[How anyone, anyone could ever have looked at this brilliant, beautiful man and ever thought he was nothing more than an uncouth, foul-mouthed punk is completely beyond Kyrie. His huge capacity to love, to forgive, to want what's best for everyone, humbles her every time she's privileged enough to bear witness to it.
She leans into the brush of his thumb, shares breath as he presses his forehead to hers, listens patiently as he articulates his thoughts. He's come so, so far and she loves him so deeply as he shows his capacity for forgiveness.
Kyrie thinks he's a better man than any other she's met. She might be biased, but it doesn't make it any less true.
She looks up to meet his crooked smile, her own smile watery in return as she watches him wipe away his tears, and she slowly processes what he's saying.
Vergil wants to apologize to her.
With all her heart, she wishes she could say she will accept that apology for Nero's sake and let that be the end of it. Be the bigger person, follow Nero's example and let their lives go on, embracing him as part of her family, learning to forgive and forget.
She just doesn't know if she can.
But she can't bring herself to say that to Nero. Not when she can see for herself how much this man- and it's a struggle to use that term- means to him. How much Nero loves him, even if he hasn't said it aloud to her. She knows what he cut himself off from saying.
Maybe she's not as good a person as everyone says she is.
Her thumbs trace the path of his hands, brushing the remnants of tears away that he might have missed. She's sure the uncertainty of it is written all over her face but she can't bring herself to look away from him, not when he's being so open and vulnerable with her.]
I don't know if I- I will hear what he has to say.
[I just can't promise I'll forgive him.
She inches closer, needing to be near to him. Those days leading up to his second departure for Red Grave had been tense and fraught, with her still simmering with anger and terror at the thought he was about to disappear and put his life in danger again and Nero thrumming with fury and grim determination to finish what he had started. They had barely spoken, it wasn't until the night before he left that Kyrie had left the self-imposed exile of the sofa-bed to return to their room and hold him, determined not to let him leave thinking she didn't care.
It's caring too much that has her tied up in knots right now.]
I still see you on that floor and I can't- I wake up and I can't breathe thinking I've lost you before I remember you're okay.
[He draws her into the embrace, putting his head over her shoulder and holding her as close as he can. His fingers move up and into her hair, cradling the back of her head.
For as horrifying and awful as it was for him to be attacked, for all the pain and the blood and the loss of his limb and his power both, Nero has always believed he had it easier. He passed out and remained out cold for much of the ordeal. He wasn't the one who had to find him bleeding and dying in the garage, who had to hold him until the ambulance arrived, who had to sit by his bedside in the hospital room. Kyrie had been so frightened and suffered so much in the aftermath of the attack, he was almost angrier at his assailant for her sake than his own.
He would never ask Kyrie to put her feelings about it aside, or to ignore them in favor of the family unity he does, admittedly, long for. He won't even ask her to give Vergil the same chance he did. If she'd told him she never wanted to look at Vergil again, he would have done his best to facilitate it-- no matter how much it would break his heart to do so. Kyrie deciding to hear him out is her own decision to make, and he would never ask her to even do that much.]
If you're okay with it, you can hear it from him. I'll respect anything you decide. And if you want me to be there, or to talk to him, or to do anything-- I'll do anything you want me to.
[He turns his head to kiss her temple, then to mumble very softly in her ear.]
I love you. More than anything else in the world. I'll do whatever it takes to make you comfortable and keep you safe.
[Kyrie's eyes close as she leans into him, letting a shaky breath tremble free. She shivers as he mumbles in her ear and turns to face him, hesitating for just a moment to speak against his lips, he's that close.]
Just be here with me with me now. As long as I know you're safe, that's all I need.
[She knows she needs to make a decision, knows that Nero needs to be put at ease, but she can't think straight. She's so tired she realizes; tired of putting on a brave face, tired of holding herself together, tired of missing him. She leans in, brushing her nose against his as she closes her eyes and rests her forehead against his.]
I don't trust myself to decide anything tonight... I just want to be with you. You don't know how much I've missed you.
