He turned to face her, her eyes roaming his face as she leaned up and cupped his cheek. He closed his eyes and savored her touch. He leaned over and kissed her, still not quite leaning over her, still allowing her some space. He could feel her lips on his. Could feel her warm and willing.

“Dahlia, I-"

“It's okay,” she smiled warmly up at him. “You don’t have to say a word.”

He leaned down, pressing his mouth against her, a little rougher than before. If he had glasses on, with how hot he felt at that moment, they'd probably have fogged up. He felt like he was burning.

“You do matter to me, you know?” he whispered as he kissed her neck and slid his hands over her shoulders, sliding her straps down slightly. The roughness of his hands making goosebumps rise on her body. She nodded, throwing her arms around him, she leaned back to enjoy his kiss.

He pulled her dress up over her head, his eyes sliding down her body, observing and learning her, memorizing her shape. Someday, when all this fell apart, he would at least have this memory of her. When he looked up at her face, he saw her eyes were almost entirely black, the pupils dilated wide. And it was for him.

He had learned that some weeks ago. He could have this effect on her.

She sat up and reached behind her, undoing her bra. She silently prayed that he didn’t recognize any of the changes on her body being from pregnancy. He was a doctor, but he was not a women's care specialist.

“I swear, you look amazing every time I see you,” he whispered and she grinned despite herself.

She bit her lips. She wanted things. Didn’t know what they were, but she wanted things. There was a bubbling feeling rising inside he, and a familiar ache building at her middle.

“Come on now,” he said, leaning over to press her down onto the bed. Feeling heady, she pressed herself even more against him. The last time they had been together, it had been on the couch. They'd basically uncovered the necessary bits and gone to town. This was different, the press of their chest together was intoxicating and she couldn’t get enough.

She reached between their bodies –her mouth still attached to his – and grasped at the buttons on his jeans. He gasped into her mouth, and groaned. The feel of her hand in a place really close to other certain places had him reeling. He didn’t say anything. Instead, he lifted his hips a bit, giving her enough space to be able to undo his jeans, to slide the zipper down.

He waited, holding his breath, to see what she'd do next.

She looked up at his face, and slipped his jeans down.

He huffed out a breath, and rolled off, lying next to her while he kicked his pants off.

“Off, off,” he rasped urgently as he sat up on his knees and pulled Dahlia towards him. Uncovering her body to his eyes, he marbled at how soft and pale her skin was as opposed to his tan skin from all that time he spent outdoors.

Her previous (and only other lover) was a wam-bam kind of guy. She couldn’t remember a time when they'd actually gotten much further than undressing and doing the deed. Then again, there was not a lot of times to count from. She was new at it, and quite frankly, hadn't found the experience all that exciting. She couldn't understand what the fuss was all about before, until now.

“Beautiful,” he murmured against her skin as he ran his hands over her legs. The feel of her body under his enough to make a grown man cry. He kissed her hard, running his hands over her body. He took hold of her hands in each of his own and raised her arms over her head, pressing them against the mattress.

“Please…” she gasped, moaning low.

He moaned, letting her arms go, dropping them to her head. He grasped her face as he plundered her mouth. Every move he made felt as if someone was sticking him with hot poker.

“Look at me, Dahlia,” he said hurriedly and she snapped her eyes to his. Big, glazed eyes that seemed to pull him in. “Look at me!” She couldn’t even think up of completed words. He never once looked away from her eyes. Finally, she moaned, calling his name aloud as her back arched, her head thrown back.

He groaned loudly, feeling as if part of his soul was leaving his body and making its way into hers. He dropped onto her, trying to roll off, but she caught him in her arms.

“Stay like that a minute…”

“Dahlia, I'm heavy.”

“It's alright… Please,” she whispered as she held him in her arms. The weight of his trembling body soothing to her. She breathed him in deeply, holding him for all he was worth, wishing this could last forever.

She held him until his body stopped shaking in the aftermath of their loving. Held him until she felt her eyes begin to droop with sleep, and until she finally passed out, worn from their exertions.

And even then, in her sleep, she still held tight onto him.

She opened her eyes slowly, blinking, trying to adjust to the darkness of the room.

