In the aftermath they lay panting, the screamed calls of each other’s names echoing in the cavernous room, sweat and slick wetness still joining them where their skin touched, no words left on their lips, no breath in their lungs. Not for a long, long time.

There was just the tight grasp of their bodies. Hands clinging, inner muscles clutching, hair tangled, breaths mingling. She soaked up the oneness of them, too afraid to move, because how could this perfection last?

“If you tell me you don’t feel beautiful after that—” Rico whispered, voice hoarse as she kissed his mouth, stealing the rest of his words.

Rolling onto their sides, they kissed lazily, their heartbeats surging up and down. They played each other like beloved instruments they’d lost to time and given up on. Taking notes with their touches. Relearning. Reclaiming.

Ashna had no idea when she drifted off, but when she woke up, the room was pitch dark. Inside her was a new brightness. Without even a moment of disorientation, she knew exactly where she was. Lying sprawled on top of Rico, skin on skin.

She knew from his breathing that he was awake.

“Morning,” he said.

“What time is it? Can we have some light?”

“It’s noon.”

She sprang up and found him laughing. And gorgeous.

“It’s barely seven.” He hit a button on a remote and a complicated orchestra of blinds opened just enough to let in a gentle glow of morning light. The man was going to kill her.

Pulling her back to him, he kissed her soundly. A phrase that had to have been coined for this very moment.

Yes, she felt soundly kissed and it made her smile against his mouth. “You’re a very loud man. That’s certainly new,” she said.

He talked during sex, a lot. The chant of her name with every term of endearment in the world, all of them. A lot of Portuguese. Every word lightning, striking straight at her womb.

It was probably the first time she’d seen him blush. “It’s easier when you’re not hiding.”

She stiffened, but she knew he only meant how quiet they’d had to be in his aunt’s house, even though his aunt had never been there when they were together.

He stroked her back, thumb tracing the keys of her spine. Soothing her again. “Growing up has to have some advantages.”

It should, shouldn’t it?

He sensed the shifting of her mood. “You want to talk about what happened?”

She pushed herself off him and lay down on her back. The restlessness inside her was nothing if not stubborn. “What I’ve always known about myself, turns out it’s true.”