Lee smiled, impressed, when Tarin said that he had ‘only’ made it a half mile and back. After everything the night before and then only getting a couple hours of sleep? “Honestly, Tarin, that’s a half mile further out than I thought you’d go today,” she told him. “I thought you would just head out and disappear somewhere for a while until Rachel left.”

As Tarin continued speaking, Lee got an idea. Well, a couple. Rachel was gone, and Lee didn’t think that even she could find a reason to come back that day, and Kevin was at school. “I’m not sure about going as far as changing the lock,” Lee said. “She still has the key in case she needs to get in here because of Kevin. Plus, I think suddenly changing the locks would give things away. But I’m sure we can find something so she can’t just barge in again. Not that she normally did in the past, but this is Rachel.”

Then Lee tilted her head as she looked at Tarin in silence for a moment. “Though, about your room…How long until your first appointment?”

It was apparently impressive that he had made it a whole half mile and back and Lee had honestly been expecting him to just go out and wait until Rachel left to come back. The thought made him chuckle, ”My watch was already furious with me. I can’t imagine what would have happened if I’d just sat out there the whole time.”

Changing the locks had really started to sound like a good idea until Lee pointed out exactly why it actually wasn’t.

Damn reasonable things making reasonable sense, maybe there was a lock they could lock from the inside while they were there that would still leave the door able to be opened…back to Lee’s point though, it would give things away.

Lee had other ideas though, and if Tarin hadn’t been paying complete attention he was now. He looked at his offending watch, ”I’ve got nothing until noon, Mondays tend to be late start late end days.” he said, unable to help a slow grin from spreading across his face, ”Why?”.

His watch had been furious with him? “Well, we can’t have that, can we?” Lee teased, an amused smile on her face. “I guess we’re going to need to make sure that you get more sleep in the future so that you’re able to do your complete run, aren’t we?”

Tarin told her that he had nothing scheduled until noon, that Mondays tended to be later starts, though that also meant later ending days. As the smile slowly spread across his face, a similar smile curled her lips

Then she simply shrugged. “No reason in particular,” Lee said softly before turning and walking toward the bedrooms without another word. Though she walked right past her room, as well as Kevin’s. At the end of the hall, rather than going straight to step into the bathroom, Lee turned right, only then glancing back the way she’d come before disappearing through the doorway.

”Or I could throw the watch away….” Tarin said. Either was seeming like a proper solution at the moment.

Ohhhh, Tarin liked that smile, and was just reaching out to pull Lee closer like he’d thought a few moments ago when she turned and walked away.

No reason? Confusion colored Tarin’s features for a moment as he watched Lee walking away. And kept watching Lee walking away because honestly the view was pretty good.

But then she kept walking past her room, past Kevin’s room…and right into his, but not before giving him a glance that had Tarin on his feet and moving down the hallway much more quickly than he may have thought possible a few minutes before.

Tarin had looked confused before she turned. And he must have been, because even though Lee couldn’t see him as she walked away, she could sense his energy getting further away with every step. Had she not been clear enough about her intentions? Was he that tired that it was taking time for her intent to click in his mind? If that was the case, maybe this wasn’t such a great idea after all. He did need to work, after all.

But as she glanced back as she stepped into his room, Lee saw the understanding spread across his face, and she smiled as she saw him starting to stand just before she couldn’t see him anymore.

As Lee made her way into Tarin’s room further, she felt the energy approaching much more quickly down the hallway than she had expected. More quickly than she had walked it. Grinning and giggling slightly, she turned right about when she expected Tarin to appear in the doorway. “You’re not too tired, are you?” she asked, a combination of innocent and playful tones in her voice.

The trip down the hall didn’t take very long at all, and Tarin rounded the corner right as Lee turned around and the tone in her voice and her words had him grinning like the absolute fool he was.

Was he too tired?

He probably should have been.

But nope. Tarin was definitely not too tired. He just shook his head, ”Nuh uh.” he intoned.

”What about you? You gonna be up for days?” he asked as he closed the rest of the distance between them and wrapped Lee in his arms.

”I’ve wanted to do this all morning.”

Lee’s grin widened when she heard Tarin’s answer. He did look tired, but said he wasn’t too tired. At least not too tired for what she had in mind.

Then he was asking her, asking if she’d be up for days. Lee shrugged slightly as his arms wrapped around her. Lifting her own arms, she wrapped them around Tarin’s neck as she looked up at him. “Not for days,” she said softly. “But I’ll probably go for a run this afternoon to burn off some energy.”

He had wanted to do this all morning? Lee couldn’t blame him as she stood smiling up at him. It was rather nice. “Yeah? I’ve been wanting to do this all morning,” she replied, using her arms around his neck to help pull her up as she rose up on her toes to kiss him.

Lee was shorter this morning than she had been last night owing to her shoes and Tarin decided he really liked what it did when she stretched up to wrap her arms around his neck.

It was good that she wasn’t going to be up for days. Even if Lee said she was used to it and it was something she’d just deal with, the idea of her sitting up alone at night pulled at something in Tarin’s chest, and he would have to sleep eventually. Sooner, probably, than later.

