Summary: Rey forgot to leave the heat on when she left the apartment. Fortunately, Rey is quite resourceful, and Luke is quite appreciative.

Notes:

1. I'm so sorry that it took this long to update! I had a severe attack of the perfectionism gremlins :P

2. This is a friendly reminder that this story has an M rating.

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Rey swore as she pulled Luke over the threshold, right into a wall of freezing air. She'd turned down the thermostat when she'd left, to save power, and the heat in the corridor hadn't gotten more than a few feet inside her door.

"Hold on a sec – " Rey darted for the thermostat and cranked it up as high as it would go. The pipes groaned in protest as the boiler reluctantly diverted hot water to her apartment. She pressed her palm to the insulation and glared.

"This is probably going to take a while. I didn't know that it was going to be this cold today - I would have left it on. But – " She pulled off her coat, winced as the cold sliced through her thick sweater, and headed for the storage closet near the stairs. "Could you help me with this?" Luke grinned and removed his own coat.

"Backup plan?" he said, as she pulled several thick, mismatched blankets off the top shelf.

"First backup plan – Voila!" She dragged a slightly rusty electric heater – courtesy of Poe's Uncle - out of the back of the closet.

They still had electricity, after all. She grinned sheepishly at Luke as they wheeled it into the living room.

"Kind of a power sink, but it's ok in emergencies…I'm thinking about getting a backup generator. Just in case. When I – Oh, crap, extension cord – " She headed back to the closet, Luke eying her curiously. "Ok, here we go…"

She hooked the heater up next to the couch and laid a faded paisley quilt over it. Then she spread a blanket over the sofa, snatched up another, and beckoned to Luke.

"That's going to take a few minutes," she said, nodding at the heater. "In the meantime…" She caught his eye and pulled her sweater over her head. Still in a light t-shirt - given the weather, dressing in layers had seemed wise – Rey winced at the sudden flood of cold, and turned to Luke, looking pointedly at his button-down.

"Well…This does work better with skin-to-skin contact…" said Luke, with a small smile. He worked on the buttons while Rey fiddled with the blanket, feeling oddly shy.

Finally, Luke pulled off his outer shirt – no sign of stiffness in the muscles of his arms and back, Rey was pleased to notice – and draped it over the back of the sofa. She draped a blanket over her shoulders, and opened her arms. Luke stepped in close, resting his hands lightly on her hips as she wrapped them up in the blanket, stopping when her cheek pressed against his t-shirt, and his arms were pinned to his sides…and to her body. There was a brief a tug-of-war as they hobbled to the couch, Rey giggling when Luke's grip tightened, and they both toppled onto the cushions. Somehow she wriggled an arm free, and rolled them towards the end of the couch.

"Ok, now that one…" Rey stretched out with her feet and tugged the heater closer. After a bit of thrashing – and of Luke being absolutely no help – she pulled the quilt up so that it covered her, Luke, and the heater like a tent.

"Cozy," said Luke, with a smile.

"It'll trap the heat in," said Rey, trying to get her arm back under the blanket and across Luke's chest. "We can warm up in here until the heat gets going."

It took a minute for them to get settled. Rey's limbs were still stiff with cold; she felt as though she had grown three extra elbows, and all of them were hitting Luke in the stomach. Finally, he huffed with mock exasperation, sprawled out half on his back, and tugged her up higher so that she lay across his chest, her arms around his neck. She pulled her feet up on the couch, and tucked her head against his shoulder.

Rey sighed as warmth seeped back into her limbs. Wrapped up in the blanket and Luke, her awareness swam and dipped, and the edges of everything that wasn't right there, right now seemed quite unimportant. Here in the nest of blankets and warm half-darkness, she could rest.

"I did this a few ti – a lot - when I was younger," she heard herself say.

And not so young. Sometimes she felt as though she'd spent half of high school curled up next to a radiator.

Luke shifted under her. She shut her eyes. "Back in the 90s…we'd get the heat turned off a lot after…my Mom lost a few jobs. It was just starting to get bad in the factories, you know?"

