Rory Gilmore-Hayden sat at a small café in Paris and watched the people walking by and couldn't help but feel a little melancholy as she remembered the trip her mother and her had planned for after her high school graduation… the trip they never took. It all started at the fateful dinner when she first met the Hayden's and learned that everything she was told about her lack of interaction with her grandparents and father was a lie, she had a hard time coming to terms with what Lorelai had done, she had taken her from that world and hidden her, and no one knew where they were for years. After she was found, Lorelai still kept them all away with threats of disappearing again and Chris held his parents off from taking her to court, afraid of them disappearing again and the relationship he had with Rory was already nonexistent. After that dinner Rory started to spend more time with her dad and Grandparents, driving a wedge between the mother and daughter that continued to grow when Rory accepted a car to make getting to school and seeing her family easier and then agreeing to be a debutante. Lorelai kept berating Rory for her choices, telling her that she was allowing herself to get sucked into the world of trust funds where you didn't have to work for what you got and Rory disagreed wholeheartedly after seeing the effort both grandfathers put into work and her grandmothers fundraising efforts. While Rory agreed that some things were frivolous, she became more involved and started branching more into the world of wealth but also maintained her small town innocence. But then it was discovered their house had termites and Lorelai refused to go to her parents for money so Rory went to the family and asked for the money, not wanting to live yet again in a place that was unsafe. This decision, along with the already growing rift, resulted in Rory moving in with the Gilmores, something that Lorelai had a hard time agreeing with but because of Rory's age she knew it would be a losing battle. The following years didn't help the relationship, Rory spent the summer in DC for a student leadership seminar that she had to attend after winning student council VP, then with her grandparents volunteering at local libraries, learning foreign languages and further immersing herself into that world, Rory felt like she was doing what she needed to do to make herself competitive for college applications and Lorelai felt like Rory was betraying how she was raised. The rift never healed and then Lorelai had died when the Independence Inn caught fire. After Lorelai's death Rory struggled to come to terms with how to handle everything and eventually started seeing a therapist during the school year, she was overwhelmed by increased social expectations, dating attempts (especially when everyone found out she was both the Gilmore and Hayden heiress and the richest in society), and then settling into Yale. As the school year came to an end, Rory finally sat down the families and let them know she couldn't handle the pressure they were heaping on her for both societal expectations and as an attempt to make-up for Lorelai and Christopher's mistakes. The families had agreed to lessen the societal pressure, stop with what that wanted for her life and let her take this trip on her own.
She was pulled from her thoughts as a throat cleared next to her and she looked up and saw a man about her age standing next to her with a smile on his face. There was no denying he was handsome with tousled blonde hair and caramel colored eyes and from the cut of his clothes and his demeanor he was rich as well and he had a slightly cocky air that screamed wealth. "Mind if I join you?" he asked, and she studied him for a moment and gave him a small smile.
"Sure," she answered the agreement out of her mouth before she could second guess herself. She wanted to learn who she was now, not who she was expected to be, and this was a start. He pulled out the chair opposite of her and say down.
"I've seen you here the last few days…" he started to say as he looked at her and noticed her eyes were even more beautiful than he originally thought and he felt his breath hitch when their eyes locked.
"So, you've been stalking me?" she cut off with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
He let out a small chuckle, "do you want me to?" he asked with a smirk playing on his lips.
"Hmm, I don't know. I thought I would need to release a CD or be in a movie to warrant one of those," she replied in mock thoughtfulness.
"I'm Logan," he replied as he extended him hand.
"Rory," she replied, and both felt the small sparks when their hands touched. "So, Logan, I just have to ask, why you decided to be my stalker?"
He gave her a small laugh as he looked into her eyes, "well besides the fact that your stunning," he stated and was surprised to see a slight blush bloom on her cheeks. "There was something in your eyes, it just made me want to make you smile."
She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment before asking, "how do you plan on doing that?"
"Why with my amazing conversation skills," he replied, and she gave out a deep laugh, her eyes twinkling.
"Wow," she breathed out when she caught her breath. "Talk about ego."
"Not ego when it's the truth," he retorted with a smirk.
"So, what are we going to talk about?" she asked curiously.
"Do you come here often?" he asked with a glint in his eyes that caused her to smile and laugh a little. "Or was that a little to cheesy?"
