They'd made love for a couple of hours. The first time was frenzied as Annie and Auggie learned each other's bodies, wants, desires, and needs. Exhaustion soon took them by midnight, as they fell asleep tangled in each other's arms.

As such, Auggie neglected to set his alarm, and they found themselves jerking awake amid a groan of protests by the ringing of the phone. It took several seconds for Auggie to pull himself out of the depths of the sheets and Annie's body as she struggled to do the same.

"Yes, what?" Auggie growled into the phone.

"Auggie, you okay? It's Carl."

"Carl, why in the hell are you calling me so early?"

"Early? Aug, it's 9, man. You usually have the place open by now, and when I got here –"

"Ahh, shit," Auggie swore, reaching over to the table to grab his glasses. Once they were in place, he saw the time. "I'll be there in 15 minutes."

He slammed the phone down and ran to the bathroom.

Annie, herself still half-asleep, only heard half of what Auggie said on the phone, but once he pulled completely away from her and jumped out of the bed, she woke fully. "Where are you going?"

"I'm late. Carl was about to put out an APB for me."

"Just for being late?"

"I've never been late, and since it's my shop, I should be the one opening up, not Carl."

Annie opened her mouth to tell him it was okay, but soon shut it again. Beside last night's incident with Danielle, she had never seen Auggie so terse before. The bathroom door shut behind him, so she got up out of the bed and stretched. She spied Auggie's dress shirt from the night before lying near the bed and pulled it on.

Going over to the bathroom door, she heard the shower come on. She knocked and said, "Want me to make coffee?"

"No time."

"Oh, okay, then. Do you want me to go?"

He didn't answer, and Annie felt at a bit of a loss. Should she wait for him to finish and give him a good-bye kiss? Would he even want one? He refused coffee, so other than something of a good-bye, she wasn't sure what else to do. Looking around, she saw both of their clothing scattered around. She picked up her dress, and slipping Auggie's silk shirt off, put it back on. She continued with her underwear and shoes and retrieved her purse from the couch.

She knocked on the bathroom door again, "Auggie, I know you've got to go to work, so I'll call you later, okay? I'll pick up dinner and bring it by."

There was no answer, only the sound of water running in the shower. With a sigh, she let herself out of the apartment. She made it down the steps to the outer door and outside, and was rounding the corner in front of the shop to get to her car when she ran into Carl on the sidewalk.

"Annie?"

"Yes, hi, Carl. How are you this morning?" she said, trying to act as nonchalant as she didn't feel.

"Uhh, fine," he said, taking in her obvious evening wear, disheveled hair and the direction from where she was walking.

Annie knew she couldn't pretend that everything was fine, that she was just taking a stroll in the early morning outside her boyfriend's apartment, so she bit the bullet. "Auggie's in the shower. He'll be down in a minute."

The man's eyes grew wider, and for a moment, Annie thought she'd have to administer CPR if he didn't start breathing correctly.

Auggie showered and shaved as fast as he could, towel drying his hair and hoping it would behave. He opened the door to let Annie use the bathroom, as she probably had to, but she wasn't anywhere. He stepped out into the apartment, pulling a t-shirt over his head, but she was gone. Her dress and shoes weren't on the floor, and her purse was no longer on the couch.

She'd gone. He ran over to the window and saw her car still parked across the street. Where did she go? He looked around the street and saw her directly below him, talking to Carl. He raced out of his apartment. She was just saying good-bye to Carl and turning to her car.

"Annie!"

She turned to him, and smiled, but he saw that it didn't quite meet her eyes.

"Why'd you leave?"

"I said good-bye through the bathroom door. You seemed in such a hurry, I didn't want to bother you."

The ten minutes between waking in her arms to now, something seemed to have happened, and Auggie wanted nothing more than to pull her to him and kiss away the worry he saw on her face when he realized Carl hadn't gone into the shop and just stood there, staring at them with his mouth hanging open.

He took Annie by the arm and walked around to the side of the building. Once they were out of the eyesight of his employee's eavesdropping, he placed his hands on Annie's face and lifted her head until she looked him in the eyes. "I didn't hear you at all through the shower, and I'm sorry."

Annie nodded, but he could still see a bit of confusion in her eyes, so he did the only thing he could and kissed her. He didn't relent until he felt her relax under his hands, and then he pulled back.

"I'm sorry, too," Annie said, "for thinking – well, I don't know. You gotta understand, Auggie –" She half-laughed, taking in their surroundings, the time of day, and the fact that she was wearing an evening dress at 9 in the morning. "You have to understand," she said, lowering her voice. "I've never told a man what I told ou last night, and I'm not sure what to do now."

Auggie's heart broke a little at her words. "You've never told a man you love him?"

"Well, it's not that I've never told anyone that before. I just hadn't, well, felt so much as I do with you." Annie could feel her cheeks warm as she spoke. "I'm on a pretty steep learning curve here, you know. This is all so new and wonderful. I'm just not used to it."

"Neither am I," Auggie confessed, running his fingers along her hairline. "It's the same with me. You are the only woman I have ever loved, and when I woke up this morning, in your arms, I didn't want to move because I seriously thought I was dreaming. Then Carl had to call and ruin everything."

Annie laughed, feeling all remnants of her confusion leaving. She was about to respond when they're interrupted by Carl.

They both turned to him, and Auggie smiled as the man had the good sense not to gape, and only quietly said, "I'll man the store today, if there are some things you need to take care of, Auggie."

He turned and left, and Annie smiled. "He's a sweet kid."

Auggie nodded, "He means well. And I'd love to spend the day with you, but I really don't feel comfortable leaving him in charge. We've got a shipment due in today, and –"

"It's okay," Annie interrupted. She leaned forward and kissed him. "I've got some things to do, anyway. I'll be back tonight, bring supper?"

"Looking forward to it already."

One more kiss, and Annie walked back to her car.

Auggie went in the store, only to be stopped by Carl, who automatically started apologizing. "Auggie, I'm sorry for interrupting you this morning. Now that I know what car Annie drives, I'll check to see if it's here before doing it again."

"It's okay, Carl. It's my fault, anyway, I forgot to set my alarm."

With that, they settled into their daily tasks, which to Auggie seemed a little less interesting than normal. Two hours into the workday, he was contemplating telling Carl he was heading out for the day when his phone dinged. Annie had sent him a text.

Miss you already.

And with that, Auggie found his day moving by faster as he anticipated the next text. Some were flirty. Some were funny. Some were so full of double entendres – did she really know what she was saying – that Auggie had to excuse himself to the bathroom for a few minutes.

The last one, though, took him by surprise. It was only about an hour before closing time, and his mouth was already watering at the prospect of dinner when his phone dinged.

Do you have a passport?