Part 39: link
“Feeling better, Love?” Gwen asks that night while they eat dinner.
“Quite a bit, actually. Should be right as rain によって the end of the week,” he says.
“Do あなた want to go over to your place after ディナー and bring some もっと見る things over?”
“Yeah, okay,” he says. “I need the rest of my clothes, definitely. And my records.”
Their conversations since Sunday have been somewhat stilted. She really wants to ask if he’s 与えられた any もっと見る thought to her suggestion about the painting and his father, but she doesn’t want to push. She knows him well enough によって now to know that he needs to be left alone to make his decision and if she pushes, he’ll retreat.
Though I’m dying to know what Merlin said, she thinks. She picks up the meat fork. “More roast?”
“Yes, please,” he lifts his plate and she places another slice of roast beef onto his plate, over which he ladles some グレービー, 肉汁 from the pan. “You are a really good cook, Guinevere,” he tells her.
“Thank you,” she smiles, wondering if he is going to tell her this at every meal she cooks for him.
“Morgana was here today,” he says, “she came to the gallery.”
“Oh, I’m sorry I missed her,” she says, genuinely disappointed.
“Well, she’s still in town. Not going back up till tomorrow. So naturally she’s over at Gwaine’s tonight.”
“No usual look of disgust?” she asks, noting that he doesn’t seem to mind anymore that his sister is sleeping with Gwaine.
“Well, it was an interesting day,” he says. “Turns out Gwaine actually loves her.”
“What?”
“We found out that he bought her portrait.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, and while we were staring aghast at him, he just casually announced that he was in 愛 with her, as if it were obvious.”
“What did Morgana do?”
“She completely melted, of course. Lance and I almost had to turn a hose on them.”
Gwen laughs, but she is genuinely happy for them.
“Good thing Merlin stays over at Freya’s most of the time now, anyway, now that he and Phil have traded flats.”
“Goodness, everyone is moving around, aren’t they?” Gwen smiles. Phil and Merlin finally gave up over the weekend, hauling things back and forth across the hall, her stuff in with Leon, Merlin’s in with Gwaine.
“Merlin’s things are still probably all in their boxes,” Arthur laughs. “Except for his typewriter.”
“It’s good. I’m glad everyone is pairing off,” she smiles.
“Except Ox, poor chap. And Lance,” Arthur grins again. “Gwaine agrees with me, によって the way.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, but Phil agrees with you,” he scowls.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about Ox,” Gwen says. “Dad tells me there is a young lady at the station that has been making eyes at him. She’s one of the emergency operators. あなた know, 回答 the 999 calls?”
“Oh really?”
“Don’t know her name または anything – yet – but Daddy says that Ox turns bright red whenever he sees her. So it’s really only a matter of time.”
Back at Arthur’s, they fill a laundry basket with his clothes. Gwen sorts through them mercilessly, throwing away socks that have holes and t-shirts with もっと見る stains than print.
“I can still use those for painting in, あなた know,” he protests.
“They look like you’ve been using those for painting with.”
“Perhaps I have,” he says waggling his eyebrows at her.
Gwen opens another drawer. “Lord have mercy, the man owns pants!” she declares, holding up a pair of boxers.
“Told あなた I had some,” he calls from the bathroom, where he is gathering toiletries. “I just don’t bother wearing them most of the time.”
“Most of the time?”
“I’ll wear them if it’s really cold out. Metal zippers, あなた know.”
Gwen pulls them out, folding them before placing them in the basket, since they were just in a jumbled pile.
“What on earth?” she says, pulling out a pair of men’s bikini briefs, red, with flames all over. “Um, Arthur?”
He walks back into the bedroom, and sees her holding the red flame underwear.
“Something I should know about?” she asks, dangling them from her finger, letting them スイング back and forth.
“Um. Yeah. Those. They were… a gift. Yeah, a gift.”
“A gift? Ex-girlfriend?”
“Mmmmaybe…” he says, advancing towards her now.
She steps back, away from him. “Why so shy, Arthur? Embarrassed? Have I found the one thing that embarrasses you?” she teases.
“Give me those!” he lunges and reaches, but she is ready for him, ducking and laughing.
“Come on, I want to toss them…” he says, trying to nab them from her hand.
“Nuh-uh,” she says, still laughing, bounding across his ベッド now. “I gotta see these on あなた first.”
“Not for a million pounds,” he says, intercepting her and grabbing her around the waist. “Gotcha.”
She squeals, roaring with laughter as his hand closes over hers, his long fingers easily engulfing her hand.
Gwen’s grip is solid, though, and he is surprised to find that he is unable to wrench the knickers from her hand.
“Guinevere,” he purrs, leaning over to speak low in her ear.
“Nope,” she stubbornly says, ignoring the sensations distracting her now. His arm around her waist and his voice in her ear are doing their job, just as effectively as her soft curves pressed against him, though, and a moment later Gwen finds herself beneath him on the bed, his lips on her neck.
