Always

Chapter 53

"Can you stay?" Harry mumbled into neck.  He had thrown himself down next to me, slinging his arm across my stomach and hugging his chest into mine.  My hand curled around his back and stroked the back of his hair absent-mindedly, loving the feel of his soft strands sliding through my fingers. 

"Won't your mom care?" I asked quietly.

"Is it bad if I don't care?" he chuckled, nuzzling his face further into the warmth of my skin.

I giggled, surprised by his answer.  "Yes, Harry."

"Oh well," he said.  His fingers brushed slowly up and down the skin on my ribcage, tickling me softly. 

"Do you want me to stay?" I asked, smiling already because I knew the answer.

"Yes," he said. "I never want you to leave."

"Good, 'cause I'm not going anywhere," I said, my grin stretching even further as I kissed the top of his head.  His body felt warm against mine in the most comforting way possible.  "Never ever.  You're stuck with me."

"Never ever?"

"Nope. Not even when you grow up and get a job.  I'll follow you to work.  And in your car.  Even to the bathroom.  Everywhere, even when you beg me to leave you alone," I teased, giggling.

"Okay, changed my mind, I want out," he joked, lifting his head from my neck and looking at me with wide eyes.  He shook his head as if terrified.

"Nope, too late.  You said it," I smiled, raising my eyebrow playfully at him.  A grin stretched across his face.

"Well, looks like I better get used to you, then." He shrugged.

"Looks that way," I laughed.

"I still don't think I'd mind that," he said seriously, ghost of a smile still playing on his lips.  "You could be with me every second of every day and I'd never mind."

My laugh faded as I looked at him, heart melting for what seemed like the thousandth time at his honesty.  "Never? Really?"

He shook his head, holding my gaze.  "Never."

A smile pulled at my cheeks as I bit my lip before leaning down to kiss him.  It was a slow, languid kiss that burned my very soul, his lips shaping softly against my own.  The way his lips fit against mine was too perfect to be a coincidence; I was convinced he was made for me, and I for him.

Our kiss broke as Harry pulled back and smiled softly at me, green eyes absolutely glowing.

"So you'll stay?" he asked, raising his eyebrows hopefully.

"I'll stay," I grinned.  I had known I would stay the moment he asked me.  Everything he had said about never wanting me to leave and wanting to be with me every second of the day had hit home with me, expressing how I felt exactly.  To know that he felt the same way I did made me so inexplicably happy I could barely comprehend it. 

Besides, it was already really late, and I knew I wouldn't have been able to sleep alone tonight after everything that had happened.  I needed him. 

"Good," he said simply, smiling at me once more before rolling on his back and pulling me with him.  I couldn't help the girlish giggle that escaped my lips as he did so, settling so I was on sitting on his hips, knees resting on either side of his body. 

He leaned back into his pillow and grinned up at me, his hands resting above my knees as I sat upright.  Goose bumps rose on my skin as his thumbs trailed lightly across the skin on my thigh while my fingers toyed innocently with the fabric of his boxers that he had put back on.  My eyes roamed across the soft skin on his stomach, covering the deliciously firm muscles that shaped pleasingly down his torso.