"So… Do you do this with all your colleagues?" Zoe asked, her tone light and teasing as she stood up, shimmying her skirt back down past her hips and turning her shirt in again. She looked him over as he lay on the couch, his shirt still open as he lounged backwards; further exposing his chest. She'd never known a man to be so effortlessly attractive, his powerful demeanour making him that little more irresistible.
He raised his eyebrow at her and laughed "No… Not them all" he replied with a smirk. He nodded his head over towards the corner of the desk, after watching her scan the room for a few moments, to where the black scrap of lace that passed as her underwear had found home. "Do you seduce all of your bosses?" He quipped back, watching as she stepped back into her knickers and pulled them into place under her skirt.
She licked her bottom lip slowly before replying, her eyes fleetingly glancing at his exposed chest again before she replied, with an infuriating slowness "Only the ones I think are worth it…"
.
She woke with jolt, inhaling sharply as she looked around the bedroom, not hers but one she had come to know so well and feel at home in,
"Morning" he smiled from his position at the window, slowly draining the contents of the glass in his hand as he watched her come around from her sleep induced haziness.
"Mmm…" She agreed, looking him up and down; his part open shirt from last night, the loose fitting boxers that covered his thighs down to the toned calf muscles and bare feet "Come back to bed?" She smiled at him slowly, the blankets that had been wrapped tightly around her chest slowly coming to pool at her waist. She smiled as he made her way back over to her, his body coming to rest between her legs.
"Well… Seen as you asked so nicely." He whispered in her ear before he caught her earlobe between his teeth and tugged gently, sending delicious shivers down her spine.
.
The tears streamed down her face, choking on the sobs that racked her body. The warm water lapped at her body as she cried. She took a large gulp of the red wine that sat on the edge of her bath and took a deep breath before submerging herself in the water. She felt weightless like nothing else mattered but holding her breath for as long as possible before she'd have to come back up and face the real world again.
She remembered what he'd looked like, lying on that operating table as she watched the surgeon cutting into his skull, the surgeon that she'd come so close to sleeping with when the man she loved was lying in a hospital bed after someone had rummaged around in his brain.
She was a horrible person, forging his signature against his wishes, she knew she'd done it for her own selfish reasons. She wasn't ready to let go of him just yet.
.
He felt the silky material in his palm, unable to place the item. He was confused, he'd had the surgery he'd been so vehemently against. She'd assured him he'd signed it, after a change oh heart, had he really lost such a grip on his own mind. He pulled on the item, briefly noticing the soft shades of purple as he brought it closer to his face. That smell; the many mornings of fried hangover cures, the fruity perfume, the stale cigarette smoke – it was all her. Zoe.
It came flooding back to him, she had hugged him, he'd begged her to get his will from the hotel room and she'd kissed the side of his head just above his ear. It had been her, she'd signed it.
He didn't want to live…
.
"I'll look after it all, until you get back" she promised him, hugging him tightly and murmuring soothing words into his ear. After all these years she still knew when he was scared, she could feel his pulse racing as her head rested in the crook of his neck, she kissed his pulse point gently; an act of friendship, no intimacy existed there any more.
He looked at her with a sad smile "Zoe… I…" He stuttered, unable to find the right words as he squeezed the arm around her waist tighter.
"I know" she whispered softly, taking her hand in his and squeezing it gently before pushing him forwards towards the helicopter.
She watched until he was out of sight, and so did he. Waving until the other became an indecipherable speck with the odd kiss blown.
Their friendship would always be the most stable relationship either of them had.
.
He'd came back to her, six years after their first attempt at a relationship. They were together again. He'd held her hand through everything, he was always there for her, whatever she needed, or wanted, he provided.
He was the perfect man.
.
"Nick, I can't do it" she cried, gripping onto his hand and the hospital bed as she pushed, am almighty push that brought their daughter into the world.
"You just did" he smiled, wiping the stray tear from her face with his thumb as the nurse bundled up their baby and handed her to them. "I love you" he whispered, gazing down at his daughter fondly as she yawned up at her parents.
"and we love you too…"
.
"Zoe, you have to see this and bring your phone"Nick called quietly down the stairs as she gave their son his bottle. She rested him over her shoulder, grabbing her phone off the side and padded upstairs quietly to Nick, where he stood outside their bedroom.
"Look" he pointed into their room as she poker her head around the door, trying to hold the chuckle in as she watched her three year old daughter trying to balance herself in a pair of her heels, her wedding shoes, as she sang an almost recognisable song from 'Frozen'.
"She's such a mini me" she laughed quietly as she took pictures on her phone, adding to the many she already hundreds she had of both of her children.
"She's perfect" Nick agreed. "They both are…"