“Oh, God,” she moans as his hand that was around her waist finds her breast, squeezing.
“You don’t have a bra on,” he mutters against her skin, sliding his hand down and back up, beneath her t-shirt now. He strokes her nipple with his thumb, teasing it stiff while he plunders her mouth with his own.
Sufficiently distracted, she allows him to pull the underwear out of her hand. He throws it carelessly to the side, busy with other things now.
Gwen slips her own hands under the hem of his shirt, running her hands over the skin of his stomach, his chest, his back, as she works his シャツ up and off.
He follows suit, pulling her シャツ off as well, leaning back to place both hands over her breasts, gazing down at her as he caresses them lovingly.
“I’ll deliver the painting,” he says suddenly, his face soft and unguarded, an expression only she gets to see.
“That’s great, Arthur, but… why are あなた telling me this now, exactly?” she says, reaching up to his face.
“I have no idea,” he answers, then moves his hands to the button at the waist of her jeans, opening them and pulling them and her panties off all at once.
Gwen scoots further onto the bed, glad that they hadn’t taken the sheets off yet. Not that that would have stopped us, she thinks, watching as Arthur removes his own jeans before joining her on the bed, lying 次 to her.
Arthur drops his head to a breast, latching on to it, teasing it with his tongue. His hand delves below, fingers slipping between her legs, drawing a sigh from her lips.
She reaches for him, groping blindly until she finds him, firm and warm and perfect. She wraps her fingers around him and slides her hand, stroking him.
He kisses up her neck to her ear, nibbling the tender flesh there, his hot breath caressing her as well.
“God, I want you,” he growls, then turns her on her side, her back to him.
“What are you…” she exclaims, but he wraps one arm around her waist, his other cradling her head, pulling her close against him.
He takes her thigh in his hand and lifts it slightly and she reaches down and helps him slide into her from behind.
Gwen sighs as his girth fills her, completes her, makes her whole. He slides back slowly, then pushes forward, and she groans.
Arthur’s hand slips down between her legs again, rubbing small circles, adding to her pleasure.
“Arthur,” she breathes his name, leaning フォワード, 前進, 楽しみにして slightly to improve the angle, turning her face against his hand that she is leaning against.
He continues moving, thrusting and touching, whispering soft words that she can only just barely hear.
“Oh,” she whimpers, capturing his index finger lightly with her teeth, nibbling it, sucking on it as he drives into her.
Her lips and tongue teasing his finger as he moves within her makes him groan and his eyes roll back in his head, and he thrusts harder, faster.
“Yes,” he mutters his approval, curling his fingers against her face. She moves to his middle finger now, キス it, biting lightly. He growls and thrusts again, his other hand still stroking her.
Gwen is adrift in a flood of sensation, her soft cries slightly muffled によって his hand, but he hears them all the same, a small smile playing about his lips as he again lets his eyes drift closed, ghosting his lips on her shoulder blade, her neck, as he rides the wave with her. He feels her sink her teeth into his finger and whimper loudly as she comes, slamming her hand over his to make his fingers stop.
Arthur comes at almost the exact same time, wrapping his now-free hand tightly around her waist and burying his face into her neck.
He sighs heavily, then sniffles once.
“Don’t snot on my hair, please,” Gwen mumbles, reaching back to caress his face.
He laughs and slides out of her, turning her back towards him so he can キッス her.
“I 愛 you,” he says, resting his forehead against hers.
“I 愛 you, too,” she answers, キス him again. “And I still want to see あなた in those pants.” She smirks at him now.
“Just once,” he says reluctantly, キス her back. “Since I’m already naked and all. But then they go in the bin.”
“So this is where あなた live?” Annis asks the following week, stepping gingerly into Arthur’s basement flat.
“In the process of moving out, actually,” he says.
“Oh? Shacking up with your little muse?” she asks, smirking.
“Yep. You’re actually lucky I am moving out, else あなた might have been accosted によって my cat.”
“Accosted?” Lance asks, looking around, distracted によって the walls.
“He’s a bit unpredictable. And very opinionated,” Arthur attempts to explain.
“So, a normal cat, then,” Annis says simply.
“Yeah,” Arthur laughs. “He actually likes Guinevere better than he likes me.”
“We all feel that way, mate,” Lance teases.
“Shut up,” Arthur says, still laughing. “Okay, so, this is what I have left,” he goes to the closet while Annis joins Lance looking at the murals.
“Drag, what will become of these walls when あなた move?” Annis asks, walking over to the hall where Arthur is lining up the few remaining paintings.
“I have to paint them back to white,” he answers, digging out the sketchpads and the rest of the drawings of Guinevere.
“Oh, that is not going to be happening,” she declares, striding outside. She returns a moment later, the For Rent sign in her hand.
