Memories Old and New....

He looked down at her, his hair cascading in to his brown eyes as he did. She stared resolutely back at him, a sheepish grin on her face as his smile deepened. He loved everything about her, down to the freckles on her face. She was the one he had been waiting for, the one that completed him. A thin layer of sweat clung to their skin as the gentle afternoon wind blew through the curtains of his bedroom. She shifted beneath him, scowling at him for the briefest of moments.

“When was the last time you felt like this?” he asked softly, thrusting into her again, making her arch her back up off the bed.

“The last time we were together.” She breathed honestly, knowing that the words she had spoken were by far the most honest in a long time. He grinned at her, loving the way her eyes flickered over his shoulders as if she were embarrassed by her admission. He watched her blush, watched her bite her lip before her eyes locked with his once again. He thrust into her again and again, relishing how tight she was around him.

Her fingers curled into his hair and she tugged, eliciting a soft moan from him as he touched her cheek gently, their movements stark in contrast. He knew what she needed the very same way she knew what he wanted. They struck a delicate balance, hard versus soft, rough versus gentle. It was a furious tug of war every time they were together but it kept them craving the other when they parted ways.

What they had between them ran much deeper than just sex. He had never met someone so beautiful, so graceful, so full of life and laughter. She had never met someone that she could happily fall in love with. He was different and they both knew it. He wanted to save her and she wanted to fix him. Either they were a match made in heaven or a beautiful disaster waiting to happen.

They lay tangled together, their breathing heavy but their souls content as they basked in the afterglow of the love they had just made. She turned and gazed at him, her brows furrowing slightly as she studied him.

“You see him in me don’t you?” he whispered, feeling his heart break a little when she nodded timidly in his arms.

“You know that I’m nothing like him right?” he fought off the gut wrenching pain as she nodded again.

He wanted her to know that he would never hurt her, that he would protect her and gladly do whatever she asked. He had a feeling that she knew all that already but in those rare moments when she looked at him with glazed eyes, his faith faltered slightly. He knew that she wasn’t seeing him in those moments; that she was seeing her past in the shockingly similar features that he so happened to share with the man that once broke her heart. It saddened him to know that when he smiled she would frown at him. It hurt him to know that when she brushed his hair out of his eyes, she wasn’t smiling. It killed him to see her look at him like that, with pain in her deep brown eyes.

“I can’t help it that my face looks like this.” He said lightly, attempting to make her laugh. She chuckled weakly, her smile not quite reaching her eyes as she did. He tightened his grip on her shoulder while she pushed herself closer to him.

“I’m sorry.” She said in a small voice that made him cringe inwardly. He could sense her unease and there was nothing he could really do to help her. “It’s just…but…it’s all in the past now.”

“Yeah.” He forced himself to sound cheerful but his voice sounded strained even in his own ears. “The past.”

They lay there in silence, listening to the world around them. Neither of them spoke or made any move to get up. They simply lay there, in each other’s arms, nursing very different wounds while valiantly trying to make something out of the love they stumbled upon.