“So fierce.” He patted the bed beside him. “Come here. I desire you even more when you are angry, you know.” She smiled in spite of herself and lay down beside him. He stroked her hair gently. “I suppose we cannot spend another day in here alone, can we? I have not even begun to have enough of you.” His lips started to brush along her neck, causing her body to shiver in delight, despite how much pleasure he had already brought her in the last twenty-four hours.
“I wish we could. But there is much to do if we’re to leave the country in the next few days.” She ran her hand over his scrubby hair. “We’ll have time together tonight. And eventually, we’ll have to slow down or I won’t be able to walk.”
Michael laughed. She’d never heard him laugh so much in the past, not even in GYL.
-
“So?” said Anjali as she took Sophie’s blood pressure.
“So what?”
“How was last night?” Anjali smiled as Sophie’s face reddened. “That good, huh?” The doctor pulled the cuff off her arm and handed Sophie her antibiotics with a bottle of water. “Down the hatch,” she instructed. Over the lip of the bottle, she could see Anjali watching to make sure she took all the pills.
“It was the best night of my life.” She felt enormous relief that Anjali hadn’t asked her to take off her clothes for the examination. Her fair skin was covered in bite marks and scratches, and she’d spotted a chain of bruises around her hips where he’d gripped her. She’d marked him similarly.
Sex with Michael was intense, glorious, and occasionally rough – just like him.
“I’m glad.” Anjali leaned down into her field of vision and took her hand. “It’s okay, really. We’ve been friends for a long time. You’ve had to listen to me all these years about your boss. You’re entitled to gossip about your sex life for a change.” She paused. “I’m not a big fan of Michael right now, but you can still talk to me about him.”
“It’s like everything for the first time all over again.” Sophie hesitated, not sure how to put her feelings into words. “Like every man who came before was practice for him. No one else knows me like he does.” Anjali took her temperature, recording the result on the chart. “The sex is insanely good.”
“I figured as much.” Anjali didn’t bother to hide her grin. “Just try to remember you’ve both been ill. And you especially – no backdoor action for some weeks to come.”
Sophie’s mouth fell open in shock. “Do you and Will do that…wait, don’t tell me.” She held up her hand as Anjali started to answer. “Forget I asked. Never tell me about stuff like that. I have to see him every day at the office.” Anjali smirked and said nothing further.
“Things feel different this time.” Sophie moved the conversation away from that dangerous topic. “We’ve changed. We’ve been together for days now, and haven’t fought at all. Well, not that much. You don’t know how rare that is for us. There was a time when all we did was fight.”
“Everybody grows up. Even brilliant, overachieving idealists like you two. Maybe you’ve reached a point where your emotional maturity has caught up with your brains and bodies.”
“Maybe. I don’t know what’s going to happen when we get back to New York. It’s like a dream here. Maybe when we go home, it won’t be like that anymore.” Anjali’s laughter filled the room, startling her.
“If you two manage to screw this up again, on your own heads be it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen two people who loved each other more, who were so willing to put their lives on the line for one another. You’ve just got to get down to the business of loving each other on a daily basis in real life.” Anjali stroked Sophie’s hair, still damp from her shower. “Love each other hard, and stop being such bloody prideful idiots. If you can do that, you’ll be fine.”
-
Sophie had one more important task to do that day. She dug through her things to find what she needed, hooked up her computer to a portable printer, and cranked out a few sheets. Michael picked one up, scanned it, and looked at her with a resigned sigh.