AN- Another prompt from Iwik about Harry and Ginny who keep bumping into each other on their commutes to and from the office.

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Commuting

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It only took twenty minutes on the train to get from the station closest to his house to the one closest to his work, and it was only fifteen minutes total walking time to and from these stations as well. That was a pretty decent commute time for someone who lived and worked in the London area, and it was only one train as well. He'd get on, find a seat, have his breakfast and coffee and read the newspaper, or one of the rag papers that was handed out at the stations, and be done in time for his stop.

Not too shabby a situation to be in.

It was something he missed during the pandemic.

He'd still gotten out every morning and evening and done a walk around his neighborhood, but it wasn't the same when the only destination in mind was heading back home at some point.

Now all the restrictions had been lifted and people were back to commuting into the office and he was back to his normal routine of breakfast on the train.

He'd get sideways looks by a few passengers when he would lower his mask to eat his breakfast and drink his coffee, but he had received every booster shot that was available and had already had COVID-19 once and recovered. He'd been one of the lucky ones that hadn't had bad enough symptoms to warrant a hospital visit.

Harry was happy that life was getting pretty much back to normal.

Today he was sat on the train once again, breakfast finished, with another ten minutes on his commute when someone new took up in the seat beside him.

"It's rare now to see people actually reading things in print instead of just on their phones," the woman beside him said.

He was nearing the end of an article and was in too deep to pull his eyes away by being distracted by a wayward comment just then. "Well, this way I don't have the adverts jumping out at me. They do as they should and stay in one place," he remarked without looking over to her.

Her responding laugh drew his eyes over to her though. She looked to be about his age, red hair, brown eyes, sensible peacoat and hat for the weather, proper mask too, not one of the funny cloth ones. "Ginny," she introduced herself.

Okay, maybe the end of the article could wait, he thought to himself. "Harry."

"Yes, I've heard you mention that when answering your phone before." He couldn't see her properly because of her mask, but he could tell she was smiling. His brow furrowed and she didn't give him time to respond. "I'm not a stalker or anything. We just wind up in the same car a few times a week. You prefer to bury your head in the paper, I prefer to people watch."

"And we're in the same car often, are we?"

"So far as I've noticed," she shrugged. "I started taking this train into work a month ago and I've seen you and that fellow over there many times."

He looked over in the direction that she'd nodded and saw a portly man who's trousers didn't reach down over his socks; he looked to be sweating profusely in the heat of the cabin.

"I suppose he would be easy to spot."

Ginny gave a small chuckle. "There are a few others that are normally on this train as well, but I haven't spotted them yet today," she said while craning her neck for another look around for their supposed commute buddies.

"You're pretty observant, aren't you?"

"Not overly, I'm just enjoy not having the distractions of podcasts, screens or tabloids first thing in the morning. On the train ride home I usually have my eyes closed and set a timer to go off when we should be near my stop."

"And what is it that you do?"

"Assistant Editor at a publishing house. And it's exhausting. There are so many people wanting to be published right now. A lot of people got busy writing while we were all in quarantine, and they are not all gems."

He grinned, "got a few really bad ones, did you?"

"Not all of them, but yes. And I've only been doing the job for a few months now, but every story I read, it's been done before. I'm longing for something truly original."

"So, what is it your company publishes mostly? Romance? True Crime?"

"Fiction, so yes to both of those. And what is it you do?"

"Information Security, at a government branch."

"And you don't have the option of a flexible work arrangement?"

"No. I wouldn't want it if it was offered either. I live alone and my neighbors really enjoy their music during the day."

"Ah, yes, that would make all the difference, wouldn't it?"

"Blackfriar Station," came over the PA system.

"This is us," she announced and put her satchel strap over her shoulder.

"We have the same stop? And you've noticed this too?"

"Yes, we do." He had the impression she wanted to pat him on the shoulder patronizingly from her tone.

Then they exited the train and he wound up losing her in the crowd.

And that was it, she was gone.

Over the next week he continued with his routine of eating his breakfast on the train, but now he made a point of looking around and noticing who was on the train with him, hoping to run into her again. Twice he'd spotted her getting off at their station in London, but he hadn't been in the same car as her.

The second week he spotted her on the train as he was getting on and hurried over to take up in the seat beside her.

Admittedly, he found it pathetic that he'd spoken to her only one time and yet he would have little daydreams about running into her again and playing out what he would say, how she would respond, how she would find him captivating and brilliant and find some reason to put her hand on his arm, maybe even his thigh.