"Definitely to cheesy," she answered.
"What about, what brings you to Paris?" he asked with a smile.
"Escape," Rory answered and then slightly shook her head for letting that come out.
"Me to," Logan answered as he looked thoughtfully at her. There was something about her, not just her long brunette hair, porcelain skin or body that made him mind wander, it was in her eyes, there was an openness that he had never seen before. "Since we are both trying to escape how about we take a walk and see what kind of trouble we can get into?"
"As long as you promise no dark alleys, I'm in," she replied with a smile. She reached into her purse and grabbed money to leave on the table for her drink.
"Let's go," he stated as he stood and extended his hand to her. She took his hand and they locked eyes for a moment, both knowing that this could be the start of something.
They spent a week in Paris together, walking around the sights eating amazing meals and just getting to know each other. Both were enjoying having a chance to meet someone without the inevitable reactions to their names. They both avoided talking about current things, not where they were from or attended college. Logan learned about Rory's small town and her love for literature and writing but was still undecided on what she would do after college, she told him that she wanted to be a journalist for as long as she could remember but after her mom died so much had changed that she wasn't sure what was next for her. Logan was surprised when she talked about journalism and told her how he also enjoyed writing but his path would probably be to follow in his fathers footsteps and run the family business, he didn't tell her what the family business was and she didn't ask. He talked about his best friends and their exploits in getting kicked out of boarding schools and even the past year they took off sailing around the world until Finn crashed the yacht. Rory wished she was adventurous enough to do something like that, she was the type that overanalyzed everything and rarely took risks but Logan countered that she did, she was exploring Paris with a man she had just met. She laughed and told him out of character this was for her. He surprised her one day by taking her on a helicopter ride over the city and loved every second of it. When it was over, she gave him a hug and he didn't want to let her go, she felt perfect in his arms.
From Paris they traveled to Rome for a few days then to Florence. Logan convinced her to go to Tuscany and explore the vineyards and they enjoyed the days walking among the sunflowers and exploring small towns that neither had been to before. For him it was a new adventure traveling with her, she was genuinely interested in everyone they came across and he learned she spoke fluent French, Italian, Spanish, German and Latin. While they traveled, she picked up things she wanted to decorate her new house with and he thought it was funny when she would pick up expensive marble at one place and a small knickknack in the next. They both avoided the "talk" about who they really were, not wanting to break the bubble.
It was the last day they were in Tuscany and were planning on leaving for Venice the following day. Logan watched her as she sat at the small patio with a glass of coffee and she was on the phone. He didn't want to interrupt but she noticed him and waved him over so he sat and ordered a coffee from the waiter as she finished the conversation.
"No, grandma," she sighed as she took a sip of her own drink. "I will not be returning early so you and grandma Francine can play the most eligible of Hartford dating game again… No I will no go out with your friends son that attends Yale with me… no… grandma, you all promised me this summer to do what I want… yes, to relax… grandma… yes, I will call you when I get back… no I already moved all of my things into the apartment before I left… okay, tell grandpa I said hello and I love you both." After she hung up the phone she closed her eyes briefly trying to find the calm that she woke up with but when she heard Logan's voice she realized what he had heard from her end of the conversation.
"Hartford and Yale?" he more or less stated as he studied her. He was shocked when he heard her talk about those two things, it never occurred to him they might be from the same world but now… she didn't seem like the normal socialite, though from the hotels and her dress it was obvious she was from money he didn't anticipate it being from the same kind of money he grew up in. Though if he did think about it she did have an air about her that he couldn't place before but now he knew, pedigree and old money.
"Yeah," she sighed as she looked at him and saw the shock and something she couldn't place in his eyes. "I will be a sophomore at Yale in the fall… and yes, my family is from Hartford, but I grew up in Stars Hollow and until I was 16, I had limited contact with that world."
The waiter returned and placed drinks in front of them both and it gave him a moment to decide what to say. He gently took her hand from across the table and made sure their eyes met before he started speaking. "I just wonder how we never met before, well Yale I understand since I wasn't there last year but how did we never meet at a society event." Her eyes widened in shock and he had to let out a small chuckle since he was sure her reaction was the same as his a few moments ago when he heard her on the phone.
"You're from Hartford," she managed to squeak out as she studied his face, this really was a small world.
