The long stressful day, the wine, the warmth of Kurt's hands on her skin, and the building desire in their kiss have all served to scatter her thoughts like confetti in the wind, blowing around in circles. Or maybe like rice, tossed in the air outside a church. We should get married. God, what a fool, she is. Where the thought had come from, she doesn't know. It had simply sprung from her lips, fully-formed, without forethought or permission.
Though now that she's said it…it could work, couldn't it? They could be something real, couldn't they, if they tried this time, really tried instead of running away?
Kurt shifts beside her, his hand sliding along her waist and down over her hip, distracting her from her introspection. She hums against his lips, and his grip on her tightens, pulling her closer.
It would be easy to let tonight follow the usual path of dinner, drinks and emotionally-charged sex, then an awkward parting, a phone call or two over the next couple of days, and then…nothing…until the next time. Or, not nothing exactly, at least not on her part. There would be daydreams, and half-dialed phone calls, and vicious self-recriminations about why can she not just get over herself already and stop denying what's right in front of her eyes.
She's in love with him, clearly, and she has no idea where he's even been for the last year, not since the last phone call of the last cycle. The entire sum of their interactions tonight have been about her - her work, her future, her family, her issues. What about him? That seems as good a place to start as any in this reckless attempt at redefinition.
She pulls back abruptly, breaking their kiss. "What's new with you?" she asks. It comes out breathless and rushed and he looks at her askance, half-smiles and shakes his head, moving in to kiss her again.
"No, really," she insists, fingers against his lips to stop him. "I'm being serious."
He regards her contemplatively for long seconds, sighs, and straightens up. "What do you want to know?"
"Are you still teaching?" It's the first question to pop into her head, but she finds she really is interested in the answer. It's a fact that had somehow escaped her over the first couple of years of their acquaintance and she can't help but wonder about all the other things she doesn't know about him. They had never been much for conversation.
He picks up his drink from where he'd wedged it in the corner of the couch and downs the remainder, setting the empty glass on the table before he answers.
"Two sections this semester. Just about done now."
"Do you enjoy teaching?"
"Do I enjoy…Diane, do you really want to talk about this now?" He slides a hand around to cup her breast, thumb brushing her nipple through her dress.
She inhales sharply as a jolt of electricity shoots through her, attempting to fling her thoughts into the wind once again. "Kurt," she begins, hoping to explain, to make him understand - I want to know you - but his thumb is still moving and he's smiling that sexy half smile that gets her every time and suddenly talking doesn't seem that important anymore.
And maybe they've got the rest of their lives. She hopes so.
