How she's managed this, to get herself into two situations just the same, she has no fucking idea. It isn't where she's expected to find herself, underneath this gorgeous man and crawling out of her skin. "A little to the right," she whispers. Edgar is eager to please her and it's endearing and wonderful but something just isn't right. Maybe he's too eager. "More… tongue." But he's giving her his tongue, it's just not hitting in the right spot. Or any of the right spots.

He has both of her thighs pinned to the bed and it's borderline uncomfortable but it feels too late to say anything about it. He's had her like this since he slithered down her body five minutes ago and it feels like maybe it'd be awkward if she said 'uh my legs don't bend this way!' He'll know that the last five minutes have been uncomfortable and he'll wonder why she didn't say anything in the first place. So she finds herself wiggling her hips, slowly bringing herself to a more comfortable position.

She wants to give him more direction, but the words are lost on her lips. The last time someone had her this way, she'd been coming almost involuntarily. Quickly, with just his mouth and the memory of how wet he'd left her evokes a moan from her mouth. It spurs Edgar on, excites him even further, and by the grace of God his warm lips suck gently on her clitoris with the perfect amount of pressure. Her fingers fly to his curly hair, threading them into it, holding him to her. She feels the buildup begin and it's about fucking time.

How the hell was Elliot so good at this and Edgar was not? God, Elliot. His voice had been so sure when he told her to lie down. His blue eyes bored into hers and he'd left her gasping, grasping for him, coming for him. If she closes her eyes tight enough, if she concentrates hard enough, she can feel Elliot again. She pretends that Edgar's beard is really Elliot's and when Edgar plunges a thick finger inside of her, she imagines what it'd be like to fuck Elliot for the first time. That's all it takes. The image of Elliot's face brings her to orgasm and it's his name on the tip of her tongue. As she settles, she silently curses him.

He's fucking ruined her.

"How was that, baby?" Edgar asks

"Good," she lies. It was good... just eventually. She just needed to give him some mental assistance from the asshole who's infiltrated her bodies ability to come without him on the brain. Edgar crawls back up and he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand before he kisses the side of her head.

She looks down and then at him again and she wants to ask if it's too much for him to grab her a washcloth? A towel? A fucking napkin.

"Bathrooms right down the hall," Edgar mumbles, turning the television back to ESPN. Olivia sits up in his California king bed and she does her best to not roll her eyes. It's why after all this time she still hasn't gone all the way with him. In every other area, he is great. When they were alone and becoming intimate, he just always found a way to fumble somewhere along the way.

She pulls her dress back down as she stands and on her way to the bathroom she grabs her phone. It's no surprise that the only person who has sent her a text in the last ten minutes is Elliot.

MESSAGES

Stabler

I'm watching everybody loves raymond and the real star is Robert

I identify with him

what are you doing?

miss u

She smiles. He hates the show but he's watching it because of her. It's just another thing she adds to the list that makes her want him even more.

She'd usually ignore him until she was home or at least out of Edgar's house. She has been only allowing herself short bursts of time for him with the hope that she doesn't follow her natural instincts to jump right in with him. She'd promised him friendship and after a few conversations, she is quickly realizing that it is near impossible for them to just be friends.

On her way to the restroom she quickly types her response.

call me in 5

Since he's texting her at 8 PM on a Wednesday, he could at least save her from having to endure another night of sports and what would probably be awkward sex that she kinda wants, but not really. It feels like it's time for them to take the next step and she wants to take the next step, but how can she when Elliot is dancing around her brain with a beard, a cute ass, and muscles on his shoulders?

She is quick in the bathroom and as she pads back into Edgar's bedroom, walking down the carpeted floor of his hallway, she prays Elliot doesn't fail her.

"Come here." Edgar reaches for her and she crawls back onto the mattress and he tucks her into his side. He is all heat and long limbs and perfect teeth, but there's a bit of pudge on his belly that she finds cute. Her hand rests on his stomach for only a moment before his hand is covering hers and she already knows where it's going. Are men ever subtle? She sees the grin on his face as he slowly lowers it, pushing her hand toward his underwear.

It's not that she isn't attracted to him. She is. She uses the word perfect to describe him often but for some reason, it's just not clicking. Curiosity overwhelms her, and the fact that she's hoping Elliot's call will come sooner rather than later, and her hand dives into Edgar's underwear. It slips over the dark curls on his groin and her hand wraps around his cock and she swallows.