“Is your phone still working?”
“Yeah, haven’t cancelled it yet.”
“Good,” she lifts the phone and dials the number on the sign.
“What are あなた doing?” Arthur asks.
“I’m renting your flat,” she says. “Hello, I’m calling about the flat あなた have to let? The basement one?”
Arthur and Lance just stare.
“Yes. How much is the rent?”
“Very good.”
“No, that won’t be necessary, I’m standing in it right now.”
“No, he won’t. He is not to touch these walls and neither are you.”
“Yes, I can.”
“No, I most certainly am not intending to live here. I am renting it for Mr. Pendragon and he will continue to use it as a studio 宇宙 to do his painting.”
“I don’t care. And as long as あなた get paid, neither should you.”
“Very good. I shall be up presently to do the necessary paperwork.”
She hangs up the phone.
Arthur is dumbstruck. Humbled. Shocked. “Th… thank you, Annis,” is all he can think to say.
“Wow,” Lance echoes.
“Nothing at all,” she waves her hand dismissively. “An artist needs his 宇宙 to do his work. I daresay poor Gwen has probably been wondering where she is going to find the 宇宙 for all your art supplies anyway.”
“Well, she hasn’t said anything…” Arthur says, rubbing his hand on the side of his head.
“Of course she hasn’t. But she’s been thinking about it,” Annis says decisively. “Now. Let’s see what else あなた have here.”
“Shouldn’t あなた go up and see Mr. Jarvis?” Arthur asks.
“He can wait,” she says, completely unconcerned.
“I want to be like あなた when I grow up,” Arthur says, still awestruck によって her presence and all that she’s doing for him.
She laughs and turns her attention to the paintings. “Interesting, interesting. Is this your cat?”
“When he was a kitten. That one was just a lark, really,” he says, grinning.
“What’s his name?”
“Iggy.”
“After the musician, I presume,” she states, surprising both men with the fact that she knows this.
“Um, yeah…” Arthur says, chuckling.
“Why weren’t these two in the show?” Annis asks.
“Ah. Um, those aren’t really meant for the public.”
Lance hangs back, listening. He’s seen the paintings, but he is still very curious about Arthur’s strange relationship with his father.
“Your mother?” Annis asks, stooping to study the lovely blonde によって the ライラック bushes.
“Yes,” he says.
“You look just like her,” she states. “What happened to her was a tragedy.”
“Thank you, I know,” Arthur 回答 quietly.
“Does it bother あなた to speak of it?”
“A little. Mainly because I just wish that I could have at least known her a little,” he admits, surprised that he is able to be so open with her.
“I understand,” she says, standing and moving close to him, taking his hand in hers. “I ロスト a child once. Died within hours of being born.”
“I’m so sorry,” Arthur says.
“I imagine it is much the same feeling. Always wondering, feeling helpless.”
He nods.
She pats his hand, turns to the 次 painting, and the spell is broken. “And this one?”
“That’s Uther.”
“Indeed,” she raises her eyebrows. “He looks very sad. あなた were able to capture his grief spectacularly even though we cannot see his face.”
“Thank you. Guinevere 発言しました the same thing.”
“Was this shortly after your mother died?”
“No, ten years later. That one,” he points to the painting of his mother, “I painted from a photo. This one I painted from my own memory. Our tenth birthdays, mine and my sister’s, and the tenth anniversary of her death.”
“Hmm,” Annis looks at it.
“Our birthday parties were a riot growing up,” he says sarcastically. Lance snorts.
“Well, both paintings are fabulous, but I understand. あなた painted these for you, not for anyone else.”
He nods. “Sketchpads, and もっと見る Guinevere drawings,” he says, picking them up and carrying them to the table.
Annis smiles, following. “You always call her Guinevere,” she observes.
“I prefer it, yes.”
“I can tell によって the way あなた say it, my boy,” she says offhandedly, paging through the stack of sketches.
“You’ll never guess, Sweet,” Arthur is waiting for her at home, jumping around like an excited little boy.
“What?” she drops her 財布 and crosses to him, where he picks her up and spins her.
“Arthur! What is going on?”
“I met with Annis today,” he says. “We went over to my old flat so I could 表示する her the rest of my works, and she decided that she is going to rent the flat for me so I can use it as studio space!”
“Arthur, that’s wonderful! Amazing!” she jumps back into his arms, squeezing him.
“I know. She saw all the painting on the walls and 発言しました that she couldn’t allow me to paint over it and destroy it.”
“Wow,” Gwen says.
“I have my own studio, Guinevere!”
“I—”
He cuts her words off with his lips, crashing down over them, キス her unreservedly in his joy.
“You know what this means, don’t you?” he asks, once they come up for air.
“I don’t have to try and make room for all that shit here?” she asks, grinning at him.
He laughs, “No. Well, yes, but no. This means we need to go celebrate.”
