IGNITE

thirty-six.

੭୧ 𝐩𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐫 ੭୧

Warmth. Comfort. Grey.

My senses came alive slowly, one at a time, each one dull and soft, each one quiet and muted, only the feeling of his body around me. The gentle caress of his fingers across my back, tracing lines down my spine and along my hip, over my shoulder blade and down the length of my arm. His fingertips grazing over my skin with featherlight touches, his arms holding me against his bare chest as he held me.

I hummed sleepily, burying my face into the crook of his neck. The gentle smell of sandalwood and rain wafted through the air, his fingers moving along the exposed skin of my stomach where my sweater had ridden up in my sleep, each touch sending goosebumps across my body, a warmth pooling in my lower stomach.

Grey pressed his lips to my forehead as he held me tighter, the sound of rain on the window as the grey, stormy skies of November gave way to rain and snow. I wrapped my arms around his torso, burying my face against his neck as we laid tangled together for a long moment, basking in each other's company, listening to the rhythmic beating of each other's hearts, our breathing evening out. "I could get used to this, Firelight," he breathed into the crook of my shoulder, my head against his chest.

I smiled softly at him as the butterflies in my stomach danced, "yeah, me too." We laid tangled together in silence for a moment, my thoughts drifting to the day ahead of me. "I need to buy a dress." The words were quiet and muffled as I buried my face further into the crook of his shoulder.

"Dress?"

"For the show coming up," I ran a hand down my face. "Mr. Bearigard will have my head if I am not dressed to perfection." Grey stiffened beneath me, and I met his gaze, rolling my eyes. "It's an expression, Sunshine. He's not going to hurt me. Besides," I sat up a bit, looking down at him, my eyes sparkling as I smirked, "you'd never let that happen, would you?"

"No," Grey said quickly, his hands finding the curve of my waist as I straddled him, leaning down and pressing my lips to the curve of his throat, nipping the tender skin and earning a growl from Grey. "If you're not careful we'll be in here all day, Piper," he growled again, his fingers digging into my sides as I shifted, pressing a soft kiss to the underside of his jaw.

"That doesn't sound too bad," I murmured, rolling my hips against him before moving out of his bed, laughing softly as I slipped from his hold, dodging the pillow that he chucked my way as I disappeared into the hallway.

At some point between mind blowing sex and best–sleep–of–my–life with Grey the night before, I heard Max come over, and assumed she would stay over in Ryan's room, where she always slept when he stayed over. I stopped in my tracks in the mouth of the living room as my eyes landed on Max, who slept on the ground beside the couch.

Cyrus slept soundly on the couch above her, his bad leg propped up on a pile of pillows, a book about the moon on his chest, a hand tucked beneath his head as he snored softly, his other hanging off of the couch above Max.

My best friend slept on the floor beneath him, curled in a ball and using Cyrus' hoodie as a pillow before she stirred, her eyes slowly opening. She smiled at me sleepily before looking up at Cyrus. "Morning," she pushed herself off of the ground, taking in my dishevelled, pantsless appearance before snickering. "I take it someone had a heart–to–heart with the big mopey grump?"

I couldn't stop the smile that spread across my face. "Something like that." My gaze flicked down to her makeshift bed, "you slept...on the floor?"

"I didn't want him to be alone."

My hands ran through my hair as I nodded slowly, skepticism washing over me. "Right. Anyway, I need to go dress shopping for an event at the gallery coming up, do you want to come?"