"I thought you weren't looking to shag," Lily mumbled rolling away from him later that night. Her stomach wanted to rumble. They had slept through dinner.
"I'm a bloke. I'm always looking to shag." He wrapped an arm around her and dragged her back against his body. "You started this one, though."
"I did not!"
"Mmhhmmm . . ." he mumbled, nuzzling her neck. "Lots of long looks. Little head tilts. Biting your lip. Looking like you wanted to bite my lips."
"I wasn't doing that," she whispered, mortified.
He laughed. "Course you were. Nothing wrong with that." He loosened his hold, and – against her better judgment – she turned and curled against his chest. "I'm just saying you can't blame me for it, when you were there too. And sending me lots of lovely little signals."
Lily said nothing, just took a long breath and closed her eyes. He stroked his fingers through her hair.
"It's not that bad, is it?" he asked.
"It's fine up here."
She could see him out of the corner of her eyes, staring up at the ceiling.
"You're obviously nothing like a walrus. It was a stupid thing to say, but you shouldn't take it all to heart."
Lily didn't respond. They had already had this conversation. She knew perfectly well it had nothing to do with the word "walrus." It was the absolute certainty that he would do it again, or something like it, that bothered her. And didn't seem to bother him in the least.
He sat up, pulling her with him and out of the bed. "Come on. We haven't finished my lessons." She hated that he smiled at her like that. Like he was someone she could trust. Someone she could care about. Someone she could be herself with.
"We already did that," she said, pulling away and starting to dress.
"We started. Starting and finishing are two very different things, as my mother likes to say."
Lily gave him a dirty look for mentioning his mother when she hadn't yet put her knickers on. He grinned in response.
"And, I want to dance," he added.
"What happened to just listening to the music, which we could do platonically?"
He looked at her, looked at the shirt she was picking up off the floor, looked at her again, and raised one dark eyebrow. One side of his mouth turned up in a half smile.
"Yes. Fine. That was stupid," she said, waving it away and pulling on the shirt.
"I think the dancing would be better without the shirt," he commented, "but I'm willing to compromise."
"How magnanimous of you," Lily said.
He laughed. "I thought so, yes." He wandered over to her record player, without bothering to dress.
"Aren't you going to . . ." she suggested, gesturing to his clothes.
Another grin flashed. "If you'd like."
She rolled her eyes, and he pulled on pants.
"Better?" he asked.
She didn't bother to respond.
"What's next then?" he asked, catching her hand and towing her along to the record player. He looked through the albums next to it, drawn in by the more colorful covers.
"I bet you'd like Skynyrd," she said. "But it's probably not the best to dance to. Let's do the Stones."
She selected an album, even picked her track. She could tell he liked it immediately. The guitar played a simple tune, while the drums beat out a steady rhythm.
If you start me up.
If you start me up, I'll never stop.
She pulled him closer, surprised when he was game to dance right off the bat. When it got to the part about making a grown man cry, he threw his head back and laughed.
"Shut it," she said, pushing him away.
"I don't understand any of the rest of this," he said, pulling her back in, "but I think it fits you."
"That's not actually insulting," she said.
"Didn't mean it to be." He spun her, even though it didn't really fit with the music. "You'd drive a sane man out of his mind."
"You should be fine then."
He laughed and pulled her closer. "I wasn't crazy before I met you."