Ships That Pass in the Night

When Falanyel walked into the shed to fetch Samhan for dinner, she had not expected to find him on his back, nose underneath the hull of the little racing dinghy, doing who knows what to the boat.
Slowly, she walked up to his knees, which popped out from the starboard side.
“Hey, Falanyel.” His muffled voice trickled out from below. “Dinner ready?”
“Yeah…” She trailed off. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to…” He grunted, and Falanyel watched curiously as the muscles in his thighs strained while he tried to wrestle with something. After a sigh, he finished, “Fix this damn boat.”
“Why?” She wondered.
“Because…” Samhan paused again as he pushed himself towards her, scooting along the ground until his face came into view. “Gilmyn said I could have her if I did.”
“Thought you said a racing boat wasn’t the kind of boat you needed.” She shot him an inquisitive look.
“Well I don’t need a racing boat, that’s for sure.” He admitted as he stood up. When he did come to his full height, he was standing quite close to Falanyel, and she had to crane her neck slightly just to keep eye contact. She thought to take a step backwards, but didn’t want to admit that he intimidated her. “But I think it’d be fun to have.”
“How are you going to get it back to Portside?” She wanted to know.
He waved her comment off. “I’ll figure that out when the time comes.”
Falanyel nodded, briefly mesmerized by the sweat trickling down his neck. Fixing boats was apparently more of a workout that she’d expected.
“Sleeping better?” Samhan asked softly. Falanyel flicked her eyes up to his icy blue ones, shocked by his question. This was the first time either of them had mentioned his midnight visits. She’d thought Samhan wouldn’t bring it up, since the whole situation was at least ten different kinds of taboo, but trust him to prove her wrong.
“Yeah.” She admitted quietly, averting her eyes while a blush crept along her cheeks. Falanyel didn’t like how inappropriate it was to sleep in the same bed as a man she wasn’t married to, even if nothing ever happened between them. It wasn’t that she was ashamed of sleeping in Samhan’s bed, it was that she felt guilty. Like she was betraying Hardin in some strange way, even though he hadn’t even proposed to her.
“That’s good to hear.” His voice dropped low, with almost a gravelly tone underneath it. Falanyel chanced a look upwards, but upon meeting his eyes, retreated to the safe image of her hand resting on the racing dinghy.
“Especially considering how much space you occupy.” He added.
Her eyes flicked immediately back to his, as she frowned disapprovingly. “I do not take up that much space!”
“Think again.” He chuckled, clearly amused by her embarrassment.
Huffing, Falanyel looked away, trying to will the blush out of her cheeks.
“Don’t feel too bad though.” He reassured her. “As long as you’re sleeping well, it’s fine.”
“Thanks, Samhan.” She whispered quietly.
“It’s nothing.” He shrugged casually.
“I mean it.” Falanyel met his eyes once more. “I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever sleep peacefully again.”
His clear blue orbs flitted between her eyes and something else on her face, but she wasn’t quite sure what. At first she became nervous that she had flour on her cheek, but then Samhan exhaled sharply through his nose, and the next thing she knew, he had taken her hand in his.
She looked down at their hands, confused, but not for very long before a knuckle settled under her chin and tilted her face back towards his. All of a sudden, his eyes were half shut and quite close, and warm breath bounced off the planes of her cheek. Falanyel gasped slightly before Samhan pressed his lips to hers.
The way Samhan kissed was far and away a different experience than what she read about in fairytales. In the books it was always a quick meeting of mouths, followed by that cute smooching sound, and that was it. That’s not how Samhan kissed her. His mouth settled into hers, lips grazing softly softly across her skin until his upper lip sat right at the part in her mouth.Then, strangest of all, his lower lip moved curiously, dipping lower, just above her chin, and then he sucked ever so slightly on the fatty flesh of her lip.
That was how he coaxed her. His lips would first brush simply against hers, and then he’d move against her mouth in a way that she couldn’t really describe, but somehow always left her jaw sinking lower.
In that time, the hand that had been under her chin had drifted behind her neck, cradling it softly, but also encouraging her closer. He kissed her once more, and that time she thought she felt his tongue run softly across the top of her upper lip. Then, he pulled away, leaving her precariously unbalanced as she leant forward to keep his kiss.
Her clouded orbs, which had closed at some point during that whole ordeal, fluttered softly open, and it wasn’t until then that she recognized the undeniable fervor that traced through his wintry eyes.
Shortly thereafter, a playful smirk began to ghost along Samhan’s lips as the couple both came to the realization that Falanyel was falling for him. Literally.
Taking a steadying and defensive step backwards, Falanyel extracted her hand from his and turned slightly away, her fingers coming up to touch the tips of her lips, almost in awe.
“I…” She started, trying to form a coherent sentence, but incapable of doing so given the whole mess of thoughts coursing through her mind. Why had he kissed her? Why had she kissed him back? Did she like it? Did that mean she liked him? Did she still like Hardin? There was a slew of questions she couldn’t even begin to answer.
It was then that she made the mistake of turning back to look at Samhan, who was gazing down at her with an irritatingly satisfied smirk on his face.
“I was shocked!” She exclaimed as her hands began to ball into fists by her side. “That’s all!”
“Mhmm.” Samhan was clearly unconvinced.
“I don’t even like you.” She reasoned. “It’s Hardin I like.”
“I’m aware.” The sailor nodded before crossing his arms and leaning against the dinghy.
“He and I are going to be married someday.” Falanyel asserted.
“I’m sure you will be.” That damn smile still wouldn’t leave his face.
“So there’s no reason to be smirking!” She said finally.
“Oh, and why’s that?” He asked with raised eyebrows.
“Because I don’t like you!” She declared for a second time. “That, that… Whatever that was, it means nothing, because I like Hardin, not you!”
“Who are you trying to convince here, me?” He leaned in closer. “Or yourself?”
Flushed with rage, Falanyel scoffed and stomped her foot on the ground. “You know every time you start shaping up to be a nice guy you have to go and get all arrogant!”
“A fatal flaw.” He shrugged, still smirking. “What can I say?”
“Nothing!” She whined. “You can say nothing.”
He responded by smiling widely at her.
Fed up with his antics, Falanyel stormed out of the shed, but not before saying, “Don’t be late for dinner!”