Author's Note: Thank you hotpocketbandit and UntilNeverDawns for the feedback and all those lovely people who follow this story or have added me to their favourite lists. This has got to be the most fun I had writing a story in years (And I'm not being cute)... I hope you're having fun too.
The elevator ride up to her apartment posed a moral dilemma to her. Ever since they had been walking back home she felt the overwhelming urge to kiss him and the small enclosed space sort of intensified that desire.
Her internal struggle, during which she was debating what to do, lasted longer than the elevator ride did. Back at her apartment she had to release his hand to close the door behind them. When she turned around again, he was standing right in front of her, suddenly very silent and serious. She took a step closer and laid her hand against his bearded cheek.
"Why the serious face?" she asked.
"Some moments call for a little seriousness." Despite his words a smile started spreading on his face. She could see it in his eyes long before it actually showed on his features. Her breathing quickened a little when he took a step closer. Again she smelt his cologne. It smelt so good she wanted to bury her nose in the crook of his neck and inhale that scent to figure out what made it so irresistible to her.
"Not this one," she told him and pulled him into a hug, gently tugging him forward by his hand. She didn't feel quite courageous enough to kiss him yet. His arms enfolded her and his hands moved over her back with a hesitance and tenderness that made her melt. She leaned back into his arms and looked up at his face.
He brushed the tip of his nose against hers. She smiled. "That's an Eskimo kiss," she observed. Her voice was very low now. It didn't need to be any louder. At this close proximity even a whisper would have been enough to be heard.
"Yes," he said. "Are you ready for a real one?"
Instead of an answer, she reached out her hand and caressed his face with her fingertips. It was strange and new and wonderful seeing him that up close. She was suddenly able to see nuances of his personality she had failed to notice before. It struck her that there was so much more she had yet to learn about him. So far she had only scratched the surface. What was there? More depth? The look in his eyes made her believe as much. She was convinced he was more than just a funny guy who had a lot of muscle on him.
She was curious for more; always was when it came to him. She leaned up and gently pressed her lips to his. He wrapped his arms more tightly around her. She was standing on the balls of her feet and he steadied her with his hands. His lips felt soft, warm and inviting against hers, but his beard scratched a little against her skin when she applied a bit more pressure. It was an interesting sensation, not unpleasant, just different.
She pulled back. They were still so close their breaths were mingling. She was smiling and he leaned down to kiss her again. His lips opened a little and caressed her bottom lip, which elicited a little sigh from her. She experimentally mirrored his move, trying to find out whether he would like it as much as she had. He made a soft humming noise against her lips.
Their kisses were playful and tentative, but underneath she could feel something else and she was quite interested in that something else. It seemed like he was holding back, like he was afraid he would scare her if this grew too intense.
She decided to up the ante and tentatively sucked a little at his bottom lip. Just a little tug, nothing more. He reacted immediately to it. His hands traveled further down her back. His lips parted a little underneath hers. There was no tongue involved yet, nevertheless she got the message pretty loud and clear that he wanted her and that he liked kissing her.
In fact he was quite good at it. Almost too good. When she felt her knees grow weak, she had the good sense to lay her hands on his chest and gently push him back. He looked confused, which was a rather attractive look on him. Perhaps in hindsight they shouldn't stop yet, her hormonally clouded mind supplied. She shook herself, not wanting her libido to dictate the course this relationship would take.
"That was rather nice," he grinned.
"Nice?" she repeated, hardly able to believe her ears. "Strolls in the park are nice, finding an empty parking space when you need one, is sort of nice, getting a free cup of coffee is nice..."
"You've never heard of such a thing as understatement, have you?" he took a step closer to her and stroked her cheek to appease her. It did also help his case that he hugged her midriff as well.
"I have, but I don't do subtle. Sorry, honey," she leaned up and nuzzled his cheek. "Just call me Little Miss Sledgehammer."
