Chapter 28

" That's...that's good to hear." Replies Julian awkwardly.

"Well ..we won't keep you two longer. I'm sure there are a lot of guests that want to talk to you."

Julian looked at me surprised, clearly not expecting me to shoo them away just like that.

" Ah yes. Let's go Julian." Jane was quick to react and grabbing his hand draged him away.

We both looked at them disappearing from our view before "Pfft ...hahahaha ."

With a raised eyebrow Cain looked at me, not expecting me to laugh.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Haha...ahem... it's nothing... hehe."

"What? What's so funny? "

Seeing that I still refused to answer , Cain came close to me and started to tickle me.

"Ah...wait...no...Haha...hahahaha ...Cain ..hahaha ..sstoop...haha." After a few minutes of tickling and laughing with my eyes in tears ,Cain finally stopped the tickle torture.

"Huff ..hufff ...you ...huff ..don't ....huff ..don't tickle me .."

Still catching my breath i looked at him with a mean eye since I don't like being tickled at all.

"Hahaha ...is that look supposed to be scary?"

Surprised and feeling challenged at his words I jumped on him and tickled him like crazy.

"Hahaha....is that supposed to tickle me?"

And in the next moment he grabbed my waist with his hand and the other went behind my nape and brought me close to his mouth. It didn't take me long to put my hands behind his head , our bodies glued together with no space between us, kissing to our hearts content for the second time today.

After some time , Cain let out a low growle and push me away a little, his hands on my upper arms, looking at me with eyes full of lust. We we're both huffing, trying to catch our breaths.

"Alida ....huff.." He said my name so sensually that a shiver ran up my spine. I could see him trying to regain control over himself and honestly I wasn't any better than him. All this time his eyes never left mine. My eyes darted to his lips for a second , I wanted to say something but couldn't find my voice. I was afraid that one single word from me would ignite that fire that we both tried to extinguish so hard.He was still holding me at arms length like he was afraid to let me close to him but still didn't want to let me go. We stared at each other like that for some time , eventually Cain let me go, turned to the side running a hand trough his hair , messing it up a little but still looking handsome as ever.

"I'm sorry....I...I'll be more careful Alida."

Opening my mouth I wanted to say it's alright and that I don't blame him and suggest we go but I didn't want to let him go like that. I was craving to touch him more, I knew I shouldn't since he was such a gentleman and wanted to do things properly , but in that moment i didn't care, i wanted to be just a little selfish so I approached him and hugged him from behind. I could feel him stiffen when my hands circled his waist.

"Alida.." he caught my hands and wanted to pull them apart but he stopped himself and just squeezed them a little.

"You're being a tease again my dear... chuckle." His chuckle was strained.

Laying my forehead on his back and holding him even tighter I apologized for my selfishness.

"I don't want to let you go yet...so please just endure it a little bit more for me."

"Sigh... what am I going to do with you huh?"

" Hehe....love me more?"

"Chuckle...mmm...that I can do."

We stayed like that ..me embracing him from behind and him holding my hands, his eyes looking at the sky outside. Nobody said anything for a long time, we just enjoyed the quite night together, just our breathings could be heard, not until my feet started to hurt from all that standing. Feeling me trying to pull away , he let go of my hands, turned toward me and with a warm gaze took my hands and we both went back to the venue.

The rest of the night was uneventful for me and Cain. He never left my side, glaring at young men who wanted to approach us and giving short replies to the older ones, not being interested in anything besides me. I wanted to excuse myself when some old geezers gave me the stink eye but Cain held my hand tightly not letting go for a second, challenging the rude ones to say something mean to me in his presence.

Needles to say, father was fuming while mother looked tired and fed up with his antics but she didn't let him approach us even once.

Me and Cain were the talk of the party for most of the night. People were speaking, some loud some in hushed tones , all eyes on us. Many speculating about our relationship, while some more brazen ones , directly asked father if there'll be another announcement. Of course it was clear from Cain's behavior what the result will be but since not an ounce of gossip was heard about us until then some still hoped , especially young women, that there is still a chance to be the next Madam Moonlight.

Jane was fuming for stealing her spotlight at her birthday party , everyone was asking her about us instead of fawning over her and talking about the wedding preparations. I didn't feel bad about it honestly since I didn't do it intentionally, not to mention that at Alida's eighteenth birthday Jane stole her spotlight even making her a joke in front of the younger nobles. Just like that the party came and went with me and Cain at the center of it except for an earlier incident with Jane but that's a story for the next chapter.

Waving goodbye to Cain, i saw him enter his carriage and depart from our estate. Turning around I went upstairs without talking to anyone, avoiding father mostly, and prepared for bed since it was past ten in the evening and I was dead tired.