Well.

For what he's lacking in oral, he's definitely making up for in girth. Edgar tilts her head backward and his lips descend onto hers, their lips meeting gently. As his mouth opens, her phone rings on the end table and she's literally saved by the bell. Olivia sits up and she reaches over, pressing the phone to her ear.

"Captain Benson," she says, throwing her feet off of the bed.

She's able to tell he's thrown by her greeting, but he chuckles and says, "Hi, Liv."

"Oh no! A case? Where's Fin?" She should've been an actress, she thinks.

"What are you doing? Is this—"

She cuts him off before his barrage of questions. "I can be there in forty-five minutes. I'm coming from Long Island."

"Did you ask me to call you to get you out of a date? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll meet you at the crime scene." Saying that to him feels natural and she has to fight the smirk on her face.

"What did he do, Liv?" His voice has lowered, his protectiveness over her and his irrational anger clashing. "Do you need me to come get you?"

"Okay, thanks. I'll call you for more information when I'm on my way."

"By God, I will fucking—" she ends the call. It shouldn't be sexy or attractive, the way he'd kill for her with little to no explanation at all, but it is. She'd always found a thrill way back when, when a perp would get too overzealous and he would bring them down to their knees for her. Even if a man so much as called her out of her name, looked too hard, spoke too gruff, he'd be there ready to defend her honor.

She feels her body reacting more to Elliot's voice and his intention to safeguard her than she had to Edgar's tongue… and that's just fucked up.

"I'm so sorry, Edgar," Olivia says in her most sincere tone. She steps into her shoes and she gathers her keys and her purse. "I have to go."

He's sitting up on his elbows and the disappointment on his face makes her feel slight guilt. But it's only slight and for the second time, for vastly different reasons she finds herself bolting after cunnilingus.

—

She is down the road, almost off of Edgar's block before she accepts Elliot's third call to her phone.

"Olivia, goddamn it, tell me you're okay." His voice is loud and reverberates throughout her car.

She smiles. "Elliot, I'm fine."

"What happened? I've been going out of my mind—"

"It's been ten minutes, El."

She hears him breathe heavily into the phone and she imagines the clench of his jaw and the way his forearms ripple when he squeezes his hands into fists. "Still... I almost called Jet to have her trace your phone again."

Her eyebrow lifts like he's right there in front of her to see it. "Oh, it was Jet who assisted. Good to know."

"She's a good kid."

Olivia snorts. "Is she? If she's helping you commit crimes."

"She is. I had to bribe her."

"I hope she went big. She shouldn't support your stalking habits."

"I was desperate. The woman I love was ignoring me."

The quick back and forth between them stops and Olivia has to replay his words in her head before she responds. "So this is a casual thing now? You can just throw it into any conversation?"

He chuckles, completely ignoring her. "What happened tonight?"

"I don't want to tell you."

"Why? Did he hurt you?"

"No. It was me. I got awkward."

"Did he make you uncomfortable?"

"He just... do you want to hear this, Elliot? Because I don't think you do."

"Tell me."

"He went down on me and it wasn't good."

There's a lull and she screws her face up waiting for his reaction, mentally preparing for him to react in the worst way. Seconds tick by before the howl of his laughter infiltrates her car. It's so loud and obnoxious that she imagines him being doubled over, slapping his knee, and though he's mocking her, a smile forms on her lips.

"Are you done?" she asks, ridding herself of her mild amusement. He can't know that his laughter does things to her that make her feel goopy inside.

"What do you mean it wasn't good? Did he not know how?"

She cringes. "Stop."

"Why didn't you just tell him?"

"I froze."

"You could've done him a solid and you could've told him, Liv."

If he's going to have fun with this, so will she. "Maybe you should give him a call."

"I'm not going to tell another man how to please you, Olivia," he practically growls. And there it is. The reaction she'd expected. "Is this your thing? You run out on every man then? Not just me."

She laughs. "I had dinner with you afterward."

"Barely."

Her eyes roll. She doesn't even have the words to explain why this has happened. She isn't a shy woman, especially in regards to sex, but there is added pressure with Edgar, being that he's a good friend of her boss's wife. She also needs him as a distraction, though lately, he hasn't been fulfilling that need either. "I'm at a weird place in my life," is her explanation.

"Liv, you don't need to explain anything to me."