[He smiles when she speaks against his lips, adjusts to let her move comfortably. The temptation to snatch a kiss while they're here is a little too great, and he does before resting his forehead against hers.]
Yeah, please, take all the time you need. Sorry to dump all this on you all at once, but... [Better now than having her find out later.
He grins when she says she missed him.]
Almost as much as I've missed you? [Vergil could tell her some truly embarrassing stories. Yeeesh.]
[The kiss is just what she needs and yet not enough, sweet and reassuring and enough to set her heart racing. She reaches to cup his cheek, smiling sweetly.]
Don't apologize, it needed to be said. Thank you for telling me everything.
[Forewarned is forearmed. It's been a lot to contend with, that much is for sure, but secrets never sit well, and they've always made it a point to be honest with each other. That won't change, not as long as they're together. And while they're being honest...]
Oh you can't have missed me more than I've missed you, but I suppose it has been longer for you than for me.
[She thanks him for telling him. And right then, Nero gets the first little breath of hope that everything will be okay. That he made the right choice in telling Kyrie everything to begin with, not waiting for her to find out later some other way. That would have been deceitful, manipulative... he would never be able to forgive himself if things went down like that and she later found out. This way, there are no nasty surprises later on. She can approach Vergil with all the knowledge Nero has, and they can all move forward together.]
Oh, yes I can. I missed you so much...
[Nero snatches another kiss from her. Then his face turns 2.5 shades pinker.]
I feel like I'm dreaming. Like I have been since I saw you at the station. My beautiful Kyrie is here.
[Kyrie colors up, as she always does when he's so ardent and sweet with his compliments and loops her arms around his neck over his shoulders, shifting her body weight until she's sitting on his lap. She feels so self-conscious when he calls her beautiful, even when she's wearing his borrowed clothes and her hair's a half-dry tangle.]
It's not a dream, I promise. I'm here.
[She takes the initiative and saves him a steal, freely offering him a sweet, lingering kiss.]
[Au contraire, Kyrie. He has a hard time remembering the last time you looked hotter than right now, dressed in his hoodie. (Nero says that in his head literally every time he sees her.)
With her perched in his lap, he sits up to lean back against the headboard. The easier to kiss her between gushing compliments.]
Right here with me. [Smooch.] Right where you belong. [Smooch.
Then he goes in for a longer kiss to match hers. It starts off sweet but gets... a little steamy when he can't resist some tongue.]
[She manages to sigh out her response before Nero goes in for a deeper kiss and she moans into his mouth as she tastes his tongue with hers. She is all too aware of how long it's been as her temperature goes up like touchpaper and she's aware of everywhere he's touching her and everywhere he's not.
And it's not enough.
One kiss melts into another, and another, and she laughs against his lips.]
[Nero looks genuinely dazed when she breaks away to ask a question he should really, really be thinking of. It is, alas, bouncing around in his head unconnected to anything, made irrelevant by thoughts of Kyrie, kissing Kyrie, and touching Kyrie, in that order.]
[She really, really hates that she has to ask this and break the mood, particularly when he looks so utterly adorable when he's befuddled like this, but Kyrie is mindful that Nero hasn't been living alone, and is even more mindful of who he's living with.]
[Nero grits his teeth, his gaze fading into the middle distance and briefly looking like it might burn a hole in the wall. You know, in all of his longing and wishing for family, he did not consider this aspect of it. And part of him honestly doesn't care (the horny part) but the rest of him knows if he and Vergil or Dante make eye contact tomorrow morning he's going to fucking die in a blazing inferno of humiliation.
So after a moment he turns, carefully depositing Kyrie on the bed.]
One sec please.
[He stands up and heads for the bedroom door, stepping out into the rest of the house for about 37 seconds.
Then he comes back, closing the door behind him, looking incredibly relieved.]
[Kyrie kneels up on the bed, mindfully trying to push down her eagerness as she waits for him to return. It would be too cruel for them to be reunited only for them to be kept apart by circumstance at the last moment.
