She stilled in my arms, for what seemed like a long, long time.
I guess she heard.
Shit.
"Um...I mean I love how..." I stammered, trying to plan out damage control for the words I had said far too early.
Suddenly her lips were on mine in the sweetest kiss I've ever experienced - slow and thorough, with a hint of passion, but mostly just sweet.
"I love you too, Darce. God, I love you so much..." her voice was low, full of emotion, and nearly wrecked me. We held on to each other tightly for what could have been hours, but was probably just long, long moments.
The slamming door brought us back to the present, and we both jumped and pulled slightly apart, looking at the closed door sheepishly.
"Damn," Kim said with a wry smile, "I guess I could have handled that better."
"Do you want to go after her?" I tried to keep the fear out of my voice, the need. Logically I knew that if she did go after her, it wasn't the end of the world. She told me she loved me - we had plenty of time, right?
"No." She said firmly, and I couldn't hide the sigh of relief. She searched my face for a while, and kissed me softly, gripping my arms.
"Darcy." I'd been avoiding her eyes, but the seriousness of her tone got my attention.
I nodded to show I was listening.
"Simone and I...we were together for about four months, and broke up when it wasn't going anywhere."
I kept my eyes on hers, trying to ignore the irrational feelings that welled up on hearing about her past lover.
"A few months ago, we hooked up again at a party - neither of us was seeing anyone, and we had always been go..." she looked at me with a grimace and changed her wording, "comfortable...together, so we sort of got back together, but not really..." she took a hand from my waist and ran it through her hair nervously. She took a breath, then another, and ran her hand through her hair again.
I knew there were things we needed to talk about - apologies to be made and accepted on both sides - but at that moment, they didn't seem very important. I grabbed her hand, and brought it to my lips, kissing each knuckle gently.
"Do I need to worry about her?" I said softly.
She blinked, and shook her head.
"Do you love me? Really?" I tried to keep my voice steady, but it broke a little and I cringed at how pathetic I sounded.
She blinked again, and then treated me to the biggest, most genuine smile I had ever seen.
"Really, I do." She grabbed the front of my sweater and pulled me close.
"I really, really love you, Darcy Max," she said before laying a kiss on me that rocked my world and made me a believer.
We broke apart, gasping for breath, and I wondered if the smile on my face was as silly as the smile on hers.
I hoped so - it was friggin' adorable.
"I don't think you'll need this for a while..." I said as I pulled off her coat and let it fall to the ground behind us.
"Or this..." I un-tucked the turtleneck she was wearing, and pulled it over her head, letting it fall next to the leather jacket.
Black.
I drew a sharp breath.
I was a sucker for black underwear.
She laughed, a throaty, sexy laugh - god, I loved that laugh - and pulled back, hands on her hips.
"Is that so."
Did I mention how goddamned sexy she was?
"Yup," I said, running my hands up her abdomen and under the edge of her bra. It was her turn to suck in a breath and groan.
"Mmmmm..." I said in approval as I brushed my thumbs fleetingly across her nipples, feeling them harden.
"Jesus, what you do to me..." she said breathlessly, and grabbed my hands, pulling me towards the bedroom.
She somehow managed to relieve me of my sweater, bra and pants before the back of my legs hit the edge of the bed. I was impressed by her resourcefulness and certainly not complaining.
I fell back on the soft comforter, and as soon as she followed, twisted to switch our positions.
I kissed her leisurely, realizing we had all the time in the world. We came up for air, both were smiling like maniacs.
"Think your mom's cookin' french toast in the morning?" I said, feigning seriousness, then closed my eyes, more than a little distracted as she ran her tongue along my collar bone and places lower.
"Mmmmm...maybe..."
She smiled up at me wickedly, and that was the last though I had about breakfast until...well, until breakfast time.