She didn't move. She didn't say a word. The television across the room was not hers. The paintings that were framed on the wall behind it were not hers either. She blinked, when she felt the arm that was across her waist, contract a bit.

She was in bed, embraced by Jared as he laid behind her, his breath warm on her head. He was faintly snoring. She turned over, rolling onto her other side to face him. He groaned, mumbling in his sleep about “twenty patients”, and rolled onto his back, throwing the arm that had embraced her over his head.

She grinned. Even in sleep, he still was mumbling and grumbling about patients. She leaned her head back into his arm, staring up at him. She studied his face, watching the way his mouth was slightly open, the way his eyes seem to move under his eyelids. His nose was straight. His eyelashes long. She had always envied those eyelashes. She wondered how it was that guys always had such beautiful long lashes while most women (like herself) had to constantly struggle to curl their own. He was actually a very handsome man hidden behind his rough and stubborn personality. She felt the strange satisfaction that no one had been able to get to know it until she came along.

Good.

She jerked back.

No. Not good. What are you thinking Dahlia!?

She bit her lip and frowned. There were times where she had these doubts. Should she continue to have a physical relationship with him? Should she leave him instead and let him live his own life? Should she tell him that she was pregnant…

She leaned her head against his chest and just observed him. This man was the one that had gotten past her defenses, gotten to know a lot of things she had not shared with others, didn't want to share with others. Angry and abrasive one second, funny and compassionate the next, she had learned to understand the chaotic way his mind functioned. They were getting way too comfortable with each other…

She rolled away from him, pulling the sheets to her chin, she hugged herself. It was way too early to be feeling bad about herself, but she did anyways.

“You're overthinking things again.”

She sighed, then jumped a little when she felt him roll over to press against her back, his arm around her waist. The heavy weight of his arm was comforting.

“I seem to overthink a lot of things,” she said, not turning around. “It's what I do.” She closed her eyes when he dropped his mouth to kiss her head.

“Don't overthink this. Just enjoy it. Don’t think at all.” He held her against him, not pulling, just letting her lean on him. If she wanted, she could move away. She hadn't so far. It felt really good to have her in his arms. The comforting warmth of her body was a beacon of hope through his dark days.

“We shouldn't have done that.”

He sighed deeply, mumbling into her hair, “Too late now.” Like a child, he snuggled closer to her, continuing to hold her close but not pressing, giving her the opportunity to move away. He hadn't realized before how much he craved this connection, the simple touch of another human being.

He recalled one time, earlier in their work relationship where she had playfully punched him on the arm. She had scowled him for something he'd said and she just reached out and grinning, punched his arm. He blinked, thrown back by her action, and blurted out, “No touchy…” He'd obviously embarrassed her, as she had turned away, mumbled ‘sorry’. She had still been smiling, but the emotion didn’t seem to reach her face and she had been blushing furiously.

He remembered feeling bad afterwards. He wasn't used to human touch –yes, he was a doctor –but not in the sense of joking around or a caress of any kind. He had not told her anything about it, knowing the feeling of embarrassment being reminded of a particular situation, not matter how small, could cause.

She didn't say anything. Instead, she played with the hairs on his arm and laid there thinking.

“Are you okay?”

She felt her face burn.

“Yeah, I'm okay. Why do you ask?”

“Well, you’re awfully quiet.” I actually want to know if you liked it. Did you enjoy it? “You're usually not quiet.” She pulled at a hair on his arm and he yelped. “Hey!”

“Don't be mean now,” she replied, grinning. Without a second thought, she leaned back against him. “But yes, I'm okay.”

There was a moment of pause. “Did you…did you enjoy it?”

She wanted to disappear. She was too old to be blushing, but yet, she found herself hot from head to toe, feeling shy.

“Dahlia?”

“Yeah?”

“You didn't answer my question.”

She twisted around to face him, seeing the concerned look on his face. There was doubt, worry, hope. He was also blushing. “Yes. I did enjoy it. Why do you ask?”

“Well, this is not exactly something I went to school for.”

She smiled, placing her cheek against his shoulder. She dropped her hand to his stomach. Softly, she answered, “It was… good. If my answer doesn't satisfy your question, I don't know what to say. It was very good.”

He grinned, “I guess your sounds are also a good indicator that it was.”

