Later that same night, Stevie slipped into her nightie after she had just taken off her make up and applied some face cream onto her skin. It was already past three in the morning, at this point, but still too early for her to actually fall asleep. She had planned on spending the rest of the night writing down what had happened the past two days. Maybe she would even be able to put the words into a poem someday. During their recording sessions for 'Extended Play' a couple months ago, Lindsey had actually warmed her up to the idea of making a full new record one day. Even though, she had been forced to stay at his house with his wife and kids for a longer period of time, a situation she usually tried to avoid, she had enjoyed the creative process and working with him, again.
Stevie was just about to crawl into bed when there was a knock at her door. She knew it was him before she had even gotten the chance to take a look through the spyhole. "What are you doing here, Linds?", she asked, without even opening the door.
"Will you let me in?", she could hear him asking, his voice slightly muffled.
"I don't think that's such a good idea."
Lindsey sighed, "Can you open the door at least? Just for a second, please?"
"What for?"
"Steph, come on. Don't let me hanging like this. I doubt that I did anything to deserve this kind of treatment."
"Fine.", Stevie muttered and unlocked the door. She leaned against its wooden frame and looked him up and down. He had already gotten ready to go to bed, as well, only clad in a pair of dark blue sweatpants and a white tee. Even in this type of clothes, this man was still absolutely irresistible. "What do you want?"
"Is this really how you want this day to end?", Lindsey asked with a sad expression upon his face, "With you giving me the cold shoulder? Really, Stevie?"
Stevie sighed, "No."
Lindsey could see that she was actually having a really hard time battling her feelings. Her eyes were focused on her feet while her nails dug into the wooden surface of the doorframe. "Can you look at me?", he asked softly.
Stevie shook her head, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip.
Without thinking twice or waiting for another type of reaction from her, he stepped forward and pulled her small body into his arms. "It's okay.", he whispered, his lips pressing against her forehead while the door closed gently behind him.
For a moment, Stevie just held onto him, or more likely, clung to him, before she placed both hands on top of his chest and pushed against his hold. "This cannot happen, again.", she said and tried to free herself out of his embrace.
"We can't even hug, anymore?", Lindsey asked.
"You know where this is leading.", Stevie replied and stepped away from him, her arms wrapping around her own body, instead.
"I didn't come here to have sex with you.", Lindsey said honestly.
"Then what did you come here for?", she asked, her eyes finally meeting his.
"I..-", Lindsey stammered
"Yeah? I'm listening."
"I wanted to see you. Needed to see you.", he admitted. God, why did he always have to become so weak in her presence?
"We just spent the whole day with each other.", Stevie said.
"I know. It's just.. god, how do I say this without sounding like an idiot?", he said and slowly shook his head.
His words caused Stevie to smile melancholically. He could be such a fragile beautiful soul if he wasn't trying to be a pain in her ass all the fucking time. "Just say what you want to say. I doubt I'm going to think you're an idiot."
Lindsey needed a moment to find the right words, then, very slowly, he said, "I can't just make the switch from, you know, being so close to you like we were last night or even this morning to, well, nothing, really. I know it makes me sound like a complete pussy but... I'm not going to stand here and say what happened between us doesn't mean anything to me."
Stevie gulped. She had not expected him to say that, not even in the slightest. It came as a total surprise to her. "Do you want to stay?" The words just tumbled out of her mouth, "I mean, we can watch some TV or just talk or whatever."
"Yeah.", Lindsey was quick to reply, "I'd love that."
Stevie nodded, then turned to walk back inside her bedroom. Lindsey stood still for a moment, he couldn't really wrap his head around the fact that she actually invited him to stay. Especially not, after she had not even been willing to open the door for him in the first place.
"Are you coming, or..?", he heard her calling out for him and he quickly followed her before she'd change her mind. When he entered the bedroom to find her lying in bed already, the robe she had been wearing over her nightie discarded to the side, all the memories from the night before came back up to flood his mind. The faces she had made when he touched her, kissed her, told her that she was beautiful. The way she had arched her back into his touch and writhed underneath him all naked and bound to the exact same bed just...- "If you want to stay, you can't keep looking at me like that.", Stevie interrupted his train of thoughts.
"Huh? Like what?"
"As if you just saw me naked."
"But I did see you naked.", Lindsey said with a small chuckle, "And not just once."
