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Drew’s eyes opened to darkness; flashes of his fragmented dreams fogged his vision of the room. Something warm pressed against him and he pulled it closer. His hands tangled in silk that smelled like home, like Nora.
Sighing, he felt the emptiness inside him expand until it ached. It was always only a dream.
“Nora.” Drew murmured her name through dry lips, blinking into the darkness as something stirred against him.
Dark hair nestled against his neck. With a jerk, he lifted his head to peer down, wincing as a wave of dizziness and fatigue flooded through him.
Closing his eyes tightly, Drew shook his head before opening them again.
Only then did he remember waking to a surprised cry from the shower, how the familiar sound had pulled him forward as if by a cord tethered inside his chest. He remembered her body; the way the sun had danced along her wet, naked skin, and how certain he'd been that she couldn't be real.
His eyes moved over her face, the face he'd seen so many times as he'd looked at Ah Lin's drawing. It was so much more beautiful than he remembered. With trembling hands he brushed a piece of tangled hair from her forehead.
She shifted in her sleep and with easy familiarity, pressed her cheek against his chest. Her bare leg brushed against his before sliding higher to rest across his hip.
Drew felt her skin, her softness.
Even in his weakened state, his body stirred.
His arms shook as he lifted a hand to ghost along her body, over her shoulder, down her ribs. Her fingers twitched and he lifted them to his mouth, kissing her palm. Dark ink caught his eye and he shifted her arm to see. There, along her wrist and in Chinese characters were words so much like his.
中 注 定 我 爱 他
Fated to love him
Drew’s thumb traced the newly inked skin; the significance of what it meant hit him like a solid push to the chest. She had marked herself — he was what she wanted to keep with her.
He was tired and weak, and his limbs trembled as he tried to support his weight. He kissed her wrist again, closing his eyes as he pressed his mouth to the words. Drew kissed her warm cheeks, her nose and finally her mouth.
She moved beneath him, her eyelashes fluttering along his cheeks. Sighing against his lips, she rolled him onto his back.
“You should be resting,” she said, without conviction, into his mouth.
His hands moved under her arms and to her shoulders, holding her close.
“You're sick,” she added, murmuring the words against his jaw.
“I’m better.”
“Drew.”
“Nora.” His hands moved to her hips, then lower, cupping her bare curves in his palms. “Please. I need this.”
She bit her lower lip as she considered.
“I'm fine,” he said softly, seeing the hesitation in her expression. He reached to brush a piece of hair over her shoulder.
Her eyes moved across his face before her lips pressed to his. He moaned at the way she felt in his hands and at the way her scent seemed to fill the room. She opened her mouth and he felt himself harden between their bodies. Nora fit so perfectly against him: soft against hard, curve against angled muscle.
He grew frantic with want as she sat up, legs on either side of his hips. Her hands slipped down his chest to grip him, fingers brushing along his length, thumb tracing the underside of his piercing.
“That feels so good,” he said through a hiss, watching as her hands became reacquainted with his body.
Her touch was so familiar and he was overcome with longing, practically shaking with the need to feel her. His eyes never left hers as she positioned herself over him, smiled wickedly, and slowly
slowly
slowly
took him inside.
He watched as she moved over him, helpless to look away. His eyes devoured her, wanted to absorb each of her hoarse, quiet cries of pleasure. She was so vibrant and full of life, so perfect in every way, such a stark contrast to the unending fatigue he felt. His arms lay heavily at his sides, only having the strength to relish the movement of her hips or lightly brush along her stomach and breasts.
He felt every breath, every sweep of her hand, how her thighs tightened against him and her skin pebbled beneath his trembling fingertips. He watched where their bodies connected, and how her breasts moved above him. He watched her hair fall around them as she leaned in for a kiss, and how it felt like they disappeared from the world. He relished in the sounds she made, and the way she would close her eyes for only a second before looking down at him again. He watched the way the metal through her nipple glinted in the moonlight and the way she tensed and whispered his name as she brought them both to orgasm. Moaning hoarsely, he shook as he came inside her.