While this now wasn't a daydream, he had a fair amount of confidence in his ability to act like a normal human being.

"Made any more friends with the regular commuters since we last spoke?" he asked as he got comfortable in the seat across from her.

"Oh, one conversation and we're friends now, are we?" she teased, her eyes were a more chocolaty kind of brown than he recalled. "And here I was thinking you'd forgotten about me already."

"I hadn't forgotten, we just haven't been in the same car or on the same train, that's all."

"Well, if you're actually looking for me on the train, I'm always in this car," she pointed at the far corner of the car where it showed which car they were in, number seven. "My favorite number."

"Why seven?"

"Because seven is always the best."

"Wouldn't first be the best?"

"First is pretty cool, it's the trail blazer, but seven, seven has time to figure things out by learning from the mistakes of the first six. It's an underestimated number."

He chuckled at how strange that sounded. "You've put a lot of thought into this."

The corners of her eyes crinkled because she was smiling under her mask. "I'm the youngest of seven."

"Crickey! That's a lot of brothers and sisters you have!" He couldn't imagine!

"No, that's a lot of brothers I have," she clarified.

He had a mental image of her being surrounded by six pixie sized men with her hair color with their arms crossed and glaring at him for daring to speak to her. "Wow, I feel bad for your boyfriend."

"My, my, is that you subtly asking if I have one?"

'Smooth, Harry,' his subconscious shook it's head at him. "Am I not as clever as I think I am when it comes to interjecting that question into conversation?"

"You could have still played up not meaning it that way. But no, I'm not seeing anyone currently."

And now it was time for the mental high-five. Outwardly he tried to portray only a small amount of pleasure upon hearing that. "Me either. I think there's been a lot of couples that didn't make it through the pandemic, what with needing to have video chat dates and not being able to go anywhere."

"That's how it happened for you, is it?" she asked. He nodded. "I was already stuck in the situation of being single when it all went down, and let me tell you, online dating in a time of pandemic is not for me. You never know what their hands are doing when they're out of frame."

Harry let out a loud bark of laughter that caused him to look around them self-consciously, apologizing to those in their vicinity with his eyes. "I hadn't thought about that."

"Well, after my first attempt at a video date, where the guys hand was quite obviously making the same gesture under his desk, I started to pay close attention to what their hands were doing."

"Went on a lot of video dates then, did you?"

"Not a lot. I would get disillusioned after each poor one and then try again three or so months later when it wasn't so fresh in my mind. And mind you, they weren't all bad, but when nothing can truly come of it because you don't know when you might be able to see each other for real, all together, it kind of sucked."

"That makes me feel better about not getting suckered into trying it out for myself."

She quirked her eyebrow at him. "You're welcome?"

He chuckled, "yes, I'm thanking you for your suffering. Your honest story of it means I know now not to give into the hype."

"Blackfriar Station," came over the PA system again and they both stood up to get near the doors.

"Well, now I know which car to choose if I'm looking for a morning chat."

"And which one to avoid if you aren't," she winked.

Three days later and he hadn't seen her on his train, and he'd been sure to get a seat in car seven, even if it meant walking through the cars to get there because he got on the wrong one at the platform.

It was only twice that they'd chatted now, but their conversations had been so effortless on his end because she was so easy to chat with. Until their last chat he truly had been considering trying the online dating thing, but now that he'd met her he realized that meeting people in person would be a whole lot easier if he didn't have a newspaper or a Danish in front of his face when he was out and about in the world. And he wanted to get to know her better. Even though he could only see half of her face, he knew he was attracted to her on that primal level, and he felt like they had clicked; maybe next time he'd get to find out if she thought they clicked as well.

Running into her at a restaurant on his lunch hour had not been where he'd expected to see her for the third time though. He was out with his department for a social lunch meeting and he spotted her a few tables away, where it looked like she was also on a work lunch.

And she had her mask off.

He'd been right, she was attractive. And her smile was beautiful. She had these freckles that were prominent over the bridge of her nose, like she got a lot of sunshine.

It didn't seem she had noticed him though. He kept sneaking glances over her way, hoping that they would lock eyes and she might smile at him brightly and wave, but she didn't, and then her server came over with the bill to her table and he watched her get up and head towards the coat check.

This was his chance.