Lee spoke again and if Tarin had liked what her reaching her arms up around his neck had done, when she stretched up on her toes it brought her entire body up against his. At all of that contact he hmmmm’d appreciatively as he dipped his head just enough to meet the kiss, hands sliding down Lee’s back to pull her even more tightly against him.

Then it was his turn to move, turning them and pulling Lee backwards until the backs of his knees hit the bed and he sank down, intending to bring her down on top of him.

Was Tarin still hot and sweaty from his run? Yes. Was Lee feeling that sweat as she stood there in his arms, with hers wrapped around his neck? Yes, yes she was. Did Lee care at that moment? Not one bit, especially as there would likely be more sweat in their future.

As they kissed, Lee shivered, feeling Tarin’s hands sliding down her back. Yes, this was definitely what she had been wanting to do earlier this morning, before her sister had shown up. She knew, though, that it would have made that entire thing so much more difficult to not just get through, but to also convince Rachel.

Then Lee felt Tarin moving, and though it was awkward because she was up on her toes as she continued to kiss him, she moved slowly with him across the room. Only to have a moment where she thought that Tarin was falling back, and she gasped slightly as her arms tight around his neck pulled her with him.

Thankfully, it wasn’t much of a ‘fall’, Lee realized a moment later when she realized that Tarin had just sat on the bed. Smiling against his lips, Lee moved closer again, sitting on his lap as she deepened the kiss.

Lee’s little gasp against his lips made Tarin laugh just a little as he pulled Lee down with him and got her situated in his lap.

The angle provided the perfect opportunity to break the kiss and Tarin worked his way down Lee’s neck, kissing and gently nipping his way to her shoulder while his hands worked his way up under her shirt. Blouse. And all its buttons.

Groaning in mild frustration, he leaned back just long enough to say, ”We’re going to have to talk about the number of buttons in your wardrobe” before going back to that spot just beneath Lee’s ear while his hands gave up on her shirt for now to move to her legs and the hem of the skirt she was wearing, ”This is much better.”

Lee tilted her head to the side as she felt Tarin start kissing down the side of her neck, moaning softly as she felt him nip her skin.

Then she giggled as she heard him complain. “So t-shirts and tank tops all the time?” she asked teasingly as her hands started pulling his shirt up. But then Tarin’s lips found that spot right under her ear, and she practically melted against him with another soft moan.

”This is much better.”

Lee couldn’t help the grin, even as Tarin’s hands on her thighs were giving her goosebumps.She then leaned forward, closer to him, so she could whisper in his ear. “Good news,” Lee told him. “Skirts are an everyday thing.”

Oh that was good news, Tarin couldn’t help but think as Lee leaned forward to whisper in his ear, her breath there sending goosebumps down his arms and neck.

As for Lee’s shirt..t-shirts and tank tops would be helpful in the future but it didn’t solve their current problem so he let his hands slide back up, utilizing his new skills from the night before and undoing the first couple of buttons on Lee’s shirt before grabbing it by the hem and pulling it over her head, then dropping it to the floor, ”Didn’t even break any buttons this time…” he whispered back in her ear before leaning back to claim her lips again in demanding and heated kiss.

Had he been tired at some point? It felt like there was electricity running through his veins now and Tarin’s hands shook slightly as they ran slowly up and down Lee’s sides, his thumbs grazing over her ribs and stomach as they settled back on her hips and stayed there for the moment as they kissed.

With Tarin’s lips no longer on that little spot right below her ear, Lee’s hands started moving again, pushing his shirt up as her fingers glided along his back. Yet somehow, Tarin had beaten her, and was pulling her shirt off over her head before he’d gotten his off. Not that this was a race or anything, but once she was free of her shirt, she quickly pulled Tarin’s over his head, laughing softly at his comment about buttons.

But before she could say anything, Tarin’s lips had found hers again. Returning the kiss with just as much eagerness and passion, Lee shivered under his touch on her sides. She wasn’t even sure where his shirt had gone after she’d gotten it pulled off, but her arms now wrapped around him, her body leaning into him. Even his shoulders, where her hands were currently resting, felt well toned and muscular. She hadn’t noticed that before, having frequently been distracted by his abs or pecs.

And despite how much direct skin contact they currently had, Lee still didn’t feel like she was close enough. Moving her hands to the front of his shoulders, the bottom of her palms on those pecs, Lee pushed him back, following him down onto the bed as she continued the kiss.

See, Tarin thought as Lee quickly rid him of his shirt, t-shirts were much easier and congratulated himself on how accommodating he was.

Everywhere Lee’s hands traveled, goosebumps followed in their wake, and Tarin leaned even more into the kiss, starting to feel a little bit like he was running again.

Lee’s hands traveled over his chest and when she pushed, Tarin took the hint and let them fall backwards, arms wrapping tighter around Lee’s back as they went down, hands sliding up her back and up into her hair once they were settled.

This was much more how he had hoped the morning would go.

Lee smiled into the kiss as she felt how easily Tarin fell backwards into the bed when she pushed him. And even though she had had every intention of following him down, Tarin’s arms wrapped tightly around her body pulled her with him.

His arms around her did make it easier to not break the kiss as they moved, though.

Then she felt both of Tarin's hands sliding into her hair and Lee moaned, an eager shudder running through her body as her fingers dug into Tarin's shoulders.

fade to black