I wake up in the middle of the night cuddled up to Paul with his arms around me, and I smile at the sight. I carefully unwrap myself from him to use the bathroom down the hall and then I tread down the dark stairs to get a glass of water and I hear Graham whining from his kennel so I let him out and he follows me back upstairs. He jumps up onto Paul's bed and I hear Paul groan when he accidentally steps on him and I giggle and set my small glass of water on his dresser and I crawl over to Paul on the bed.
"I'm sorry we woke you up." I apologize as I get under the covers of his warm bed and my head returns to his chest while his arms go around my waist.
"It's okay." he replies with a big yawn and Graham settles at our feet where the only room is and I sigh before falling asleep there in Paul's arms, I've missed sleeping this way.
I wake up hours later to Graham moving around at my feet and Paul kissing my neck lightly, and I smile. Nine out of ten times we sleep in our own beds, but I love cuddling with him and waking up to him like this. He sighs and rests his hand on my middle while he lays behind me and I face the wall of his bedroom. I remember the proposal he gave me last night while at the bowling alley about hopping onto the bandwagon to go with the band and their partners to Austria for a little over a week. The only thing keeping me from going is my job, and I'm really hoping that my boss can be a bit giving this one time so I can go with Paul, and so we won't have to leave each other.
I leave my thoughts and glance to Graham who dozes at our feet and I smile at the adorable puppy who has really grown on Paul and I over the past few months of us having the American Cocker Spaniel. We sure do love the little guy. I turn around to see Paul's sleepy face and he gives me a smile while he rubs his eyes and I lay my head on his t shirted chest. I think about how when we left the alley and I was incredibly tired while he drove home, my kind boyfriend must of carried me up to bed. He's so good to me.
I hear him yawn and I close my eyes while his arms go around me and I move my hand to rest on the other side of his chest.
"Good morning, dear." he greets me in his deep voice that's covered with sleep, which I find to be very attractive.
"Morning, Paul." I reply and I feel his fingers softly stroke my unkept hair.
"Refresh my memory, you don't work today, do you?" he questions while my eyes are set on his white t shirt he wears.
"Nope, and I don't tomorrow or the next day either." I answer his question and his arms leave me briefly to stretch.
"Good, because I want to spend all the time I have with you." he comments and he smiles and kisses my hair and I smile.
"I'm gonna call today about seeing if I can get those days off so I can come with." I tell him and he nods and his arms return to me.
"So what do you wanna do today, honey?" I ask him and we move to lay on our sides and he combs my hair off of my shoulder and my eyes go to his.
"I dunno, love. I just feel like laying in bed all day with you." he replies and I grin before he kisses me and pulls me into his arms in an embrace and I rest my head on his shoulder.
I feel his hand rubbing my back while my eyes are closed and his bedroom is silent besides Graham's drowned out snoring and our patterned breathing.
"I really want you to come with, darling. I hate being away from you, and not knowing where you are and if you're alright." he speaks softly against my hair while I grip his shoulders and his hands make movements on my back.
"Paul, I'm fine, and I take good care of myself, you know that." I comment not in a harsh tone.
"I know that, Mads. I just feel better when you're with me or- you know what I mean." he pulls away from the warm embrace and he strokes my cheek lovingly.
"I just-, you mean a lot to me." he states and even though I see it through his actions, it's sweet to hear him say it out loud.
"You mean a lot to me, too." I comment and we both smile and his one hand moves to my cheek to cup it before he moves in to press his lips to mine in a kiss with more passion than a simple peck.
We pull away from the kiss and my eyes open to wander to his that lay on me and I brush my finger under his eye where a dark lash of his fell and I kiss that skin under his hazel eye. I move away to return my head to the pillow and I sigh and keep my eyes on his tan face.
"You got a much better tan than me, sailor." I remark with a light tone to my words and he smirks.
"Oh I know, I think it's mighty impressive, you know." he replies and a smile plays on my lips for a duration of a few seconds before it fades away.
My eyes trail away from his deep pair to look around his room that is neat and tidy with a guitar on its stand and a small picture of us on his dresser. I smile at the sight of it and I look back to the basic sheets we lay on and I run my finger over their soft threads while I feel his eyes on me and his finger grazes my cheek.
"What are you thinking about, beautiful?" he questions as I trace invisible patterns on the sheets and my eyes lift to his.
"Nothing much." I reply honestly and I exhale a breath.
"You know, I'm hoping sometime soon in the next few months we can get some time together to have a holiday together. Would you like that, darling?" he brings up and his hand drops from my cheek to lay itself on my t shirted waist, I notice how I'm still in my not so comfortable outfit from last night.
