They were kissing now and Tarin leaned into the kiss, wrapping both of his arms around Lee even as her arms wrapped up and around his neck.

Tarin was glad that he hadn’t waited. So so glad that he hadn’t waited to kiss Lee tonight because the waiting would have been absolute torture even if this hadn’t really been the plan to start with.

So Tarin kissed Lee right there in the front of the shop. He kissed her the way that he’d wanted to kiss her all day because it was pretty much how he always wanted to kiss her.

That was normal, right? To just want to get lost in kissing someone until you didn’t know when or where, or really even who you were anymore. It must have been because that was pretty much what happened, at least for Tarin.

”So about that dinner…” he said an indeterminable time later, somehow still standing in the doorway of the shop.

As she felt Tarin's other arm wrapping around her waist, Lee's arms tightened around his neck, pulling her even closer and tighter against him if that were possible.

Then Lee rose up on her toes, even though she was wearing heels, to give herself that extra tiny bit of height that made it easier for Lee to deepen the kiss.

Eventually, some time later, Tarin spoke and Lee just blinked up at him to start with. ”Dinner?” she questioned. It took another couple of moments for her mind to catch up. Not that her mind was necessarily moving slowly, it was just…going in a completely different direction.

”If you're hungry, we can go,” Lee said, her arms still around Tarin's neck. ”But it'll still be there…”

Lee responded and Tarin was smiling again as he looked down at her. Clearly, he was not the only one who had momentarily forgotten that they were supposed to be going to dinner.

Quickly, Tarin glanced over the top of Lee’s head to the back of the shop where he’d turned the lights off just a short while before, then looked back down as she pointed out that their dinner wasn’t going to go anywhere.

That…was an excellent point and as Lee had pointed out, they had the whole night ahead of them. What did it matter if they postponed dinner just a little? Or a lot.

Remembering another time that Lee had stopped by the shop and how difficult it had been to walk while
otherwise occupied Tarin just grinned, ”I’ve definitely got an appetite…” not caring for a second that it might have been the silliest thing he’d ever said as he grabbed Lee’s hand and pulled her towards the back of the shop.

When Lee said that dinner would still be there, she saw Tarin's eyes looking past her, behind her, toward the back of the shop.

They were on the same page, and Lee grinned as she looked up at Tarin.

And a moment later he was grinning back. An appetite?

That momentary confusion was quickly solved when Tarin grabbed her hand and started to lead her to the back of the shop. Lee eagerly went with Tarin, letting him pull her along. They were definitely on the same page about how their night should be starting.

As they made their way into the back, Lee reached out to flick the switch to turn on the dimmer lights she'd put in years ago. She wanted to be able to see Tarin, and as they covered the small remaining distance, Lee's eyes were certainly taking him in.

The lights came on and Tarin had to smirk just a little as he led Lee through the shop. Lights were definitely a good thing.

Living in the shop sucked, and Tarin often thought about how much he’d hated it in hindsight, but how stuck he’d been until…things he didn’t want to think about. Still though, keeping the living area of the shop intact now that things were different absolutely had its benefits.

Once they were a proper distance into the room and Tarin figured they’d be able to manage the rest of the way he stopped and turned and pulled Lee back up against him for another kiss. This time, the kiss was a bit different, more intense…more purposeful than before and Tarin’s hands slid up Lee’s back and into her hair. They always seemed to end up there and he sighed into the kiss.

Lee’s lip had returned to its place between her lips as she looked at Tarin, not really caring what in particular he was leading her. Wherever it ended up being would be good since he was there.

Then Tarin was turning back toward her, pulling her closer. Lee smiled up at him as her arms immediately found their way back around his neck as she stretched up to kiss him.

Tarin’s arms were around her, but then his hands were running up her back and she shuddered under his touch as she deepened the kiss, tightening her arms around him as she did.

Suddenly, Lee felt Tarin’s hands in her hair. His fingers sliding through her hair. His hands holding her head close to his as they kissed.

Lee moaned softly into the kiss as she practically melted against Tarin. Who needed a dinner date when you could have this?

Lee melted against him and Tarin forgot to breathe for a moment at the sound she made as they kissed.

Still maintaining that kiss, one hand stayed in Lee’s hair and the other slid back down the back of her neck to the zipper of her dress. Skirts and tank tops and t-shirts were great, but man there was something to be said for a dress he thought as he pulled the zipper down.

That accomplished, Tarin slid his hand back up Lee’s back to slip the top of the dress from her shoulders and finally broke the kiss just to say, ”God you’re beautiful.”

One of Lee’s hands slipped up into Tarin’s hair as they continued kissing. At first when Lee felt Tarin’s hand moving out of her hair, she was disappointed.

That was until she felt Tarin sliding the zipper down. And Lee shivered whenever she felt Tarin’s fingers brush against her skin.

Lee shuddered even more as she felt Tarin’s hand slowly moving its way back up to her shoulders, goosebumps and a shudder following his touch the entire way.

Then Tarin pulled away and spoke. It didn’t matter how many times he had said it, didn’t matter what they had done or seen. Lee blushed slightly as Tarin spoke.

But Lee took the opportunity of the kiss being broken to pull Tarin’s shirt up to remove it.

Yep, beautiful, and when she blushed at the compliment it made Tarin warm from the top of his head to the tips of his toes…or maybe it was the way her fingers inevitably brushed against his skin as Lee pushed up his shirt.

