"What do you want to do for our anniversary?" Alex asked that night as she snuggled into Emily's chest. Since Rosie was spending the night at Meg's house, Alex had easily given in to Emily's obvious attempt to seduce her. (As much as she loved the physical part of their relationship, she was finding what she was craving more and more was the domestic bliss of waking up in each others arms and not having to sneak away like a Shakespearean tryst.)
Emily hummed a pleased little note. "I wasn't sure you were going to remember..." she teased, then dropped a kiss to the top of her head.
"How could I forget?" she whispered, lips brushing the skin of Emily's collarbone as she spoke. "It's not every day a nearly naked woman wanders into my adult literacy class..."
During the summer, Alex liked to volunteer by teaching adult literacy classes at the local community college. It was generally an uneventful affair...until the summer Emily started modelling for the art class down the hall.
Alex had been in the middle of writing something on the whiteboard when the classroom door suddenly opened, startling her. She whirled around to see who was interrupting her lesson, only to have words fail her as she locked eyes with Emily who just so happened to be wearing a robe and nothing else. Alex spent several moments simply stuttering as her brain struggled to form a coherent thought.
"Oops!" Emily said with a smug little grin as Alex seemed unable to keep her eyes from lingering on her body. "I guess this isn't the bathroom..."
Alex cleared her throat. "No, that would be two doors down," she finally managed to string together a complete sentence, though she felt her cheeks flushing pink as she spoke, still staring at her.
"I wasn't nearly naked," Emily protested, though it was admittedly weak. "Just because you happened to be undressing me with your eyes..."
Alex barked out a laugh. "You wish I was undressing you with my eyes. You've always had a bit of an exhibitionist streak in you..."
She could hardly argue with that.
It took nearly six weeks before Alex realized Emily wasn't just wandering through the halls in her robe just for the sake of it. She was trying to get her attention...
"Don't you have somewhere you need to be?" Alex asked pointedly as she filled her water bottle from the water fountain. She didn't want to let on exactly how much she enjoyed their occasional banter or how much time she spent wishing she were in that art class so she could see exactly what Emily was hiding under that robe.
Emily merely shrugged. "Perhaps," she said, "Or maybe I just enjoy bothering you."
"So, you admit you're trying to flirt with me?"
"Who said anything about flirting?" Emily retorted.
Alex rolled her eyes pointedly. "So, you don't want to get dinner with me on Saturday night?" she asked, a playful little smirk dancing about her lips and lighting up her eyes.
It took Emily a few moments to respond, as she was too busy blinking dumbly in surprise. "Dinner?" she repeated.
Raising a brow, Alex teased, "Surely you're familiar with the concept..."
Emily rolled her eyes. "Yes, I just... I didn't realize... I thought..." At Alex's continued expectant expression, Emily was forced to admit, "I thought we were just flirting – I didn't think you were actually, well, interested..."
"So, you're not interested in getting dinner?" Alex asked, face falling just a little.
"Oh! No! I definitely am!" Emily rushed to supply. "I just...I was surprised is all."
She got her second surprise of the day, then, when Alex surged forward to kiss her...
"I was actually thinking..." Emily said slowly, "Maybe we could celebrate our anniversary by finally telling Rosie?" She hadn't intended to inflect it like a question, but it came out that way in spite of her best attempts to sound sure of herself.
Alex, of course, picked up on the odd inflection. "Are you sure?" she asked, "I know I've brought it up a few times now, but I mean it when I say there really isn't any pressure. She's your daughter and you know her best – we can wait until the time is right to tell her. I'm not going anywhere and I really mean that."
Emily blushed slightly at the heartfelt sentiment, but shook her head because it was unnecessary. "I'm certain," she insisted. "I think we've both waited long enough to be open with our relationship. Rosie is a big girl and she'll learn to accept it with time."
"I'd really like that," Alex murmured, leaning in to press a tender kiss to the spot where Emily's neck met her shoulder, the spot that always made her sigh in contentment when she lavished it with attention. "I think you might already know this, but I'm kind of crazy about you..."
She laughed warmly. "Well, I'm rather fond of you too, actually," she said, tilting her head to give Alex better access to continue trailing her lips along her throat until she found her target and joined their lips in a heated kiss.
"Just fond?" Alex asked with a raised brow, playing at irritation.
Emily hummed a thoughtful note. "Maybe fond is the wrong word... How about: utterly and completely hopelessly insanely in love with you and all I want in life is to be able to shout from the rooftops how incredibly lucky I am to be able to call Alex Miller my girlfriend."
It was Alex's turn to blush at the effusive praise. "Hmm. Well, I think that makes two of us," she said when she was once again able to form words in the face of Emily's all-consuming adoration.
"Prove it," Emily dared, lips brushing the shell of her ear as she spoke.
Alex raised a brow, mischief sparkling in her eyes. "Oh, I think that can be arranged." And with that, she flipped them so she was straddling Emily's lap as she lay back on the mattress, still staring up at Alex with wonder in her eyes as if she couldn't quite believe that somehow she got to have this...