"Yeah, I'd really like that. I love any time I get to spend with you." I answer him and his smile returns to his pink lips.
"Have you ever been out of the country?" he inquires and I nod my head.
"I went to Spain once with my parents when I was little to visit some family, but I don't remember much of it, except for the traveling there and the landscape. It was quite pretty there."
"Mm, well we can go anywhere you want to, darling. As long as it'll be warm and a fun time." he responds and I smile at his words.
I feel a shift in the bed not coming from Paul or I, so I look to the foot of the bed to watch Graham stand up, stretch and lazily waltz over to us.
"Well hey there, Graham. Did you have a nice kip, lad?" Paul greets the sleepy puppy who lays on the small spot in between our legs and he yawns.
"Hi, Graham." I say to the dog and I scratch his darker than blonde ears while he works on waking up and I look back to Paul who smiles at the pet.
His eyes move back to me and I smile at him and toss my arms around his neck and his arms travel to my waist where they stay. He moves me over into his arms more where I stay as we lay there cuddled up together being simply content in the other arms once again while we adjust to being awake, and he adapts to the new time zone. My poor Paul, he just got back from the Bahamas and has to adjust to this change of time and then he has to go to Austria in two days.
As our eyes are closed, but we're not asleep, we just lay there hoping for sleep to take us back into its arms, I feel his hand trail to my side and his fingers tickle my ribs. I begin to chuckle and I move away to see his not so brown eyes open and he grins.
"Paul, don't you dare!" I exclaim as I sit up in his bed a good ways away from him and a giggle escapes his smiling lips.
"Do what, Mads? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, love." he tells me a fib with his blushing cheeks and he moves over and his hands go for my ribs again.
I laugh while he pins me down on the bed with my arms held high above my head and I fight for freedom, but he has more muscle than me, and so I am having no luck getting away from him. Finally after I screamed for him to stop, and when I could barely catch my breath he gave in and his hands left my stomach. I groan while he smiles and he leans in to kiss me on the lips for a second.
"Mm, I sure did mis you, sweetheart." he comments and I take in a deep breath while I work I regaining my breathing.
"I sure didn't miss you tickling me." I remark sarcastically and he chuckles softly.
He kisses my cheek and I shove him off of me to get out of his warm bed and he follows me, but I kick him out once I get to my room where I change into loose pajamas. I come back out to see him waiting outside my door and he grabs my hand to lead me down the cold steps into the empty living room and we both shiver.
"Brr, maybe I should make a fire." Paul states as we enter the living room and he plops down beside me on the couch and I steal the blanket from the other side.
"Mm, I think you should." I comment and he nods and leaves the couch to tend to the empty fireplace while I lay on the couch going through the channels on the telly, and I decide to settle on a cartoon.
I close my eyes with a yawn as I hear wood being moved around in the wood box and also in the fireplace, and I hear the strike of a match also. I peel open my tired eyes to read the time on the clock, and I realize it's only noon, and so I decide to give my work a call.
"Hi Shelly, it's me Madison. Can I speak to our boss?" I ask once somebody at the store picks up and she connects me to him in his office.
We talk for not even ten minutes while Paul uses the poker to nudge at the warm fire and I finally hang up the phone after we say our goodbyes.
"What did he say?" Paul questions as he walks back over to me and he drapes his arm around me after he takes a share of the blanket.
"He said he doesn't know yet if he can give me those days off, because he has to talk to some other employees first and see if they're available to take my shifts." I confess while our eyes are locked on the others.
"Oh, what'd ya reckon will be the turn out?" he inquires.
"I'm not sure." I reply and he nods and kisses my head before we relax and look to the red and orange flames dancing in the hearth a number of feet away from us.
"I'm hungry, lets go have something for brekky." Paul states and we both leave the couch to travel into the kitchen and we settle on cereal and a banana as we're much too lazy to go all out for breakfast.
"Hey, do you wanna go ice skating today? You know, brush up on our skills." I suggest to Paul at the dinner table as we sit next to each other and he takes a drink from his glass of juice before answering.
"Sure, but please don't laugh at me when I fall on my bum again." he replies with a smirk and I grin.
"I think it's gonna be pretty hard for me to laugh when I'll most likely being falling with you." I respond and we both chuckle at my words and the somewhat forgotten memory of our first time doing that.
I shake my head with a laugh as I stare into my cereal bowl full of milk that's littered with cornflakes all across it. I set my spoon down and look up at Paul who I notice is already looking at me and we exchange small smiles before we eat the remains of our marginal breakfast. I've even missed doing things such simple as eating breakfast together while he was gone, I don't want him to leave again in two days.