aren’t in a relationship.” She was not sure if he mea

ed, but it was one thing to have the doubt drilling into her mind, burrowing into her thoughts, without it being substanti

weeks now. Cordelia was there. She is not a relationship sort of person, and I was… curious, I guess. It was… well it doesn’t matter. I don’t have to explain it to you. You and I,” he stood and reached for his jacket, leaving her as he left

didn’t say goodbye, but closed the door firmly behind him, and she saw his

h two barely touched pizzas and half a bottle of wine. The hope that had been slowly building in her, the dream that perhaps somehow thi

one. He had take

away, and then returned to the lounge room and drank the res

on the market, as Megan had told her to do from the beginning. She was starting to think that she should have followed Meg

her as she returned from work and made her way down the garden path, his blue ey

f the latest book she was reviewing with surprise. She backed up a step, suddenly wary. When had he become suc

r house?” He

mine?” Fear slid into embarrassment. They were now having a fight on the front lawn of her house, for every garden wate

ther house will sell as well if both are up for sale at

d I thought you were going on tour with your band,” she edged around him so that

stopped, baffled. “Em,” he changed tact. “

and a house that seemed foreign and isolated in the nights without his presence. She had never lived alone before, had gone straight from her parents’ hous

er seeping out of him and a gentle

im firmly, pushing the pain back. “And I a

u?” He wa

n. Compromise after compromise, so that together you find something you can both live with, that makes you both happy. I don’t want to be an editor in a big city firm. I

on her bed. Maybe, in the dark, its big body would be a little like having him back again and she

E

what I will make from it, and live mortgage free. Which means I can freela

nd scheme to not marry her, he had not consider

esire to earn a living from my writing. I think maybe, somewhere along the line, we became

“And I knew about your writin

und her keys for the front door in her bag. She wanted to get into her house before the tears that threatened won over her self-control. “I am not staying her

k to her. Shame was written over his face, plain as day. “I have

off as she managed to unlock th

taken off top

y years? I am not taking them with me when

rather drastic,

g that was scheduled to take place in six months, going on unpaid leave and selling a house in order to pursue a futu

ll, the heat in his eyes vastly different to the fury with which he had accosted her on the lawn, his mouth meeting hers with demand and passion, anger

a complaint or appreciation of the stiletto heels as he lifted her so that her legs crossed behind his hips. He drove into her, and she cried out, th

d that added another edge to the experience, her heart pounding as she realized that he wanted her enough not to care that any dog-wal

he knew, but that she would wear a mark, that he had deliberately left it there, marking her with his passion… It drove her mad, an

e pattern of the sex, the rhythm of it, so that he stayed deeper, making it less physical and more intimate. The shift in position

” she pleaded

am not going to stop until you

e with effort, her eyelids wanting to close as he

were against her che

ed out, part pain, part pleasure, his head coming to rest against he

ght it expressed the situation rather well. It was f-ked that they had just discovered this amazing sex between them, whilst he was on some w

was confident that she, at least, was not sleeping with anyone

t all. “And we are moving, you and I, because I want the furniture in it, to make

ne. We will swap houses. But the differenc

en you will take on hal

g her up against the wall. “When did you become such a hard arse?” He wondered his face s

ping for my dream wedding gown, to a groom wh

shudder pas

ured. “I guess tha

eekend,

eekend,