He’s serious now.
Before, all night, he was playful, teasing, all toothy smiles and knowing looks as he extended the reminder brought on by this afternoon’s revelation. Bending on one knee, he retrieved a fork dropped by accident and he thoroughly searched for the remote beneath the couch when it was sitting in plain sight on the coffee table and he carefully pulled the bed skirt up to look for monsters when he knew good and well that they were the only two people in the room, finally. She laughed at him when he did this and asked if he was going to check the closet too. He smiled mostly playfully and only a little wistfully and reminded her that they were no strangers to ghosts; dark shadows had often followed them around, haunting not closets but empty hearts. She’d kissed him then, reminding them both that there were no more empty hearts, and she was so grateful.
But now, above her, the playfulness has gone and he’s only serious.
The room is hot, filled with deep breathing and then no breathing and then deep breathing again. Her hands are slick against his back and he doesn’t move. Still, he rests on top of her, inside her, as his hands sink into her hair and his lips find the place where her shoulder becomes her neck.
Her eyes are squeezed shut as she wills herself not to crumble beneath his touch. It’s too much and not enough and more intense than it’s ever been before. She feels like the walls are pulsing, closing in on them, mooring them in this place so that they can finally finish what was started so long ago. Together, it’s the two of them forever and she’s so grateful.
He says her name, a penetrating hum against her ear, but she hears what he’s really trying to tell her: Open your eyes. Look at me.
She responds, her gaze finding his, and he repeats the plea, a simple three letters that echo through her heart to bounce around the room and she pulls him closer.
“I love you,” he says, and the air leaving her lungs becomes desperate to escape, to say to him that she can and always could and always will.
“God, Jim,” she moans because now she knows what it’s like to be worshipped, adored, loved. Now she knows what she’s become, finally, because she sees it in his eyes, and she’s so grateful.
Her eyes water and she isn’t sure if it’s because of his words or hers. He throbs heavy and thick inside her, and she wants him like she never has before. Something’s happened to them, is happening to them, and it’s intense and beautiful and absolutely the rest of her life, and she’s so grateful.
He begins to move, and she says “Yes” and wonders if he knows that she’s answering the question he hasn’t yet asked.
Story Notes:
This is what happens when I'm supposed to be cleaning my room and studying for the LSAT.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Just a tiny little thing, really.
Chapter End Notes:
Y'all know the drill!
Catie9 is the author of 7 other stories.
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