"Yep," he replied with a hint of bitterness. "But I was in boarding schools until I started college and even then, I tried to avoid the social events as much as possible. My mother was always attempting to set me up with her friend's daughters and not a single one of them interested me."
She sighed and briefly closed her eyes. "I know the feeling. I dated a few guys from my hometown, but they were never acceptable… And I dated one from Chilton that was horrible. My grandmothers have made it a mission to try and find me a suitable boyfriend and it never works."
He studied her thoughtfully for a moment, he still didn't understand how a woman like her was single and traveling Europe alone. She was special, unique and knowing the men in Hartford and Yale he couldn't fathom her not having a very active social calendar. "Why doesn't it work?" he finally asked and saw her slightly blush.
"I'm not… I'm well…" she stammered and took a deep breath. "I have always been a bit of a… nerd, for lack of a better word. At Chilton I focused on school and sometimes got pulled into society... I dated one guy at Chilton but it was... like a game to them and I have never been interested in being a trophy. Yale was the same way," she sighed and took a sip of her coffee. "The society guys I was convinced to go out with… it was always the same, them wanting to see if they could get the good girl to fall or it was just to please the parents."
"I could see the good girl thing," he admitted with a smirk. "I noticed it the first time I saw you but I'm sure they weren't all in it for the chase. I approached you because I could tell there was something different about you, and I am sure the society world sees that."
She let out a bitter laugh. "If you had met me on the Yale campus or at one of those stuffy society events you wouldn't have even given me a second look," she stated. "I'm the one that mothers want their sons to date for the pretty picture and the fathers…" she sighed and took a sip of her drink. "They want their sons to date me for my family connections and the size of my bank account."
Her words made him think of something, a small tidbit of information he had heard over the years, the Hartford golden girl… studious, charming, stunning and rich but she was an ice queen in some ways and rumored to be a virgin. She saw it in his eyes when he started to connect the dots on who she was and sighed.
"So I take it you know something of my reputation," she bitterly stated.
"A little," Logan reluctantly replied. "And you are right, if I would have met you at a society event I would have ran the other way because you are the epitome of what every family wants in a daughter in law. But if I had just seen you on campus, I would have definitely been intrigued and found a way to talk to you."
"And then you would have found out who I was and I would have either become a conquest to you or you wouldn't have given me a second glance," she stated as she broke their eyes contact and glanced around the landscape. "I'm not the girl for a good time," she sighed. "I'm the boring bookworm and I'm used to that."
"You are anything but boring," he told her as he studied her face. He could see the weariness in her eyes and the slight slump in her shoulders. While he was used to being a disappointment and told continually he would never live up to his families name he had to wonder what her life was like. From the moment he met her he knew she was different but while he rebelled she seemed to toe the line and follow the path. "Meeting you here, I see there is so much more to you that the golden child everyone talk about," she let out a mirthless laugh, "so maybe it was fate having us meet like this."
"Fate…" she sighed and gave a small giggle before her eyes turned sad. "But you and I both know that this summer will come to an end whether it is now or in a few weeks and you will return to your playboy ways and I will once again become the dutiful granddaughter and heiress to two large family fortunes."
"What makes you think I'm a playboy?" he asked and at her raised eyebrow he had to chuckle. "Okay so maybe I was," he relented. "But, I don't know…" trailing off he tried to find the right words to express what he was feeling. "Since I met you, I don't know, something has changed. From the moment we spoke I wanted to get to know you. You have become… special to me."
"Like stop eating the paste special?" she asked trying to break the seriousness of the conversation.
He gave a small laugh, "No you are beautiful, charming witty. You're the whole package, the type of girl that warrants a commitment, someone to stand by your side and…"
"Your just not that guy," she continued for him as she studied the regret in his eyes.
He took a deep breath, "I just don't know if I can be that guy." He stated truthfully but reluctantly. "I've never done commitment, never even considered it." A part of him wanted to add until I met you but those words scared him. Everything about her was different, she was the settle down, 2.5 kids and a dog type of girl, the girl that would change him, make him want to change to be what she deserved he just didn't know how to.
"If you want to say good-bye now, I understand," she told him with a sad smile. "Now that you know who I am…"
Looking at her he knew he couldn't let her go without knowing more about her. He wanted, no needed, to know everything he could about this women that had captured his attention so completely. "I think its finally time for those full introductions… I'm Logan Huntzberger," he stated as he extended his hand.