"Bathroom," Harry told his group as he got to his feet and followed discreetly behind her, trying his best not to be creepy. The rest of her group must have actually headed for the loo because Ginny was the only person searching for her coat in the large closet. "I knew you were bound to have a pretty smile," he said as his opening line.

She jumped and looked over at him, squinting her eyes in thought a bit before she smiled that beautiful smile. "And I should have guessed that you would have wild and untamable hair."

His hand instinctively went to try and smooth down some of it, he hadn't thought about how he'd been wearing a beanie every time they'd seen each other before.

A beanie and a mask, it was a wonder that she seemed to know who he was at all.

"Oh, don't. It suits you," she stepped forward and put her hand on his wrist to bring it down.

"We keep missing each other on the train," he said absently as her thumb started moving in circles on the inside of his arm, it was distracting and made his whole arm tingly.

Ginny stepped closer to him. "You're missing me, are you?" There was an obvious glint of happiness in her eye, and the little smirk on her face had a sexy predatory look to it.

He grew excited by that smirk, then he caught a faint whiff of red wine on her breath and tried to reel himself back in. "You've had a few on your lunch break, have you?"

"Just two. But it was social pressure and I'm a terrible lightweight."

"And I suppose you need to rush back to work right now?" He was desperate for her to say no, maybe suggest that they simply stay in this coat closet for another hour or so, just so they could spend some mask-free time together and... chat.

"And you have a table of people to get back to as well?" She stepped even closer to him then and he could feel the phantom presence of her body so close to his. "And you're concerned I'm not thinking clearly, so I probably shouldn't make the bold move of snogging you in restaurant closet."

Yes, you should, his mind was yelling! It had been two years since he'd last kissed anyone and he missed it.

He'd wanted her to be the one to do it, because she was the bolder of the two of them, but she was so close already, so instead he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. She relaxed against him and wound one of her hands into his hair.

This interesting relationship of theirs was moving incredibly fast considering this was only their third meeting, but just then Harry couldn't find it in himself to care. They were snogging in the coat room like a pair of randy teenagers, he felt like a randy teenager. It had certainly been long enough since he'd been intimate with someone that he felt revirginized, which was why he was pulling her closer by wrapping his arms around her and stirring in his trousers at her responding moan of pleasure.

He could taste the wine on her tongue and and feel her breasts press harder against his chest when she breathed in heavily. It was heaven.

His hand was just about to trail down to her bum when someone cleared their throat.

Harry pulled back and looked over at their interloper and recognized that it was someone that had been at Ginny's table.

Ginny looked over and let out a chuckle. "See, I told you I'm a lightweight," she told her friend.

"And two glasses of wine is all you need to start snogging strangers in coat rooms?" This work-friend of Ginny's didn't appear all that impressed. The woman appeared a few years older than them and was fighting to keep a smirk off of her face.

"We do know each other," he jumped in. "I guess I just have ideal timing."

"And I should be thanking you for feeding them to me! I've wanted to get him alone for weeks," Ginny announced.

Weeks? Harry perked up in interest. She should have introduced herself sooner.

"Well, you've jumped him now and we need to get back to the office. So, grab your coat, I'm sure you'll see him later."

Ginny chuckled and detangled herself from him so she could get her coat while Harry exchanged a look with the work friend, apologizing with his eyes and feeling a bit of embarrassment at getting caught.

Ginny pulled out her phone when she got her coat on. "Here," she punched a few things into the screen and handed it over. "It's about the right time we exchanged numbers."

The next week passed with them texting back and forth regularly through out the day and night and meeting up twice more on the train.

There weren't any opportunities that felt right enough to start snogging her again though; certainly not on the train.

Then, finally, it was a Saturday and they had made plans to meet up for lunch.

He was excited about it. Not so excited that he was nervous though. He'd been on the phone with his friend Neville the evening before and couldn't resist telling him all about Ginny and their story of meeting on the morning commute and everything that had happened since then.

Neville had been out of the dating game for a while, and that fact was very obvious at how he was absolutely useless at giving Harry advise for how to behave on this first proper date of his and Ginny's. Neville had dated a few different girls when they were at uni together, but then he'd met Hannah and the two of them had dated for three years before getting married and now had their second child on the way. This translated into his best mate repeating 'it's not that complicated' over and over again, because he'd forgotten what a mess he'd been when he and Hannah were just starting off.

