Samuel was disappointed when Lena refused to go to bed with him that night. He couldn't blame her since she had slept for so long during the afternoon. He would've just preferred to have within arms length of him and to feel her warmth to know that she was still there when he fell asleep.

He got the feeling that his fiancé still didn't quite understand what he enjoyed about it or why he kept wanting to have such close contact with her, but he was fine with it since she wasn't rejecting him. It was good progress in his eyes.

He felt proud about how things had been going on between them. He didn't know though if it was because of the progress that he had been making or because of how far the princess had come.

She was still her huffy and mostly stoic and distant self, but there were times still where other emotions peeked out and floated to the surface. One had to watch carefully at first to notice the small difference in her facial expressions and tone to be certain there was something else there.

But as time went by, it became more obvious that he was having some kind of positive impact on her. From the way she blushed when he did small little affectionate or silly things to the grumpy reactions she that weren't followed by flat out rejecting his touching. Holding hands as well.He hadn't thought that in just a few months this type of progress would be possible between them. Samuel still couldn't say that there was anything close to love between them, but he knew that there was potential for it to blossom as long as things kept moving in the direction that they currently were.

It might have made him a little giddy thinking about the fact that his stubborn patience had gotten him this far. He had done what Lena had first said wouldn't be possible for him and what he had initially thought he would have to give up on.

Now, he just had to make sure that things kept going in the right direction. The engagement had gone through without any issues. He wasn't quite sure what to expect next though since Jovani had mentioned to him in passing that there was still some kind of initiation that he needed to go through.

His older cousin hadn't been willing to tell him what exactly it would be though. Why? he didn't know except for the fact that the other enjoyed keeping little secrets until the last moment. Samuel doubted though that it would turn out to be anything that he couldn't handle.action

Those were things to be worried about after the next two days passed. Along with talking to Richard to see what he could do about the situation that the other was dealing with. Though he didn't really have any clue what he was requesting to step into beyond what Hester and Julian had told him, he didn't think that it would turn out to be anything too complicated that he couldn't handle.

He rolled over onto to his side as he laid on the bed. Tonight, his primary focus needed to be on thinking about how he could convince the princess that spending time in the ocean while going to the beach was a must. He didn't quite understand why exactly her aversion to water was about, but it was a mystery that he wanted to solve.

How he would do that, he didn't know since Lena was still a step ahead of him when it came to anything physical between them. While she was certainly more gentle with him than she was with other people, he wouldn't put it past her to 'hurt him' if he pushed things too far and did something she didn't like.

If they were a normal couple, he would've just done what he had seen take place in various movies he had watched where the male lead picked up his lover and carried her into the water with him or dropped her which was usually followed a certain amount of indignation or screaming before things turned fun.

Samuel got the feeling though that if he even thought about secretly trying this with his little spit fire of a fiancé that she would lay him out flat and refuse to allow him to touch her again in the near future.

He would instead have to find a different way to convince her to go into the water with him. What method he could use, he was certain of as he figured bribing her wouldn't work since it had been a fail back when they were at the water park together.

It was a problem that he would have to ponder about in the morning once he had gotten some sleep. He knew that a solution existed, he just couldn't think of it off the top of his head. Likely because he was too tired and his mind was trying to think of one too many things at once.

The issue resolved itself next morning however before Samuel had even really had a chance to give it much thought after waking up and immediately shifting to get everything ready for them to go to the beach. Lunch had to be made, beach towels and appropriate wear collected, and anything else they needed to be packed for the few hours they were gone. Nothing too heavy since they were only taking the princess's motorcycle.

"Why don't you pick one thing that you want to do at the beach." The princess told him as she helped to pack the picnic basket that they would be taking with them. She pushed him into taking one of the smaller ones that they had versus the large one that he wanted as she didn't think they would be able to eat everything he wanted to take with them.

"Anything at all?" Samuel clarified, a twinkle in his eyes when she said. The princess narrowed her eyes at him when she saw the look on his face but simply nodded her head to confirm it.

"I have one thing in mind, but only if you also agree to pick one thing you want to do at the beach as well." he told her.. It wouldn't be as fun if he was the only one who made a request.

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