"I remember," Luke murmured. Vaguely, she registered his arms tightening around her.

Food and electricity usually beat out food and heat, she almost said. With electricity, you have options. Like this. And the stove, and fridge, and light to read by…I could study…But sometimes…

"I thought of this after a science class in school. Insulation, you know? I'd camp out near the radiator, and blankets are cheaper than…Sorry. I'm rambling." Shut. Up. Rey, she thought.

Luke shook his head.

"It's all right," he said. "This is smart. And resourceful." Rey's stomach fluttered, just a little. She tilted her head back and caught his eye.

"Not so bad, right?" she whispered.

"Not at all," Luke murmured. His breath puffed warm against her cheek.

She settled against his chest, sighing as the heater started to work. Or, well, maybe it wasn't. It was hard to tell, pressed against Luke's solid, living heat, moving with each breath they took.

Rey swallowed, her fingers tightening in the thin cotton of his shirt. Slowly, she slid her leg over his knee, and pressed it lightly between his thighs. Luke's breath caught, his arms tightening around her. Rey shivered, and pressed closer, dragged her lips along his jawline, up towards his temple. His beard tingled on her skin as her fingers twined in his thick, soft hair, and stroked gently, drawing out a low hum that Rey felt from her lips to her core.

She took hold of his shoulders and captured his mouth with hers, because it was Luke, and because she could. Luke opened for her, coaxed her deeper with a hot press of tongue, sweeping his hands up and down her back. Her t-shirt bunched up under her arms as she slipped lower down his body to get better access to his neck. Luke groaned as his hands slid from cloth to skin. Rey gasped and dug her fingers into his biceps, as the hot drag of skin swallowed most of her conscious mind.

She regained some coherency when Luke's hand drifted teasingly up her flank, and slipped under the edge of her shirt to trace along the line of her bra, pausing at the hooks in the back. She hummed assent, and twisted her arm behind her back to help…only to find herself trapped in the layers of blankets, still wound tightly around them.

Laughter burst out of her as she tried to wriggle loose.

"Oh – wait -!" Luke started to say, just as she disentangled her arm and pushed the quilt aside…And immediately snatched it back.

"Oh my God that's cold!" she yelped, plastering herself to his chest. Luke pulled the quilt back over them, chuckling.

"It's not that bad…" he murmured, leaning in to nip lightly at her lips. "We probably shouldn't move for a bit, though…" His hand trailed down the dip in the small of her back, and then lower, to the firm curve of her ass.

Rey smirked.

"No, we shouldn't," she said, and kissed him.

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They moved to Rey's room when their breath wasn't fogging in the air. Rey's shirt ended up somewhere on the floor between the couch and the stairs. Luke draped his carefully over the banister, grinning, while Rey attempted to haul him up the stairs by his belt loops.

"So eager," he said, when he finally got the creases just right. Rey molded herself to his back, wrapped her arms around his waist, and slipped a hand down his front to cup him through his jeans.

"You don't say," she whispered into his skin as he gasped, and grabbed the banister.

"How about we don't fall?" He twisted half around and cocked an eyebrow, his serious tone completely ruined by the hot flush in his cheeks. "Again."

Rey groaned in mock exasperation.

"Good point," she said, and released him. She climbed up a step and reached for his hand.

Luke hauled her in close as soon as they reached the top, fisted his hand in her hair, and hauled her head back so he could press hot, open-mouthed kisses along the delicate line of her throat. Rey gasped and dug her fingers into his back as he unhooked her bra, and trailed the rough pads of his fingers up and down the center of her back. Not to be outdone, she walked him backwards to the bedroom, and then snaked her hand in between them and flicked open the top button of his jeans.

"Got you," she whispered, when they stood over her bed, tracing a finger along the line of his zipper, heat shooting through her as she felt the growing bulge.