“Pub?” she asks.
“No. A proper restaurant. Let me put on a decent シャツ and we’ll go.”
I cannot wait to tell my father, Gwen thinks, finding that she is getting some slight enjoyment out of proving him wrong.
“She loved all the sketches, too,” Arthur tells her over dinner, winding スパゲッティ around his fork.
“Of course she did,” Gwen says, finding that she isn’t troubled によって Annis viewing all the sketches.
“She had an interesting idea for a painting from them,” he says. “She chose three of the drawings and placed them side によって side. Told me I should paint all three on one wide canvas, side によって side as a set. A triptych.”
“Which ones?” Gwen says.
“I’ll have to 表示する you. Oh my God, I completely forgot,” he digs into his pocket and gives her a key. “For you.”
“Thank you,” she says, a little puzzled.
“Just in case. I want あなた to have access to my studio,” he grins, clearly enjoying saying it. I want あなた to have access to everything I have, he thinks, but holds his thought inside.
“Thank you,” she says again, tucking it into her purse.
“Oh, and あなた know what else?” he says.
“There’s more?”
“Annis told my landlord that if he ever wished to sell the building, she might be interested in buying it.”
“Really? How much money does that woman have, anyway?”
“I’m beginning to think that her wealth rivals my father’s,” he says, chuckling.
Gwen enters the gallery on Friday, taking her lunch 時 to stop in.
“Oui… oui… non…” Lance is talking to someone on the phone, his face clouded.
Gwen walks slowly up and he waves at her. “Je suis vraiment désolé. Oui. Merci.”
He hangs up the phone and sighs. “My mother,” he says simply.
Gwen knows he wasn’t talking to his mother, but about her. “Is something wrong?”
“She’s apparently forgotten that she speaks French.”
“Well, あなた 発言しました that she thinks she’s seven. She wouldn’t have known French then, would she?”
“No, but it’s making things difficult for the staff at the hospital. They only have a couple people that speak Spanish.”
“Will あなた have to 移動する her?”
“I hope not. But I’ll have to go down there soon and see what I can do.”
“Sorry,” Gwen says, reaching over to hug him.
“Thank you,” he says, then shakes his head slightly, as if physically clearing his mind. “So, to what do I owe the honor of your presence in the middle of the day, my lady?”
“I want to take this one early,” she points to the storm painting.
“How come?”
“I want to have it framed before delivery.”
“Um… okay…”
“Arthur’s going to deliver it to his father himself. It’s… a touchy situation,” she says, biting her lip.
“I’m learning that. あなた don’t have to tell me,” he says. “It’s not my business.”
“Wasn’t going to,” she says, smirking. “Not my story to tell, sorry. All I’ll say is that we were all surprised he came and shocked that he bought. They haven’t spoken in several years.”
“Ah. So あなた think his coming and buying was a way of…”
“Reaching out, yes. So Arthur is going to make the 次 移動する and see where it goes.”
“That must have been what he wanted to discuss with Merlin on Monday,” he guesses.
“Probably. So can I have it?”
“What, now?”
“Lance, darling, I’m on my lunch 時 and the framer’s isn’t open tomorrow. I want to make sure that it gets done in time.”
“Fine,” he sighs, stepping over to take it down for her.
He wraps it in heavy brown paper for her and carries it to her car.
“Thank you,” she says, climbing in and driving off.
“Back again, I see,” the man behind the counter at the framer’s says when she enters.
“Yes, hello, I’ve got one もっと見る for you,” she says, lugging the painting in and setting it on the counter.
“Let’s see it, then,” he says, unwrapping it. “Is this the same artist?”
“Yes, he just had his first gallery opening last week at Galerie Etienne.”
“Oh, that guy. I saw the flyers. Wasn’t able to make it, unfortunately.”
“His paintings are still up, あなた should stop over. They’ll be up for another week.”
“Why is this one here, then?”
“I’m having it framed for the buyer.”
“Oh, right, obviously,” he chuckles. “This is brilliant. A dark frame, I think?”
“Yes. Black, または close to.”
“You have an eye, young lady.”
“Thank you.”
“So how is it that あなた had two paintings of his before his big opening?” the framer asks, curious, as he pulls a few samples from the shelves behind him.
“He’s my boyfriend,” Gwen says. “So I get perks.”
He laughs and brings the sample pieces over, holding them up 次 to the canvas.
“This one,” she points, immediately knowing which one is correct.
“You do have an eye. Are あなた in the art field?”
“No, publishing, actually,” she smiles. “When will this be ready?”
“Hmm…” he checks the log. “Wednesday do for you?” He passes her a slip to fill out so she can claim it later.
“That will be fine, thank you.” She fishes into her 財布 for a card from the gallery. “Here,” she hands it to him. “His 表示する closes a week from today.”
“Thank you,” he takes the card and places it in the pocket of his leather apron.
