You Always Go And Rescue Me

As the light slowly crept across my room and the morning was arriving to wake the city, it also woke us up. Zach and I were still intertwined and wrapped up in one another. We had a lot to catch up on- we made love all through the night and eventually slept due to exhaustion. When the morning light appeared, so did our desires and we woke up just to stay in bed.

Everything about him I appreciated much more. His touch, his voice, the way he said my name…it all registered in a place that I never had the capability to store it before. Our intimacy changed our relationship, and I was aware, now more than ever, that he was the one I was meant to spend my life with.

Zach, who was still affectionately holding me in his arms, positioned himself to look into my eyes. His smile was priceless; his heart was glowing.

“Last night…” he started, “it was incredible. I never expected it, and I didn’t plan it…” he was unsure of what words to choose next. “I’ve never felt that way before, and… I just don’t want you to regret it…” he trailed off.

He felt guilty, he knew I’d never been with any other man before him- practically everyone knew that. I didn’t expect it either, but I couldn’t not be with him that way anymore. My soul longed for him and I wanted to express just how much I loved him, in everyway I possibly could.

I lightly ran my fingers through his hair and down his cheekbone. “I love you…and it may not have happened the way I thought it would, but if I wasn’t certain we were meant to be together, I wouldn’t have let it happen. You have nothing to feel guilty about, it was extraordinary.” I wanted to reassure him that I didn’t regret it.

He smiled a smile of pure joy at me and I felt a surge of butterflies erupt through my body. “Good, because I don’t regret a moment of it.” And with that, he pulled me closer and I surrendered myself to him. As he gently pushed himself into me I eagerly felt myself falling in love with him all over again, and I knew that we weren’t a mistake.

We continued rocking the bed until the afternoon when we finally left the bedroom to make breakfast, well, lunch. As wonderful as our night and morning had gone, they couldn’t last forever and life had to resume. Things shifted though. They may not have been perceptible to anyone aside from the two of us, but we were closer now, more attached.

I stood in the kitchen, pouring us tea when I felt his eyes on me from behind. I turned around to see him staring at me with a familiar smile on his face.

“What?” I said with a grin.

“Do you remember our first date?”

“Of course. Why?”

“After we went out, you invited me up- we talked for a while and you made me tea. You were in that little black dress and you were barefoot…do you remember that?”

“Yeah, how do you? I don’t understand babe.”

“Do you remember turning around and seeing me smile at you and asking why I was?”

“Yes! Where are you getting at?” He was driving me crazy with anticipation.

“I was staring at you, because at that moment… watching you there in your dress and barefoot, you just looked so cute and I knew that my life as I was used to was never going to be the same.”

I was speechless. How did he even remember that?

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, I am.”

I placed his tea down in front of him and kissed him passionately on the lips. Zach pulled away, laughing.

“Okay, okay baby. Calm down, you’ve worn me out. I need food and I need to rejuvenate, but by tonight I’ll be ready to go,” he teased.

I giggled at him. He was right. I didn’t see how he could possibly have anything left in the tank between last night and this morning. My cheeks burned red and I buried my face in my hands laughing.

“Oh honey, you’re precious,” I squealed out.

After brunch we had to go to work and because of everything that had happened the last twelve hours, it was harder for us to be apart.

I had plans to meet up with Courtney again. We planned on getting coffee together and she was going to run to the arena with me to meet the guys. When we met up she could tell by the fact that my face was beaming that something was up.

“What’s the deal with you today? Look at you! You’re glowing!”

I shook my head but the idiotic smirk across my face exposed my secret.

“Nothing,” I nonchalantly tried to lure her to drop it. “It’s nothing. Seriously.”

She pestered me all the way to the arena and I broke down.

“Okay! Zach and I…we made up last night…”

“Obviously. And?”

“We, um, took the next step in our relationship…” I trailed off, hoping she would catch my drift.

It took her a second but when the realization of what I said set in, her mouth dropped and her eyes popped open.

“Oh my gosh! Are you saying-“

“Yes!” I cut her off. I had to. I didn’t want the rest of the world knowing our business.

“Oh I can’t believe it! Now, how was it!”

“It…was amazing. There are no words,” I gushed. “I love him!”

As we walked into the arena the issue was dropped. We walked down the hallway and into the practice rink. The boys had practice and team stuff to do, even though it was later in the day, and since I had the night off I wanted to surprise Zach. Besides, I had to do a little bit of work at the same time, so I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone.

My eyes immediately found Zach. He was to the side of the rink and talking with Travis. When he saw me his face lit up and that adorable smile I had come to love spread across his face.

He skated over quickly, which wasn’t a problem. The weird thing was that Travis came with him. I was too love struck to notice anything Travis had been doing, but I definitely noticed when he followed Zach over to me, especially since we barely talked.

Zach kissed me quickly and I introduced him to Courtney. Okay, it was another reason I was there. I wanted him to meet her and vice versa.

“Hey sweetie! This is Courtney.” They nodded at each other and both said their “pleased to meet you’s” as Travis looked on. His reaction was one I didn’t expect, he didn’t make any comments, he greeted me and looked at Court.

“Um, Court this is Travis. You probably know who he is though,” I semi-joked. I wasn’t expecting him to still be standing there.

“It’s nice to meet you Courtney.” Travis swallowed nervously which was very uncharacteristic of him.

“What’s up Trav? I’m guessing you and Zach are tight?”

“We room together. I mean, yeah, we’re good friends too.” Travis blushed as he realized he didn’t smoothly get his words out. Zach and I looked at each other from the corner of our eyes and secretly laughed as we realized he liked her.

“Well that’s nice. It must make traveling fun.”

“Yeah, so where are you from? How do you and Sarah know each other?”

“I just transferred, well, moved here from Boston. Sar and I went to college together- we actually grew up together too. I’m working with the Knicks now though, so we met up and she has been showing me around.”

“Oh, so you’re, um, going to be around a lot then?”

Zach and I could barely contain ourselves, but we kept our mouths shut and just watched, entertained.

“Yeah, that’s the plan,” she teased.

Travis never had a hard time saying what was on his mind so seeing him so flustered was hilarious. Zach never saw him so tongue-tied.

“Alright guys, well, we’re gonna get going, but we just wanted to come say hi,” I butt in.

“What are you guys doing tonight?” That was Travis.

“Well Sarah and I are going out to dinner, so I know what she’s doing.” Zach was totally messing with Travis and his disappointment was evident.

I tugged on Courtney’s arm to leave. I quickly gave Zach a kiss goodbye since I would see him in a little while, and winked at him with an evil grin to tell him that I knew what he was doing to Trav.

“It was nice to meet you!” Courtney yelled as I pulled her away from the boys.

When we got out of view Courtney turned to me, excitement in her voice.

“He’s cute!” She definitely was just as interested.

“Don’t waste your time. He’s an ass. The two of us don’t get along very well, so I was surprised he even came over. He must’ve really had a thing for you.”

“That’s ashame. Leave it to me to be immediately attracted to him.”

We laughed as we made our way back into the city and went our separate ways for the night.

Zach took me to a romantic dinner, just the two of us, and showered me with affection. We had a fantastic time holding hands and goofing on how smitten Travis seemed to be with Courtney. Despite his actions, we never actually thought he’d get anywhere with her-he hadn’t had a serious relationship in a loooong time.

We got back to my apartment as quickly as we could, and when we did, Zach didn’t waste any time in slipping off my dress and giving me a repeat of last night. I didn’t dare object, but I did scream.