By comparison, Harry was well behind the mark in getting his life sorted out. Neville had gotten married and had a house by the age of twenty-five, meanwhile, Harry had gone from flat let to flat let before finally investing in a condo that, according to Neville, was for consummate bachelors at the age of twenty eight. Then the pandemic happened and now he was thirty and still getting worked up over a first date.

He wound up confessing all this to Ginny when they were at the restaurant and she smiled and laughed and commiserated with him the whole way through.

"Trust me, I've been there," she said. "Hell, I am there. My mum has been pushing me to find someone to settle down with ever since I finished up with secondary. She met my dad when they were in school and expected every one of her children to do so as well."

"And did that happen for any of your brothers?"

"It did for two of them, but she never pushed any of them like she has with me. In fact, I think her pushing might have helped put me off the whole idea more than anything else."

"Like some sort of rebellion against your mum?"

"No, more like every time I started dating someone and it got to the point of it being time to bring him home to meet the family, I just knew the pressure I'd get would be too much, so I'd think about what my life would be like two years down the road with the bloke and it wouldn't be where I wanted to see myself. I had goals and dreams and when there were decisions about my career or life to be made, if there was another person that needed to be consulted before I could make that next leap..." she shrugged. "I just wasn't ready to, you know, hitch my horse."

"So, you'd ditch them?"

"You make it sound like I'd just break it off right then and there! No, I'd give it a bit more time and consideration than that. I've only had two relationships where this situation came up, and after talking it through with them, it turned out they'd had the same kind of concerns. It was mutual."

He nodded. That was fair. "Any now you've got your position at the publishing house, is that it for you? Where you wanted to see yourself?"

"I'm on the career path that I wanted and working for a company that I like, with people that I like, so I'd like to keep working my way up, but I'm feeling pretty settled career wise now."

"So, the next challenge is finding someone to settle in with?" he smirked at her.

"Don't start feeling all cocky now. This is only our first proper date. Your friend might have told you to look at this like it was the start of forever, but as you said, he's been out of the game for a while."

That had him grinning.

He really liked Ginny, but if she'd have told him she was looking for 'the one', he wasn't sure he would have been very receptive to that. He wanted to take this slow and test the waters, not dive right in.

As it stood now, they were still on that precipice of potentially turning into a relationship, or winding up really good friends that had snogged one time in a coat closet.

Who was he kidding? He'd wanted to kiss her again as soon as he'd spotted her on the train after their coat closet encounter. And he'd wanted to greet her with one of those big sweeping kisses that had her nearly bent over backwards when she'd arrived at the restaurant as well.

"I'm feeling no pressure. We'll just have to see what happens," he agreed.

Their lunch dragged on for two hours before she had to go and he walked her out and down the street to the nearest station. He wanted to end the date there, rather than wait with her for the train to arrive and hurriedly say a farewell.

At the bottom of the steps he took her hand.

"I'm headed back the opposite direction to my place," he told her.

"Then I guess I'll text you later and see what you made of this lunch of ours."

"I can tell you that right now; I'd like to do it again. But dinner next time."

"I'd be alright with that," she told him, her eyes sparkling.

He leaned towards her then, pausing when he was just the right distance away, and waited for her to move in as well. She didn't though, she just raised one eyebrow and grinned at him in challenge to follow through all on his own. He chuckled at her and did what she so clearly wanted him to.

She missed her first train because they were too caught up in each other to realize until they heard it leaving the station. He pulled away from her lips in time to see it moving away overhead of them.

"Whoops," he laughed.

"I suppose that means you'll need to keep me occupied for another ten minutes," she told him breathlessly and pulled him back to meet her lips.

Harry was still grinning about how their date went as he stood on the platform on Monday morning. He'd texted her when he left his house to head for the station, but it turned out that they weren't going to be on the same train this morning, she'd caught the one earlier. He was a little bummed about missing her but knew they would meet up again soon.

It felt as though he was walking on air, he'd found someone he really liked! They talked and texted regularly and had one really lovely date that ended in them snogging so heatedly that she'd missed her train.

There hadn't been a sense in him that he'd been missing something in his life before he'd met her. He had wanted a girlfriend, sure, but now that he'd found the prospect of one in Ginny, he felt like a weight he hadn't realized he was carrying was lifted off him.

It was the next day, Tuesday, that he ran into her again. And this time, they were taking the same train home from Blackfriar. He spotted her hair through the crowd of people on the platform waiting for the train and walked over to stand beside her.