Part 41: link
“Feeling better, Love?” Gwen asks that night while they eat dinner.
“Quite a bit, actually. Should be right as rain によって the end of the week,” he says.
“Do あなた want to go over to your place after ディナー and bring some もっと見る things over?”
“Yeah, okay,” he says. “I need the rest of my clothes, definitely. And my records.”
Their conversations since Sunday have been somewhat stilted. She really wants to ask if he’s 与えられた any もっと見る thought to her suggestion about the painting and his father, but she doesn’t want to push. She knows him well enough によって now to know that he needs to be left alone to make his decision and if she pushes, he’ll retreat.
Though I’m dying to know what Merlin said, she thinks. She picks up the meat fork. “More roast?”
“Yes, please,” he lifts his plate and she places another slice of roast beef onto his plate, over which he ladles some グレービー, 肉汁 from the pan. “You are a really good cook, Guinevere,” he tells her.
“Thank you,” she smiles, wondering if he is going to tell her this at every meal she cooks for him.
“Morgana was here today,” he says, “she came to the gallery.”
“Oh, I’m sorry I missed her,” she says, genuinely disappointed.
“Well, she’s still in town. Not going back up till tomorrow. So naturally she’s over at Gwaine’s tonight.”
“No usual look of disgust?” she asks, noting that he doesn’t seem to mind anymore that his sister is sleeping with Gwaine.
“Well, it was an interesting day,” he says. “Turns out Gwaine actually loves her.”
“What?”
“We found out that he bought her portrait.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, and while we were staring aghast at him, he just casually announced that he was in 愛 with her, as if it were obvious.”
“What did Morgana do?”
“She completely melted, of course. Lance and I almost had to turn a hose on them.”
Gwen laughs, but she is genuinely happy for them.
“Good thing Merlin stays over at Freya’s most of the time now, anyway, now that he and Phil have traded flats.”
“Goodness, everyone is moving around, aren’t they?” Gwen smiles. Phil and Merlin finally gave up over the weekend, hauling things back and forth across the hall, her stuff in with Leon, Merlin’s in with Gwaine.
“Merlin’s things are still probably all in their boxes,” Arthur laughs. “Except for his typewriter.”
“It’s good. I’m glad everyone is pairing off,” she smiles.
“Except Ox, poor chap. And Lance,” Arthur grins again. “Gwaine agrees with me, によって the way.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, but Phil agrees with you,” he scowls.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about Ox,” Gwen says. “Dad tells me there is a young lady at the station that has been making eyes at him. She’s one of the emergency operators. あなた know, 回答 the 999 calls?”
“Oh really?”
“Don’t know her name または anything – yet – but Daddy says that Ox turns bright red whenever he sees her. So it’s really only a matter of time.”
Back at Arthur’s, they fill a laundry basket with his clothes. Gwen sorts through them mercilessly, throwing away socks that have holes and t-shirts with もっと見る stains than print.
“I can still use those for painting in, あなた know,” he protests.
“They look like you’ve been using those for painting with.”
“Perhaps I have,” he says waggling his eyebrows at her.
Gwen opens another drawer. “Lord have mercy, the man owns pants!” she declares, holding up a pair of boxers.
“Told あなた I had some,” he calls from the bathroom, where he is gathering toiletries. “I just don’t bother wearing them most of the time.”
“Most of the time?”
“I’ll wear them if it’s really cold out. Metal zippers, あなた know.”
Gwen pulls them out, folding them before placing them in the basket, since they were just in a jumbled pile.
“What on earth?” she says, pulling out a pair of men’s bikini briefs, red, with flames all over. “Um, Arthur?”
He walks back into the bedroom, and sees her holding the red flame underwear.
“Something I should know about?” she asks, dangling them from her finger, letting them スイング back and forth.
“Um. Yeah. Those. They were… a gift. Yeah, a gift.”
“A gift? Ex-girlfriend?”
“Mmmmaybe…” he says, advancing towards her now.
She steps back, away from him. “Why so shy, Arthur? Embarrassed? Have I found the one thing that embarrasses you?” she teases.
“Give me those!” he lunges and reaches, but she is ready for him, ducking and laughing.
“Come on, I want to toss them…” he says, trying to nab them from her hand.
“Nuh-uh,” she says, still laughing, bounding across his ベッド now. “I gotta see these on あなた first.”
“Not for a million pounds,” he says, intercepting her and grabbing her around the waist. “Gotcha.”
She squeals, roaring with laughter as his hand closes over hers, his long fingers easily engulfing her hand.
Gwen’s grip is solid, though, and he is surprised to find that he is unable to wrench the knickers from her hand.
“Guinevere,” he purrs, leaning over to speak low in her ear.
“Nope,” she stubbornly says, ignoring the sensations distracting her now. His arm around her waist and his voice in her ear are doing their job, just as effectively as her soft curves pressed against him, though, and a moment later Gwen finds herself beneath him on the bed, his lips on her neck.