After a beat, she sighs. She doesn't even know why she feels the need to say this, but she opens her mouth anyway. "You were great, El," she mumbles softly as she turns onto 495 west toward Manhattan.

"I know." He sounds definitive and sure and his cockiness has always been on the borderline of sexy and intolerable.

"How do you know?" She wants to close her eyes to prepare for his words and if she weren't driving, she would have.

"Liv, you…" The surety from just a moment ago slips away.

"Say it," she prompts, her voice small and breathy. Her fingers grip at the steering wheel and she contemplates pulling over on the side of the road.

"You were dripping from my chin..."

She gasps. "El..."

"You asked," Elliot chuckles. It isn't lost on her that his voice is deeper now. Is this what lust sounds like on him? "There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about it." Oh, God. "Having you like that... a strong woman like you... I've never seen you more vulnerable... it was as good for me as it was for you."

Her thighs are pressed together, the ache Edgar didn't quite give her she somehow finds during a ten-minute phone conversation. "Thank you for tonight," she blurts quickly.

"I'm sorry. Was that too much?"

"No, I just..." I should've been with you tonight. I wanted to be with you tonight. These are the words she wants to say but they feel too honest. It feels like something you'd say to open the door to a different level of their relationship. "If you wanna grab dinner or lunch sometime this week... I'd be open to it."

"Are you asking me out?"

"You ask me out every time I speak to you. Don't make it a big deal."

"Yeah, Liv. Yes. I'd love to see you sometime this week."

"Listen I'm almost home so..." She's barely out of Long Island but the conversation is rapidly becoming too much for her.

"Text me."

"Text you?"

"Yeah... when you're upstairs after you get into bed tonight... text me."

—

It's almost an hour later when she finally sends him a message.

home

She has the comforter pulled up high beneath her chin and she holds her phone against her chest as she waits for him to reply.

thought you forgot about me

She smiles before quickly responding.

I could never

She realizes that she is flirting with him. She's wanted to keep her distance so that he could heal. She doesn't want to put them in a position to regret it but he makes it so, so hard to just leave him alone.

I tried to, you know...

Her eyes read his text twice. He's tried to what? Forget her? She's mildly insulted so she quickly calls his phone and he answers before it rings twice. Instead of saying hello, she jumps right in. "You tried to forget me?"

"Yes, and I couldn't. Obviously. I failed," he chuckles. "There were so many times that I wanted to call you. I avoided coming back to New York as much as I could because I thought I'd show up on your doorstep."

"I wish you would've just called. Would've saved me a lot of heartbreak." She isn't even talking about them. She's alluding to the things she's had to endure without him. He knows about Simon, and she assumes he knows about Ed, but there are still a wealth of things they've never even talked about.

"Me, too, but I owed it to Kath. You saw how much our relationship affected her... and for good reason, right?"

The conversation in the car with him had been light and now she finds herself brushing tears away before they slip down the sides of her face. She attempts to just end the call and put the phone down, but before she can he begins speaking again.

"I wish you weren't afraid of me," he says to her softly. "I'd never hurt you, Olivia. Never again."

"I'm scared because we both know what it would mean, Elliot." It's so much easier to say these things when she doesn't have to look at him. He should be thankful, she thinks, that she at least is no longer lying, no longer trying to convince him that they were just partners. "We've both wanted this for a very long time."

"So just let it happen then, Liv."

"I can't, El. Have a good night."

She ends the call and she drops the phone faced downward onto the end table, turning her back to it. She's done. At least for tonight, she is.

The buzzing thought, if she's made the correct decision or not to keep him at arms length, nags at her. The Elliot from months ago had been a ghost. He was at his worst and irrational, but even now he still has the same goal: to get closer to her. That hasn't changed and it must mean something... but he doesn't even know what it would mean to be closer to her. He doesn't even know a large chunk of who she's become because of what she's had to survive without him.

He thinks he loves her, but the feeling that he doesn't truly know her haunts her.

—

Dinner at either of their places is out of the question.

She doesn't think she has the fortitude to stay out from underneath him at this point. From the deep voice he uses with her that feels like pure seduction to the way he rolls up his sleeves, the veins that protrude in his powerful arms and his large hands, his eyes...

She hasn't put herself in a situation like this in some time. She's stuck between two men. A man that's never hurt her, who was once perfect and is now rallying up flaws left and right. And the man that she's always loved. She has always, always loved him and it's always, always bitten her in the ass.