“I love you,” Drew heaved on an exhale as she collapsed against his chest.
“Your heart is racing.” She laughed and he smiled at the way it vibrated through him.
His hands moved to her hair and he closed his eyes, holding her there and feeling whole for the first time since they'd been apart.
She shifted and he lifted his head to find her propped on his chest, silently watching him. He brushed the back of his fingers across her jaw and down her neck, to her arm. He kept his eyes on hers as his thumb traced her tattoo.
She smiled as he brought it to his mouth and kissed it gently.
“Tell me about this?” he asked, wondering about the story behind it, if she regretted marking herself this way.
She looked down as if suddenly shy and he lifted her chin. “It made me feel closer to you somehow, like a tie between us. A tangible piece of what mattered.”
“It's amazing,” he said simply.
She smiled widely. He wondered if maybe she had been worried about his reaction.
“It is.”
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August 27th
Drew’s strength returned slowly throughout the morning, and he insisted on checking in on the village. Nora's small arms held him in bed, urging him to stay still.
“It won't take me long. I just need to check in.”
She must have seen something in his eyes, some determination or deep-seated responsibility because she nodded once and, after kissing him, let him go.
“Come back to me,” she said.
Hearing her say this from his small cot in the tiny house in China pulled a smile from him and he nodded. “I don't even really want to leave you now.”
When he returned, they made love again, quietly and unhurried. Drew curled up behind her, rocking forward and back, her hand reaching behind her and tangling in his hair. He pressed his mouth to her neck, sucking, relishing the hungry, hoarse little sounds she gave him.
The afternoon sun lit up the dark space and they slipped into an easy routine when they rose a while later, moving comfortably around each other. He sat at the table organizing doses and Nora tinkered in the tiny kitchen, chopping vegetables from the safe-food ice chest.
For at least half an hour they worked quietly, simply listening to the sounds of the other's task. He watched her between prepping each vial, relishing the familiar comfort they shared so immediately upon their reunion. But the silence started to feel heavy; Nora rarely went so long without speaking. He looked up at her just as she inhaled to speak.
“I'm relieved.” She continued to work but her movements slowed.
Drew looked back down at the vial in his hand to make sure he’d labeled it correctly, before putting it on the table and looking up at her again. “Relieved? Tell me what you mean, sweet girl.”
She shook her head slightly, letting a curtain of hair fall between them.
He hated that he couldn't see her face as she sorted out her answer. Her voice had been slightly shaky. “Move your hair, Nora,” he murmured. “Let me see you.”
Her hand reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear. She glanced at him briefly and then smiled down at the carrots she was chopping. “I'm relieved you were happy to see me.”
Drew stared at her for a long moment, not entirely sure how to react. He realized there was a world of books and talk shows that would make everything so much more complex than this, but this is always where his own reality misaligned with the conventional wisdom because he’d never understood the value of empty words. He loved her. She loved him. She came to him and he was glad for it.
But in that moment, he realized she needed more from him, she needed the words, full of meaning and honesty. “I'm completely restored.” The only other thing that made sense came out of his mouth: “I love you. I truly do.”
“I know.” Her blush was beautiful and warm.
“Nora, seeing you is the only thing that could keep me together. I was falling apart without you.”
She nodded and put the carrots in a bowl, stirring them and then walking to the table. When she sat across from him, everything stopped buzzing in his ears and it was just them: Drew and Nora at a table. He wondered if she felt that, too.
“I love you, too,” she said.
He swallowed heavily and watched her lips as she smiled. The words themselves were so new to him, and although they didn't sound awkward or at all forced, he realized they were saying this for the first time without touching.
She pushed a bowl of carrots in vinegar, oil, and soy towards him. They were freckled with dark sesame seeds and even in their simplicity they were beautiful and vibrant. She reached for one and then held it between her fingers, examining it.
“It was kind of a big leap of faith coming here.” She watched a drop of sauce roll from her fingertip down the side of her hand and then licked it as she looked up at him.
