The next morning, she wakes up in his arms, his chest pressed against her back. She closes her eyes, smiling as his arms tighten around her.
"Good morning," he says, planting kisses on her shoulder.
"Morning," she says, her voice thick with sleep. Everything feels right. She lays there, not speaking or moving, willing this to last a little longer. "I don't want to get out of this bed."
"Don't."
"Karen will be here soon. She's already annoyed with me."
"She'll get over it," he says, kissing her forehead as she rolls over in his arms.
"You're underestimating her. She does what she wants. I have no control."
"Some employer you are..."
"I'm the best boss ever and you know it."
"Mmhmm," he says, abandoning the banter to kiss her again.
"Okay, we really need to get up."
"But then you'll put on clothes," he says, running his hand down her side and pouting.
"Yes, Lindsey. I will," she says, rolling her eyes playfully and tossing the covers aside, letting him catch a glimpse of her before she wraps a cashmere blanket over her shoulders. He watches her as she digs for clothes, stopping himself from saying everything he wants to say. It's way too early to ruin this. Instead, he slips out of bed and snatches the blanket from her, tossing it aside. "I'm going to kill you."
He grabs her wrist to stop her from covering herself. "Oh, stop it. Let me see you."
"Not all of us are quite as confident with our nakedness as you are..."
"You look better now than you did 25 years ago. Stop being so hard on yourself." He holds her waist, running his hands down her hips before lets go of her. She dresses quickly, not willing to argue with him this time. She's aware that she looks good for her age, but at 66 that feels like a pretty low bar. She'd be lying if she said it didn't feel good to have someone look at her like that again, though. Especially him.
"You have to put on pants, Lindsey. Karen's going to be annoyed that you're here. She'll be even more annoyed if she comes in and you're still naked."
He's seated on the edge of the bed, watching her get ready. He's always liked watching her in the mornings - something about seeing her in a way no one else saw her had always drawn him in. She'd gotten used to it over the years, though she never understood why watching her brush her hair and put on make up was so enthralling to him. "Do you want me to leave?"
"Not really," she says, climbing onto the bed andstraddling his lap and burying her face in his neck. He holds her for a minute, not really ready to let go.
"I'm not going to get any less naked if you keep climbing on top of me."
"Fine," she says, reluctantly bringing herself to her feet. "I'll go make some coffee."
He stands up and pulls on his jeans as she leaves the room, taking a minute to clean himself up. What the hell were they doing? He looks at himself in the mirror, the ring on his left hand catching his eye as he runs his fingers through his hair. God, he wished he didn't have to wear that thing. It suddenly feels like he's shackled; bound to the wrong person. He shakes his head, trying to banish those thoughts from his head. He's got what he wants in the next room.
He walks out of the bedroom just in time to see Karen entering the suite. Stevie holds out a coffee mug and he takes it. Before he can thank her, Karen drops her bag on the chair and diverts his attention. "You couldn't even put a shirt on, Buckingham?"
"Just enjoy the view, Karen."
"Stop it, you two," says Stevie, joining Karen at the table. "What do we have to do?"
"I need you to sign a few things so I can get them to your lawyers, because they're about to murder you. And I've been trying to get you to scheduled with Liz all week. If you won't make time to meet with her, you've got to call her. And for the love of God, call Tom back. I'm sick of taking messages."
"Lindsey, this should only take about an hour. Do you want to hang out or come back?"
"I've got a guitar here. I'm good," he says, already on the couch tuning. She smiles at him, staring just a little too long. Karen rolls her eyes at Stevie and shoves a stack of papers across the table.
She listens to Lindsey in the background while they push through Karen's checklist, secretly comforted by the familiar melodies coming from the other side of the room. When the phone rings, she pretends to be annoyed with him. "Trying to work here," she says, not looking at him. He starts to strum loudly, and she stifles a laugh as she starts to talk, trying to feign annoyance.
"You two are like children, I swear," says Karen, getting up to refill her coffee. Stevie steps out onto the balcony to talk, leaving Karen and Lindsey alone. He ignores her for a minute, eyes closed as he plays. "So," she says, trying to get his attention. He looks up, but doesn't stop playing. "If you break her heart, we will kill you. You know that, right?"
That gets his attention. He stops playing and sets his guitar down. "The last thing I want to do is hurt her."
"I know you don't want to. But Jesus Christ, Lindsey. Where do you think this is going to go?"
"I don't know, Karen. But I can't be without her anymore."
"I think you're a selfish asshole. But she loves you. And for all of your faults, I know that you love her. Just be careful with her, okay? It'll kill her."
"I forgot that being with Stevie meant being with all of you, too."
"I mean it, Lindsey. I know you love her. Don't break her heart."
"Karen, I've never loved anyone like I love her. It's taken fifty years, but we're in a good place and I intend to absorb every second that I can. I don't know how it's going to go, and I'm sure that we will fuck it up somehow, but I think we can do better than that this time."
"I hope you're right," she says, standing as Stevie comes back inside.
