Sunshine Kisses

Erik pulled back from her and swiped another few tears away, earnest grey eyes meeting hers. ‘I’m not them though. You think I haven’t been too much for people my whole life? It’s not fun hanging out with the guy who can’t handle excessive noise or unfamiliar smells, or gets a headache if the light pattern in a restaurant is off. But you and me…we’ve always been the right amount of much for each other. I fucking love when you’re loud, and I love listening to you talk. You could present a two hour lecture on the merits of reality dating shows and I’d ask for an encore. And for the record, I’m still very interested in hearing your thoughts on pegging. You think there’s anyone else I regularly send two thousand word emails to? No. Because anyone else would think I was insane.’

‘Those emails are the highlight of my week,’ Abby said quietly, her heart rate increasing with every word he spoke.

‘Mine too. Because we work. Present tense. Maybe even…future tense?’

And he always knew exactly how to pull her out of despair, didn’t he? ‘Don’t flirt in semantics. You know it’s not fair,’ she said. But resistance was futile against the grin now tugging at her lips.

Erik’s smile grew to match hers. ‘Listen to me, Sunshine. I will say this as many times as it takes to get it into your stubborn little head: you are perfect for me. I know everything about you, the good and the bad, and I love you because of, not in spite of, each of those tiny details. I know you’re scared of losing me. Us. But I’m not going anywhere. Because I’ve had to find a way to live without you for seven years. And that was about six years, three hundred and sixty-four days more than I needed to know that I don’t want to live without you. You’ve always been the best thing in my life. There were times when it felt like you were the only good thing. Even when you were on the other side of the world, knowing you were an email or a text away made every day a little brighter. You make the good stuff better, and you make the bad stuff bearable.’ He exhaled heavily, dropping his forehead to hers. ‘I’m sorry. I thought I was showing you. My whole life I thought it was so fucking obvious how I felt about you. But I should have known you needed to hear the words. It’s the same mistake I made the first time. I left you too much time to overthink things, when I should have told you I was crazy about you from the start.’

Abby bunched her hands in Erik’s jumper, letting his soothing scent wash over her. He smelled like soap and mint toothpaste. He smelled like home.

‘Now are you going to keep coming up with bullshit reasons I shouldn’t be making you deliriously happy, or are you going to let me kiss you?’

‘Wait,’ Abby whispered, tightening her fists and pushing slightly on Erik’s chest. She hated herself for the ember of concern that flickered in his eyes. But she needed him to hear this. The words she hoped would douse it forever. ‘I love you too. I’m in desperate, hopeless, romance novel-worthy love with you. And I always will be.’

Erik paused for one second more, then breathed, ‘Fucking finally,’ before pressing his lips softly to hers.

The kiss felt different to the others they had shared in the last— Had it really only been twenty-four hours? Those had been frantic, both of them desperately trying to feel and give as much as they could in the short time they were guaranteed. But suddenly there was no urgency, just quiet whimpers as they opened up, grasping each other ever tighter. A tactile acknowledgement that they had no time limit or expiry date. It had more in common with their first kiss from all those years ago, both of them pouring their hearts into this moment they never wanted to end.

When Abby finally broke away—oxygen was a frankly annoying requirement for life—Erik immediately pressed a kiss to her forehead, like he couldn’t bear to have any separation between them.

‘Where does that go on the kiss ranking?’ he mumbled, lips barely lifting from her skin.

‘Straight to number one. Buttercup and Westley can suck it.’

Erik laughed, sounding so unabashedly happy it made her heart soar.

‘I know things have moved fast,’ he said, ‘but this isn’t physical for me, okay? I mean, it is a little. Because I fucking love touching you. But I’ll be thrilled if we just cuddle the whole night if that’s what you want. I don’t expect anything from you. Except the promise that I’ll never have to let you go again.’

‘That’s too bad.’ A playful smile spread across Abby’s face. ‘Because it’s a little physical for me.’

Erik raised his eyebrows.

‘You got really hot,’ she said seriously.

A full, proper laugh exploded out of her…boyfriend? What a small, silly word for what they were to each other.

‘Should I be concerned you only want me for my body?’

‘Oh, absolutely.’

Erik bent again, his smiling lips colliding with her giggling mouth. ‘Now that I’m allowed to do that,’ he said, voice lighter than she’d ever heard it, ‘I hope you know I’m never going to stop.’

‘Don’t,’ she whispered, pulling him back down.

She lost all sense of time as Erik kissed her, slow and deep. The gentle crash of waves below and the light breeze on her skin faded from her consciousness until she was only aware of him. They didn’t hear the door squeaking open. When she thought back on the sound she had dimly processed as the wind scraping at a piece of furniture, she would realise it had more likely been a throat clearing. But they broke apart when a loud voice said, ‘Uh, guests aren’t supposed to be up here.’

Chapter 19

Crash – You Me At Six

B

y the time they reached their floor, Erik was almost running, pulling Abby along behind him. After mumbling apologies to the poor hotel worker who had stumbled upon them, they scrambled down flight after flight of stairs, pausing on landings to exchange clumsy, giggling kisses.

‘Room?’ Erik called over his shoulder.

‘Yours.’ Abby was breathless with the heady combination of joy, desire, and exertion.