Sharing a Pavilion With You
Chapter 125: Call Me Li

Chapter 125: Call Me Li

[Suggested song for this Chapter – Delibes, Lakmé, Act 1: Duo des fleurs]

Bai Li lifted Meili onto Tufei’s back.

"It wouldn’t do for me to get you in trouble with the Emperor for arriving back late," he said regretfully, "but we can walk the horses for at least some of the way and still make it back on time".

"It’s fine Bai Li," she smiled down at him from the saddle, "I know you’ll be missed at the camp every minute you’re absent".

He appreciated her understanding, though part of him wanted her to beg him to stay with her a bit longer... It wouldn’t take much coaxing at all for him to agree...

He guided Rishi alongside Tufei and reached out to take her hand as they walked their horses side-by-side.

He watched her cheeks turn adorably pink as he did so, and she glanced shyly across at him, melting him completely.

He really was ridiculously handsome, she thought, though he seemed completely oblivious to his good looks. Or was it perhaps that he knew about them but put no store in them?

"When did you know that you were starting to care for me?" he asked her curiously. "I’ve never been able to tell until just then when you gazed at me after I caught you as you fell from Tufei. That’s when I dared to hope for the first time."

She turned from him in embarrassment. "Bai Li!" she implored.

"Call me by my name, Meili. Please?" he cajoled her.

His voice was dangerously seductive. She felt she could probably do anything for him.

"Meili?" he tried again.

"L...Li," she called him tentatively.

He swallowed hard, his eyes smouldering, as he stared straight ahead, trying to manage his rapidly fluctuating emotions.

"Li," she called him again, in her sweet, sweet voice, trying to get him to look at her.

Without warning he reached over and pulled her off Tufei into his arms.

His hand caressed her cheek briefly, before he leant down and pressed his lips to hers again.

He was even less restrained this time, his desires not well-controlled.

When he pulled back from her lips and looked into her eyes, his eyes were dark and predatory.

"Call me again!" he ordered her impatiently.

She gasped for breath after that kiss, feeling a secret thrill that she seemed to have cracked his famously iron-clad reserve.

"Li," she whispered to him, reaching out her delicate fingers to rest them against his strong jawline.

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply at this sweet music to his ears, leaning in to her neck, where he allowed himself the indecorous pleasure of drawing in her scent and kissing her in a trail from her chin down to her just visible collarbone.

Feelings unlike any she had felt before suffused Meili, and unbidden, her head dropped back, her long hair draped across him. An unchaste moan escaped her lips.

Bai Li stiffened at the sound, feeling his body respond to her with a rush of steamy desire that brought him to his senses.

He coughed to cover his ungentlemanly behaviour and brought her back upright to sit in front of him on Rishi.

He said nothing for a few moment while he collected himself.

"My apologies, Meili, this time I really did go too far. I have no excuses, I’m sorry. You don’t know how many nights I’ve dreamt of hearing you call me ’Li,’ and I lost control of myself momentarily. Can you forgive me?"

When she didn’t reply, he bent down and looked around into her face.

Her cheeks were like two rosy, red apples, as she replayed in her head that indecent noise that had escaped her lips.

She had no idea where it had come from, and she was terribly ashamed to have cried out like that in front of Bai Li, of all people...

She nodded vigorously, hoping he would be satisfied with that response and stop looking at her so she could quietly die of embarrassment in privacy.

He continued to peer into her face, which was bright red, and he thought he detected a sheen of tears gathering in her beautiful eyes.

"I’m sorry, Meili," he cried despairingly.

He was kicking himself. What the hell was that behaviour just now towards such an innocent girl?

"Did I frighten you? Are you scared of me now?" he asked her apprehensively.

She shook her head in tiny rapid movements, dabbing at the corners of her eyes with her long sleeve.

"I did frighten you! Of course I did!" his voice was full of self-reproach.

Lord! He had made her cry!

"No, Li," she couldn’t bear to make him feel he had done something wrong. "I’m not scared at all. You didn’t scare me... I’m just a bit embarrassed by my own behaviour, that’s all," she continued to stare straight ahead, not able to look at him.

Embarrassed by her own behaviour... what did she mean? He was the one who had behaved appallingly.

"But you did nothing wrong! It was all me," he was puzzled by her reaction.

"I... I...," she stammered, but she couldn’t bring herself to explain any further to him.

Was it that little cry of pleasure she had made? He smiled to himself, that must be it!

He tried not to replay it in his mind because the thought of it and the way she had responsively offered her elegant pale neck to him was driving him a little wild.

"Not to worry," he said, cheerful now that he knew that was what was upsetting her. "That’s a good thing. It’s as it should be between a husband and wife, and it was my fault for making you respond like that before we are married."

She looked at him doubtfully.

"Is that true, Li?"

"Yes," he nodded implacably.

"Plus it gives away both how much you desire me, and how you will be after we’re married," he whispered wickedly into her ear.

"Oh!" she gasped with dismay, covering her face with her hands.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," he laughed, "I can’t help teasing you when you look so cute like that. I won’t do it again, okay?" he coaxed her, trying to pry her hands from her face.

"Put me back on Tufei," she said, her mortified voice muffled from behind her hands.

"No! No, Meili. I’m sorry. I said I’m sorry. I won’t tease you anymore, I promise. You have nothing to be ashamed of, the shame must all be borne by me, who caused your embarrassment. Forgive me?" he wheedled.

She pouted sweetly but removed her hands from her face.

"That’s better," he said, satisfied.

He sat back up behind her, wearing a secret grin she couldn’t see.

"Now, back to my question you avoided so deftly. When did you first know that you were starting to have romantic feelings for me? I’m dying of curiosity," he said.