He stroked her hair out of her face and gently pressed his lips to hers again. Carefully tracing the side of her cheek while probing her mouth with his tongue, he pressed his chest against hers and moaned softly. She succumbed willingly for a moment before pulling away, looking into his eyes.
“Dylan was…”
“You know,” he said teasingly, “talking about Dylan isn’t going to get me in the mood.”
“I didn’t realise you were trying to get in the mood.”
“No, cause touching you, and kissing you, and being close to you, it’s such a turn off. I do it just to cool off after…” His joke didn’t have the desired effect. She looked down and moved away, getting off the bed they’d been laying on. “Beka?” He suddenly realised what’s wrong. “Oh…you know I was joking, you know I didn’t mean it…”
“I know! I know.” She still walked away from him, arms wrapped around herself. “I know you were…I just…”
“I shouldn’t have…I was joking, I…”
“No, it’s fine. It’s not your fault.”
“I guess…” he searched for the words, determined to explain even though no explanation had been asked for. “You’ve been…well you’re eating fine, I don’t even have to remind you and…well, I guess I can sometimes just forget that doesn’t mean there’s no problem now.”
“Look, it doesn’t matter.”
“But it does! It’s stupid!”
“Please,” she pleaded, “can we just forget it, please?”
“Yeah,” he said quickly. “Yeah, of course. So what were you going to say about Dylan?”
“Yeah, that. Well, he started to…talk to me.”
“He talked to you?” Harper said in mock horror. “Oh no!”
“Harper! He…well, he asked if having a…relationship…is a good idea, and then he told me to keep him updated! I mean, can you believe it? Updated? I just…” She calmed down slightly. “But anyway…it made me think.”
“About?”
“Well, are we even updated? I mean, so far…we haven’t really talked at all about what we’re doing.” Harper looked confused.
“What we’re doing? Beka, we haven’t gone further than kisses and cuddles, I’d hardly say we’re getting into anything we’ll regret! Not that I think we’d regret it even if we had gone further…”
“Don’t push your luck,” she said sternly, but she seemed happier than before. “But seriously. Where are we going with this?”
“Well, as far as I know, we’re not going anywhere. I mean, we’re just…doing what feels good, aren’t we?”
“Right. Yeah, I guess you’re right. Look, I’m just going to…”
“Beka! Don’t do this…” he caught her by the arm and spun her around before she could leave. “What’s wrong?”
“Well, maybe…” she searched for the words, “maybe I want it to be going somewhere. I don’t mean; I’m not saying we should marry and have kids and live happily ever after, but…well, I’d like to know it’s something more than just…”
“Just what?”
“I don’t know! A fling?”
“A fling?” He gave a disbelieving laugh. “Do you not remember what I told you?”
“You mean about…” She trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.
“Beka, I do love you. Ok? So you can stop worrying about that.” He leaned over and kissed her gently. “And about where this is going…wherever it is, I’m sure it’s a good place.”
“And Dylan?”
“Can’t you just ignore Dylan?” She paused for a second, and then shrugged.
“I guess that’s what I kind of always do,” she said with a cheeky smile, then kissed him again. “Shall we go back to bed and…further explore the theory of totally not thinking at all about Dylan?”
