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Chapter 34
John was beginning to feel a little cold without his jacket that he had given to Clara over an hour ago. He had tried to ignore it, but the cold and the exhaustion were finally catching up with him as well and yet he hated that this wonderful night was about to come to an end. Yet there was no stopping it, not when he could already see the blueish hues of dawn spread across the lake and the birds had started to sing half an hour ago. They had finished the champagne and the snacks they had nicked from the buffet and had been sitting there in silence for at least as long as the birds had been singing. The music from the mansion had also stopped. It was time to go home.
"Clara," John whispered softly and looked down at Clara, who was propped up against him, her eyes closed.
"Mhhh," she murmured sleepily.
"Let's call a taxi and go home," he suggested in a low voice. It was almost too perfect to leave, but they couldn't sleep out here. They would most certainly catch a cold or worse.
"Mhhh," Clara uttered again and tightened her grip around his chest. She was half asleep already and it was up to John to gather up the energy to actually move and go home. But he was exhausted, too.
"Come on," he finally said and sat up, holding Clara's head with both his hands. John smiled at her. "Let's go home where there's a soft, warm bed waiting for you. A blanket. A pillow. How does that sound?"
"Like heaven," she mumbled and eventually cracked a smile.
Clara allowed him to drag her to her feet, but as soon as they were standing she wrapped her arms back around his chest. With a sigh John yielded to the embrace and he had to admit that he loved it. He simply loved holding her like this, but he was also tired and really, really wanted to go home.
John called a taxi before they started making their way back to the house where he watched the last guests leave the party. He also spotted his former classmate Henry, obviously drunk, and his wife basically dragged him towards the car. Somehow it made John appreciate Clara all the more and he was also fairly certain that she wouldn't ask him to come here again.
"Hey, where did you come from?" Henry slurred when he noticed John and Clara pass their taxi.
"Let's go, Henry," his wife told him calmly, obvious scared her husband was going to make a fool of himself – and probably rightly so. Henry had always had a talent for that when he had been drinking.
"Have you been shagging your wife in the woods?" he drawled, gawking at the mental image and John noticed once more how Henry was checking Clara out and this time it was fairly obvious. Once again John felt like reminding him not to stare – preferably with his fist.
"Henry!" his wife scolded him.
While John was still too busy thinking about a way to make him stop looking at Clara, she began to speak.
"You bet he did," Clara replied and dragged John away before he could say anything else.
"Again," John said, "Sorry about him. I wanna go back and punch that guy."
He growled when he looked back towards the taxi that was leaving, but then Clara's arms tore him out of his train of thoughts as they folded around his back.
"No punching," she mumbled, "You need to hold me up while I sleep."
"Yes," he replied, smiling, before he bent down and left a soft kiss on Clara's head. "I'm sure our taxi will be here any moment."
As is turned out, John was right about that and a few minutes later a cab pulled up next to them and John swiftly ushered Clara inside where she promptly leaned against his shoulder once more. He gave the driver their address and sank deeper into his seat, glad that it was comfortable and warm inside the taxi because Clara had decided to use his jacket as a blanket and his chest as a pillow. John gently placed his arm around her and leaned back when he made the decision that he would stay at their house tonight. They had done that before even after he had moved out, more or less accidentally on a few occasions. The night they had fallen asleep on the sofa, another time when he had had a little too much wine to drive back and had been too tired to call a taxi, another time when they had stayed up quite late to finish a movie. John liked spending the nights at their house, liked that he still had the choice and he also liked that at some point he could go back to Missy's place and miss not being with Clara. Soon she would ask him to move back in, he knew it, but John hoped that it would still be a while because right now he was loving it just the way it was. There was no pressure, there was just happiness and the feeling of falling in love with her until he had arrived at the point where he would want nothing more than to move back in on his own accord.
The taxi came to a halt in front of their house an hour later when the sun was already shining through the gaps between the houses and his bones felt heavy when John moved to wake Clara.
"We're here," he whispered and gently shook her awake.
"Where to next?" the taxi driver asked him and turned around, staring at John.
"Nowhere. We've arrived," John replied.
He watched the taxi driver glance towards Clara and eventually back to him.
"She's my wife," John almost spat at him, "Before you think anything indecent."
Finally Clara had scrambled into a proper sitting position and she gave a hearty yawn. "Yeah, and I need you to drag me inside cause my feet aren't obeying," she added sleepily.
"I can do better," John said and pressed a swift kiss to Clara's forehead before he handed the money over to the taxi driver and climbed out of the car.
He opened the door to Clara's side and prayed that his back wouldn't fail him when he bent down and picked Clara up from her seat. She was definitely heavier than she looked and his leg was aching under the additional weight, but John still managed to carry her back to the front door.
Climbing up to the bedroom took them both a very long time and John felt relieved when he finally closed the door behind him. There it was, the huge, comfortable bed, just a few steps away. It looked like paradise to him right now.
"Help," Clara mumbled and turned her back towards him, pointing at the zip she obviously couldn't reach with her arms.
He stepped forward and slowly unzipped her dress. There was something magical about peeling her out of her gown and for a brief moment he considered bending down to kiss her neck. The thought about it brought a smile to his face and also made his member twitch a little inside his pants. Yet John knew all too well that he would fall asleep before he had even reached her shoulder blades with his kisses. No, that was something for another time.
While Clara peeled herself out of her dress John swiftly kicked off his shoes and trousers and threw his shirt on top of the pile before he lifted the duvet and climbed into bed next to Clara. He just wanted to sleep for a very, very long time.
"Good night," she sighed sleepily.
John rolled on his side and placed his arm around Clara's waist, pulling her closer until their bodies were pressed together. Yes, that was exactly how he wanted to fall asleep.
"Good night, darling."