8 years in the life

Chapter 33

Rory heard her name softly whispered but was reluctant to open her eyes. Despite the intense nocturnal activity, she felt rested, good, warm and slowly, the memories were coming back to her brain. He could feel that she was awake as her breathing had changed, but he wished they were able to stay like this - cuddled together, her head resting on his chest, his arm around her, under the feather soft sheets.

"It's killing me, but I'm pretty sure we have to wake up," he whispered.

"Can't we play hooky?" She mumbled, tightening her arm around his waist and placing a kiss on his chest.

"At what time is your talk?" He asked hoping she was speaking in an afternoon session.

"10, but the session starts at 9, I'm just before the coffee break, so I have to check in before 9," she answered knowing that they did have to get out of bed.

He sighed. "I have to get up anyway to get home and change, can't really do the walk of shame, or I'll hear about it for months."

"How would they know you're wearing the same clothes?"

"Because I tutored some of them yesterday for their second-year paper. When do you have to be back in New York?"

"My plane is at eight this evening," she answered, straightening to rest on her elbow and be able to look at him.

"Can't you stay over for the weekend?" He added his best charming smile to sweeten the pot.

"I didn't bring enough clothes to stay over for the weekend." She smiled knowing very well that she didn't mind.

"My plans for us don't involve much clothing." His lips quirked up in a half smile.

"They don't?" She asked feigning surprise.

"And if you really need some, we can still buy whatever you'll need, you know it's amazing what you can find in a small town like Boston." He tucked her hair behind her ear, grinning.

"At what time will you be free?" She asked already fantasizing about the upcoming days with him.

"My last class ends at 3 pm; if you're interested, I can pick you up at your conference."

"Now that I know where your office is, I'll find you there. I'll try to sneak out before the end. Otherwise, the session ends at 6."

"Okay, I'll be waiting for you in my office. If I don't see you before, I'll pick you at 6."

Robert followed his clothes spread along the floor to the door and put them back on. He knew he was going to see her again this evening, but he couldn't help feeling reluctant to leave her. She could see he was bothered and walked to him. She ran a hand down his face, and gently stroked his cheek with her thumb. He rested his head on her hand and closed his eyes.

"I just don't want to leave you," he kissed her hand.

"You're not leaving me. We'll see each other again in a few hours, you have students waiting for you."

He sighed and put his arms around her waist and rested his forehead on hers.

"I'm still not realizing that we're here together, in the same room, the same city. So, you're staying the whole weekend?"

"If you're inviting me, I'll change my plane ticket."

"Just do it, Gilmore, and I'll see you this afternoon."

He grabbed her butt to pull her close to him and kissed the life out of her.

# # #

Her talk went well, but after that, she wasn't able to focus on the conference anymore. Anyway, the following sessions were too much on the marketing and the business of publishing. She decided that she would sneak out during the afternoon session coffee break and on the way to Robert's office she would stop by this lingerie shop on Harvard Square where Paris used to go. All she wanted was to feel sexy for him and as they planned, that was about the only kind of clothing she would need. All day long, she could barely hide her smile. It hadn't even been 24 hours since they had become reacquainted, but she felt that this time, they wouldn't make the same mistakes, that they had finally learned their lesson. She was kind of surprised at how fast they had connected. Of course, they haven't really talked about how they were going to handle the long distance, but she was unexpectedly quite confident that they would be able to work this through.