"I suppose it's a bit to early on in this relationship for me to simply greet you with a hug from behind?"

He'd caught her by surprise but she regained composure quickly. "I'd say it's a bit too early to be doing anything from behind, so, good call."

It was a good thing he already had his mask in place so she couldn't see just how much his mouth gaped open at that kind of response from her. He stifled a laugh when the shock quickly wore off. "Hug hello from the front then?"

He could tell she was grinning from her eyes alone as she turned towards him and her arms went around his neck.

Even through the mask he could smell a whiff of something wild and fragrant about her hair. He liked that she didn't douse herself in perfume, it made the scent of her hair stand out more, and it smelled wonderful.

"Dinner plans?" he asked once they were seated on the train.

"Is that an offer? Because the only thing I have at home is Pot Noodles and a despondent flatmate."

"What's wrong with your flatmate?"

"According to her? Everything. In actuality though, she's just coming down from an unsuccessful romantic holiday that wound up breaking she and her boyfriend up."

"Wow, that's the opposite of what you want from a romantic holiday."

"No kidding. She keeps going on about how many quid she spent on the trip and it was all for nothing. So, if you're offering, anything would be better than going home to listen to her recount exactly where it all went wrong again."

"How about take-away and my couch, we can watch some telly while you tell me about how the rest of your weekend went?"

Thirty minutes later they were back at his condo, starting into their takeaway while she was recounting what her twin brothers had got up to at their parents place over Sunday dinner and it had him in stitches.

"They're constantly getting my niece to prank her parents by accident, you would have thought she'd know not to trust her uncles by now. Ron, my closest brother in age, he's the worst for teaching the next generation of Weasley's all the curse words; he's been smacked upside the head so many times by mum that I think there's something loose in there."

Harry chuckled. He liked hearing all about her large family. "I've only got the one sibling, Rose, she's two years younger and I was the one teaching her all the curse words. Mum was pretty angry about that, but dad thought it was funny."

"No teaching her how to prank then?"

"Not by me, no, I was the one getting pranked though. Our uncle taught both of us all about different pranks; you know, the whole saran wrap around the toilet seat bit, it is much more effective on men."

"Bigger splash back potential," she nodded wisely. "And do they all live far from here?"

"Mum and dad are up in Sheffield, so it's too far a trek for a simple Sunday dinner. Rose is only just over in Cambridge and she pops in to crash here if she's down to see something in the city."

"Is she studying there?"

"No, she's a nurse at Anglia Ruskin for the students. Mostly she just deals with keeping stock on birth control and giving flu shots. She likes it though, she gets to audit on any classes she wants."

"She's a studious one then?"

"Very. Keeps saying she's doing what she does to pay the bills for now."

"Smart girl," Ginny nodded her head approvingly. "That uni debt is no joke."

He nodded. "It's why I went into the field I did, figured out where the world was going and found the career that was on the rise and paid the best."

"Does that mean you don't like it then?"

"Once I got an understanding for it I started liking it. Now I'm happy with my job."

"It's a nice place you've got here as well."

He saw her glance over to the bedroom door, likely because she was curious about what the entire place looked like. He said nothing about it other than to make a sound of agreement and focus on finishing off the rest of his food.

Ginny was the first person to finish her food and put her container down on the coffee table, then sat back sideways with her arm propped against her head and on the back of the couch, waiting patiently for him to finish his while they made faces at each other. She was trying to make him laugh and potentially choke on his food and he just wanted to keep making her smile.

Then he was done and they both sat there facing each other.

"What now?" he asked. He hadn't turned the telly on like he'd said he would, and he didn't want to. They'd managed to carry on conversation just fine while they'd been eating, but now there was nothing else to occupy them besides each other, and he didn't want the distraction of a program getting in the way of that.

"Well, I think we've gone through just about all the initial 'getting to know you' conversation. So, next comes the other thing."

He really hoped that 'the other thing' she was talking about was the same 'other thing' that had him not ordering anything with garlic at the take-away place.

"You made me man up an go for it at the end of our last date. I think it's only fair that you make the first move here."

"Oh, are we at the end of the date already?" she asked, scooting closer to him.

"That is entirely up to you. I wouldn't mind if we were still considering this the beginning."

