“Whatever you choose to do, you’ll be a force,” he says.
Lili shrugs, smiling; and tugs him along after her, heading into the city.
As they walk into the foyer, she yawns. Tucked under Aleksandr’s arm, she hears him say hello to Louis; she waves a greeting, sleepily.
“Would you like water?” Aleksandr asks as the elevator opens onto the loft.
“No—sleep,” she says, pulling him towards the bedroom.
“Lili, some water would be good for you—”
“No, no, time for bed,” she says, face-planting into the mattress.
Behind her, unseen, Aleksandr laughs. Lili feels a tug at her feet, then her shoes, unlacing, as he takes her combat boots off.
“Thank you,” she mumbles into the duvet, stifling another yawn.
Another laugh, then she feels a kiss on the back of her head.
“You need to shower, Lili.”
“Need to wash the Greenpoint off?” she teases.
Her body is exhausted: feet tired from the walk, throat hoarse from somewhere around Bowery when she’d started passionately yelling at Aleksandr about how Rawls was actually a socialist, after he’d called her a fair-weather Rawlsian for her take on neoclassical economics—but she lets him lead her into the en suite now, before she pulls him into the shower with her.
Afterwards, lying in bed, the hush of late night is gentle between them.
“Not so bad, was it?” she asks across the pillow. Lying on their sides, they’re facing each other, her legs tangled with his.
“I have been to Greenpoint before.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” she murmurs. Strands of hair escape from her braid. Her skin is flushed and warm from the shower, from how she feels like he’s kissed almost every inch of her tonight: kneeling before her in the shower, the press of warming marble against her back.
Lili grasps Aleksandr’s hand and settles it under her cheek. She tries to hold back a yawn, eyes fluttering closed as she fails.
When she opens her eyes again, tired, Aleksandr is looking at her.
There’s something in his gaze. Foreign, a little guarded. Softer, kinder. Still half-hidden in these hours after midnight, with a crease in his brow.
Sleepy, Lili reaches out and tries to smooth over that crease.
“Don’t frown,” she murmurs, settling her hand on his forearm. Nestling closer, she runs her fingers over his bare skin. Warmth that’s familiar and comforting: the temperature of his body, the pace of his pulse.
At her waist, his arm settles. Lili breathes, another sigh: body tired, mind tired. Like her feet have traveled somewhere, like she’s arriving somewhere.
A kiss between her shoulder blades, distant through sleep. Lili burrows deeper into the sheets.
Some warm laugh against her skin.
“I’m going to work.” A murmur.
“Have fun,” she mumbles into her pillow.
Another laugh. He strokes her hair over her shoulder. “I’ll see you in a couple weeks,” he says, quiet as if not to wake her further.
Lili frowns, blearily opening her eyes. Aleksandr is sitting on the edge of the bed, fully dressed. “Oh,” she says. “You’regoinggoing.”
“Yes, flight leaves soon.”