When he walks through her open door, with a large plastic bag of takeout, he's grinning. Like a kid. He looks like he's shocked to even be there with her and she considers what it'd look like if she flung herself over her desk and into his arms. Would her team still take her seriously as their leader?

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Hi."

"Hi," she says with a smile. It's silly how shy they can be with each other, especially considering all that they've been through. "Let's eat over there." She points to the coffee table and he nods.

"So what have you got going on today?" he asks, pulling out containers of what smells like Chinese food.

"I was finishing up paperwork. Office stuff. Approving requisitions, approving time off. Our caseload has been light this week so I had everyone tying up loose ends and as you can see, they're filing out," she explains, peeking around him. The only person at her desk is Kat and she smiles because she reminds her so much of herself.

"Katriona gave me a look when I came in."

She's instantly amused. "What kind of look?"

"Like I better behave myself while I'm here. Your entire team this protective of you?"

"Yes, actually."

"Must mean you're a good boss then."

She just smiles in response. It's reminiscent of a conversation they had in her car. You're a good mom.

"You gonna sit over there all night or come eat with me?" He has his hands on his hips and he looks at her expectantly.

She closes her laptop and stuffs loose papers into a file before she stands to her feet. She'd lost her blazer some time ago and she is wearing navy slacks, flat ballet flats, and a sleeveless blouse that's cut lower than she'd usually wear to the office.

As she walks toward him his eyes rake over her. "I like the no blazer look."

"Why?" Olivia asks and this time she has her hands on her own hips.

"Less intimidating," he answers, his eyes meeting hers.

They have a mini stare down, blue eyes meeting her brown eyes before she finally laughs. "You are not intimidated by me."

"I'm afraid to hug you right now, Captain," Elliot admits, his eyes widening. "Remember, you threatened bodily harm if I ever touched you again."

"Stop saying that. I meant it, but nobody has to know."

"Come here." He opens his arms to her and even with the second of doubt, she can't say no. She doesn't want to say no.

She steps into his open arms, looping hers around his back, one arm over his shoulder, another under his armpit. Her flat shoes leave her a little shorter than normal so she compensates by lifting herself onto her toes. They don't hug, not usually. Unless something heartbreaking has happened and it dawns on her, as his strong arms squeeze around her middle, that she's always felt the most secure here in his arms. She turns her head toward him and her nose brushes against the beard she thought would be gone by now. Before she has the notion to stop, the hand on his shoulder finds his face and she turns him toward her so that she is able to get closer. Her nose grazes the skin of his cheek and she plants a soft kiss on his jaw.

"See," she whispers. "No need to be afraid." Before he's able to react, she is out of his arms and seated on the couch, busying herself with the food on the coffee table. She feels him watching but she decides to ignore him, a knowing smile playing across her lips, but no words or eye contact for him.

When he accepts that there'll be no further discussion he quietly takes a seat next to her and he begins working along with her, offering her utensils when she passes him a coke. "I got two egg rolls," he informs her just before shoveling fried rice into his mouth. It feels like they've stepped into a time machine as they begin eating together. They've never done this in Cragen's office, but in meeting rooms, over their desks, they've shared countless dinners together.

"You should've gotten three. You always eat mine."

He laughs. "I promise I won't."

"So I see you're in a suit," she says, motioning toward the grey and blue get-up he's in. "When did you go back to work?"

"After you left my house, I figured it was time to start living again."

She nods. Start living again? What else does that entail? "So will you be bringing anyone to Fin's wedding?"

His eyebrows furrow but he has a mouthful of sesame chicken. She chuckles as he quickly tries to chew just to answer her. "Are you kidding me?"

"You said living, I assume—"

"The only woman I'd ever even consider dating right now is you."

She turns toward him, bending her right leg, stuffing her foot beneath the opposite thigh. "How could I know that?"

"How couldn't you?" He's frowning and he looks as if she's insulted him. "I know you think this is impulsive but it isn't. I always wondered what if."

"What if what?"

"I don't know. What if I got the divorce... what if I would've just kissed you after Gitano? I wanted to. I should've. I should've held you. And then when you came back from Oregon I'd never seen you look like that..."

"Like what?" she asks.

"So beautiful. So vulnerable. You... I was so mad at you and then when I wasn't, time got away from us... and then Eli... it just never happened."

"You shouldn't have been upset. I didn't leave you... I went to work."