“Oh, God,” she moans as his hand that was around her waist finds her breast, squeezing.
“You don’t have a bra on,” he mutters against her skin, sliding his hand down and back up, beneath her t-shirt now. He strokes her nipple with his thumb, teasing it stiff while he plunders her mouth with his own.
Sufficiently distracted, she allows him to pull the underwear out of her hand. He throws it carelessly to the side, busy with other things now.
Gwen slips her own hands under the hem of his shirt, running her hands over the skin of his stomach, his chest, his back, as she works his シャツ up and off.
He follows suit, pulling her シャツ off as well, leaning back to place both hands over her breasts, gazing down at her as he caresses them lovingly.
“I’ll deliver the painting,” he says suddenly, his face soft and unguarded, an expression only she gets to see.
“That’s great, Arthur, but… why are あなた telling me this now, exactly?” she says, reaching up to his face.
“I have no idea,” he answers, then moves his hands to the button at the waist of her jeans, opening them and pulling them and her panties off all at once.
Gwen scoots further onto the bed, glad that they hadn’t taken the sheets off yet. Not that that would have stopped us, she thinks, watching as Arthur removes his own jeans before joining her on the bed, lying 次 to her.
Arthur drops his head to a breast, latching on to it, teasing it with his tongue. His hand delves below, fingers slipping between her legs, drawing a sigh from her lips.
She reaches for him, groping blindly until she finds him, firm and warm and perfect. She wraps her fingers around him and slides her hand, stroking him.
He kisses up her neck to her ear, nibbling the tender flesh there, his hot breath caressing her as well.
“God, I want you,” he growls, then turns her on her side, her back to him.
“What are you…” she exclaims, but he wraps one arm around her waist, his other cradling her head, pulling her close against him.
He takes her thigh in his hand and lifts it slightly and she reaches down and helps him slide into her from behind.
Gwen sighs as his girth fills her, completes her, makes her whole. He slides back slowly, then pushes forward, and she groans.
Arthur’s hand slips down between her legs again, rubbing small circles, adding to her pleasure.
“Arthur,” she breathes his name, leaning フォワード, 前進, 楽しみにして slightly to improve the angle, turning her face against his hand that she is leaning against.
He continues moving, thrusting and touching, whispering soft words that she can only just barely hear.
“Oh,” she whimpers, capturing his index finger lightly with her teeth, nibbling it, sucking on it as he drives into her.
Her lips and tongue teasing his finger as he moves within her makes him groan and his eyes roll back in his head, and he thrusts harder, faster.
“Yes,” he mutters his approval, curling his fingers against her face. She moves to his middle finger now, キス it, biting lightly. He growls and thrusts again, his other hand still stroking her.
Gwen is adrift in a flood of sensation, her soft cries slightly muffled によって his hand, but he hears them all the same, a small smile playing about his lips as he again lets his eyes drift closed, ghosting his lips on her shoulder blade, her neck, as he rides the wave with her. He feels her sink her teeth into his finger and whimper loudly as she comes, slamming her hand over his to make his fingers stop.
Arthur comes at almost the exact same time, wrapping his now-free hand tightly around her waist and burying his face into her neck.
He sighs heavily, then sniffles once.
“Don’t snot on my hair, please,” Gwen mumbles, reaching back to caress his face.
He laughs and slides out of her, turning her back towards him so he can キッス her.
“I 愛 you,” he says, resting his forehead against hers.
“I 愛 you, too,” she answers, キス him again. “And I still want to see あなた in those pants.” She smirks at him now.
“Just once,” he says reluctantly, キス her back. “Since I’m already naked and all. But then they go in the bin.”
“So this is where あなた live?” Annis asks the following week, stepping gingerly into Arthur’s basement flat.
“In the process of moving out, actually,” he says.
“Oh? Shacking up with your little muse?” she asks, smirking.
“Yep. You’re actually lucky I am moving out, else あなた might have been accosted によって my cat.”
“Accosted?” Lance asks, looking around, distracted によって the walls.
“He’s a bit unpredictable. And very opinionated,” Arthur attempts to explain.
“So, a normal cat, then,” Annis says simply.
“Yeah,” Arthur laughs. “He actually likes Guinevere better than he likes me.”
“We all feel that way, mate,” Lance teases.
“Shut up,” Arthur says, still laughing. “Okay, so, this is what I have left,” he goes to the closet while Annis joins Lance looking at the murals.
“Drag, what will become of these walls when あなた move?” Annis asks, walking over to the hall where Arthur is lining up the few remaining paintings.
“I have to paint them back to white,” he answers, digging out the sketchpads and the rest of the drawings of Guinevere.
“Oh, that is not going to be happening,” she declares, striding outside. She returns a moment later, the For Rent sign in her hand.
