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[noburden]

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[rosarianoath]

"This scarred, hard body is more comforting than a mattress this fine?" he replies, putting his other arm around her, holding her tight to him. He knows the answer, but he can still tease.

[noburden]

She knows he knows, but she smiles at him as she lets her hand find the bottom of his shirt, sliding under and up to touch his bare skin. Her thumb brushes over the line of an ab.

"Yes. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, and it keeps me both safe and warm."

Perhaps warm isn't the best thing in the summer, but she'll cope. Winter was miserable for a number of reasons.

[rosarianoath]

"Just as well then that I sleep better with you here," he says, sighing comfortably. He loves her hands, her touch. "I've never slept so soundly in my life."

[noburden]

"Why do you think that is?" She asks, just idly caressing his skin, no scar beneath the thumb that moves back and forth. "Sometimes I think I might accidentally crowd you off the bed."

[rosarianoath]

Is that question intended to be serious? He doesn’t know. He’s not sure he wants to delve into why, not from the safe shore of being here because she’ll have him. He replies, deliberately light: “My body is seldom handled so gently.”

[noburden]

She knows she lacks the strength to physically knock him from the bed by here mere cuddling. Besides, she'd likely go down with him with how much she tends to hold onto him.

"I'm glad that you've seen less scars here," she tells him, hand sliding up to his ribs. "You deserve a gentle life."

Is that this life they're living now?

[rosarianoath]

There’s a flicker of a grimace —- it’s one thing to be treated gently, another to deserve it. Still, it doesn’t break his calm.

“There is no one who deserves a gentle life more than you,” he says. “So I’m glad to make my life whatever serves that.”

[noburden]

So eager to save everyone but himself, to serve, and so quick to brush off kind words. These things don't surprise her. They make her sad, but Clive is set in his ways.

"Your mere existence makes my life better. Sometimes I still can't believe that I'm so fortunate as to get the opportunity to sleep in your arms."

[rosarianoath]

He imagines briefly what it would be like if he could find another job, and be here every night. She wouldn’t go to bed without him or rise before he did. How terrible, to be so useless at so many other things.

“Jill,” he says, and he has nothing more to say, so he just tilts her chin up to him so he can kiss her, long and slow.

[noburden]

She doesn't think he'll find anything else to tire him out and scratch whatever itch he has. By now, she's come to terms with his schedule and his need for that time away. She's come to cherish waking to the sound of him trying to be quiet, anticipating the moment he slips into bed behind her and holds her close.

Her eyes flutter shut as they kiss, and she scoots herself up so that they can kiss more comfortably. How nice it is to take their time and enjoy one another, upset and heartache put behind them. Moving meant letting his shirt fall back down, but her hand is now free to cup the side of his neck, tender in the way her thumb brushes his skin there, too.

[rosarianoath]

She shifts up and he can reach further, palm gliding into the back of her skirt to caress her skin. The curtain of her hair falls around them. This is comfortable and slow moving, and her mouth is soft, and Clive kisses her gently, savouring it.

“I want to have you so many ways today,” he murmurs.

[noburden]

"Was that your plan all along? Seduce me with the promise of lounging, only to have your way with me?" She teases, giving him another kiss.

Like she didn't seduce him in a fitting room.

[rosarianoath]

"I could do it while lounging," he says, wryly. "Lay you on your side..."

[noburden]

"Imagine, falling asleep like that..."

Though the fantasy is a little fragile because she has no idea how soon Joshua will be returning. One ear us already listening for the front door.

[rosarianoath]

It's easy to. He palms her ass with a relaxed sigh, and he looks up at her with a fondness that makes his heart twist.

"Dare I peel you from me long enough to close the door?"

[noburden]

Jill groans. The mere thought of parting is awful, and she buries her face against his neck.

"I am inclined to say no."

[rosarianoath]

"Then we remain here," he says, "lounging, only."

[noburden]

There's a huff against his skin. Silly.

"Truly, you are a tease. Did you use the last of your strength taking me up the stairs?"

[rosarianoath]

"I'm preserving it," he says, giving her another gentle grope. "Given the lady's inclinations towards staying right here."

[noburden]

She smiles against his neck before lifting her head to peer at him, amused. She arches her back, just a little, to give him more to grab.

"I only wish to be flush against you every waking moment," she tells him. She's joking, but it's not very far from the truth. "Parting, even for a moment, is unreasonably cruel."

[rosarianoath]

"But if we could be closer," he suggests, brushing her hair behind an ear.

[noburden]

"Ah. That may be worth the agony of parting... do you believe it to be so, Clive?"

She'd crawl into his skin if she could.

[rosarianoath]

"I do," he says, and he rolls her over then, pressing his weight into her without hesitation before withdrawing. For a beat he looms over her on his hands, kisses her swiftly, and then retreats to the door to close it and lock it.

[noburden]

Jill sprawls out on her back with a sigh.

"I'm happy we have reason to lock the door," she says.

[rosarianoath]

“As am I,” he says. “Keeps Torgal from putting his paws where they don’t belong, too…”

He returns to her swiftly, pushing her knees to one side with one hand and then laying down beside her, the length of his body flush against her side.