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“I love you. I love you so fucking much,” Cornell panted with each strong thrust. Each time, the pause between words grew shorter until they blended into the sweetest song Ali had ever heard. When his body tensed and his hand gripped her hip, Cornell stilled, losing himself as his body sang the same song into her, filling her to the brim with more good.
Carefully collapsing on top of her, Cornell rested his lips against her cheek. Heavy, racing breaths simmered into sweet, whispered affirmations. “You don’t know what you mean to me.”
A sense of greed rolled through her body as she drank him in—his smell, his weight, his forever calloused fingertips that danced along her body. It was a different kind of drowning. He was breathing life back into her. And Ali wanted more.
“Tell me,” she pressed, turning so they were nose to nose, mouth to mouth. “Please.”
“You’re not something anymore,” he whispered.
“What am I then?”
The wide grin baring the small gap between his top two teeth latched onto her heart.
“You’re everything.”
Ali smiled back—drowning could be good too.
* * *
“Ouch!”
“How many of these do you have in there?” Cornell asked, pulling another bobby pin out of Ali’s now half-remaining updo and tossing it on the vanity before reaching for another.
“Almost an entire package,” she said, squeezing the Jasmine-scented soap under the running water.
Cornell pulled the last one free, running his fingers through her hair. “Think we’ll both fit?”
“I’ve missed having a tub.” She reached into the bag Cornell had packed, in search of something to tie her hair back with. “Nothing is stopping me from getting in.” Fastening her hair on top of her head with a small clip, Ali stepped into the warm water, sinking into the bubbles with a purr of a groan.
“I love seeing you in these,” Cornell said, reaching out and twirling one of his mother’s earrings.
Ali raised her eyes and looked up at him. “I love wearing them.” Cornell’s smile widened, and she narrowed her eyes. “You said she’d hate it if you pierced your ears.” Ali reached out, running her hand over The Big Friendly Giant inked forever into his skin. “What would she think about these? Would she like them?”
Cornell pursed his lips, thinking for a moment. “Nah. She might try to scrub them off with a Brillo pad.”
Breaking into giggles, Ali sank lower into the bubbles. “Come. What are you waiting for?”
Cornell reached over and turned off the faucet in the middle of the tub before joining her, sitting on the opposite side. Water sloshed over the edges as he wedged himself in, legs bent, framing Ali’s sides. “Little tight. Not sure why they said it was oversized on the room description.”
She pressed both feet against his chest and dropped a mound of bubbles atop Cornell’s knee. “You are oversized,” she teased, giggling when Cornell tickled the bottom of her foot.
“We’d need a bigger tub at home.”
“Or a pool,” Ali joked before sighing when Cornell began to rub the ball of her foot. She shut her eyes, letting her body surrender.
“We’d have space for a bigger tub if we blow out the master bathroom wall.”
“It’s not really our wall to blow out. We rent.”
“Add on another bedroom and still have a decent backyard.”
“We rent,” Ali repeated, opening her eyes.
“And paint the front door,” Cornell continued, lifting her foot from the water. “You said it would look better if it was black.”
Pulling her foot from his grasp, Ali sat up. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that maybe the landlord told me he wouldn’t be renewing our lease because he’s planning to sell it.” Cornell sifted through the bubbles between them. “I have some money from my mom’s house. I’ve never touched it. It would probably take care of the down payment and… ”