So when Nero returns with relief painted all over his face, it spreads to Kyrie almost immediately as she jumps from the bed and rushes straight to him.]
Oh thank your grandfather.
[She is 100% teasing him and laughs accordingly as she jumps into his arms.]
[Nero starts taking his shirt off and is most of the way done with it before she leaps into his arms. The shirt remains dangling from one bicep as he catches her and tilts her into a princess carry, though he's making quite the face. Good-naturedly, at least.]
Euugh. He had nothing to do with it.
[He kisses her, then carries her back over to the bed to plop her down by the pillows, laughing under his breath.]
And you are not allowed to praise him anymore when we're-
[Kyrie can't stop laughing at his face, just as she had hoped. She kisses him back, refusing to let go of him as he drops her back onto the bed and tries to drag him down on top of her.]
Oh no, you're the only one I'm planning on praising tonight.
[Begone shirt, you have no place here. She tosses it away, over towards her discarded towel, and lets her palms rove over his torso as she shifts beneath him to get more comfortable.]
[Delivered confidently. Though if Kyrie praises Nero even slightly he will immediately crumble to pieces. If it's religiously, he will literally keel over and die.
Nero settles her out with her head on the pillows, kneeling over her. His bared chest is pretty much how she remembers it, the wounds from the Qliphoth incident long since healed. All his latest injuries came at Vergil's doing, while they were sparring... but thankfully, Nero's freshly healed from those, too. Thanks, Devil Trigger!
The one big difference, of course, is his right arm. Looking freakishly normal and ordinary, human skin, a hand just like the other. This will be the first time she's gotten a real decent look at his arm sans clothing, and sans the more familiar glowing mark of his demon arm.
He perches over her, taking a moment to admire her in that hoodie.]
You look so hot in my hoodie. [Put a little engine grease on there and he might actually start sweating.] I almost hate to take you out of it...
[Oddly enough, although she's used to seeing Nero in a state of considerable undress, this is only the second time she's seen him topless with a human arm. The first time was a long time ago but it was certainly memorable; she could probably pinpoint it to the point that she first started to see Nero as more than her dearest friend and the little boy she'd grown up with. It's not an unattractive sight in the slightest, but she's never found Nero's arm in its demonic state to be unattractive either. Strange, but beautiful in its own way.
Kyrie's hands travel deftly across the planes of his stomach, up to his chest and over his shoulders, touching as much as she can as if trying to memorise every inch of him. At the compliment about her in his hoodie, she smiles up at him with a slightly wicked gleam in her eye that very rarely emerges, and only ever in private moments like this. She bucks up to kiss him, a stolen peck of a kiss.]
You could always let me keep it on, but then you'd never get to see what's underneath.
[Teeeempting. She's really so sexy, swimming in his clothes the way she is. But he's not about to make that exchange when it's been months since the last time he even saw her, much less got to touch her.]
Another time, maybe. [He returns a grin, though nowhere near as wicked as hers.] You're like a present for me to unwrap.
[(Please rest assured that was as painful to write as it was to read.)
Sliding a hand behind her, he guides her to sit up and tugs at the sleeves of the hoodie to pull it up over her head.]
Ohoho. Stole my shirt too, did you? [She's even hotter in one of his big T shirts. He cannot resist kissing her, which does hamper his attempts to take that off her, too. As does his insistence on mumbling against her lips.] God, you're so cute...
[Lines like that really shouldn't make her laugh so much but she can't help it when he calls her a present.]
You are just the silliest-
[She's cut off with Nero pulling the hoodie up over her head; it's big enough that it doesn't even catch on her ears. The shirt is vast on her, the collar is so large that it's slipping off over her shoulder. She has no complaints about the kiss and mumbles against his lips:]
I'm just borrowing it, but if you want me to give it back...
[Oops there goes his shirt over her head, oh my. Completely bare except for her panties, she holds the t-shirt out to him with a smile with a pink flush spreading over her cheeks.]
[No matter how many times they do this, Nero always turns brilliantly pink whenever he sees Kyrie's body. This time is no exception. Though it is heartening that he can at least continue through his bashfulness now, not missing a beat as he takes the shirt from her and smirks.]