She sighed and their hands met, "Lorelai Gilmore-Hayden but everyone calls me Rory." They smiled at each other each knowing that the path they had found themselves on, casual acquaintances that were becoming friends had changed. Each wanted something more but both were afraid of what would happen if they acted on those impulses.
They spent the rest of the day exploring more and Rory had found more things for her new place. She told him more about moving out of the dorms, while she slightly enjoyed the experience it was to much for her. Living with three other women had been challenging and caused her a lot of added stress. Then there was the added fact of everyone being able to knock on her door and it gave her little peace when it came to the overzealous Hartford bachelors or social climbers that wanted to be friends with the double heiress. After much debate she relented on living in an off-campus apartment with a doorman to ensure her privacy. He knew what she meant about the social climbers but he was usually sought after by the female population in hopes he would sleep with them and she would either end of pregnant and tied to him for life or that he would fall for her. They each worried how being back on campus would change the friendship they had. After Tuscany they continued their journey and went to Venice and he laughed as she haggled while purchasing Murano glassware for her apartment and lace for her grandmothers. He picked her up a stunning Venetian mask that she knew she would place somewhere in her home. There was artwork she had decided on and small things she wanted to make her place a home. He insisted on taking her on a romantic gondola ride and she blushed when the gondolier told them what a stunning couple they were. The more time they spent together, the more he found himself finding ways to touch her, a casual hand placed on her lower back, brushing the hair back from her face and she always seemed to be close to him, their shoulders touching or hands brushing the other. It surprised him that he noticed the amount of male attention that she received and it made him slightly jealous but it intrigued him that she was so oblivious to it all and just further cemented her innocence that he couldn't quite understand, how someone as stunning as she was have no idea the effect she had on men. Soon they were in Salzburg and they toured the old town and explored some of the sights, as they were sitting in the gardens of Mirabell Palace he knew he was falling for her but still didn't know what to do, part of him was telling him to run as fast as he could but the other, larger part of him couldn't let her go. Rory knew she was falling for him, the more time they spent together she saw he wasn't the playboy that everyone else saw, he was kind and intelligent, while yes he was cocky there was a gentleness about him that she realized he was afraid to show to the world. They both had their walls of protection they had built to survive, him with his playboy persona and not a care in the world while hers was the perfect golden child. They let each other in, talked about things they had never told a soul before, they became the others confident and supporter. He told her more about his families dysfunctional dynamic and how he was never a son just a heir. There was talk about all of the expectations his family heaped on him to live and act a certain way that caused his rebellion. He had a path that was created as soon as he was born and struggled with it, knowing he would never live up to the image his family wanted. It was these expectations and his failures that had caused him to travel Europe alone, he needed to be away from his family and also his friends that had that carefree, reckless nature as well. Something had shifted after they had sunk the yacht and it was his sisters disappointment in him that made him start to reevaluate his life. She told him how she had always felt pressure to fit into the molds her family had created for her, her mothers was the small town girl that had no place in society and then her grandparents want for her to make up for the mistakes of her parents. He learned more about the estrangement between daughter and mother and how she still felt a need to follow the path her mother wanted her to but it clashed with the path her grandparents wanted. She told him about how this summer was an escape for her to try and find herself and create her own path, one she wanted to follow.
They decided to end their explorations with a stay in a small town in the French Rivera, both of them wanting to spend some days relaxing on the beach before they headed back to the pressures they would face.
"Where do we go from here," Rory questioned as they sat on the beach looking at the water. "Soon we will be back in the real world…"
"I know," Logan sighed as he looked at her in the setting sun. "This… us… I can't pretend you don't mean something to me. Rory, you mean more to me than I could have ever imagined."
"You mean a lot to me as well," she sighed still looking at the water. "But when we get back, you'll be with your friends and your reputation and I'll just be… me. The innocent ice queen, if we go back and people find out we are friends you know its going to cause questions."
"Do you want to pretend we don't know each other," he questioned, and she could hear the hurt in his voice.
"No," she quickly answered. "I just don't know how to do this Logan." She turned to look at him and sighed. "This friendship, what he have between us… I cant pretend anymore," she stated as she stood up from where she was sitting and started to move towards the water.
