held onto the punching bag and smiled at the focused look in her eyes.

“Go easy on me, champ.”

When it was his turn, Aaron took his shirt off.

“I wouldn't want to end up like you,” he said, winking at her.

She'd worked up quite the sweat, and it was showing. She let go of the punching bag and covered her chest. Aaron chuckled.

“Pervert!”

“Look who's talking,” he smirked. “I don't mind, though. Make sure you get a good look. It's been a while, after all.”

He'd chosen his words well, said that on purpose, wanted her to be thinking of the last time she saw him shirtless, more than shirtless, completely naked in her room. There was nothing affectionate or loving about the way he looked at her that day, but Aria found she had never been more devastated to have him walk away.

He took her to the shooting rage next.

“Now you're just flexing,” she said.

“A good king and queen should be able to hold their own,” he grinned, picking up his gun.