The Learning Curve: Outtake Three

Hanover, New Hampshire

As soon as I finished placing my last book on our brand new shelves in the living room, I took a moment to survey the day's work. The living room was bright with the sunset, golden light streaming through our western-facing windows. It was simple, but I loved the coziness – the plush sofa, the little armchair in the corner beside my books, the dining table squashed into the corner opposite the kitchen. But something was missing.

I drifted down the hallway toward our bedroom, where Edward had been working for the past two hours. When I walked in, my breath caught in my throat.

All of our furniture was now in place, the clothes put away, the bed made up. Edward was at the window, putting up our curtains.

"Are you almost done?" I asked softly, watching him fight with the swaths of fabric.

He turned quickly, wobbling precariously on his step ladder, making my heart jump in fear. But he found his balance and gestured to the safely hanging curtains. "Just finished."

After a brief appraisal, I noticed his hair was damp from sweat at the roots and that he had smudges from something on his fingers. I could feel my own griminess from sorting through dusty books.

"Do you want to take a shower?" I asked.

He nodded and hopped down from the ladder, and we went into the bathroom together. It was the first room we'd gotten set up, partly because it was the easiest and partly because it was rather essential.

In the shower, we mostly washed ourselves, taking turns under the spray to rinse. Soon, though, the lure of his firm shoulders was too much to resist, and it was only a short step from having my fingers touching him to having my whole body pressed against him. His mouth met mine, his tongue sweeping away drops of water on my lips. I felt his hardness trapped between us and pushed away slightly.

"In the bed," I said simply, and I needed only his eyes to tell me he understood. I wanted our first memory of making love in this place to be in the bed we would share for years to come.

When we were dried off, Edward scooped me up and laid me back on our plush mattress, covered in soft cotton sheets. He kneeled near the end of the bed and lowered his head to put his mouth intimately against me. Not until I was burning with need did he raise his body over mine and enter me.

Edward was in a slow mood, and the room was dim with twilight when his release claimed him. I held him close to me, wanting to feel him near me even after my own climax.

Our bed was soft, easy to sink into, and I had no desire whatsoever to leave, but I made myself get up and follow Edward into the kitchen for a quiet dinner before we snuggled under the covers for the night.

Edward curled his warm body around mine, and I slept like a baby.