Crossing Boundaries [COMPLETE]

If Only

The tossing and turning was becoming Tiffany's habit. The pillows around her were scattered in all directions. She would cover her face with the comforter, then uncover it again. With the Disney playlist humming in her earpods, she breathed out a sigh and stared at the dark ceiling.

Her entire body was shivering from the cold. She glanced at her phone. The electricity was out for about an hour, and with it the heater. It didn't help that she could see Chris's face everywhere she turned. She shifted to her side, covered her face with a pillow and then the blanket.

She tried to shut her eyes but she could imagine his blushed lips treading dangerously close to hers. Damn it! Be still my heart. Why did he even have to do that anyway?

The thud on the door made Tiffany jerk. "Geez, Evans!" she remarked rather loudly.

"Are you decent this time?" he asked teasing.

"Under the sheets... No." She shrugged the cold and the feeling. "But come in," She clutched her sheets.

From the door, she could see him emerge, wrapped in his own comforter. "I can't sleep... Apparently, you can't as well." He approached the edge of the bed.

"I could sense a proposition coming." There was pause in every word. "Spill!"

"Cuddle?"His question was tentative, but his grin was hopeful.

Tiffany wasn't the least bit surprised with his suggestion but she was in the taunting mood, no thanks to her inability to fall asleep no matter how she tried. "Why don't you just wear winter clothing to sleep?"

"Who could sleep with coat and denim and socks in bed?" he asked back.

Good point. However, she delayed her answer, pretending to think. "Fine."

Chris unfurled the blanket revealing his half-naked body. Tiffany had to gulp a chunk of the chilly air around them. "Goodness, Chris! No wonder you're feeling cold." She tried not to stare at his heat-inducing upper body and biceps.

He sat on the bed, spreading his comforter on top of her sheets. Then, he slowly slid in underneath facing her. "Well at least we're even... Both indecent under the sheets." Tiffany saw how his denim eyes sparkled in the faint light of the bluetooth speaker.

They held each others gaze. Both contemplating how being in each others presence could make their heart beat faster and slower at the same time.

With her hazel peepers, Tiffany studied his face as though she was looking at him for the very first time. As if she was SEEING him for the first time. In the soft glint of the room, she could make out the evident prime had taken over his boy-next-door features.

If she could say so herself, he wore aging well. From his beard, to the few faint fine lines at the edge of his eyes when he laughed or smiled. These made him much more mesmerizing. She had no idea why his ruggedness was slowly stirring some gut reaction in her. 

Before she realized it, Chris noticed the curious stare from her. "Do I have dirt on my face, Tiff?"

She made an involuntary motion, caressing his facial hair. "None," she answered.

Since the whole point of his sleepover in her room was to cuddle, he hooked his arm about her waist. Instantly, he felt her bare skin. Oh god how he ached for a moment like this. But just like a true gentlemen, he didn't want to take advantage of the situation, unlike the incident from the morning before.

He regained composure by cracking a joke. "My siblings definitely f$@%ed up the packing." His statement paired with chuckles.

She rolled her eyes. "I honestly don't know what they were thinking when they filled my luggage... Seriously, do I look like I was going to hook up with someone, bring him here, while you're in the next room, put on some night gown and have sex?"

The last word made him swallow hard. "No. Definitely not." All the while his hand brushed through her exposed skin. If his hunch is right, their mom put his siblings up to this. They might have played cupid for him.

She answered by setting her hand on his bare chest. "I love your siblings to bits but this is the only time I wanna curse them."

Chris cackled hard. He wouldn't blame her if she felt like that. Then, he noticed she was listening through her earpods. "What's with the pods?"

"Oh! I wanted to sleep so I tried listening to my playlist."

"Let me guess... Disney!"

She winked at him. "You know me well." Tiffany, took the pods from his ears and connected the phone to the bluetooth speaker on the bedside table. "There. So we can both listen." She lodged her mobile at the other side drawer, the one closer to her.

Tiffany moved the blankets to her neck, as she felt the bitter air. Chris was about to pull her closer when she spoke. "Chris..." she hesitated.

"You're not exactly the face-to-face cuddler," he guessed.

"Kind of."

"Then choose your position. I'll adjust," He answered kindly.

Tiffany sat on the bed, tied her hair up. Her back even more exposed now. Chris couldn't keep his eyes off it. She added another pillow to her side of the bed before lying back down and covering herself with the blankets..

She turned her back to Chris. "You can fix your lower arm, here," she pointed to the crevice between the pillows on her head. "That would keep it from numbing."

Chris couldn't help but beam. She tied her hair so he wouldn't have to be smothered by the strands. She added the pillow for his comfort. As she closed the gap between her back and his chest, Chris yanked her close, his upper arm wrapping itself just below her chest.

Tiffany overlaid her left arm over the one enveloping her and interlaced her fingers with his. He clutched it tightly. Everything was warm now. Every vein in his body pulsated. By impulse, he planted a kiss at the naked back of her neck as his acknowledgement of her sleeping-arrangement-concern for him.

She slightly jolted at the gesture, but she's too exhausted to entertain a brewing war in her mind. Whatever will happen, will happen and she won't do anything to stop it. 

Besides, there's a calming comfort she only feels when with him. Although, his touches sent shivers down her spine it wasn't enough to keep him and the growing feeling inside her at bay.

A familiar song played through the speaker and as she closed her eyes, his warm breath trailed from her neck to every nerve in her body. Tiffany didn't fend off the sensation.  She wallowed in it and instantly found how much easier it was for her to feel really relaxed after.

Meanwhile, Chris was listening intently to the song and feeling the rise and fall in breath of the woman he was cuddling. "Is this..."

"From The Little Mermaid musical," she finished his statement. Tiffany eased into the cuddling position, still holding his hand.

He smirked when it dawned on him that he felt so much like how Ariel was feeling in the song. If only, he thought.

But then he allowed the realization to sink in and accepted it in his heart and mind. Everything about this instant, everything about her, everything they have shared for the past weeks were all he ever needed.

This place, this woman, these moments are what makes him whole, alive and at peace. Before he was lulled to sleep, Chris came into a decision of making his 'if only' a reality. He could hear his mother once more. Allow love. Let love.