“Is your phone still working?”
“Yeah, haven’t cancelled it yet.”
“Good,” she lifts the phone and dials the number on the sign.
“What are あなた doing?” Arthur asks.
“I’m renting your flat,” she says. “Hello, I’m calling about the flat あなた have to let? The basement one?”
Arthur and Lance just stare.
“Yes. How much is the rent?”
“Very good.”
“No, that won’t be necessary, I’m standing in it right now.”
“No, he won’t. He is not to touch these walls and neither are you.”
“Yes, I can.”
“No, I most certainly am not intending to live here. I am renting it for Mr. Pendragon and he will continue to use it as a studio 宇宙 to do his painting.”
“I don’t care. And as long as あなた get paid, neither should you.”
“Very good. I shall be up presently to do the necessary paperwork.”
She hangs up the phone.
Arthur is dumbstruck. Humbled. Shocked. “Th… thank you, Annis,” is all he can think to say.
“Wow,” Lance echoes.
“Nothing at all,” she waves her hand dismissively. “An artist needs his 宇宙 to do his work. I daresay poor Gwen has probably been wondering where she is going to find the 宇宙 for all your art supplies anyway.”
“Well, she hasn’t said anything…” Arthur says, rubbing his hand on the side of his head.
“Of course she hasn’t. But she’s been thinking about it,” Annis says decisively. “Now. Let’s see what else あなた have here.”
“Shouldn’t あなた go up and see Mr. Jarvis?” Arthur asks.
“He can wait,” she says, completely unconcerned.
“I want to be like あなた when I grow up,” Arthur says, still awestruck によって her presence and all that she’s doing for him.
She laughs and turns her attention to the paintings. “Interesting, interesting. Is this your cat?”
“When he was a kitten. That one was just a lark, really,” he says, grinning.
“What’s his name?”
“Iggy.”
“After the musician, I presume,” she states, surprising both men with the fact that she knows this.
“Um, yeah…” Arthur says, chuckling.
“Why weren’t these two in the show?” Annis asks.
“Ah. Um, those aren’t really meant for the public.”
Lance hangs back, listening. He’s seen the paintings, but he is still very curious about Arthur’s strange relationship with his father.
“Your mother?” Annis asks, stooping to study the lovely blonde によって the ライラック bushes.
“Yes,” he says.
“You look just like her,” she states. “What happened to her was a tragedy.”
“Thank you, I know,” Arthur 回答 quietly.
“Does it bother あなた to speak of it?”
“A little. Mainly because I just wish that I could have at least known her a little,” he admits, surprised that he is able to be so open with her.
“I understand,” she says, standing and moving close to him, taking his hand in hers. “I ロスト a child once. Died within hours of being born.”
“I’m so sorry,” Arthur says.
“I imagine it is much the same feeling. Always wondering, feeling helpless.”
He nods.
She pats his hand, turns to the 次 painting, and the spell is broken. “And this one?”
“That’s Uther.”
“Indeed,” she raises her eyebrows. “He looks very sad. あなた were able to capture his grief spectacularly even though we cannot see his face.”
“Thank you. Guinevere 発言しました the same thing.”
“Was this shortly after your mother died?”
“No, ten years later. That one,” he points to the painting of his mother, “I painted from a photo. This one I painted from my own memory. Our tenth birthdays, mine and my sister’s, and the tenth anniversary of her death.”
“Hmm,” Annis looks at it.
“Our birthday parties were a riot growing up,” he says sarcastically. Lance snorts.
“Well, both paintings are fabulous, but I understand. あなた painted these for you, not for anyone else.”
He nods. “Sketchpads, and もっと見る Guinevere drawings,” he says, picking them up and carrying them to the table.
Annis smiles, following. “You always call her Guinevere,” she observes.
“I prefer it, yes.”
“I can tell によって the way あなた say it, my boy,” she says offhandedly, paging through the stack of sketches.
“You’ll never guess, Sweet,” Arthur is waiting for her at home, jumping around like an excited little boy.
“What?” she drops her 財布 and crosses to him, where he picks her up and spins her.
“Arthur! What is going on?”
“I met with Annis today,” he says. “We went over to my old flat so I could 表示する her the rest of my works, and she decided that she is going to rent the flat for me so I can use it as studio space!”
“Arthur, that’s wonderful! Amazing!” she jumps back into his arms, squeezing him.
“I know. She saw all the painting on the walls and 発言しました that she couldn’t allow me to paint over it and destroy it.”
“Wow,” Gwen says.
“I have my own studio, Guinevere!”
“I—”
He cuts her words off with his lips, crashing down over them, キス her unreservedly in his joy.
“You know what this means, don’t you?” he asks, once they come up for air.
“I don’t have to try and make room for all that shit here?” she asks, grinning at him.
He laughs, “No. Well, yes, but no. This means we need to go celebrate.”
“Pub?” she asks.