"Try to forget about it.", she said with a stern look, watching him crawl into bed beside her.
"It's not that easy", Lindsey admitted, "It was quite the sight."
When he looked to his left, he could see her cheeks turning a light shade of pink, "Now, you're just trying to get laid."
"Well, is it working?", he smirked.
"Absolutely not.", Stevie said and threw a pillow at him.
"Too bad."
"Lindsey!", she said sternly, and turned her head to look at him, "I'm serious. You can't stay, if you keep this up."
He was just about to make a comment about how she wasn't complaining about him 'keeping it up' just a couple hours ago, but he did want to stay - a lot, actually. "Ok, I'm keeping my mouth shut from now on."
"Thank you."
"So, what were you doing before I decided to disturb you?", he asked and turned on his side to face her.
"I was actually just about to go to bed and journal a little because someone took that chance away from me last night."
Lindsey grinned. The fact, that even though she had just scolded him for talking about having sex with her, but then decided to bring it back up herself, was quite amusing. "Uh-huh."
"Is that all you're going to say?", she asked and raised her brow.
"I basically just had to promise you to stop talking about this specific subject, and now, you want me to say something so you can have a reason to make me leave?", he asked rhetorically, "No chance, lady. I'm going to stay. "
That made Stevie laugh. Damn, he was good at this. "You're a fast learner."
"Only took me about forty years to figure you out."
"Oh god, that makes me feel old.", Stevie sighed dramatically, then added, "Who would have guessed I'd still be lying in bed with you all this time later, huh?"
"Me.", Lindsey smiled sadly, "Though , I thought by now, you'd be wearing my ring on your finger and there'd be half a dozen grandkids trying to steal my place in bed to cuddle with their grandmom."
Even though, he had tried to make it sound like a joke, his honesty changed the mood drastically. Stevie couldn't look at him, his words ringing in her ears as she thought about a life she could have had, if only things had turned out differently.
"Steves?", he called out her name cautiously. When she didn't answer him right away, he reached out to touch the side of her face.
Stevie flinched, then shook her head, "You can't touch me."
"I'm sorry."
For a while, no one said a word as they just lay in bed and stared straight ahead, both of them lost in their own thoughts. Eventually, Lindsey spoke up, again, "I feel like I took advantage of you. I mean, last night. We were both drunk and I just barged into your room to have my way with you."
"You didn't. I could have put a stop to this but I didn't do that, did I?", Stevie replied, a sad expression upon her face when she turned to look at him, "It was wonderful and I don't regret that it happened. You made me feel good about myself, about my body. That's-that's something I haven't felt in so long and..."
"That's a shame, really.", Lindsey interrupted her before she could finish her sentence, "You're so gorgeous, still."
Stevie shook laughingly her head.
"No, I'm serious.", he reached out to take her hand, squeezing it gently, "You're like a fine wine, Steph. You only get better with age.
"So good with words..."
"I learned from the best."
Stevie smiled sadly, then reached out with her free hand to turn out the light, "I'm tired."
He knew she was just saying that to stop the conversation from continuing. It wasn't a secret that she usually didn't go to sleep before six in the morning but he decided to let it slide. He was thankful she had not thrown him out, yet.
Lindsey had no idea for how long they just lay there in the darkness, listening to each other's breathing without daring to say a word, before he felt Stevie's body slightly shifting beside him. She was moving closer, but it was obvious that she was hesitating to make the final move. Even though, every cell in his body wanted to just reach out and pull her against him, he decided to wait. Instead, he let the pad of his thumb smooth across the soft skin of her hand that was still resting in his.
Eventually, the free space of his pillow sank in slightly, and he knew she had just placed her head there, her breath now bouncing off of his upper lip. Seconds later, he felt her nose bumping against his, affectionately. He stilled, not daring to make a move. The time went by torturously slowly, every passing second causing Lindsey's heartbeat to increase, until finally, her lips met his in a soft intimate kiss. He let her control the pace, didn't push her, just responded to the way their lips merged into one. Her tongue entered his mouth and swiped at his, once, twice, before she pulled back and snuggled up against him, her face coming to rest in the curve of his neck, "Goodnight, Linds."
Lindsey was glad it was too dark for her to notice the broad smile which took over his whole face in response to her actions. Instead, he wrapped both arms around her body and pressed another loving kiss to her temple, before saying, "Goodnight, Steph."