He chuckled. The vibrations of his chest seemed to continue through her body and she shivered pleasantly as his hand trailed down her back. "Little Miss Sledgehammer, huh? You're too cute for a nickname like that. Would make a nice ring-name, though..."
"No offense, but that's so not gonna happen," she told him and he made a face.
Again it struck her how much she liked him and how much she enjoyed spending time with him. She wanted to make the most out of that time, so the next words practically forced themselves on her. "When's your flight tomorrow?" Nina asked abruptly. He let go of her in surprise.
"Do you want to get rid of me already?"
She laughed. "No. Actually it's the opposite. I'm going to go against everything those dating advice books tell women to do..."
"Really?" The expression on his face grew particularly impish at her words. "I'm all ears..."
"Yeah, really. Because I'm going to tell you to stay here instead of going back to your hotel. That is if you're okay with sleeping on my couch..." She didn't make a long enough pause to actually allow him to answer. "It's just that I figured you're not going to be here again for a long time, right? For how long exactly?" she narrowed her eyes in concentration, trying to remember those tour dates she had written down in her calendar, "3 weeks? 4?"
"3 1/2," he corrected her with a gentle and rather indulgent smile.
"Sorry, was I too blunt? Should I be less obvious about the fact that I like you? I'm just not made for that whole be-sneaky-about-your-feelings-shit. Not too smooth, I know..." She looked at him expectantly, while she was picking at her nails. He had noticed her do that whenever she was insecure about something. It occurred to him that the tough facade she was projecting was indeed nothing but a facade. He needed to give her an answer quickly before she self-combusted out of insecurity.
"No, not too blunt," he said and she visible relaxed. "I'd rather stay here instead of going back to the hotel, but usually when you say something like that to a girl she's bound to eat your head off." He grinned. The fact that she was so direct did indeed make things less complicate. He began to rather appreciate that particular quality of hers.
"Girls start complaining? Why? Cause you men have a one-track mind? Old news. You're sleeping on the couch, fella, so don't get any wrong ideas," she smirked, moving in the direction of the living-room.
"One-track mind?" He followed her and she turned around to look at him when she heard the skeptical tone of his voice.
She was slowly walking backwards as she answered."Yeah and I'm supposed to love the color pink and go crazy for dresses and all that other girly stuff. Don't you get it? I wasn't serious about that," she explained and winked at him, before she turned around again. After all she had to take her own klutziness into account. "Still the way men think, fundamentally differs from the way women think." He nodded. They had reached the living room. His gaze fell on the comfortable looking couch in front of him.
"Drink?" she asked casually, already walking towards the kitchen.
"Water?"
"One water coming up," she grinned at him and disappeared in the kitchen only to reemerge seconds later.
She placed a can of coke and a glass of water on the coffee table in front of the couch and plopped down next to him. Because things were still sort of fresh and she didn't want to invade his personal space too much, she left a few inches between them.
He scooted a bit closer to her as he reached for the water in front of him. It was a rather smooth move. Now their thighs were almost touching.
They were both quiet now, which made the situation rather awkward. "So...," he started.
"So...," she echoed and they both started laughing.
He took her hand in his and tugged at it, making her sit closer to him. "Better," he commented with a satisfied nod.
She looked at him, studying his profile. He caught her watching and smiled. "What?"
She shook her head. How was she supposed to communicate that she found the fact that he could be so outgoing and energetic, yet somewhat inept and shy at the same time, rather endearing? There was no way she could say that without him taking offense, so she leaned forward and kissed his cheek.
"I like that, but it doesn't change the fact that you're still sitting too far away," he said.
"And what are we supposed to do about that?" she asked with a smirk.
"Simple." He got up and swept her up in his arms. She let out a sound of surprise as his strong arms lifted her up.
"Show off," she chastised him. Instead of a retort he leaned in and kissed her. She closed her eyes as their lips connected for a brief moment and they remained closed for several more seconds after the kiss had ended. He sat back down on the couch with her still in his arms, so she was sprawled across his lap. She adjusted her position by wrapping her arms around his neck, now sitting a little more upright.