“No. A proper restaurant. Let me put on a decent シャツ and we’ll go.”
I cannot wait to tell my father, Gwen thinks, finding that she is getting some slight enjoyment out of proving him wrong.
“She loved all the sketches, too,” Arthur tells her over dinner, winding スパゲッティ around his fork.
“Of course she did,” Gwen says, finding that she isn’t troubled によって Annis viewing all the sketches.
“She had an interesting idea for a painting from them,” he says. “She chose three of the drawings and placed them side によって side. Told me I should paint all three on one wide canvas, side によって side as a set. A triptych.”
“Which ones?” Gwen says.
“I’ll have to 表示する you. Oh my God, I completely forgot,” he digs into his pocket and gives her a key. “For you.”
“Thank you,” she says, a little puzzled.
“Just in case. I want あなた to have access to my studio,” he grins, clearly enjoying saying it. I want あなた to have access to everything I have, he thinks, but holds his thought inside.
“Thank you,” she says again, tucking it into her purse.
“Oh, and あなた know what else?” he says.
“There’s more?”
“Annis told my landlord that if he ever wished to sell the building, she might be interested in buying it.”
“Really? How much money does that woman have, anyway?”
“I’m beginning to think that her wealth rivals my father’s,” he says, chuckling.
Gwen enters the gallery on Friday, taking her lunch 時 to stop in.
“Oui… oui… non…” Lance is talking to someone on the phone, his face clouded.
Gwen walks slowly up and he waves at her. “Je suis vraiment désolé. Oui. Merci.”
He hangs up the phone and sighs. “My mother,” he says simply.
Gwen knows he wasn’t talking to his mother, but about her. “Is something wrong?”
“She’s apparently forgotten that she speaks French.”
“Well, あなた 発言しました that she thinks she’s seven. She wouldn’t have known French then, would she?”
“No, but it’s making things difficult for the staff at the hospital. They only have a couple people that speak Spanish.”
“Will あなた have to 移動する her?”
“I hope not. But I’ll have to go down there soon and see what I can do.”
“Sorry,” Gwen says, reaching over to hug him.
“Thank you,” he says, then shakes his head slightly, as if physically clearing his mind. “So, to what do I owe the honor of your presence in the middle of the day, my lady?”
“I want to take this one early,” she points to the storm painting.
“How come?”
“I want to have it framed before delivery.”
“Um… okay…”
“Arthur’s going to deliver it to his father himself. It’s… a touchy situation,” she says, biting her lip.
“I’m learning that. あなた don’t have to tell me,” he says. “It’s not my business.”
“Wasn’t going to,” she says, smirking. “Not my story to tell, sorry. All I’ll say is that we were all surprised he came and shocked that he bought. They haven’t spoken in several years.”
“Ah. So あなた think his coming and buying was a way of…”
“Reaching out, yes. So Arthur is going to make the 次 移動する and see where it goes.”
“That must have been what he wanted to discuss with Merlin on Monday,” he guesses.
“Probably. So can I have it?”
“What, now?”
“Lance, darling, I’m on my lunch 時 and the framer’s isn’t open tomorrow. I want to make sure that it gets done in time.”
“Fine,” he sighs, stepping over to take it down for her.
He wraps it in heavy brown paper for her and carries it to her car.
“Thank you,” she says, climbing in and driving off.
“Back again, I see,” the man behind the counter at the framer’s says when she enters.
“Yes, hello, I’ve got one もっと見る for you,” she says, lugging the painting in and setting it on the counter.
“Let’s see it, then,” he says, unwrapping it. “Is this the same artist?”
“Yes, he just had his first gallery opening last week at Galerie Etienne.”
“Oh, that guy. I saw the flyers. Wasn’t able to make it, unfortunately.”
“His paintings are still up, あなた should stop over. They’ll be up for another week.”
“Why is this one here, then?”
“I’m having it framed for the buyer.”
“Oh, right, obviously,” he chuckles. “This is brilliant. A dark frame, I think?”
“Yes. Black, または close to.”
“You have an eye, young lady.”
“Thank you.”
“So how is it that あなた had two paintings of his before his big opening?” the framer asks, curious, as he pulls a few samples from the shelves behind him.
“He’s my boyfriend,” Gwen says. “So I get perks.”
He laughs and brings the sample pieces over, holding them up 次 to the canvas.
“This one,” she points, immediately knowing which one is correct.
“You do have an eye. Are あなた in the art field?”
“No, publishing, actually,” she smiles. “When will this be ready?”
“Hmm…” he checks the log. “Wednesday do for you?” He passes her a slip to fill out so she can claim it later.
“That will be fine, thank you.” She fishes into her 財布 for a card from the gallery. “Here,” she hands it to him. “His 表示する closes a week from today.”
“Thank you,” he takes the card and places it in the pocket of his leather apron.
Part 41: link
