It was his touch which awoke her.
Fingertips slid up her leg in lazy, wavering patterns—past her curls, over her hip bone, circling her bellybutton before continuing up to her heart. There he stilled, crawling up the bed to lay against her drowsy form, hand pressed gently atop her breast—feeling the slow, rhythmic beats of her heart.
The bed lurched—he shifted, then his hand pulled away and she cracked open her eyes to see his form hovering over hers. She smiled sleepily.
"Good morning."
"Good morning," he murmured, voice still rough with disuse, lips pulling up into a soft smile. He bent down to kiss her and she welcomed him with a hand snaking up behind his neck. His lips moved slowly against hers, a delicate rhythm which spoke of tenderness and longing and quiet, simmering passion; a passion which had occupied much of their time the night prior.
After several breathless moments he pulled away, turning those lips to her neck as she panted against his ear.
"Link," she whispered, warmth filling her body and trickling down to her core like snow melt. He hummed against her neck. "Shouldn't we… shouldn't we…"
His lips trailed downward, feather light against her collar bone before rising up the incline of her breast. A hand pressed gently against her hip. His lips circled her araeola, and her back arched into him. Then, he stopped; pulled away but an inch.
"Shouldn't we what?" he husked, warm breath fanning against her nipple. But she'd quite forgotten what she was about to say—and she suspected he'd intended it that way.
"Don't stop," she whispered instead, pulling his head down.
Link was not ostentatious; he was self-possessed in his own quiet way—he always had been. She'd long admired this fact about him, and it had in many ways formed the foundation of their friendship. When it came to their romantic relationship, she quickly learned that this quality applied to his love for her as well. But what she had not counted on was his passion; for like his other romantic qualities, this too was quiet and self-possessed—though no less fierce for it.