Romance — Hive

“You shouldn’t let me stay here.”

“Why not?”

She stood in the doorway with coffee, tilting her head to the left as she asked. He pushed himself up halfway toward sitting. The shift in position cleared enough space for his legs to stretch after a night’s worth of bent knees, but not enough to keep his feet off the arm of the couch.

Turning his head, he glanced at the space where his boots had been left two days prior. Right near the front door, resting on a bit of now-dried mud that caked between the floorboards.

“Look. I’m already making a mess.”

She walked around the coffee table, putting the mugs down as she approached. She lifted his bare feet and pulled the crumpled sheet he lay on over the upholstery before letting go.

“Easy enough to clean.”

Her lips pressed together to restrain a smile, but she couldn’t hide the light in her eyes. His mouth mirrored hers, though his own eyes narrowed and he pulled his feet back. He swung his legs over the side of the sofa to sit up all the way. When she sat next to him, she touched the side of her foot to his toes.

He reached for his coffee in silence and took a sip. She leaned forward to get hers, and his fingers traced their way up the ridge of her spine. His arm circled her waist and he pulled her close to him, his chin resting on her shoulder while he set his cup down.

She leaned her head back. Tiny wisps of hair at the base of her neck that her ponytail couldn’t hold brushed lightly against his jaw. He drew a sharp intake of breath that left a cold spot on her skin for only a moment before she felt the warmth of his parted lips.

The day passed very quickly. That night, he slept in her bed.

She woke before dawn, half-covered by his body like he was her blanket. She slid her legs up to extract them from the weight of his thigh and pushed his arm off of her shoulder before peeling her back away from his chest.

She spent the sunrise outside on the rocks with paintbrush in hand. The shifting sands of the golden sky blended together on canvas, but the tree to her left was captured true to form.

“Good morning.”

Only a few more finishing touches were needed when his voice came from behind. She turned with a smile that spread when she saw that he brought coffee.

“Good morning to you too.”