He quickly grabbed her hand stopping her and stood up with her. "Pretend what?" he asked his voice a little harsh since he was unsure where this was going. There was something between them, something he wasn't willing to give up, something he wanted to explore further and it killed him to think she might not feel the same way.
"Pretend that were just friends," she answered exasperated and unsure. During the months together she knew she felt more for him than she had ever felt for anyone before he made her come out of her shell, made her want to be daring and take risks. Something about him made her feel safe, made her feel whole for the first time in forever and she couldn't stand the thought of all of her feelings being one sided. She knew though that she wasn't his type, she was commitment, she wasn't one for meaningless flings and she didn't think she could handle getting back on campus and seeing him with his bevy of women. "God Logan!" she exclaimed as she turned to look at him. "I like you, really like you and I just cant stand the thought of…"
His lips crashing into hers stopped her words and he pulled her tight against him. He gently traced her lips with his tongue begging for entrance which she immediately granted. He couldn't think straight, hearing her tell him that she liked him, he lost his hold on his self control and before he knew it, his lips were on hers and he lost all thought. Since the moment he met her, he had tried to put aside his attraction for her not thinking she felt the same but her words, this kiss changed so much. As soon as their lips touched, he knew he needed her, the feel of her hair in his fingers as they tangled in her hair, he curves were pressed against his body. They had gone running some morning and he knew she did yoga and Pilates but the feel of her pressed against him caused him to moan into her mouth and he pulled her hips into his erection and she gasped at the feeling. Somehow his move just made her bolder and she pressed against him more and ran her fingers through his hair. This kiss lasted for what seemed like an eternity, they had broken apart a few times to take a breath before their lips met against. There was an urgency, a want they were trying to convey with each caress of the tongue.
"God Rory," he murmured against her lips as they both tried to catch their breaths. He knew this was the moment he would need to make a decision, she could never be a one night stand but could he really just be with her? Who was he kidding he thought to himself, he hadn't looked at another female since they met, his entire focus had been on her. He gently pushed her hair behind her ears and cupped her face. "I have wanted to do that since the moment we met, but Ror," he sighed as he pressed his forehead to hers and took a deep breath. "You deserve so much better than me. I'm a screw-up, I mess up everything and I cant lose what he have."
"Logan," she sighed as she moved a hand to caress his face. "You're not a screw-up, I have never met someone like you before and you deserve happiness. I don't want to lose you either but I cant pretend that what I feel for you is just friendship." She took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes trying to settle the butterflies in her stomach that just seemed to be multiplying with him being so close to her. "I cant go to Yale and see you with all those other girls."
"Where does that leave us?" he questioned desperately not wanting this to be the end but to afraid to take that leap.
She slowly pulled out of his grasp and he felt cold when his hands fell from her face. He saw the warring emotions in her eyes, the want, the longing, the fear and he was sure her eyes mirrored his own. "I don't know," she sighed. "I cant be the one to change you, I don't want to change you," she stated as she looked sadly into his eyes. "I'm used to never being enough for someone," she sighed with a shrug. "But meeting you… you have made me realize how much of life I have missed by being afraid to be me, to step out of my comfort zone." She took a shuddering breath and held his eyes, "but where we go from here…" She didn't finish her thought as she turned away from him and quickly walked back to the hotel.
He watched as she disappeared, he wanted to run after her but his legs felt like lead and when he couldn't see her anymore he sank back down into the sand. The time he had spent with her was perfect, he loved as they bantered, she could keep up with him in debates, she made him think, he started to look at the world differently. While she was worth more than he was she had a different outlook on life than the one he had cultivated over the years. She was raised with nothing and then thrust into a world that she originally stepped into willingly and now was trying to balance what she wanted with what was expected. Her words about not being enough for him cut through him like a knife, she was more than enough but he felt like he wasn't enough for her. He didn't want to let her go, the thought of not talking to her, seeing her every day made panic flare in him. Could he commit to her? He laughed as he realized that he was already committed to her. Slowly he stood and made the walk back to the hotel, he needed to talk to her. He needed to tell her what he felt, he knew he was falling for her he was just afraid of failing her.