“I can see what you mean,” he said slowly, trying not to stare at her tongue on her skin. “I hope you know it was never my intention to leave things unclear. I hope you never doubted my feelings for you.”
“You left, though.” She shook her head at her own words, clearly not meaning to sound harsh. “I mean, I'm just glad that you were being honest that night, and that you weren't only caught up in the moment.”
Drew stared down at his hands, before the scraping sound of the bowl cut into his thoughts, and the bowl pressed against his fingers.
“Eat,” she said.
He picked up a carrot and slipped it into his mouth, chewing while he considered how to articulate everything in his mind. “I've never thought the words 'I love you' to a woman before, let alone said them out loud. I suppose you’d have no way of knowing that, though.”
“No,” she whispered, watching him eat. “I don't know that side of you at all.”
“I'm in love with you, Nora. And I'm not sure how to do my life differently. I'm used to traveling when I'm needed. I'm used to being more transient. But everything is different now.”
“Different how?”
“I couldn't find my space here,” he said and her eyebrows furrowed a little, not understanding. He shook his head slightly, hoping the meaning would come out if he just kept speaking. “It doesn't usually take much for me to feel settled somewhere for however long I'm there.” Drew rubbed his jaw and took another carrot. “But this time it felt weird to not have you here.”
She smiled and chewed her lip. Drew reached across the table and touched her mouth, missing the sight of her doing that enough that he needed to feel it underneath his fingertips. It occurred to him that he had no idea what her journey had been; he just accepted her presence. He took in the faint lines of exhaustion that circled her eyes.
“Will you tell me what you did while we were apart? Why you decided to come to me?” he asked, running his finger over her lip. He hadn't seen her in a month. He wondered if there was some hesitation on her part, some building up of courage she required.
“I wanted to come right away,” she admitted staring at her hands.
“I would have loved that.” He could touch her face for hours. “I wish I'd asked you to come with me. It never occurred to me that you’d want to.”
“But I didn't have a passport,” she said, laughing self-consciously.
“Oh. I never thought of that.” Drew took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, realizing how much she had been through to get here.
“So that took a few weeks. And in that time I had to find you, because all I knew was that you were going to China.”
He smirked at her. “I hear China is a big place.”
“It is,” she said through a wide smile. “So, I... uh...”
He laughed at her guilty expression and took her hand, kissing it. “Spill. Tell me how you became a sleuth.”
“I called your parents.”
Drew stared at her, stunned. “How did you find them?”
“You'd told me your father's name once. I used some of my connections at Newsweek; they looked up his office number in the states and I left him a message that I knew his son and needed to find him. He called me back.”
Her determination floored and humbled him. She was so tenacious when he had been floundering. “You spoke with my dad?”
“I did.” She smiled proudly when she said this and he could just imagine how his parents would fall for Nora.
“What on earth did you tell him?” This he had to hear. His father knew how little expectation Drew had that he’d ever find someone he’d consider staying in one place with. He wished he could have seen his face when he heard from her.
“I told him how we met. And that we fell in love.” She knotted her fingers when she said this and Drew realized that the last month had been just as hard for her. “I told him how you had to leave so abruptly and I didn't think I could let six months pass without seeing you.”
Drew’s chest grew tight. He couldn't imagine what this had done to his father; how it would have brought him so much relief to know that Drew was learning how to love. “And he called Health Relief for you?”
She nodded. “That day.”
He reached for her face again, pulling her closer to him across the table. They both had to stand somewhat but he didn't care. He needed to feel her mouth. “You did so much to get here.”
She nodded against his kiss, smiling because he understood. “So, that’s why I'm relieved you're happy to see me,” she murmured.
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It was such a humid night it almost felt like they were sleeping in a pool of water in the cot. Nora tossed restlessly; even as exhausted as she was, she was unable to get comfortable.
Drew felt stronger, more aware, and he was tired of sleeping. He wanted to relish the sight of her, the smell of her.
The taste.