You can borrow it whenever you like.
[He leans down, kissing her boldly, one hand trailing fingers down her collarbone, down her chest, then cupping her breast. A deeply satisfied sigh escapes his throat, and he pulls away just enough to speak.]
Oh, baby, I missed these, too... [He's grinning when he kisses her again, letting both hands make themselves at home touching her breasts, her waist, her hips, and tracing a little trail around her navel. But now he's more pink than ever, and physically warm to the touch. Some things never change.]
[She smiles warmly, still blushing as she takes in the way he smiles at her and responds to her body.]
I'd return the favour but I don't think my clothes will fit you.
[Each time he goes to kiss her, Kyrie finds herself drawn to him like a magnet as she leans in and reciprocates. The contact is almost electric. She shivers delightedly as he touches her and arches in closer, as though she's attention starved and needy.
Even after all these years, she still yearns for his touch.
She murmurs softly at the back of her throat as he explores her body, refamiliarizing himself with her curves. She leans into him, her body feeling warm and flushed from the proximity of him and her growing excitement, and brushes her lips over his jaw up to his ear and giggles a little as he pronounces his appreciation for her breasts.]
I hope you're going to take care of them for me.
[She places her hand on his thigh and rubs along the rigid muscle, creeping higher. She whispers questioningly, promisingly into his ear:]
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She leans into the brush of his thumb, shares breath as he presses his forehead to hers, listens patiently as he articulates his thoughts. He's come so, so far and she loves him so deeply as he shows his capacity for forgiveness.
Kyrie thinks he's a better man than any other she's met. She might be biased, but it doesn't make it any less true.
She looks up to meet his crooked smile, her own smile watery in return as she watches him wipe away his tears, and she slowly processes what he's saying.
Vergil wants to apologize to her.
With all her heart, she wishes she could say she will accept that apology for Nero's sake and let that be the end of it. Be the bigger person, follow Nero's example and let their lives go on, embracing him as part of her family, learning to forgive and forget.
She just doesn't know if she can.
But she can't bring herself to say that to Nero. Not when she can see for herself how much this man- and it's a struggle to use that term- means to him. How much Nero loves him, even if he hasn't said it aloud to her. She knows what he cut himself off from saying.
Maybe she's not as good a person as everyone says she is.
Her thumbs trace the path of his hands, brushing the remnants of tears away that he might have missed. She's sure the uncertainty of it is written all over her face but she can't bring herself to look away from him, not when he's being so open and vulnerable with her.]
I don't know if I- I will hear what he has to say.
[I just can't promise I'll forgive him.
She inches closer, needing to be near to him. Those days leading up to his second departure for Red Grave had been tense and fraught, with her still simmering with anger and terror at the thought he was about to disappear and put his life in danger again and Nero thrumming with fury and grim determination to finish what he had started. They had barely spoken, it wasn't until the night before he left that Kyrie had left the self-imposed exile of the sofa-bed to return to their room and hold him, determined not to let him leave thinking she didn't care.
It's caring too much that has her tied up in knots right now.]
I still see you on that floor and I can't- I wake up and I can't breathe thinking I've lost you before I remember you're okay.
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[He draws her into the embrace, putting his head over her shoulder and holding her as close as he can. His fingers move up and into her hair, cradling the back of her head.
For as horrifying and awful as it was for him to be attacked, for all the pain and the blood and the loss of his limb and his power both, Nero has always believed he had it easier. He passed out and remained out cold for much of the ordeal. He wasn't the one who had to find him bleeding and dying in the garage, who had to hold him until the ambulance arrived, who had to sit by his bedside in the hospital room. Kyrie had been so frightened and suffered so much in the aftermath of the attack, he was almost angrier at his assailant for her sake than his own.
He would never ask Kyrie to put her feelings about it aside, or to ignore them in favor of the family unity he does, admittedly, long for. He won't even ask her to give Vergil the same chance he did. If she'd told him she never wanted to look at Vergil again, he would have done his best to facilitate it-- no matter how much it would break his heart to do so. Kyrie deciding to hear him out is her own decision to make, and he would never ask her to even do that much.]