The short hair at the nape of his neck felt soft underneath her fingertips and she couldn't stop herself from touching it. He emitted a hum of approval which called back her attention to his face. Their eyes met, her hands came to rest on both sides of his face. She gently traced the outline of his beard with her fingers.
"How do you look without the beard?" she wondered out loud.
"Less manly and hairy," he deadpanned with a smirk.
She took her time to look at him properly and he did the same. Seen from an objective point of view he was good-looking. But she wasn't into muscles or broad shoulders. What had attracted her to him in the first place was his sense of humor. He didn't take himself too seriously and whenever he smiled, his face lit up. So what ultimately did it for her, must have been one of those smiles because they always created some kind of magnetism that drew her closer to him.
She continued to look at his face. Before she had made the mistake of saying his eyes were blue, but that was because she hadn't had the chance or the courage to look at him that up close. Actually there were aquamarine.
Above his neatly trimmed beard there was the beginning of a stubble. She brushed the back of her hand over it. Rough. She smiled.
"So have I passed the inspection?" he asked in a teasing tone of voice, but for once she didn't feel like joking. She could sense some kind of insecurity behind his question. It was there in the way he stubbornly stuck out his chin and his jaw was set a little too tightly.
"No inspection," she said softly. "I'm just curious."
"About me?"
"Yes," she nodded. The urge to kiss him was there again and intensified with every passing second. So she simply gave in. She leaned in to kiss him gently, wanting to communicate all those things she didn't feel ready to tell him just yet. Her lips opened ever so slightly and caressed his. She felt his breath brush against her moist lips. She smiled and placed both her hands on the sides of his face. Her teeth grazed over his bottom lip ever so slightly. She pulled back slowly, taking in the slight blush that was coloring his cheeks. It told her more about the situation at hand than a thousand words could have said. He had enjoyed the kiss. Probably more than he would admit if she asked him straight to his face.
"You're a tease," he said. The way he said those words told her that he seemed to be unsure of whether to admonish her or praise her for that particular quality.
"Yes," she said slowly. "But you like being teased..."
"No," he shook his head. "The only person allowed to tease me and get away with it is you."
"How convenient for me...," she observed.
"Indeed," he grinned.
He kissed her again. A pleasant shudder went through her when the tip of his tongue touched her lips for the first time. She slung her arms more tightly around his neck. When the kiss ended, a little sigh escaped her mouth.
"Some learning curve," she said, her voice sounding sort of breathy and low.
"What can I say? I'm a fast learner," he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her.
"Oh, this is going to be fun!" she laughed. "You're quite a bit of trouble, aren't you?"
"Ah, you've got no idea, luv," he smirked.
"I'm looking forward to finding out how much exactly."
"Really? You're one brave girl," he teased her and kissed her cheek. "So what now?"
"Movie?" she suggested.
He wrinkled his nose in disapproval. "You'd have to get up for that. I'm not sure I'll let you."
"Awww, honey, you're too cute for words!" she teased him, but also made no move to get up. The TV remote control was lying on the coffee table, so she reached for it. They surfed channels for a while. Watching TV with him felt odd at first. Just like a million other things it wasn't something she'd have ever imagined doing with him, but it turned out to be rather fun.
The struggle over who got to have the remote control was settled very early on. She simply held it out to him, her mouth set in a crooked smirk. "Surprise me," she challenged.
He did. She would have expected him to switch to a sports transmission or maybe an action movie, instead he chose "Army of Darkness", one of her all time favorites. She quietly beamed at him.
"What?" he asked her in surprise.
"Maybe handing over the remote to you wasn't such a bad thing. You've just proven worthy of it," she curled up against his chest, getting comfortable as she watched the screen.
"Worthy of it...," she heard him repeat with a disgruntled scoff, which didn't have her too worried since he placed his hand on her forearm and started stroking it in a way that made it hard for her to concentrate on the movie. She allowed her eyelids to drift shut. It had been a long time since she felt that comfortable and content.