Her hand came forwards to lay on his chest and she picked at one of the buttons on his shirt. "I don't know. Isn't there a three-date rule?" Her words were saying one thing, but the way she was moving closer and the look in her eyes coupled with that sly smile of hers, that said something else entirely.

"I believe the three-date rule only applies when the couple are still just getting to know each other. If that's the case, then technically we are about six dates in." He was determined not to move no matter how desperate he was to pull her in closer.

"Let's see," she pretended to thing, her lips turning down into an adorable pout, "there was that first time I started talking to you on the train."

"One," he counted off.

"Then you found me in my favorite car."

"Two."

"Then we bumped into each other at the restaurant and had that lovely snog."

He grinned widely. "Three."

"Then the train again another two times last week."

"Four and Five."

"Our lunch date," she said in a hushed tone now as she practically crawled into his lap.

"Six." His arms wrapped around her waist now as she straddled him.

"And then here we are today at your place, having just had dinner."

"Seven."

"Hmm," she hummed, her lips nearly close enough to his now that he could almost feel the vibration of them at the sound. "And that is my favorite number."

"Which would mean I should make this a very unforgettable date."

Her fingers wound into his hair and her body pressed closer into his, he felt the extra pressure of her pelvis getting as full a contact against his as was possible through their clothes. "Wouldn't want to refuse you the opportunity for that, now would I?"

His hands trailed up her back, under her shirt and she arched into him with a moan that he felt vibrate through his whole body. "You'd best not," he agreed.

Her head had fallen back as his hands massaged up and down her spine, daring to under the strap of her bra. "Mmm, that feels good."

As she enjoyed the movements of his hand, her hips started moving in fluid motions, rubbing up against his jeans. The sensation was making his brain go fuzzy and without thought, he brought his face forward and buried it in the v-neck of her shirt, nuzzling against her breasts.

She didn't stop him from carrying on, so he didn't. He kissed along the bare breast that was available to him before kissing her through her shirt until he reached where her nipple would be beneath the material and gave a gentle nip there. Ginny was continuing to gasp and moan at his efforts, her hips still moving wondrously against his own. He moved over to her other breast, then up her collar to her neck. Her head came forward to rest against his shoulder as he carried on, kissing, licking and sucking at her neck and collar until she gave a sudden shiver and a small cry before her breathing became labored.

She'd just gotten off.

And he was painfully aroused, still trapped between her thighs.

Harry stopped his kisses and gave her a moment to compose herself. She sat up straight, flush faced and not looking the least bit embarrassed.

"Can I see your room now?"

He grinned at her and clamped his arms around her waist and under her bum, carrying her into the bedroom and falling down with her onto the blanket, where their lips finally met.

Their hands grappled with one another's clothing, items being flung this way and that across the room to land on the floor until finally they were both naked.

Harry looked down at her, trying to memorize the view before him; bare legs, a thin patch of red hair between them, a deep navel and lovely breasts. In the meantime, Ginny was admiring him the same way, her gaze spending a good deal of time on the erection between his legs.

When they locked eyes again she licked her lips and he quickly lay over her again, eager to kiss those lips once more.

The feel of their bare bodies against each other was heaven. He explored every inch of her he could reach with his hands, making sure to let his fingers spend a good deal of time between her legs, his fingers dipping inside the warmth of her a few times and appreciating the slick feel of her there.

It was the feel of her nails digging into his back, trying to tell him to move closer, that finally had him reaching into his nightstand and quickly grabbing a condom. As he sat up to put it on, Ginny watched him with her bottom lip between her teeth and one hand massaging her own breast.

He settled back down between her legs and looked into her eyes, making sure once more that she wanted this; her growl of impatience told him not only did she want it, but that he'd better get on with it.

He took himself in hand and kissed her neck as he eased himself inside of her.

God, it had been so long since he'd felt that pleasure. His body gave an involuntary shudder once he was completely inside of her.

"Mmm, so full," Ginny moaned and rotated her hips.

"So hot," he agreed with another kiss to her neck.

He started setting the pace, grabbing on to the underside of her thigh as he did so. It was like riding a really hot bicycle, one that was desperate to ride him as well. They worked together to make every movement just right, her grabbing his arse when she found what worked for her, and him causing a bit of delayed gratification for her by properly thrusting into her in a way that made her moan but pushed away her next finish.

When she did cum again she lifted her head up and nipped at his ear and said that two hottest words he could have possibly heard just then; Fuck me. It wasn't a sigh, it wasn't a compliment, it was an order.

