Page 83 of Promise

Iwake first and take a second to process where I am.

The room is familiar. The layout. The paint color on the wall. And yet everything about this space feels different.

I shift my head, finding Trin still tucked under my arm. Her arm draped over my waist. Her breath against my chest.

A quiet awareness of what we did on the staircase and our interaction in the shower afterward surrounds me.

I tug her a little tighter to me, not hoping to wake, but not willing to let her go yet.

The feeling of holding her again. In this position. In our bed. It’s like a dream. Only I have proof it wasn’t because she’s still here. She didn’t disappear last night. The heat of her body seeps into mine. Her skin is so soft when I tickle my fingertips along her shoulder.

Trin wakes with a little start. Her body stiffening beneath mine, perhaps wondering where she is, just like I did. Then slowly she melts into my side and tips up her head.

“Good morning.” Her voice is groggy with sleep. One of my favorite sounds from her.

“Morning, baby.” I kiss the tip of her nose and continue to stroke my fingertips around her shoulder.

“How did you sleep?” I ask, worried that she was plagued by more fears about us.

“Surprisingly well.” She shifts down my arm, getting a better view of my face.

I shift as well to mirror her position, both of us on our side. “Surprisingly well,” I tease, meeting her eyes. Eyes that still hold a ghost of concern, and I want to address that issue. I want to address all her worries, but right now I just want to breathe in our position, luxuriate in it.

“Better than I have in years,” I admit.

“Me too,” she whispers.

I take her hand and bring it to my lips, kissing the ends of each finger. Trinity watches me, a slow smile curling one side of her mouth higher than the other.

“Hi,” I whisper, suddenly hyperaware of our body position, while almost shy about it when I’ve never been shy a day in my life.

“Hi,” she says back.

Suddenly, I recall one of our first times in her bed. We were in a position just like we are now. Just staring at one another. For my part, I kept wondering if we were real. If this incredible, beautiful, smart, driven woman was really lying next to me. Had she really let me touch her, enter her, kiss her everywhere?

Presently, Trin reaches forward and traces down my nose.

A subtle reminder that not only did it happen as I thought all those years ago, but it happened again. And again.

A dozen years of marriage to her, and some things were steadfast. She was still incredible and beautiful, and smart and driven. And she did let me touch her and enter her.

I can only hope to kiss her everywhere soon.

For now, I lean forward, breaking our eye contact, and run my nose along the side of hers. Her breath hitches. But her hand comes to the side of my head, stroking her fingers through my hair.

“We should probably get up soon,” she whispers.

“Okay,” I mutter, still running my nose against hers, breathing her in.

Her summertime and fresh meadow scent is still apparent. A hint of sleeping against me.

We don’t move.

Her hand rubs down the side of my neck and over my chest, resting against my sternum. I slide my hand over her hip, feeling the silky material of her nightdress.

“Dart,” she whispers, the sound a little breathless more than a warning.

“Yeah, Forever?” I smile, my mouth just centimeters from hers.