Free Office Hours by Sam Crescent

Silence filled the space between them, each waiting for the other to speak.
    “Okay, so after that embarrassing personal memory lane…” Anya tried to make light of it.
    “Don’t make light of it. There’s no need. I’m not embarrassed to know about your personal life, Anya. I like your honesty.” He ran his fingers through her fiery red hair.
    “You’re really trying to break down this block of ice I’ve lived with around my heart.” She made it more a statement of fact than a question.
    His cheeky grin back in place, he leaned over and kissed her full on the lips. “Busted.
    Me Tarzan.”
    Smiling, Anya shook her head, placing a cold hand over his heart, serious. “Don’t start something you won’t finish, Nathan. If you want casual, I can do casual, but if you want more, you’ll get all of me,” she warned. She wouldn’t have another relationship start or end with one of them in the dark. All her cards were on the table.
    “I would never hurt you.”
    Again she smiled, a wobbly smile, but a smile nonetheless.
    “Not intentionally, no. We don’t know what the future will be.” He silenced her with a kiss.
    “All I know is I want to be with you,” he confirmed.
    She nodded, accepting that, for now, it was all she could have.
    Anya did not see the intense look of longing on his face, or feel the beating of his heart as it pumped blood, or read his mind that at that very second whispered, I’m in love with Anya King.
    OFFICE HOURS
    Sam Crescent
    52
    Nathan tensed, his emotions scaring the living hell out of him. This woman, Anya King, spoke to his soul. He kept his feelings to himself. He had no idea why, but fear of her laughing at him stopped him in his tracks. Instead he held her close to him, stroking her hair, hair he now wanted laid across his pillow. Closing his eyes, he sent up a little prayer. For Anya to be his woman forever.
    Anya waited, hoping he’d speak the words her heart wished to hear. She waited and waited, but nothing. He worked his hands worked her skin, sending her mindless for his love. Silently, heart breaking, she bit her lip, keeping her love in check. She squashed her disappointment as she scolded herself for her fairy-tale thinking.
    What should she do?
    Taking a deep breath, she decided that, just for this weekend, she could think in a fairy-tale way.
    It would all come good in the end—or so her fragile heart could only hope.
    She rolled over, looking at him. If this wasn’t permanent she would enjoy his attention and lavish her upon him, if only for tonight.
    “Kiss me, Nathan.” She wanted to feel his lips against hers, feel the connection between two people the way it was shown in films and described in books. The way people always hope relationships will be.
    Anya watched through unseeing eyes as he leaned over her and laid a gentle, fleeting kiss against her lips. The touch sparked through her body, sending lightning waves of emotion and sensation through her. Not a sexual wave but an emotional wave. Her heart pulsed to life, her body lost to everything but him, feeling him down to her toes as if she could feel his very essence. Holding on to him.
    He pulled away. She held on to his arms, keeping him close.
    “Kiss me like I’m the last woman alive, like I, I’m…” She paused, unsure. “…like…like I’m the woman you’re in love with.”
    He stopped, stillness filling his form. Anya held her breath, wondering if she’d made the biggest mistake of her life.
    OFFICE HOURS
    Sam Crescent
    53
    She was about to move or laugh it off, when he moved. His hand came up, cupping her chin, his huge body surrounding her in the protective heat of his arms. Suspended in air, Anya waited. He began to stroke her face, moving her hair out of the way, the softness of her hair a contrast to the roughness of his hand.
    “What do you want, Anya?”
    “A kiss.”
    A simple request, just a kiss, but as most know a kiss can lead to…everything.
    “I can wait for the