If you're okay with it, you can hear it from him. I'll respect anything you decide. And if you want me to be there, or to talk to him, or to do anything-- I'll do anything you want me to.
[He turns his head to kiss her temple, then to mumble very softly in her ear.]
I love you. More than anything else in the world. I'll do whatever it takes to make you comfortable and keep you safe.
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[Kyrie's eyes close as she leans into him, letting a shaky breath tremble free. She shivers as he mumbles in her ear and turns to face him, hesitating for just a moment to speak against his lips, he's that close.]
Just be here with me with me now. As long as I know you're safe, that's all I need.
[She knows she needs to make a decision, knows that Nero needs to be put at ease, but she can't think straight. She's so tired she realizes; tired of putting on a brave face, tired of holding herself together, tired of missing him. She leans in, brushing her nose against his as she closes her eyes and rests her forehead against his.]
I don't trust myself to decide anything tonight... I just want to be with you. You don't know how much I've missed you.
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Yeah, please, take all the time you need. Sorry to dump all this on you all at once, but... [Better now than having her find out later.
He grins when she says she missed him.]
Almost as much as I've missed you? [Vergil could tell her some truly embarrassing stories. Yeeesh.]
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Don't apologize, it needed to be said. Thank you for telling me everything.
[Forewarned is forearmed. It's been a lot to contend with, that much is for sure, but secrets never sit well, and they've always made it a point to be honest with each other. That won't change, not as long as they're together. And while they're being honest...]
Oh you can't have missed me more than I've missed you, but I suppose it has been longer for you than for me.
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Oh, yes I can. I missed you so much...
[Nero snatches another kiss from her. Then his face turns 2.5 shades pinker.]
I feel like I'm dreaming. Like I have been since I saw you at the station. My beautiful Kyrie is here.
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It's not a dream, I promise. I'm here.
[She takes the initiative and saves him a steal, freely offering him a sweet, lingering kiss.]
And I'm not going anywhere.
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With her perched in his lap, he sits up to lean back against the headboard. The easier to kiss her between gushing compliments.]
Right here with me. [Smooch.] Right where you belong. [Smooch.
Then he goes in for a longer kiss to match hers. It starts off sweet but gets... a little steamy when he can't resist some tongue.]
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[She manages to sigh out her response before Nero goes in for a deeper kiss and she moans into his mouth as she tastes his tongue with hers. She is all too aware of how long it's been as her temperature goes up like touchpaper and she's aware of everywhere he's touching her and everywhere he's not.
And it's not enough.
One kiss melts into another, and another, and she laughs against his lips.]
Wait- is this okay?
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Is what okay?
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This is your father's house.
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Uh. This is our house? He didn't pay for it. [Because nobody pays for housing in Folkmore, but shh-]
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I want to lift the ban.
[This is then followed by a little nibble of his earlobe before she adds:]
And you are noisy.
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Oh. This is his father's house!!! RIGHT!]
Ah. Right. That's- that's new, isn't it...
[His face turns crimson, all the way down to his chest visible through the neck of his tanktop.]
I'll be quiet!?
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Kyrie gives him a skeptical look before she laughs and drops her forehead to his bright red collarbone, shaking with amusement.]
No you won't! You don't know how.
[And, truth be told, she wouldn't want him to be, not tonight.
...she's not exactly quiet either. Sopranos tend to be full-throated at the best of times.
She kisses his throat apologetically.]
What should we do?
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So after a moment he turns, carefully depositing Kyrie on the bed.]
One sec please.
[He stands up and heads for the bedroom door, stepping out into the rest of the house for about 37 seconds.
Then he comes back, closing the door behind him, looking incredibly relieved.]
They're both out. House to ourselves.
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So when Nero returns with relief painted all over his face, it spreads to Kyrie almost immediately as she jumps from the bed and rushes straight to him.]
Oh thank your grandfather.