“Oh my gosh!” She tried to cover her face when he chuckled. “Jared!”

He placed a finger under her chin and tilted her face towards his –her eyes wide, cheeks red –so he could look at her. “Are you blushing?” She pouted, biting her lip. “I like it,” he said as he leaned down and kissed her softly.

“You really say the most random things sometimes,” she mumbled, still trying to cover her face. “You're rude.”

“Yeah, I've heard that way too many times.”

He pulled her towards him again, and she let him. Neither one of them said anything else for some time.

Silence was nice.

...

It was moments like this that made her hope that whatever her future held would be good. She was tired of running from everything, and she spent most of her time daydreaming that she had someone to love and love her back.

There were occasions at work where she'd feel jealous when she'd hear others talking about their spouses, about their holidays, their children. Her parents lived far away, and she was married… but her relationship with her husband was so mixed up she didn’t quite understand how she'd made it to this point.

She had no children.

Yet.

The one that laid curled in her womb at the moment, small, and innocent was a miracle in the making. She figured when they both went their own ways, she'd at least have the baby to make her happy. She didn’t want to be selfish with Jared. He had dreams and aspirations like she did, but she couldn’t bring herself to holding him back from doing everything he still wanted to do.

“Remember the time you were so mad at me you walked out and left for lunch?” he asked sounding amused. “Your eyes were blazing, I thought you were going to punch me.”

“Which one of the many times was that?” she questioned, making him chuckle.

“I think it was about taking too long with a patient.” He could feel her scowl before he saw it. It had become so easy to read her emotions, especially now that it felt like they were more in sync with each other.

“Which of the many times are you talking about?” she teased.

She stood in the shower stall as the water fell over her head. The cool water felt relaxing on her body as she was running a little hot and cold due to the pregnancy. She was humming to herself as she shampooed her hair, reminiscing about the events from the night before. She sighed, feeling her face flush hotly when she remembered how she’d spent her morning cuddled up with Jared after they’d had another bout of hot monkey s*x. There was no other way to explain it.

She'd only ever read it in books, but actually living it was another story.

“Woo!” she fanned herself and grinned to herself.

Oh my god. He could be such a romantic, appealing man when he set his mind to.

She finished showering , dressed herself, and headed downstairs. She smiled, closing her eyes as she enjoyed the smell of warm waffles. 

Apparently, Jared was making himself busy.

Also, must be a great mood because he was making them himself.

She placed her hand over her stomach, still smiling.

“Good morning!” she said as she leaned against the door frame, observing him as he flipped over the waffle iron and took out the cooked waffle, placing it on a plate.

Jared looked over his shoulder to find Dahlia standing in the doorway.

“Oh, hey! Good morning. I have some waffles ready if you want to grab some. I didn’t know how many you’d want, so I made a couple.” He pointed to the waffles he had ready on the counter.

“Well, you must be really hungry. That's a lot of waffles.”

He grinned at that and turned to look at her. “I am very hungry, thank you very much.”

He hadn’t meant for it to come out as anything other than that he was hungry, but his body mind immediately had other thoughts. She stood there, fresh out of the shower in a t-shirt and running shorts, which didn't help matters at all.

Immediately, the word hunger took a whole different meaning as his mind wandered to the memories of the night before. He hadn't realized that he'd been raking his eyes over her body until he looked at her face and found her wide eyed, mouth slightly opened.

He swallowed hard. Dammit.

He walked over to her, placing a hand behind her head and the other on her waist, pulling her close. She gasped, leaning her head back to stare up at him. He could see her pulse beating at her neck, she was breathing harder.

“Dammit!” he muttered before he captured her mouth in a hot kiss.

She opened her mouth, returning the kiss just as hard as he was. She threw her arms around him, holding tightly.

“Mmm…”

Beep! Beep! Beep! 

What?

“The waffles!” She exclaimed pulling away from him. “Jared, they’re burning!”

He blinked and took a step back. “Dammit!” He pulled the cord from the wall and tossed the waffle iron into the sink. Light smoke had filled the kitchen and set off the fire alarm in the corner of the room. He shook his head and stared at the sink, one hand on the counter as he leaned against it.

Dahlia started laughing and he looked back at her, blushing furiously before he started laughing as well.