I may never sleep tonight, as long as you're still burning bright, if I could trade mistakes for sheep, count me away before you sleep, and I'll stay awake 'til I trade my mistakes so they fade away…

I woke with a start at the sound of my alarm (at least it was a good song) and the first thing I noticed was the absence of Nora.

'Nora? Are you still here?'

Huh. I guess she must have left. My girlfriend, Nora Amare. We were now James and Nora. Or Nora and James. Either way it sounded perfect. We fit together; it was as simple as that. I smiled at the memory of her body against mine and the warmth I felt with her by my side all night long.

I wish she hadn't left though. I wanted to see her face, look into her eyes and tell her she was right, I did love her.

I looked across at the clock. 15:00. Shit! I'm gonna be so late for class! I jumped out of bed, grabbed the closest pair of jeans and a t-shirt that I could find and threw them on. No time to brush my teeth so I just got a stick of gum out of my pocket and shoved that in my mouth.

Right, books. Coffee table. Done. Let's go. I ran out of the door with a cereal bar in my mouth ready to eat later and my books under my arm, wrestling with my vans, slip on because everyone knows that there is just no time for laces on a day like this, and I was ready to learn.

As it turned out, we had a trip that afternoon, down to the beach to start taking photos for our coursework. The theme was 'light'. The beach was beautiful that day, with the sun puncturing the clouds so as to stream through and warm the planet. I was surrounded by perfect photo taking opportunities but, the problem was, every time I considered light, I found my thoughts returning to Nora; the way the light made her hair shimmer and her eyes shine. The way it made her skin glow and the way her smile intensified every ray that touched it.

I half-heartedly took a photo of the sky and moved on, photographing the trees, capturing the way the sun brightened the autumn coloured leaves and then turning again to capture the reflections on the waves of the ocean.

All the images were beautiful but I just couldn't appreciate them in the same way anymore. They were all completely overshadowed by the face of my love. It was almost as though all the beauty I had once seen in the world had been drained away and put inside her instead, lighting her from within and bursting out to encompass every part of her outside appearance too.

Despite the fact that it was October, it was surprisingly warm tonight. Especially considering the fact that it was gone seven by now. I was bored of photographing things now so I just sat on the sand, watching the waves crash against the shore. I felt a bit like the ocean; all my emotions spilling over onto everything else around me.

It was then that something in the distance caught my eye; a light, presumably from a camp fire or perhaps a candle glittering in the distance. I decided to wander over to see what it was. As I drew closer I saw that it was a candle that was burning in a glass vase. I looked around to see who it belonged to and then my eyes spotted her, and she felt it because she immediately turned to look at me and then each was trapped in the gaze of the other.

'James, what brings you here this evening?'

'I was taking photographs for my coursework. And you?'

'I came here to think and to plan. You see, it has fallen to me to plan the funeral for my mum.'

It was then that I noticed the open notebook on the sand by the candle, the page empty of words but brandishing instead the aimless doodles of a distracted mind.

'As you can see, I haven't gotten very far.'

'No, you haven't, have you. Why are you struggling so?'

'Well, because, as if planning a funeral for your mother wasn't already hard enough, every time I started getting somewhere, my mind filled itself with thoughts of you instead.'

I know I probably shouldn't have done, what with the sadness of everything that had happened to her but I just couldn't help myself. And in the end it didn't matter anyway because she smiled too.

She looked so lovely standing there, basked in the moonlight in a deep purple dress that skimmed her knees.

'Come here, James, and kiss me. Make me forget all the sadness and replace it with you.'

I wasn't about to decline so I walked over to her, cupped her face in my hands and tipped it up to mine, our lips coming together like old friends. I left her lips behind, pushing her hair back with my hands so that I could kiss her behind the ear. She shivered with pleasure and I continued my kisses down to her neck, kissing the vein that pulsed with her young blood, matching her frantic mess of a heartbeat that had been created by my touch, down to her collarbone which I traced with my lips.

The evening breeze then lifted her dress up and I caught it effortlessly, lifting it up over her head, sliding the material off gently so that she was stood before me in her underwear. I drew her back into the kiss, tracing my fingers up her thigh as I did so before lifting her straight of her feet and dropping her gently to the ground and lowering myself down on top of her, taking my shirt off as I went.

Now that more of her was exposed I continued my trail of kisses down, through her cleavage and then down her stomach, pausing only to lick the dent made by her belly button.

She was gently moaning now, her fingers twisted and knotted in my hair and her back was arching, forcing more of her skin to touch mine. She was coming undone and I loved it; no one had ever wanted me this much and nor had I ever wanted someone, no, needed someone in that very same way.

I moved back up to her breast and I removed her bra as she helped me. Her breasts looked so perfect, I just wanted to kiss them. So I did. I kissed all the way down her left breast and when I met her nipple, I sucked on it to make it go hard, causing her to release a primal moan from the back of her throat. I went over to her right breast, repeating the motion.

Her fingers snaked their way down my chest, down my stomach and then hooked into the belt of my jeans, undoing it with ease. She took no hesitation in then swiftly taking off my jeans and boxers, gently removing my throbbing hard cock with soft hands.

I saw pleasure cross her face as she felt how much I desired her, slowly moving her hands up and down the length of my shaft to really get a feel of it, enjoying every part of me. Every touch was sending lust coursing through me and I just knew that if I didn't stop her soon she was going to make me cum.

I shifted my position so she was no longer holding me and I sent my hands down to do the job of removing her underwear, slipping them off as easily as she had done mine. I felt another stab of pleasure run through me as I felt how wet she was.

Desire completely overwhelmed me then and I reached over to my jeans to grab the condom out of my wallet,

'Let me put it on for you.'

'Ok'

With nimble fingers she undid the packet and slipped the condom on, rolling it down using her mouth as slowly as she possibly could and I pushed into her, moaning, filling her mouth with me.

I pushed her back onto the sand so she was lying on her back, looking more beautiful than I'd ever seen her, her cheeks flushed with desire and her lips bruised with passion.

'I love you, Nora.'

'I love you too.'

And that was all I needed to hear for me to believe it was true.

I placed my hands on either side of her, leaning down to kiss her one last time before pushing my cock between her legs to meet her. The feeling was overwhelming. I felt her muscles adjusting to my size and her heat consumed me entirely.

From then on I was controlled solely by passion, thrusting quickly into her, one hand gripping her waist, the other pinning her arm to the ground above her head, my nails digging in as I did so.

'Fuck!'

She was panting and gasping beneath me, her fingers digging into my back, scraping down my spine.

'James! Shit! Harder, please, fuck me harder!'

She was sending me over the edge and I complied with her request, thrusting harder into her, my cock aching with the built up orgasm. I knew I wasn't going to last much longer.

'Nora!'

'I'm cumming!'

And with one last scream ripped from the throats of us both we came together, bodies shuddering, glistening with sweat.

I pulled out, rolling over onto my back, tearing the condom free and pulling her with me, into my arms. She rested her head on my chest, her breathing still heavy like mine and wrapped her arm around me, draping her leg over mine.

'Nora… that was…'

'Earth-shattering?'

'Yeah, pretty much. I've never, ever felt like this before.'

'No, me neither. I like it though, don't you?'

'God yes!'

She chuckled and it was infectious enough to get me going too.

'You, know, my love, we should probably get out of here before someone finds us.'

'True. First though, we need to find our clothes.'

'Challenge accepted!'

I jumped up and began running around, locating various items of clothing and throwing them at her so that she was now laughing hysterically and I can say, in all honesty that I have never heard a more beautiful sound.