Sometimes in the middle of the night, Alex would stir and cry for about ten seconds and then fall right back asleep. I’d heard him moving around, but I’d learned to just wait a few seconds before jumping out of bed to grab him. That’s exactly what I was doing when I heard the front door open and Jason’s distinctive footsteps coming down the hallway.

I watched through slanted eyes as he picked Alex up and quietly took him out of the room, suppressing my smile. If Alex hadn’t been so quiet, I would have gotten up and gone and taken him from him, but I didn’t hear another peep, so I stayed there.

Partly, because it felt nice to let someone else take him for a second, but mostly because part of me didn’t want to face Jason just yet. I’d slept about an hour but I’d not expected him to come back. The fact that he did hopefully meant he didn’t think I was too out of line.

When he brought Alex back, I pretended to be asleep again, but I watched as he gently laid him back in his crib. And then…well, he just stood there, staring down at him with that tender look on his face that I’d seen before. It took my breath away and suddenly, I wanted him even more.

When he turned, I thought he was coming back to bed with me, but instead, he walked out of the room again, once again leaving me alone and disappointed.

I kicked myself for pretending to be asleep.

Why was I playing these games?

Why couldn’t I just tell him what I wanted, without having to attach all this meaning to it?

I didn’t know what was going to happen tomorrow. Hell, I didn’t even know where I was going to be living in the next few days. He’d said we’d see each other again, but what if that didn’t happen?

What if this was our last night together and we were throwing it away because I was playing games?

What if I lost the opportunity to feel his hands on me? His kiss had been like nothing I’d experienced before, and I couldn’t stop thinking about, I couldn’t stop wanting more, needing more of him.

I needed all of him.

I wanted to give him all of me.

And what if this was it and we wasted our one and only opportunity?

Visions of myself as an old lady ran through my head, a couple of cats swirling around the skirt of my long, flannel nightgown as I sat on my porch, night after night, hating myself for squandering the opportunity to be with the most perfect man I’d ever known, regret swallowing me up whole before I died a sad, lonely death…

“Fuck this,” I said, throwing the covers off of my body. I pulled off the robe, stripping naked, ignoring all the doubts screaming inside of me, and padded down the hallway. I found him in the spare room, laying on the bed in the dark, his eyes wide open and staring up at the ceiling.

“Jason,” I whispered.

His turned to look at me, raking over my naked body with surprised, wide eyes that quickly turned to hunger. I walked over to the bed slowly, each step closer to him sending sparks of electricity through my body.

“Daisy,” he said, his voice a low growl.

I stood next to the bed, staring down at him, my nakedness, my vulnerability, on full display. Cracked wide-open, I lifted my chin, the words tumbling from my mouth.

“I might never see you again.”

“Daisy, I don’t think…”

“And I can’t stand the thought of that. I can’t just let you go and never…” I paused, my strength wavering, as I searched his eyes. “Never…”

“Daisy,” he murmured, shaking his head.

“I could be wrong. But what if…”

“Daisy…”

“I just, I want, I mean, I think we should…” Dammit, I was stammering, the words tangling on my tongue.

“Daisy!” he said, his voice a little louder.

“Yes?” I asked, my eyes searching his again, a hint of amusement flickering between us.

A slow, sexy smile spread across his face and he lifted the covers, his nakedness a very welcome surprise.

“Come here,” he growled.

My heart fluttered and my knees wobbled as I smiled a slow, shaky smile. Slowly, I crawled up on the bed, his warmth enveloping me immediately. His arms pulled me in, his lips crashing into mine, warm, soft, hungry.

I melted into him, his arms wrapped around me, our bodies fitting together like two long lost pieces of a puzzle. I closed my eyes, surrendering to his touch, to his kiss, to the darkness that wrapped itself around us like a protective bubble, leaving nothing in the world but our souls tangling together like our lives depended on it.

We kissed for hours, our flesh sliding together smoothly, our moans and smiles uncontrollable responses to the heaven we discovered together. After a while, our hunger undeniable any longer, he slid inside of my center, his tender desire for me becoming the answer to every question I’d ever asked of the universe.

We moved together like magic, creating love and passion and joy, the masterpiece of life that I’d only ever imagined before.

The way it was always supposed to be, and was never more than a dream.

But now, it was real. In my hands. In my heart.

In my soul.

I cried out in ecstasy, the love escaping from me like a song I couldn’t bear to keep inside.

“Jason, Jason, Jason,” I chanted, as he moved inside of me, pulling every ounce of love I had inside of me to the surface of my swelling heart.

“Oh, Daisy, oh, babe,” he murmured, burying himself deeper inside of me, his kiss long and hungry, his strokes strong and deliciously slow.

“Yes, yes, yes,” I whispered, my heart breaking open completely as we rocked together, lost in the blissful tangling of our bodies.

We made love till the owls hooted at dawn, beginning and ending and beginning again endlessly, the sound of our love echoing through the cabin, an enchanted song now engraved on the surface of my heart.