As the Snow Falls

Chapter 8

A/N: Mature content:)

When I wake in the morning, I'm surprised to find that I'm actually warm. My face is cold, but the rest of my body is a comfortable warm temperature snuggled beneath the blankets with Cassie's arms around me.

Wait.

The previous night rushes back to me and I take a minute to remember if that was real life or a dream. But the feel of Cassie's body pressed against mine this morning only confirms that it was real. All of it.

I smile and bite my lip, remembering the feel of her lips on mine, her hands on my body, making me feel things I haven't felt in too long...

A part of me couldn't help but worry that something would happen to ruin this, though. I wanted to push that thought from my mind, but knew I needed to prepare myself. I would do everything I could to keep things from turning upside down, though. Cassie deserved that. I still didn't know what had happened to her previously, but I was determined to figure it out and help her, even if it took time. Hell, time was all we had here.

I shift slightly to pull my injured hand out from underneath the blankets, and I feel Cassie stir behind me. Her arms tighten around me as she takes in a deep breath.

"Good morning." She whispers, nuzzling into my hair.

"Mm, it is a good morning, isn't it?" I respond, slowly turning to face her.

"It is." She smiles. "Last night was..."

"Amazing? Incredible? Unbelievably wonderful? Stimulating?"

Cassie laughs. "All of the above. Especially stimulating." I giggle and press a kiss to the tip of her nose.

"Thank you for being open with me. I know... I know it can't be easy. But I want to be here for you." I see a guarded look in her eyes and hurry to finish. "But I won't ever press you for information or anything you're not comfortable with. I'm never going to force things from you, okay?"

I can see the struggle of her emotions. "Thank you, Ava. I don't like that I'm hard to deal with, but it's who I've been for the last few years. I want to let you in... I just need time."

"You can have as much time as you need, okay? I can just be a pretty face with good lips to kiss until then."

Cassie barks out a laugh and pulls me to her. "You're much, much more than that, Ava. But I'll take that too." She finishes, finally placing her lips on mine.

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"What do you want to do today?" Cassie asks as we eat breakfast. I'd cooked more eggs, and Cassie had gotten together bagels and milk. I was trying to be careful about going easy on the cookable foods. Who knew how long we would be stuck in here.

"Hmm... the options are endless!" I say with mock enthusiasm. "We could always finish up the manuscript... or play cards... or sleep... or...." I trail off, wiggling my eyebrows.

"I like where that last one was going." Cassie giggles, and her eyes dart down to my lips.

"Can you not look at my lips like that? It's distracting." I say, trying to sound annoyed. I fail miserably. Cassie laughs and leans over the table to kiss me. I kiss her back wholeheartedly and whine when she pulls away.

"You were saying?" She smirks.

"Anyway," I huff, trying to bring my attention back. "At some point we might have to figure out how to get out of here. I think we have enough food to last another few days, maybe a week. And there's plenty of water closing us in here, so we don't have to worry about that. But if we run out of food, that could cause another issue."