"You left me, Liv. We were best friends, right? You didn't say a damn thing to me. Every time I ever went under, you knew. Even before my wife."

"El—"

"I felt betrayed. Admit that you ran."

She chuckles, her eyebrows climbing on her forehead. "You don't get to talk about people running..."

"That's not fair. We can talk about that in a minute, again, if you'd like." It isn't fair. She throws it in his face as often as she can, that he left her. It feels worth mentioning since she still feels the anguish his absence has left, even with him sitting right next to her. "What I'm talking about is after Ryan, after you tried to stay away and couldn't... you took the opportunity to run across the country instead of—"

"What was I going to say?"

"Liv, anything. You could've said anything."

"I practically told you I loved you in the hallway of a hospital and you threatened me," she whispers. She remembers it vividly. You and the job are all I've got left. "Besides, when I got back you were fine. More than fine."

"This about Dani?"

"Yeah. It's about Dani. You were happy with her. She was more to you than I ever was—"

"How could you say that, Liv? Am I in Dani's office all these years later? Do you think I've been thinking about Dani Beck for the last decade? You think Kathy was scared shitless I was secretly communicating with her?"

"Well, I know that she didn't like Dani."

"Of course she didn't."

"Because you were sleeping with her."

His eyes narrow and before he even admits it, she knows that it's coming. "Okay. I slept with her. I was single at the time." She wants to ask if he'd had this conversation with Kathy and if she wanted to throw up because of it because it repulses her. The idea that another woman, besides his wife has touched him. "Dani and I were never going to be anything more. We were friends who had sex. I'm sure it could've been more, at a different time in both of our lives, but it wasn't."

"And now you don't even speak to her?"

"No. I don't."

"Well, I can't be that for you. I can't be the one you use while you get over Kathy."

"I wasn't in love with Dani." She hears the implication of his words clearly. I'm in love with you.

She feels the panic rise in her limbs, in her chest and the food in front of her turns her stomach. "Why can't we ever just talk about the weather?" she asks tearfully. "We don't have to always get into it."

His hand flies to her cheek and he wipes a tear away with his thumb. "If you'd stop running, I wouldn't have to convince you every time I see you how much you mean to me."

Olivia wraps her hand around his wrist, holding his hand to her face. "Stop giving me reasons to doubt you then."

"Can we start over?" His wrist flips over and somehow he has her hand in his. He brings her palm to his lips and places a gentle kiss on her soft skin. "I'm just a cop from another unit and I see you one day and I ask you to dinner and we just enjoy each other."

"Is that what you want?"

"I think that's the only way I'll get what I want."

"And what do you want, El?"

His eyes meet hers. "You."

"Captain Benson," she hears him knocking, but the door is being opened before she is able to tell him to give her a moment. Chief Garland walks into her office and she sees the pause when he finds her sitting there with Elliot. She pulls her hand away from him and blinks away the tears in her eyes.

The awkward moments, they just keep on rolling in.

"Chief."

Elliot stands to his feet and he offers his hand. "Chief. Good to see you."

It's a lie and they all know it. Elliot doesn't like Garland and Garland isn't particularly fond of him either.

"Detective Stabler."

"Have you been calling? Do you need me?" Olivia stands, her eyes scanning the room for her phone.

"This isn't work-related. I had to pick up some files on my way home and decided to stop in." Garland says, his lanky arms folding over his chest. "Lamai would love to have you to dinner Sunday. You and Edgar."

"Oh," Olivia says with a nod of her head. Next to her Elliot stiffens and she has to work hard to keep her face straight. "I don't think I have any plans on Sunday, but can I let you know?"

"Sure. We hope to see you. Have a good night." He looks down at his watch and then back up to them. "Don't stay here too late, Captain. Send Noah and Edgar my love."

"Will do." Once Garland is gone, Olivia turns her attention back to her food. Perhaps if she ignores the tension, Elliot will, too. It takes her a moment to notice but Elliot is just sitting there. He hasn't begun eating again, he hasn't even moved since the door closed.

"Just say what you have to say," she says, offering him space to just get it out.

"You say that you're concerned because you don't know what I want and I think the only person who's been unclear about that is you."

"How?" she questions.

"Do you think Edgar is going to like hearing about this?"

"What? Hearing that I was holding hands with my brother?" she jokes and he glares at her. "I've been very honest, Elliot. He knows we are friends, just like you know he and I are friends."