And he gave her what she asked for; a rapid fire of thrusts that had her panting like a bitch in heat and him starting to sweat. But it felt too good to stop.

Then, just when he thought his arms would give out on him, he came.

Loudly.

The sound that came out of his mouth, he didn't know what it was and he was too satisfied to care. Nearly all of his energy had been zapped out of him and he only just managed to stop himself from flopping down entirely on top of her.

"That sounded like it was long overdue," she whispered.

"Right back at you," he said, his voice hoarse from all the gasping that he'd been doing while in the throes of things. He rolled over beside her and lay there for a minute, recovering. "That was amazing."

"It really was."

His eyes were closed, but he was picturing her saying that with a lovely, satiated grin on her face.

"Give me a minute, and I'll get us some water."

"Hmm, I'm going to need that, followed by ice cream."

"Oh yes, something cold and sweet would go over really well right now."

"Have you got any?"

He did a quick mental inventory of the contents of his freezer. "No."

"Is there a grocers or a corner store close by?"

"Yes. But I can't move just yet." He felt the mattress move and opened his eye to see that Ginny was getting off the bed and already searching for her clothes.

"You aren't leaving, are you?" he panicked.

"No," she laughed. "I'm getting you water, then I want to go and get some ice cream."

"To bring back here?" he asked, trying to indicate with his tone that he wanted her to stay at his place longer. Preferably, she'd stay all night.

"Yes. To bring back here." Then he noticed she peeked a look in his still open nightstand drawer, where he kept his condoms. Then she looked back over at him and gave a wink, "just checking if I needed to pick anything else up while I'm out."

The next morning he woke up feeling only a little bit rested, and incredibly sore.

He'd needed three condoms between last night and early this morning and his reserve energy was all used up.

But it was completely worth it.

Ginny was still in bed with him, and she was still asleep, there was the hint of blue under her eyes that indicated to him that she too would be yawning at her desk today, and it made him grin.

He looked over at his clock and saw that it was just after 6:00am. He normally woke up at 6:30am to go through his morning routine and get to the station on time, but Ginny surely couldn't go into work wearing the same clothes that she'd been wearing the day before.

"Ginny," he whispered as he ran his hand down her bare back. She stirred and gave a deep breath indicating that she was waking, but not fully awake. "Ginny, I don't know how far away you live, but if you need fresh clothes for work…"

Her eyes popped open. "Bugger!" she popped up and looked quickly around the room. "What time is it?"

"I don't know how far away you live, but if it's more than twenty minutes, you're too late to make it there and into work on time I think."

She chewed her lip and looked over at the pile of clothes they'd discarded on the floor again last night when they got back from the corner store, winding up with ice cream and crisps and gummy candies. Then she looked over towards his closet, then down at him. "Would it be too much if I borrowed one of your dress shirts? I think I can make that work."

He found the idea of her wearing one of his shirts very appealing. "I'd kind of love it if you did that. And you know what? I think I've got one from my old school uniforms still in the closet somewhere."

"And me wearing some of your clothes, that's not being pushy or anything?" she pressed.

His brow furrowed at the question. "I'm kind of hoping to see you again, so no. In fact, having you visit my place regularly sounds like a fantastic idea."

She lay back down beside him, cuddling in a bit. "Oh really?"

"Yeah, I mean, don't expect me to be able to pull an all-nighter every time, because I've still got a job to do that I need my brain to function for, but I think we're getting on brilliantly so far, so we should keep… getting on."

She chuckled, "well put."

He knew that was ineloquent, but he didn't care. "Yeah, I'd even say, you know, if we were putting labels on things, that we've stepped up from our relationship of being 'commute buddies'."

"To fuck buddies?"

"Nah, too crass, and it sounds like we'd want to prioritize friendship."

"Instead of a relationship?"

He tucked himself in closer to her. "I'd really like to be in a proper relationship with you."

She cupped his cheek and brought his mouth down to hers for a kiss. "I'd like that too."

Then she bit her bottom lip again and he had to pull away. "Oh no, don't do that sexy thing with your lip again," he teased. "You've run me dry. The well needs filling again before you can take anymore from it." He got out of the bed and pulled on a pair of pants while she chuckled and stretched out on the bed. It was a really nice sight to have first thing in the morning. "If you wanted to join me in the shower though…"

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