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Melissa wandered back in from the kitchen, drying her hands on her jeans after finishing up the day’s dishes, socked feet thumping on the tile and then sinking into plush carpet. She got to the doorway and found herself pausing, seeing Barbara curled up there on the couch, her back to her, tucked up all snug with Melissa’s blanket around her shoulders. The soft light of the standing lamp illuminated the side of her face, chiselling her carved features even more than usual. So pretty.
She loved seeing her like this, all peaceful, no stress, no worries. Knew how much tension she carried through the day, how hard she worked to maintain her professional persona. And selfishly, it felt good that she could help give some peace to her, to give her a space where she could find a soft landing no matter the situation. A place where she could be entirely herself without judgement, and if all she wanted to do after a shitty day at work was sit and read, well goddamn that’s what Melissa was gonna let her do. She’d have the best damn reading session of her life. Mugs of tea on tap, an easy dinner she could pick at brought straight to her lap, and a nice, quiet, warm place to just be. She’d give her that every day of her life, if that’s what she wanted.
She didn’t wanna disturb her, but it was getting late.
And she did look, well, like that. All lovely.
She’s only human.
Melissa rounded the back of the couch and sank to her knees to drape her arms around her shoulders, pressing her nose into the soft pocket at the base of her throat. God, she always smelled so damn expensive.
“Hey, pretty lady.” she mumbled into her skin.
Barbara huffed a laugh from her nose. She tilted her head and popped a kiss on Melissa’s cheek. “Hey yourself.”
“You coming up soon?”
“Mm. I guess so. I’ve got-” Barbara flicked a few pages forward, using her thumb as a bookmark, “-about six pages left of this chapter. Then I can come up.”
“Hmm.” Melissa toyed with the pearly top button of Barbara’s blouse, popping it open and laying her hand on her clavicle, nails gently scratching at her collarbone. “You sure about that?”
“Yes, pretty sure.” she laughed again, in the back of her throat, rumbling against Melissa’s palm. She flicked her book back to her original place, ignoring Melissa, but tilting her head anyway to keep her there.
“Must be a pretty good book.” She whispered, pulling back a little to press a soft kiss to the exposed skin of her shoulder where her blouse had fallen open. “Can we make it two pages?”
Barbara tutted, but Melissa could feel her silent laughter against her mouth. “Six.”
“Four?” She peppered her shoulder with more kisses, spreading up to the side of her neck.
“Melissa.” She was fully laughing now, full-throated, giving up on her book entirely, slipping a piece of paper between the pages and slipping her fingers between Melissa’s where they draped around her neck. “Fine, how about if I just bring it upstairs, and then we both get what we want?”
“Sounds like a good deal to me.” She pressed one last kiss to the crown of her head and moved to pull her up off the couch. “C’mon bookworm.”