The orgasm was like a bomb detonating in her body, a surge starting at her core and exploding out to every limb. She cried out and Freddie leaned back, watching it bloom across her face.
She closed her eyes and gave herself over to the feeling. How had she gone so long without this? Without him? She felt right and whole and suddenly there was nothing to hold back. Her muscles seized and her body exploded again, like sensation and light were shooting through her veins.
“Fuck… Annie…” Then he groaned, the sound muffled by her hair as he leaned down, then thrust into her again and again as he came. His breath was ragged on her skin, and she held him tightly until his body finally went limp. She raked her hand through his short hair, letting it tickle her palm. She could almost forget that eight years had passed since they had been here. It would be so easy to get lost in the immediacy of his body, his smell.
He turned his head, watching her profile for a long minute as his breath steadied.
“What’s that look?”
She turned to look at him. “What look?”
“Like you’re already thinking about something,” he finally said.
She could tell him, list the concerns and worries and questions already beginning to bubble up in her brain. How this would work, what happened now… but she didn’t want to. She wanted to stay lost for a little bit longer.
“You’ve got some new moves,” she replied, suppressing a smile.
He laughed. She could barely hear it, but the vibration of it went through her body and made her shiver. Then he leaned back and swept his fingers delicately across her cheek. Even in the dim light she could see the new lines around his eyes. The deeper creases in his brow. But still, he was familiar. So familiar and real that for the first time in days she felt calm.
They lay in bed for hours. At some point he got up, the blanket wrapped around his waist as he went to the kitchen and grabbed food, which really only consisted of a bag of pita chips and hummus, then they curled up again, eating and talking and laughing until they finally fell asleep.
In the middle of the night they woke up and made love again. Anne wasn’t even sure which of them initiated it, whose fingers began to venture over first, but suddenly it was all-consuming, their lips and tongues exploring every inch of each other’s bodies, like they were making up for lost time. It was hungry and desperate, and perfect. It felt perfect.
Anne woke up the next morning to Freddie sitting up beside her in bed, staring at his phone.
“Good morning,” she murmured, smiling.
He looked down and smiled, too, easy and relaxed. “Morning.”
“What time is it?”
“Almost ten.”
Anne’s eyes widened. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept past eight o’clock.
Freddie watched her expression and chuckled. “I know, I can’t believe it, either.” Then he leaned down and kissed her forehead. “What do you say we throw on some clothes and grab some breakfast?”
She was about to agree, because honestly, pancakes had neversounded so good, but she paused as her mind snagged on something she was supposed to do, an obligation she had marked down for today…
And then she remembered: She was meeting Theo at Monkford Café in an hour. They were supposed to go over the final documents for his show and a role for her in his company.
“I can’t. I have a work meeting in a little bit.” Her head fell back as she groaned again. She really wanted those pancakes. “How about tomorrow?”
“I can’t,” he said with a heavy sigh. “I have a work meeting, too.”
“Look at us. We’re so busy and important,” she said with a smile.
He chuckled, leaning down and ghosting a kiss over her lips. “And chivalrous, which is why I’ll let you have the bathroom first while I make us coffee.”
Her brow furrowed. “Oh, I only have a percolator—”
“I went to school for environmental engineering, Annie. I can figure out a percolator.”
For a second, she didn’t move, trying to think of what to say. But then he gave her another look, and she could only turn, hiding a smile as she retreated to the bathroom.
She took her time washing her face, brushing her teeth, detangling her hair, all while listening to Freddie moving around in the kitchen.
Is this what it would have been like if she had gone with him to Argentina? A shared space they navigated together? The din of spoons and mugs and the occasional muffled curse? The sounds were so comforting and welcome that she couldn’t believe she’d ever lived without them.
