His fingers trace a path….from the nape of her neck, slowly down her back to the swell of her bottom. She’s warm, and when he touches her she sighs quietly in her sleep. He’s still learning the little nuances about her, but it sounds like a happy sigh. She sounds…yeah. Happy.

It’s weird to him, because suddenly he only vaguely remembers…before. The “before” that was without her (even though he’s only been WITH her for not even an entire day). He remembers emptiness, and he remembers trying to forget and trying to move forward, but the painful details are less sharp - already the edges are fuzzy in his mind.

But now, he thinks back to the night before. Their first night together, and despite a few glasses of wine with dinner he remembers everything. Well…obviously that, but the little details too.

***

The flicker of light from the candle that danced across her face while he gazed over at her. They waited for their food and they talked about regret. They talked about last year, last week, all of it. A canceled wedding, a job interview cut short. It’s all out on the table and quickly disposed of, because the past is past and this is well…the future.

The way their fingers were twined loosely together as they walked through the park, the way she bit her lip shyly when she smiled and looked up at him. Her tongue sticking out slightly between her teeth when she laughed, head thrown back and her auburn curls reflecting the last rays of sunlight before they slip below the horizon.

Their kiss on her front porch, slow and soft….his arms wrapped all the way around her and her hand resting on his chest. The thought that it reminded him of another kiss from long ago made him tighten his hold, and when she broke away it was a soft request….. ‘can you stay?’

Later, on her couch, her breath on his neck as she gasped, his hand dipping lower until he found her warm and wet. A moan, and then his mouth grazing her nipples through her (very nearly unbuttoned) shirt. It was almost too much when her fingers wove through his hair and she pulled him to her, whispering his name and ‘please..just..please’.

Laughing as they tripped over clothes on the way to the bedroom. Her delicate fingers tucking a piece of hair behind her ear – nervousness peaking through. He was just as nervous, but he kept kissing her until it felt like he was drowning in her and his nerves were washed away.

Her hands trembling as they tugged on the bottom of his shirt, and the feeling of bare skin on bare skin that elicited a moan from them both. He would have called jinx if he was able to form a coherent sentence - if her hand hadn't been traveling lower and wrapping around him, making him close his eyes and forget his name…forget the past year…forget that he ever thought he could not love her.

On her bed, the feeling of her legs wrapped around him and pulling him deeper, her head arched back into the pillow, baring her neck for him to kiss his way up to her ear. He whispered ‘god…Pam…you feel so good’ and she gasps her agreement, the sound of his name on her lips sounding so natural, so...right.  

***

She’s waking up now, and it pulls him from his reverie. She maneuvers around to face him and the corners of her mouth turn up, offering him a sleepy smile. He returns her quiet ‘good morning’ with a kiss that lingers as he gathers her to him and she wraps her arms around his waist. He closes his eyes and they stay like that for a minute, before she presses a kiss to his chest, her hand suddenly sliding around to the front of him and lower…much lower.

The morning sun streams through the blinds, little slivers of light stretching across the room and bending with the walls. She moves on top of him and he watches her as she moves, closing her eyes and pressing her hands to his chest. His hands are anchored on her hips, moving with her, helping her rhythm. It’s slow and languid and he thinks that he wants to wake up like this with her every day for the rest of his life.

They waste away the morning in bed with coffee and a newspaper, laughing and half finishing a crossword puzzle. It’s everything he thought it could be, and more really, because he’s learning things that he never even knew before, and this is only the beginning.

He kisses her and tastes the syrup from the frozen waffles he had hastily reheated for them earlier, and she brushes a lock of hair out of his eye, jokingly remarking that it’s already growing back. 

As she saunters out of the bedroom wearing only his t-shirt and her panties, he smiles after her.  This is only the beginning, and suddenly he can’t imagine it any other way.