Luke groaned, a tremor running the length of his body. He kissed her as though he was trying to climb inside, hands sweeping up and down her sides. Rey pulled back slightly, breathing hard, her cheeks flushed, sweat beading between her breasts. Slowly, she slipped her hands lower, opening his zipper, and grasping his waistband. She caught his eye, just to check, and found him just as flushed and breathless as her, pupils blown wide and dark, his lips swollen, and slightly wet.

I did that, thought Rey. She could only imagine what she looked like, hair a rumpled mess, bra hanging loose, her lower lip trembling. Just a little.

He nodded. She lowered his pants, dropping to one knee, her eyes never leaving his face. Luke swallowed as she tapped his shin, indicating that he sit, and lift his feet so that she could remove his pants. He sat, and shuddered as she tugged them off fast, taking his socks with them. She paused, considered as she knelt, hands on his legs, feeling him shiver. Then she surged up and stood between his legs, steadying herself on his shoulder as she scrabbled at her own jeans with considerably less finesse.

"Fuck…" she hissed, as her third tug did absolutely nothing. Luke shook his head, tsked, and swatted her hands away. He had her zipper down and her jeans around her knees before she could blink.

"Show off," she muttered, and pushed him onto his back.

Luke lay on his side, propped up on his elbow while she kicked off her jeans and socks, and lifted her hand to the bra strap hanging loose on her shoulder. Rey's heart thudded as, once again, that thread of scarred fear skittered under her skin.

It's Luke. He won't -

She scooted closer and knelt next to him, reaching for his hand. For a moment, she just held on, eyes squeezed tight, grounding herself in the strong grip. She let herself remember. Then she opened them again, thrumming with the difference between Luke and that other, and watched him watch her.

She saw desire, anticipation, and…A flicker in his eyes, a bright focus taking in every inch of her.

The sharp lines of his form tightening with nervousness.

He sat up halfway.

"Rey, I – "

She tossed her bra over her shoulder and curled into his heat.

Luke groaned, low and rough, his chest shuddering underneath her as skin met skin. She straddled his thigh and ground against him, biting her lip at the hard drag against her folds.

"I'm on the pill," she gasped, as Luke cupped the soft swell of her breast and kneaded gently. "So you don't – ah – " Rey bit her lip as he took a painfully hard nipple into his mouth, and laved it hot and wet. He pulled back and nodded.

"Here…" He guided her hand to his briefs. It was his turn to groan as she slipped her hand inside, head thudding back against the headboard when she took him in hand.

"I've got you," Rey whispered. Soon she had him free, heavy and hot in her hand. Luke's fingers twisted in the bedsheets.

"Rey – It's – It's been awhile – I won't – "

"Me neither," she whispered, and slipped out of her panties.

She was shaking. Her core throbbed with heat. She moved to straddle him, moaning as he surged up to grip her hips hard enough to bruise, and pressed hot, hard against her slick folds, so close…

Luke rested his forehead against hers. Rey's blood pounded in her ears.

They shared breath.

Then she shifted up, and took him.

Everything fell away, except for the thick ache of him inside her, the rough moan in her ear, and the deep thrum of his heart against her chest.

They moved together, breath harsh in the still air, taking it slow, growing used to the rhythm and pull of each other's bodies. Rey flowed with him, clutched at his back, sounds welling up deep inside her as his muscles rolled and clenched, tightened and loosened. A balance of force and sweetness.

Rey throbbed around him, crying out as he tightened his grip and flipped them smoothly. She locked her legs around his waist, pulling him down into her. They were as close as they could be.

Luke held her tightly when she shook apart, whispered in her ear as she clung to him. Rey pulled him into a deep twist of tongue and teeth. She moved with him until he followed her down.

Rey fell asleep in his arms, warm breath on her neck, the deep thud of his heart at her back.

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Notes:

1. Yep. So that happened. Hopefully it fits with the pace of the story!
2. This won't be the last we see of *that* ;)
3. I couldn't resist the Huddling for Warmth trope. It is the greatest and the best thing 3
4. My headcanon is that Luke is a total beast in the rack as soon as all the relationship gets serious, and all the bedroom ground rules are established. Whoooo!