She was nude, next to him. He had insisted on it when they went to bed together that night, when she had taken him in again and loved him with quiet urgency. He never wanted her to sleep clothed with him, ever. In the light from outside, from the fiery stars and half-moon, her legs looked opalescent and smooth.
He spread her thighs with his hands, crawling down to the foot of the cot to gaze up at her. He kissed her heels, her ankles, her calves. He kissed her thighs and touched her clean, unmarked skin. He wanted her to only wear her words for him.
The sheets beneath her smelled like both of them and the love they had made before bed, but when he ran his tongue along her, she tasted exactly how he imagined: soft, wet and somehow… familiar. He was completely lost.
She woke up slowly, humming and touching his hands where they rest on her thighs.
“Oh.” Her legs jerked when he slid a finger inside her and she registered what he was doing.
Drew breathed her name, finally sucking her into his mouth, but gently. He needed this so much.
“I don’t . . .” she mumbled. “No one ever . . . “
His mind reeled with what she was telling him and he focused his efforts. “Never?”
“It's . . .” she whispered. “Do you . . . ?”
“I'm lost in you,” he reassured her, kissing up and down her skin with increasing need. “I've wanted this for so long.”
“Really?” she breathed. He felt her arch into him, giving in to it.
“Really.”
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Her orgasm was wild and writhing and when he looked at her below him as Drew crawled up her body, she shook with her need for more.
“So good,” he whispered, telling her how she made him feel.
Drew expected her to pull him over her, to want him inside her as much as he wanted it, but she stilled him with a hand on his hip.
She ran her hand up her side and pinched her nipple softly. “I want to see you.”
Her eyes moved down his chest and to his hips. He swallowed at the darkness of her stare. “You enjoy that.”
“I do.” Her eyes grew almost black when she said this.
“Why?” he asked, running a finger up her stomach and circling the nipple she ignored.
“I like visual stimulation.”
He smiled down at her. “I give you a lot to look at.”
She growled and ran a hand up his arm. “I like thinking about what you did when . . .” She blushed and he smiled down at her, waiting. “ . . . when you thought of me.”
He watched her for a long moment, relishing the woman who emerged when they were alone at night. “I love this side of you.”
“Will you let me watch?” She pulled her lip into her mouth and chewed it, growling a bit.
Drew took himself in his hand; pulling back his foreskin and tugging her nipple ring with his other hand. “What is it you want to see?”
She bit back a moan. “How did you do it when you were without me?” She tilted her head on the pillow. “Did you savor it?”
“A couple of times I did,” he admitted quietly.
“And when you savored it, what were you thinking about?”
“Tasting you.”
He saw her blush and knew this new experience pressed back against and challenged her daring mood. She closed her eyes and breathed, “You thought about that a lot?”
He waited until she opened her eyes to nod. He began to move his hand and her eyes grew hooded. “I didn't know you'd never been touched like that.”
“Yeah.” She stared at his hand as he worked it over his cock.
“I like that.”
She looked up at his eyes and he saw the relief there.
“That was part of the fantasy, actually,” he admitted.
“Really?”
Drew nodded again, moving faster. “You kept that just for me.”
Just like this side of you, he thought. Just like your innocent honesty, your willingness to be daring and ask me for what you want.
“The piercing...” she murmured.
“Do you like it?” He flicked it lightly with his index finger and she gasped.
“I like how it looks.” She looked up at him and licked her lips. “I like how it feels even more.”
“Yes,” he hissed. Drew closed his eyes and arched his neck, struggling to prolong it. “Where do you want me to come?” His voice was tight and she gasped.
“My hip.”
“Why?” She loved the vision of him like this and he found he loved nothing more than her whispered directions.
She was quiet and he met her gaze, straining to hold on. “I don't know,” she said. “I just want it there.”
Drew looked down her body and realized how his release would move down her hip and between her legs.
The way her fingers desperately clawed at the sheets when he came was the most erotic thing he had ever seen.
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Thanks so much for reading! And for being patient; the month of May was nonstop travel for us, so we know the updates were uneven! We love hearing from you here and on twitter, please know that your comments and excitement make our day! ~Lo & Christina