Maybe a kissat lunch hadn't been the best plan.
Catherine found it nearly impossible to focus on work the rest of the afternoon.
Jacob had been right about one thing.
They had chemistry.
At least she thought so. He seemed to as well, though he hadn't said so in so many words.
For several hours, she did her best to work on the documents. At least she didn't have any meetings. She wouldn't have been able to concentrate enough to make coherent responses and proper decisions in the best interests of her country and her people.
When she decided she'd put enough time in to pretend it had been a full, productive day, Catherine traded her heels for boots and donned her coat. She waited to put her gloves on until she reached the door to the outside. With her new routine of warmer wear, she didn't feel the need to rush through the gardens quite as quickly.
She reached the cottage to find that Jacob hadn't yet arrived. After changing into soft, comfortable clothes, she went into the kitchen to contemplate what they should have for dinner. Nothing in the cabinets or refrigerator sounded appealing, and none that would be ready in a fairly short time frame.
The front door opened letting Jacob in.
"Hey." She could hear the smile in his voice. "You beat me home."
Catherine leaned against the frame of the entrance to the kitchen. "I've only been here a few minutes."
Jacob walked toward her then kissed her cheek. “I thought we ordered dinner."
"I don’t remember if I actually submitted it." She couldn't stop a yawn. "I don't feel up to making dinner. Will you call over and ask if I did? If not, have them send what they have on hand."
He nodded. "Of course."
Her mind was overwhelmed with emotions of all sorts, thoughts swirling around in a whirlpool, making it nearly impossible for her to decipher or define them.
Jacob went into the bedroom, placing a phone call as he did. While waiting for him to return, she went into the living area and sat in the big chair they'd been sharing while watching movies or television shows. With the quilt pulled over her, she let out another yawn. A good night's sleep would be hard to come by - again.
In recent nights, the impending release of the information about her marriage kept her tossing and turning. Tonight, it would likely be a combination of fretting about the photo call the next morning and reliving the all-too-brief kiss in her office earlier in the day.
Unless Jacob kissed her again before she fell asleep. Then both of them would be floating through her mind.
"You had ordered. They're sending it over in a few minutes." He came back from the bedroom, sliding his phone into the pocket of his joggers.
"Thank you for taking care of it." Another yawn.
A frown crossed his face. "We don't have to watch anything tonight. You look tired."
She shook her head. "No, I don't want to go to bed yet. It's more mental fatigue than physical, I think."
Rather than sitting next to her, Jacob sat onthe ottoman in front of her. "Do you want to talk about what happened earlier today?"
She let her head fall back against the seat behind her. "I think the response to the press release went better than we could have expected it to. The public is cautiously optimistic. We have a couple of weeks before the dinner and ball. Everything is pretty well set for them and the coronation. I don't understand exactly why we need to have a big to do about turning twenty-five. I've been queen for nearly a decade-and-a-half. Why does there need to be a coronation?"
"That's something we can discuss later, but that's not what I'm talking about and you know it." He reached out and rested a hand on her knee. It was covered by the quilt, but she could still feel the weight and warmth of it. "I'm talking about lunch."
"It was delicious?" She wrinkled her nose, knowing that also wasn't what he meant.
"Catherine." It wasn't really a warning, but there was a bit of exasperation in the word, though he didn't seem overly serious about it.
"I know, I know." She closed her eyes and sighed. "You're talking about..." She couldn't bring herself to say it. "...right before you left."
"When you asked me to kiss you," he confirmed. "And I did, and you kissed me back."
With a nod, she opened her eyes and looked at him. "Yes. That."
