Page 13 of Meet Me In The Dark

He moved sweat-dampened hair off her forehead and lifted his head to plant a gentle kiss there.

“I always thought Christmas was stupid. Guess I’ve been doing it wrong,” she mused.

“Yeah?” The words,well we can do Christmas this way together foreverwere on the tip of his tongue, but he caught them just in time. He couldn’t promise her that.

Not when he’d already gone back on a promise to his best friend.

He wasn’t supposed to be here.

He should never have touched her.

But fuck it, he had, and here they were, and he wasn’t about to walk away from her. Not even for his relationship with Conor and Luke. What did he have with them, anyway? No one was willing to admit to anything real. He thought he was okay with that, but was he? Didn’t he deserve better?

On top of him, Kara stiffened, almost as if she could sense his inner turmoil.

She moved as if to slide off him.

Micah gripped her tighter.

“Going somewhere?” he asked casually.

“Figured you might want some space.”

“You figured wrong.”

“Well, maybe I want some space. That was… intense.”

“It was,” he agreed amiably, although he felt anything but.

“Look,” the words burst forth from her. “Usually, I’m the one to clear out or make it clear that nothing can come from this, and maybe I’d wait until the next morning to do that, but for some reason I don’t want to say any of thatat all, and it’s scaring the absolute shit out of me, and you’re already a scary enough dude. So if you want to leave, I’m giving you the space to do so. No hard feelings. But if you’re going to go—” her voice broke a little here, making Micah feel like even more of a shit than he already did, “—you need to go now. Anything else would be drastically unfair and unforgivable.”

Micah opened his mouth and shut it. She groaned.

“Damn it, now I sound vulnerable and pathetic,” she muttered against his chest. “What the fuck have you done to me? You do need to leave.”

He rubbed his hand over her back soothingly. “I like this vulnerable side of you. And I’m not going anywhere. We’ll fuck again and then sleep and then in the morning find out if Cafe Du Monde is open on Christmas or if we need to go to Popeye’s for food.”

She lifted her head. “Are you asking me to have breakfast with you?”

Micah stroked further down her back, until his hand landed on her ass again. He smacked it lightly.

“Not asking. Telling. You just gave me the best orgasm I’ve ever had in my entire life, and I also don’t entirely know which way is up, but I know this—we’ll be together in the morning, we’ll eat, and then we’ll figure it out.”

She lifted his head, gifting him with another smile. Likethe smile she’d given him earlier when they were outside, it both solidified his decision and threatened to upend everything.

He kissed that smile, telling himself he’d worry about whatever threatened them later.

Later came too quickly.

It came with the vibration of his phone.

Micah opened his eyes to the dark room. At first, all he could see was the pile of curly red hair in front of him. He’d fallen asleep spooning Kara. Micah was rarely the big spoon, and it felt nice, to hold her against him that way.

His phone vibrated again. He twisted away from her and reached to the ground, searching around in the dark for his pants before pulling the phone free.

Luke:I always forget, am I allowed to say Merry Christmas to you?

Micah laughed, responding.

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