It didn’t matter, and soon enough Tarin’s shirt joined Lee’s dress on the floor. That having been accomplished, they could go back to kissing and Tarin pulled Lee close again hands back in her hair because that’s just kind of where they wanted to be and she had seemed like she liked it before.

Sometimes things between them were frantic and almost had a mind of their own. There was nothing to do but what felt right and needed to happen. That didn’t seem to be the case right now though so Tarin planned to take his time. Just how late was that restaurant open?

It didn’t matter, this was New York City and there was always somewhere open.

Lee’s dress was gone, as was Tarin’s shirt, and as they started kissing again, Lee shuddered as their bodies touched, skin to skin. This was so much nicer, and Lee leaned into Tarin’s body as she felt his hands slip into her hair again.

Wrapping her own arms around him, Lee ran her hands up Tarin’s bare back. Other than his abs, Tarin didn’t look overly muscular, but she could certainly feel how toned his back muscles were as her hands moved slowly upward. Her fingers digging into his shoulders, clinging to him.

At this point in time, Lee honestly did not care if they ever made it to dinner. Yes, she had wanted a nice, normal dinner date. But this was pretty damn normal for them, too, and was a whole lot more fun than sitting across a table from each other.

Lee’s hands moved up Tarin’s back and as her fingers dug into his shoulders it was his turn to melt a little against her as she clung to him.

They were still standing and while there were definite advantages to that arrangement, they couldn’t very well stand there all night. It only took a few moments for Tarin to get rid of his shoes and then his jeans.

As the pile of clothing on the floor grew, Tarin shifted just slightly, never breaking the kiss as he sat, then laid back on the bed, pulling Lee with him as he went.

Yeah. They definitely were not going to make it to dinner. At this rate, they weren’t even going to make it home.

As Tarin shifted, Lee slipped her heels off her feet as she carefully stepped out of the dress pooled around her feet. Somehow, even with that almost three inch drop in height, and the moving Tarin was leading, followed by him sitting then pulling her onto the bed with him…

Somehow through all of that, the kiss never once completely broke. Running her hands up Tarin’s sides to his shoulders, Lee deepened the kiss again.

Fade to black…

A while later, Lee was laying beside Tarin, her head resting on his shoulder as she sighed contentedly, a happy smile on her face. It didn’t seem to matter where they were, what happened, or whether Lee managed to remember to turn her siphoning off or not, every time with Tarin was amazing.

Every. Single. Time.

That very first night had been absolutely amazing in so many ways. Much of it Lee had thought had been because of the tension between the two of them that had needed to be released. But every single time had been just as amazing in its own way.

After three months, none of that seemed to be changing. Even after three months, there were still times when Lee absolutely needed Tarin just as desperately as she had that first time.

Lee hadn’t needed Tarin that evening, but damn had she wanted him.

”As much as I had wanted a date night,” Lee said softly as her hand started moving lightly along Tarin’s chest. ”I am extremely glad that you closed that door.”

For as long as he could remember, Tarin had been careful about his feelings. It had started as a defense mechanism because everyone had wanted to know how he was feeling after everything had happened with his Dad. Then it had become a necessity because of everything that had happened when he’d come to New York.

Crossing the rift hadn’t really changed any of that. It had been easy to just continue to exist at the same baseline for a long time. It was how he was, it was who he was, and even if it was a kind of lonely existence Tarin had been fine. Until he hadn’t.

Tarin had tried to get that equilibrium back after everything had settled down…and the second that they’d stood in the apartment and Lee had closed the infinitesimal distance between them he’d been lost.

It still felt like that, pretty much all the time. It was overwhelming, but it was the best thing that had ever happened to Tarin and as he laid there with Lee he had to think that it was always going to be like this with them.

Lee spoke, and Tarin had to smile even as he shivered at the movement of her fingers over his chest. Reaching over, he gently grabbed her hand and brought it up to gently kiss her fingers. ”I’m really glad you asked me to.”

Lee’s smile only grew when Tarin grabbed her hand and kissed her fingers. She wasn’t sure why, but Lee loved him doing that. Maybe because the main time that he did it was at times like this. That was reason enough to like just about anything, Lee thought.

But she couldn’t help the slight laugh when she heard Tarin speak. ”When I said that you should kiss me anyway?” Lee asked, lifting her head slightly to look at him. ”I didn’t think there was a situation you wouldn’t want me to ask you to kiss me…”

That said, Lee gave Tarin a kiss before settling her head back down on his shoulder. Despite the amount of energy she had, it was too nice and too comfortable to lay like this snuggled up with Tarin to do otherwise.

Keeping Lee’s hand in his, Tarin placed them both back on his chest and sighed contentedly. Lee laughed and Tarin couldn’t help but smile as she spoke, turning his head so he could see her better.

”Mmhmm.” he responded, then thought for a moment as Lee kissed him, the fingers of his free hand starting to trail slowly up and down her arm.

”There’s not…” he said in response to the rest of what she had said, ”But I definitely like hearing you say that you want me to.”

Lee snuggled back down into his shoulder and Tarin continued to let his fingers trail up and down her arm and over her side. ”Ribs okay?” he asked. It had been a few days, but Lee was still bruised. Nothing they had done had seemed to bother her, but couldn’t also couldn’t hurt to check.