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not beta'd

storyline - Countdown

word prompt - chocolate

Neither of us wants to go home after dinner, but it's a work night and there isn't much to get in to.

When we pull in to my parking lot, I know I want to invite Edward inside. I'm confident that we can do this right. I trust him, and he obviously trusts me. It's obvious, after the discussion we had at dinner. I know there are details he hasn't yet told me, but that's okay. We have time for that.

As cheesy and cliché as it sounds, the best things truly are worth waiting for; they take time. I want to take time with Edward.

Like before, he opens my door for me.

"Will you stay a bit?" I ask as we make our way up the walk.

He nods, smiling a little. I know we're both thinking the same things, feeling the same things as me. It is in the way he lingers near me, the way I can feel his warmth although that's impossible when it's this cold outside.

Inside, I show Edward to the couch and turn the heat on. I'm glad I straightened up earlier.

I love my home. Even though it's just a rental, I've been in it for a couple of years now and it's really become a home. When I'd first graduated from college the thought of living alone scared me, but I find it suits me. My friends live close enough so that we can see each other when we want, and although my parents are a couple of states away, they visit.

"How about a hot chocolate?" I ask from the kitchen.

His voice startles me when it's nearer than I expect. He kisses my neck softly; he's smiling.

"Hot chocolate's good."

"I like it with Bailey's," I say. He makes my heart speed up, and I love it.

Like the gentleman he is, he gives me space and sits at the counter, on a bar stool, watching me. Aware of his eyes on me, my skin prickles in to goose bumps and I think my nipples have hardened as well.

Soon we're back on the couch, sipping our sweet, talking about this winter and how it will probably snow tonight or maybe tomorrow.

Winter is hard on me; I love snow but not the cold. A conundrum. Edward loves the cold but the snow. He says it's pretty to look at but not to drive in, and definitely not to shovel.

My neighbor, Mike, often shovels my walk. I tell Edward this and his eyes sparkle as he shakes his head.

"Mike sounds like a nice guy."

"He is," I agree, licking a swoop of cream in to my mouth.

"I wish I had pretty girls to shovel snow for living next to me," he continues.

"You said you didn't like shoveling snow," I say, smiling. The hot chocolate and Bailey's have made me more warm and mellow inside, twin warmths of temperature and alcohol.

He just nods, his smile fading, our conversation fading.

I know he wants to kiss me, then, and I want to kiss him too. Setting my mostly empty cup aside, I scoot closer to him. He sits his cup on the floor and reaches for me, helping me.

Our mouths meet right on time; same pace, same rhythm, same tempo. I wonder if our hearts have the same beat, too.

His hands are hot from the cup; mine probably are, as well.

We kiss for so long that I lose track of self and time. There is nothing besides this cozy couch and his firm hands and his lips, long having lost their cocoa flavor. It's been kissed away, licked away, tasted away.

"I have to work tomorrow," he says, regret on his face when he pulls away. He kisses my forehead and sits back, his hands now holding mine.

"Me too." I struggle to stand, and then I help him. We walk to the door, where we kiss again.

The night is cold; it smells like snow.

In the morning, the light in the room is different. Glowing, almost.

Yawning, I step to the window.

There is snow. A good amount; it must have started falling around when I went to sleep the night before.

I turn the television on as I get ready, listening for weather and traffic reports. Snow makes me giddy, like a little girl.

Soon it's time for me to go, and I pour my coffee in to a to-go cup. There are two mugs in the sink, and my heart flip-flops with memories.

The walk has been shoveled, and surprisingly, my windshield has been scraped.

There's a note tucked in to the handle of my car door.

I'll be shoveling your snow from now on.

Be safe.

I'll see you tonight?

Edward