“I don’t want to go to work either,” she says softly. “I just want to stay here in bed with you.” He laughs into her hair, flexing his fingers against her, lowering them slightly. His touch is light as he skims back and forth in a gentle motion. His other hand moves to push the braids that escaped her wrap to the side to expose her neck. He shifts, brushing his mouth down the length of her throat.
“Go to work, baby. I’ll be here,” he murmurs, grazing the shell of her ear. She sighs, her stomach dipping as he drags his hand lower. He presses two soft kisses to her neck, then the shell of her ear again. “Pretend I’m not even here.”
“That’s impossible,” she says as he slides his hand beyond the elastic of her shorts. “You’re all I think about most days.”
His teeth move to her earlobe and bite gently, before moving to track down her neck.
“Most days?”
She sighs heavily. “All the time, actually. Every day for the past few months, Roman.” The motion of his hand on her stomach stops, and she turns in the bed to face him. “I’m so sorry about everything. The things I said to you,” she whispers. “The way I left.”
He shakes his head. “I shouldn’t have pushed you. I understand why you did it.”
“But—”
He presses a soft kiss to her lips. “Stop dwelling in the past. It’s okay. We’re okay.”
“Roman,” she murmurs when he pulls her back into his chest. “What are we going to do? How is this going to work?” she asks, looking up at him.
“I don’t know. We’ll figure it out together,” he says, pressing a kiss to her nose. “We’ll make it work, okay?”
She nods, but her mind still spins. It leaps. It tumbles.
Itspirals.
But he’s there, drawing her further into his chest as he rubs small circles against her back. “Relax, baby. Don’t think so hard about it.”
She pulls back, leaning on her elbow to stare down at him. “Roman, how long do I get to keep you?”
He laughs, reaching forward to pull her silk wrap from her head, pressing a steady stream of kisses down her chest. “Forever?”
She pulls back to look at him, sending him a pointed stare. “That’s not what I mean.”
“What do you mean?” he says, rubbing across her arms.
“When do you have to leave?” she asks, inhaling sharply. “I’m just trying to prepare myself.”
He sighs, placing his forehead on her shoulder before rolling to his back. Jahlani taps his arm, watching as he scratches his eyebrow.
“Roman?”
He sighs, throwing his arm across his face. “The day after tomorrow.”
So soon.
She tilts her head. “Like the movie?”
He cuts his eyes at her, and she falls back to the bed, laughing deeply. They lay next to each other, breathing, a light thrumming in her chest, head, fingers, toes.
Her lips twist as she continues to stare at the ceiling, listening to them both share the same space.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he says, now rolling on his side to face her.
“That’s soon,” she whispers immediately, no longer feeling the need to hide anything. “Sooner than I expected.”
She turns to lie on her side, reaching out to trace his eyebrows, nose, jaw, lips, repeating the motion. Memorizing him.
“I know,” he says, pressing a kiss to the tips of her fingers when she brushes over his mouth again. “I know.”