Underneath the palm of her hand his chest was rising and falling steadily and with her ear pressed against his chest, she could hear the regular beating of his heart.
His body warmth and his heartbeat slowly lulled her into a state between waking and sleeping. The hand that was stroking her arm eventually came to rest on it, his breathing slowed down and also became more profound. They both fell asleep on the couch. The soft bluish light of the TV fell on faces that were calm and serene in slumber.
She slowly woke up. She was lying atop of her blanket. Her nose was pressed into it. It smelt much nicer than she remembered. Was it really a blanket? She had the distinct feeling that her blanket did not rise and fall and have the contours of a muscular male chest.
Stephen. When she thought that name, she had to smile against his chest. She slowly became aware of the fact that they were sprawled out on her couch, with her practically draped over his chest. In the background the TV was still running. Someone was talking. It sounded like the news. The volume of the TV was pretty low, so she had to strain her ears to understand what the male voice was saying. Stephen's soft snores didn't help matters either.
"Welcome to...," the next part she didn't quite get. "It's Sunday morning, 8 o'clock..." Her eyes shot open in shock. Shit! Shit! Shit! They had precisely two hours to get ready and drive to the airport.
She tried to carefully untangle her limps from his, but her efforts were made nil when his arms encircled her and pulled her closer against him. An inner voice told her to surrender herself to the pleasant warmth of his embrace and just close her eyes and go back to sleep, but her conscience just wouldn't let her.
"Steve, we have to get up," she said softly. No reaction. She struggled to escape the gentle hold of the Irish kraken and eventually managed to sit up. He made a sound of disapproval. It was something like a hum, perhaps it was supposed to be a "no". He still had his eyes closed. She grabbed his right hand and tugged at it. It was no use. He was playing possum and refusing to cooperate. "Steve, come on...," she said in an imploring voice. "Your flight is going in like...," she yawned, looking at the tiny clock that was visible on the display of her DVD-player. It was already 8:05. She cursed loudly. He finally cracked open one of his eyes. Her hand was still wrapped around his wrist. He pulled her back down towards him without meeting a lot of resistance.
"Not a good idea," she mumbled. Soon her body was curled around his again, her cheek resting against his chest. She didn't sound all that reproachful.
"I think it's rather excellent," he told her and she was able to hear the smile in his voice that was still slightly rough from sleep.
She took his hand into hers. "Seriously, you have to get up now. If you miss that flight, what about the next show? Don't you have to rehearse?"
He sighed. "Yes." A bit of anger sounded through in that simple word, but she soon learned it wasn't directed at her. "Why the bleeding hell did we have to fall asleep so early last night?"
She looked at him, propping up her chin on his chest. "'Cause we both work too much and were tired?" she suggested.
"Gotta be it," he smiled.
"Yeah," Nina replied with very little enthusiasm. She slowly got up from the couch which enabled him to sit up. He ran his hand over his face tiredly, blinking a few times as he regarded her. He looked very sleepy and very adorable, but of course she wouldn't tell him that. If she were to comment on the present state he found himself in, she would be using the words "handsome" and "sexy". Men didn't take to kindly to words like "adorable", especially not the ones who worked hard to broadcast a certain hard-ass attitude like him.
She stepped in front of him and he immediately pulled her closer by hugging her midriff. She smiled and ran her hands through his unruly hair. "So here's the plan. Time is ticking. Only one of us can shower before we leave and we also need copious amounts of coffee." He pressed a kiss to her belly. She could feel the imprint of his lips through the thin fabric of the tank top. "I'll take care of the coffee. You shower?"
"How about we shower together?" he flashed her a positively devious grin. She understood he was not serious about that proposal, but that grin of his issued a certain challenge.
"Seriously? We have roughly 20 minutes before we have to leave. I'm kind of disappointed, I thought that once we got to the stage of showering together it would last a little longer than just 20 minutes...," she teased him with a raised eyebrow.
