A Flame Divine ♕

XVIII. H O M E

e v e r l y

Everly lay with her head on Stellan's bare chest, her fingers drawing lazy circles on his sternum. He ran his fingers through her hair, lifting it and letting it fall onto her back in gentle waves.

"Hey," she said, looking up at him.

With a smile, he captured her lips with his and her breath caught in her throat.

"Hey," he said against her lips.

She grinned and closed her lips around his again, parting them with her tongue and swinging one leg over his waist so she was sitting on top of him. She put both her hands on his cheeks and kissed him hard.

When they finally came up for air and she sat up, leaning against his bent knees, he looked at her in amusement. "What were you saying?"

She giggled. "I forgot."

He shook his head and pushed his hair out of his face. "I guess my kisses have that effect on you."

"Shut up," she teased, and then her eyes widened. "Oh yeah... I was thinking about what Merrik said about finding a more permanent place, and I didn't know how you felt about that. I mean, if you think it's too soon..." she said, twisting the string on his pajama pants between her slender fingers.

She stole a glance up at him through her eyelashes to see a small grin on his face. "What, you mean you don't want to live with me? Well if that's how you feel..." He moved to get up and Everly pounced on him to stay put.

"I never said that!" she cried, giggling. Stellan sat up with her in his lap.

"We could go looking for apartments. I mean, we don't have to sign a mortgage or anything," he chuckled.

She beamed. "Yes! Can we do that today?"

He nodded and kissed her forehead. "I'd love to. But that means we have to get out of bed," he groaned.

"Yeah... but we could get out of bed and go to the shower..." she said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

He growled and pressed his lips to her neck, jumping up with her in his arms and sweeping them off to the shower.

°°°

"You ready babe?"

Everly looked up from sliding her feet into her flats, and her eyes ran up and down Stellan's frame.

"Yup. All I need is you," she said, winking and holding her hand out to him. He took her hand, and she squeezed it gently, bringing it to her mouth and kissing his knuckles. "You look so adorable when you dress down," she said as they walked to the elevator. She pressed the down button and leaned against him as they waited.

"You should see yourself. You could wear a burlap sack and still look fine as hell," Stellan countered as they stepped onto the elevator.

She flushed and kissed his cheek. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, settling his chin against the top of her head. "What kind of apartment do you want?"

"What can we afford?" she asked. "I want to make sure we stay within a good budget."

"Well after yesterday's payout, we have a lot of options," Stellan said as the doors opened and they started toward the car. "If you want to be close to downtown, we can look in Near West Side. Or maybe a little north of the city? Edison Park is a nice neighborhood, I hear."

Everly smiled when he opened the door for her. Who said chivalry was dead? "I'm happy with wherever, as long as I'm with you." She paused and then spoke again. "Edison Park sounds cute. Let's go look there first. I don't really want to be right in the middle of downtown. I've lived that life for too long," she said as she clicked her seatbelt.