Rising sunlight shone through the pale curtains, faintly lighting the room in early morning tones and catching the dust motes in the air. It was blessedly warm on Gideon’s bare back, and he heaved a deep and contented breath, turning his head up to see Florence’s sleeping face. Her eyelashes were clear in the light and the veins were visible under the thin skin of her eyelids. Gideon was partly on top of her, one leg between hers, arm around her stomach and his head on her chest, allowing him the sight of the stark line of her jaw and the curve of her throat. Shifting subtlety, he took her hand that rested on the bed, holding it loosely. Her other was in his hair, where it had tangled before she fell asleep.

After a squeezing her gently, Gideon eased back to sit. Under the comforter, his leg was still over hers, and he felt when she moved, turning her head to face him and folding one arm over her chest.

Florence was lovely in the dawning light, tousled hair and fair, flushed skin and relaxed body, naked save for the blanket covering her hips. Her mouth was kissed red from the previous evening, and tiny little bruises were blooming on her throat from his teeth. The bed clothes around her were disarrayed, the blanket half on the floor and one of the pillows no where to be seen.

All those little things suggested more happening last night than what actually did. The intent had been there, but they’d been kneeling on the bed, wrapped up together and both trying to undresses the other, and she had undone his belt and slid it from his dress slacks, he’d been trying to unbutton her dress blindly, and her knee slipped on the edge of the mattress, he’d lost his balance, and Florence was the one who hit the floor. Gideon had made an honest attempt to catch her, but all he managed to do was face plant on the bed with one arm stretched over the side. He imagined they looked like some bastardized mockery of a scene from the Titanic. She had looked up at him, sprawled on her back on the floorboards, khaki dress rumpled, underwear around her knees, her chest all misshapen from both her bra and dress being loosened. Her copper hair was half obscuring her face, and she peered through the strands to meet his gaze silently. He stared back, wide eyed and shirtless, his own long hair a wreck. He was only wearing one sock. He knew this because he could see the match laying beside Florence’s shoulder.

His mouth trembled.

A swift grin crossed her face before she had lost it laughing, and after that, though they had both lost their clothes completely, sex had been forgotten in favor of a little wrestling and much beating with pillows, an act which Florence said was recompense for getting shoved off the bed. They’d tired after awhile, and discussed writing, of books and music, and what state they’d be in two days from now. Montana it was. They’d realized early on that tours and book signings could be lined up side by side, which meant they could both work, without an issue for either, be travel together. It was a good combination; she didn’t need much for autographing, so he could take up as much space as needed for sound equipment and instruments. The only thing, probably the smallest problem, was that Gideon now got a separate room rather then pile in with his band mates, including his best friend. Despite that, the guys had generously and easily accepted Florence into their wolfish little pack, even reserved, stoic Heidi. She was the keyboardist, sometimes vocalist, and the coolest tempered of the group. She and Florence had not, despite being the only woman amongst all the men, immediately become friends. However, they got on well enough, and sometimes they would decide to bunk together when Gideon missed the guys to much.

All in all, it worked shockingly well. Their lives had slotted together so seamlessly that sometimes Gideon expected the anvil to drop, for it to crash, but so far it hadn’t, and Gideon was going to enjoy, and enjoy mornings like this one.

A slight nudge at his leg brought his attention to Florence. He’d been so lost in thought he hadn’t realized she was awake, watching him with a fond expression. He smiled.