He looked up at her and laughed. "I'm confident I can grant you that wish," he winked at her, all playful and mischievous. "But I'm not sure you'll last that long."
"Oh my God! I can't believe you've just said that," Nina exclaimed, slightly shocked by his remark. But she wasn't too shocked. In fact she was laughing and blushing a little as she lightly slapped his shoulder.
"To be continued," he grinned and stood up from the couch, stretching his limps.
"Yeah, definitely. I was talking about the slap by the way."
"Oh, pity! I was talking 'bout our little shower conversation," he told her, walking over to his bag to get some fresh clothes before he would head to the bathroom. He bent down and started rummaging in it.
"I hope you're not all talk and no substance," she told him. It would have been a nice touch to be able to flip her hair back now, but thanks to her short hair she just had to resign herself to crossing her arms over her chest.
He looked over his shoulder at her and promptly caught her staring at his backside. She had the good sense to blush profusely. "I think I've just caught you gawking at me arse," he started laughing.
"Shut up!" she told him, blushing even more.
"I'll be under the shower in case you wanna gawk some more," he smirked at her triumphantly.
"Wait!" Nina called at his retreating back. "How do you like your coffee?"
"Black. Lots of sugar," he called out over his shoulder.
About 20 minutes later he had showered and she had even managed to tick off three important things on her to-do-list for this morning, like quickly grabbing a fresh tee, brushing her teeth and combing her hair. They both hurried down to her car, clutching two travel coffee mugs.
Before she started the engine she took a sip from her cup. She made a face as if she had just bit into a lemon. "That's yours," she announced. "Here, mister. Go ahead and rot those perfect white teeth of yours with this disgusting brew."
"Thank you, most gracious of you," he said and in exchange handed her his cup with a grin.
"You're welcome," she said, waving at him with her hand benignly.
She started the engine and shortly after they were driving down the highway that would bring them to LaGuardia. He noticed how she was kind of tense. Her driving style had changed drastically from yesterday. She was overtaking a lot of other vehicles, changing lanes all the time. A glance at the speedometer reassured him that they were still within the speed limit, but only barely so.
They made the way from Stamford to LaGuardia in under one and a half hours. At the parking lot she honked at several cars and stole an empty parking space from right under the nose of a less energetic driver.
"That was close, but we've made it!" She released the steering wheel with a long drawn exhale. "You need to run now," she said at she looked at him regretfully. Even though it was only inland flight, he would need some time to do the check-in and get through security.
"Yeah, but I also need to do this," he said and leaned over to kiss her goodbye. He was aware that it would be the last time he would be able to do this for a good long while.
Their lips connected and separated. He tried to find a place to put his hands. Things like the handbrake and their seat-belts were in the way. They kissed again. He almost lifted her onto his lap when her mouth slowly opened underneath his. She emitted a soft noise, somewhere between sigh and moan, which was rather sexy. She tasted like minty toothpaste and coffee.
They slowly separated. He needed to catch a flight. He leaned his forehead against hers. He still had her taste on his lips. The last thing he wanted to do now was go. But he had to.
He pulled her into a tight hug. "I'll call you later."
"You do that."
He nodded and got out of the car. His hand was still resting on the upper part of the door, which he was about to close, when she called out to him.
"Hey, Steve," he lowered his head to look inside the car. "Be safe, okay?"
"I'll try my best," he told her because in his line of work that was all he could promise.
Later, when he waited in line with the other passengers to board his plane, he got out his cellphone again. She had been constantly on his mind in the last couple of minutes. "Missing you," he typed, hesitating to send the text. He could remember when he had last allowed himself to delve into the experience of falling in love with someone that readily and without second thoughts. He usually didn't send those kind of text. He looked down at it once more and finally pressed down his thumb on send.
The road in front of them didn't look too easy, at this point of his life he was under no illusion that his job was beneficial to allowing him to form any kind of serious, long lasting attachments. At least he was hoping that what they had started this weekend, would turn out to be something more permanent, so the very least he could do was to be honest with her about his feelings.