Rory made it to her hotel room before the tears started flowing, "idiot," she muttered to herself. She knew she should have said anything to Logan, she knew he didn't feel the same way but sitting on that beach thinking about how life would be soon she couldn't take it. There was no way she could face him and whatever girl of the day he had or worse, she knew she couldn't handle it if he chose a relationship with someone else. She wasn't the girl to get the guy… there was Dean her first boyfriend who broke up with her when she couldn't say she loved him, he tried to get her to go back out with him but by that time Tristan pursued her and she relented and he ended up being her escort for the deb ball. That relationship was doomed from the start, she was a conquest for him and when she fully realized that he just wanted to boast he had taken her virginity whatever they were disappeared. After Tristan was Jess, the bad boy and to this day she knows she only dated him to make her mother mad, the relationship between mother and daughter was strained and she just made it worse but that relationship ended after she moved to Hartford, he couldn't stand the high society life and was just as critical as Lorelai as to how she fit. After Jess there was not a single guy that made it past date two, at Yale the guys without money seemed to be intimidated when they found out who her families were and the society boys wanted her as a conquest or for her family connections. Meeting Logan, she finally found someone she wanted to be with, but he didn't see her that way and now… now she lost that friendship.
She looked around the hotel room and debated on what she wanted to do now, she could leave, or she could stay. For now, she just wanted to lay down for a bit and forget the last hour. Quickly she changed into a pair of sleep shorts and a t-shirt before she fell into the bed in an exhausted heap.
Logan paced back and forth in front of Rory's door, occasionally stopping to knock. He was getting frustrated that she wasn't answering and then panic set in maybe she left. Stopping he started knocking again and the door flew open to reveal a rumpled and sleepy Rory standing in front of him. He couldn't help but stare, she had never looked sexier to him than at this moment. Before she could slam the door her movement registered and he pushed his way into the room.
"You left," he exclaimed. "You didn't even give me a chance to respond."
She looked defeated and she moved over to the small kitchenette and grabbed a bottle of water. "You don't need to say anything," she sighed, avoiding looking at him. "You don't need to say anything to me I know I would never be the type of girl you would be interested in."
"The type of girl I would be interested in?" he repeated and moved swiftly towards her. "I don't understand why you can't see how beautiful you are inside and out. You were right when you said I would probably not look at you twice and that's because I'm an idiot. Your special, your different and before this summer I would have never been ready to meet you. Hell! I still don't know if I'm ready to meet you, but I'll be damned if you walk out of my life!"
"That's great," Rory yelled back as she stared at him angrily. "You don't want me to walk out of your life but I can't be one of your many!"
"I don't want you to be one of the many," he told her and then pulled her towards him and placed a bruising kiss on her lips, forcing her lips apart as she plunged his tongue into her mouth. They dueled, the anger they were both feeling fueling the kiss even more.
When they broke apart the fury returned to Rory and she tried to pull away from him but he held firm. "If you don't want me to be one of the many then what the hell do you want?" she questioned as she felt the anger start to fade only to be replaced by sadness.
"I want you to be my only," he told her as he looked into her eyes.
Her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open at his admission. "You can't be my boyfriend," she retorted.
"You aren't happy with what our relationship is," he pressed not giving up. "I've fixed the situation, problem solved."
"Problem not solved," she scoffed.
"If I say I can do this, I can," he told her as he moved her to look at him. "Rory, do you really want to stop seeing me?"
"No, but I cant," she sighed.
"I don't want to stop seeing you," he told her pleadingly. "I like trying new things. This will be new, different, but I can do it."
"Are you sure," she started to protest but he pulled her to him in a soft kiss full of promise and passion. "But you…" she started again when they broke apart but he pressed his lips against hers again. When they broke apart she sighed. "Logan, I'm a virgin," she stated as she looked into his eyes, "and you… are definitely not."
"I assumed," he told her. "I doesn't matter to me. Rory I haven't slept with anyone since we met, I haven't even been interested in looking at another girl."
"But we're here," she sighed. "What happens when we get back to Yale and girls are throwing themselves at you."
"It wont matter," he told her as he gently caressed her face. "They aren't you Rory. Your special and I have been afraid of this because you deserve so much more than me. Just give me a chance."
"Okay," she sighed and smiled at him.
"Okay," he repeated with a grin and then placed a kiss on her lips. "How about we go to dinner to celebrate this?"
"I should change," she told him as she looked down at her outfit.
"So, change, I'll pick you up in an hour," he stated as he kissed her again.
"Okay," she whispered against his lips.