Negotiations

Just one kiss?

He leaned in and pressed his lips against her forehead.

She smiled and shook her head.

More.

He almost smiled back, 

then kissed the tip of her nose.

Moooore…

She leaned slightly closer to him 

and turned her face up.

They locked eyes for a mile-long second 

and he bent to meet her.

The kiss itself was brief, 

lips barely brushing lips 

before he took a full step back 

and folded his arms across his chest.

Her eyes shone with the thrill of it, 

her fingers went to her lips 

to marvel at the sensation still lingering there.

She smiled a crooked little smile of satisfaction and delight, 

and let out a whisper of a moan.

His eyes grew darker 

and he stepped back, 

turning away.

Enough.

Not yet...

She pressed her face against his back, 

arms encircling his waist and chest.

He stiffened at the first touch, 

but as she held on, gently, 

their heartbeats synced up and filled the silence of the room.

He slowly shifted 

so her embrace fit inside his. 

He rested his cheek on the top of her head 

and wrapped his arms so fully around her 

that a thumb rested on the outer curve of her breast.

She burrowed into the embrace for long, sweet moments, 

then pressed her lips to his collarbone, 

once, 

twice…

following a path up through the scratchy part of his neck 

and through the thicket of beard, 

pausing just before reaching his lips. 

Pausing to feel his heartbeat hitch, 

pausing to smell his skin, 

pausing to read him. 

He dipped to breach the chasm of millimeters separating them 

and kissed her fully this time – 

a resigned, but smiling sigh 

muted as their mouths crushed together.