"Friends?" he asks. "I think it's a little more than friends when you're having double dates at our boss's house. I think maybe everyone besides you sees that you're in a relationship with a man who can't even—" he stops abruptly in the middle of his sentence and he shakes his head. She knows what he was going to say. It's painfully obvious. She's said too much, gave him too much insight between her and Edgar and he is using it against her. She's thankful that she at least had the common sense to not tell him that it'd been his face and his body that allowed Edgar to bring her over the edge the other night. Christ, he would've really ran with that.

"Don't be an ass," is her murmured response.

He gives her a grim smile. "Just saying."

"I thought you didn't care about him."

"Not if he's just some guy, Liv. But if you're getting serious, then yeah, I care," he says honestly. "I'm not rushing you. I don't have the liberty to do so… but if you care about that guy Edgar and if you care about me, you should figure it out. If this isn't going to happen between us, say that. I won't hold it against you. I mean, not that much. I promise." She's thankful that because they know each other so well, and because they have years of friendship between them, they are easily able to drift between intense conversation and their normal banter. "Listen, I'll do my best."

"You're ruining my life, you know," she tells him. Her words are dramatic but her tone is playful as she offers her food to him. His smile deepens and they switch containers, just like old times.

"That's harsh."

"Yeah well..." She shrugs. "What episode of Everybody Loves Raymond were you watching the other night?"

He is laughing before he can even tell her. "The one where Robert's girlfriend is eating flies."

"You had a girlfriend who ate flies?"

"No," he chuckles. "You never really know people, though. I identified with that part. And he was so happy to just have a girlfriend."

"You had a girlfriend since you were fourteen, El. You are not the Robert. You're the Ray."

"Yeah well... in a way Kathy was eating flies, right? And I didn't even know it."

"This is the most bizarre conversation we've ever had," she whispers, shaking her head. "Kathy loved you. Stop."

"Don't know if I believe that."

"El, of course, she loved you." She reaches over and she rubs his arm. "And you could never be Robert. You're a lady's man. Do you know how many women I've caught checking you out?"

She feels the smugness radiating off of him. "Which part?"

She snorts. "Always your ass."

"I thought my face was attractive two seconds ago and I couldve sworn you'd have said my dimples and you just shattered my confidence."

"Your smile is attractive," she tells him, sticking her fork into a piece of chicken. She moves it around for a moment before she drops it, and she looks up at him. "For me, it's your eyes."

"You like my eyes?"

"Yeah. They're... nice."

"A second ago I was ruining your life."

"You can have pretty blue eyes and still ruin someone's life."

He laughs and he grabs the container out of her hand and he places both his and hers onto the coffee table. When he sits back, he's a little closer and he uses his hand to brush her hair behind her shoulder. "You didn't mean that."

"Of course I didn't."

"Can I kiss you?"

"I thought you wanted me to figure my life out and now you're asking me for a kiss..."

"I'm only asking because again, you've threatened bodily harm—"

"Stop saying that," she says again with a sigh. It sounds worse every time he says it. "No."

"No?"

"Do you remember what you said to me?" she chuckles. "That I'll let you kiss me again? And then I'll-"

His hand reaches the back of her neck and though she's said no, she's basically just admitted to being in love with him and that's progress. Every time they've talked over the last few days, she's revealed more to him than ever before. It also doesn't help that she's wearing a gleaming smile and gazing at him with her warm brown eyes, so he practically jumps across the couch to kiss her... but she's a cop, too and her reflexes are a lot better than he's given her credit for.

The heel of her hand collides with his nose and they both holler out in pain. Her hands fly to her face as blood begins leaking from his nose and he looks at her, his eyes asking her how could you?

"Elliot, I told you no!" She quickly grabs napkins off of the coffee table and she presses them to his nose, helping him soak up the blood.

"You hit me," he whispers, his eyes narrowing over both of their hands.

She laughs, standing on her knees, tilting his head backward. "You were going to kiss me. I panicked."

"I think I need to go to the hospital."

"Is it broken?" she asks, her eyebrows stitching together. "Fuck, I'm sorry."

"Me, too," he grumbles. "I thought we were making progress here."

She laughs. How could he think such a thing? How could they be so in sync and on such different levels at all times? She lifts his chin to get a better look at his nose and then her eyes meet his. She does want to kiss him, but instead she lifts a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at him and she says, "You thought fucking wrong."