[She is 100% teasing him and laughs accordingly as she jumps into his arms.]
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Euugh. He had nothing to do with it.
[He kisses her, then carries her back over to the bed to plop her down by the pillows, laughing under his breath.]
And you are not allowed to praise him anymore when we're-
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Oh no, you're the only one I'm planning on praising tonight.
[Begone shirt, you have no place here. She tosses it away, over towards her discarded towel, and lets her palms rove over his torso as she shifts beneath him to get more comfortable.]
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[Delivered confidently. Though if Kyrie praises Nero even slightly he will immediately crumble to pieces. If it's religiously, he will literally keel over and die.
Nero settles her out with her head on the pillows, kneeling over her. His bared chest is pretty much how she remembers it, the wounds from the Qliphoth incident long since healed. All his latest injuries came at Vergil's doing, while they were sparring... but thankfully, Nero's freshly healed from those, too. Thanks, Devil Trigger!
The one big difference, of course, is his right arm. Looking freakishly normal and ordinary, human skin, a hand just like the other. This will be the first time she's gotten a real decent look at his arm sans clothing, and sans the more familiar glowing mark of his demon arm.
He perches over her, taking a moment to admire her in that hoodie.]
You look so hot in my hoodie. [Put a little engine grease on there and he might actually start sweating.] I almost hate to take you out of it...
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Kyrie's hands travel deftly across the planes of his stomach, up to his chest and over his shoulders, touching as much as she can as if trying to memorise every inch of him. At the compliment about her in his hoodie, she smiles up at him with a slightly wicked gleam in her eye that very rarely emerges, and only ever in private moments like this. She bucks up to kiss him, a stolen peck of a kiss.]
You could always let me keep it on, but then you'd never get to see what's underneath.
nsfw from here on out >>b
Another time, maybe. [He returns a grin, though nowhere near as wicked as hers.] You're like a present for me to unwrap.
[(Please rest assured that was as painful to write as it was to read.)
Sliding a hand behind her, he guides her to sit up and tugs at the sleeves of the hoodie to pull it up over her head.]
Ohoho. Stole my shirt too, did you? [She's even hotter in one of his big T shirts. He cannot resist kissing her, which does hamper his attempts to take that off her, too. As does his insistence on mumbling against her lips.] God, you're so cute...
>:3
You are just the silliest-
[She's cut off with Nero pulling the hoodie up over her head; it's big enough that it doesn't even catch on her ears. The shirt is vast on her, the collar is so large that it's slipping off over her shoulder. She has no complaints about the kiss and mumbles against his lips:]
I'm just borrowing it, but if you want me to give it back...
[Oops there goes his shirt over her head, oh my. Completely bare except for her panties, she holds the t-shirt out to him with a smile with a pink flush spreading over her cheeks.]
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You can borrow it whenever you like.
[He leans down, kissing her boldly, one hand trailing fingers down her collarbone, down her chest, then cupping her breast. A deeply satisfied sigh escapes his throat, and he pulls away just enough to speak.]
Oh, baby, I missed these, too... [He's grinning when he kisses her again, letting both hands make themselves at home touching her breasts, her waist, her hips, and tracing a little trail around her navel. But now he's more pink than ever, and physically warm to the touch. Some things never change.]
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I'd return the favour but I don't think my clothes will fit you.
[Each time he goes to kiss her, Kyrie finds herself drawn to him like a magnet as she leans in and reciprocates. The contact is almost electric. She shivers delightedly as he touches her and arches in closer, as though she's attention starved and needy.
Even after all these years, she still yearns for his touch.
She murmurs softly at the back of her throat as he explores her body, refamiliarizing himself with her curves. She leans into him, her body feeling warm and flushed from the proximity of him and her growing excitement, and brushes her lips over his jaw up to his ear and giggles a little as he pronounces his appreciation for her breasts.]
I hope you're going to take care of them for me.
[She places her hand on his thigh and rubs along the rigid muscle, creeping higher. She whispers questioningly, promisingly into his ear:]
And let me take care of you?
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