Happy Birthday Diane, you are a truly wonderful friend and I hope you have a lovely day full of joy, Christmas cookies and magic. Mwah! x
"And I've just let these little things slip out of my mouth, 'Cause it's you..."
He holds out a hand, the warmth of the water leaching into her bones before she even steps into the tub, and her fingers find their familiar place in between his own.
She uses her free hand to pull her hair over one shoulder and steps in between his legs. It's probably one of the very best ideas he's had in a long time, just what she needs in fact.
The water creeps up her legs when she lowers herself into it, the heat whispering in puffs of smoke and wisps of air past her toes when her feet sink to the bottom of the tub. The long line of her legs, calves brushing his under the rippling surface, submerge slowly and she mumbles something under her breath, eyelids fluttering.
It's bliss. Pure bliss and he smiles at the way peace and serenity wash over her face and, finding a steady footing, with him for balance, Kate sighs. Her body lax as her bones melt in the heat and she drops down into the vee of his legs.
The water laps at her skin, just shy of uncomfortable, the intensity of the heat just the way she likes it, total oblivion waiting for them at the bottom of the metal tub,. Below the surface of turbulent waters they find a calmness, a tranquility they relish, together.
His hand slides across the base of her spine, fingertips and thumb curving a path along the muscle and bone until her rests as her shoulders.
Her feet squeak and slide and he laughs quietly behind her, his fingers hot against her neck, pressing softly at the tenseness of muscle that she had been steadily ignoring. Until his fingers found it and worked it and now she hums.
Droplets of water gather on her face, steam rising up and the water washing over, but it's his touch that cleanses her, washes away the lingering trace anxiety and doubt.
She's here with him on Christmas Eve, and dinner with his family is a brand new tradition she plans to keep going for a long long time.
She releases his fingers, her hand curling over his knee caps before she falls backwards against his chest. The water is blissful as it slices, hot and scalding against her skin, his fingers following the steady wave that ascends her sinking body.
He drapes his arm around her chest, his hand falling over her heart, the other pressing between the spaces of her fingers where they have settled over her stomach. His lips are too far away from her neck to be able to kiss her, so he raises his leg slowly, lifting her slender form up into him, his hands anchoring her when she quivers in his lap.
His fingers sweep over her skin, brushing past her hair and angling her jaw until she's leaning back enough that he can reach her lips. Her hands curve up and back, squeezing his neck as she reaches for him and the tender sweep of his mouth, waiting and pliant above her.
The kiss unhinges them both, catches them off guard with it's sudden flare of passion, a desperation of promise they thought they had left in the bedroom. In the silence of undressing, their seeking fingers claiming the other, they had thanked each other for being here, for creating space, for changing, for staying the same.
And now it all swells up again, the force of it pulling her into him and they slide slowly under the water that crests the edges of his enormous bathtub. They slide until he's almost flat and she turns in his arms, spread out over his entire body, her fingers at his shoulders. And it's not the most comfortable of positions but its warm and soft and she needs to touch him.
Her fingers come up between them, their lips parting and she touches his mouth, trying to catch the last vestiges of the love that hangs there.
Her eyes hold his, when he finally opens them, and she stares unblinking. Behind her is a paperback and wine glasses, candles, a nice idea but she doesn't need them.
She doesn't need anything right now.
Just this.
Just him.
Her fingers trail his lips and she whispers quietly, "Thank you."
He shakes his head and his fingers tangle in her hair, they smooth paths across her shoulders, the tendrils spreading out around her in wet silken waves. Her thumb sweeps his bottom lip and he kisses it, slides her up his chest and kisses her again.
"Don't thank me for wanting you here, Kate." He breathes across her damp lips. "Thank y-"
"Don't." She smiles, her voice and her face softer than silk, "I love being here with you." The water lifts her into him with their next breath and she lets it press her lips to his again, until the rippling surge pulls her away and she sighs and whispers. "I love you."
His eyes are bright but he doesn't get the chance to say it back, his gasp brings her body back into his again, the water lifting her up, and their lips meet.
The little things that slip out of her mouth in the still and the quiet of their time alone are always the ones that steal his breath away.