Together at Last - Bidding our Time - Layover Day 1

Cleo leaned into his touch as his hand moved to her cheek. She listened to his story with a bit of heartache, but she was also grateful in a way. They both had their stories, imperfect and messy. She wasn’t sure she’d could handle being with someone who had never struggled with anything hard. And she knew that Alex had been through far more than she had too. Who was she to complain really?

She nodded at his words, asking her to get up. The only relationship she had been in had taught her that the man was the head of the relationship, the one who called the shots, who made the decisions. The idea of any sort of equality in a relationship was new to her, at least as far as her experience went. Yes, her parents were a good example but she hadn’t really put that together.

She swallowed and took his hand, standing and moving to the couch. She gently tugged him with her so they could sit together. “I’m sorry.” She finally managed to whisper.

Cleo looked down at the ring on her finger with a soft smile and used her thumb to gently spin the ring around and around while he so lovingly assured her.

“I don’t know. I’m sorry that I made things uncomfortable. I’m sorry that everyone else is out there having fun and I had to go and be a buzzkill.” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “I’m afraid that now I have you I’m going to do something to mess this all up.” She admitted, finally looking back up at him.

“But...I’m really happy to be here. With you.” She told him with a smile. She saw him chewing on his lip ring and actually found the action to be pretty hot. Her tongue subconsciously touched her bottom lip.

Cleo hummed pleasantly as he kissed her, completely melting into it. Her hands moved to his chest, her fingers gripping at his clothes without even thinking about it. She returned the kiss eagerly, as if it was the magical cure for all her fears.

She shifted her body then and moved to straddle him on the couch, doing her best to break the kiss as little as possible in the process. Her hand moved up the side of his neck, her fingers stroking his skin softly. Finally she pulled away just enough to be able to speak. "I won't quit either, Alex. I'll fight for this, for us. I promise." She told him, her lips ever so softly brushing against his as she spoke. "Also I like when you call me 'Hun', that's cute." She said, her lips curling up into a smile.

Cleo felt her heart quicken within the passionate kiss they shared and she really did feel like maybe kissing him could cure her, because who wouldn't feel beautiful and sexy when a man responded like that to you. She had zero intention of this going far, not today at the very least, but she was enjoying it while it lasted.

"Forever." She repeated the word, her gaze softening lovingly. She grinned and chuckled softly when he talked about pet names. "Bring it on, baby." She said, wondering how much this would turn into a game between them.

Her gaze then traveled softly over Alex's face for a moment, just taking him all in. "You literally take my breath away, do you know that?" She finally said, her voice a breathless whisper.

Cleo's cheeks pinked up again as he squeezed her thigh and she wiggled a little unintentionally, oh she liked that. She hummed a soft sound as he kissed her throat, closing her eyes as her hands gripped his shirt again. She could get used to this, yep, more of this please.

As he spoke again she looked at him lovingly. Her fingers trailed along his jaw. "Gosh I love you." She told him. "Thank you for just...being you."

What was it about kisses on her neck that was so hotttt?! His words made her feel excited and warm, the idea that he couldn’t keep his hands off of her. It was actually surprisingly hard to want to move off of him, she liked behind there, but she did still have the state of mind to make wise decisions and this was not the time or the place that she wanted this to happen.

So she kissed his lips again with a smile at his words and moved lithely off of his lap and looked around the room, biting her lip thoughtfully. “I don’t know. What do you want to do?” She asked him with a soft smile.

"That sounds perfect." She said with a smile and as she watched him head out of the room she bit her lip, cocking her head slightly to the side as she checked him out. Yep, she was definitely a very, very lucky woman. It took her a second to refocus. Ah yes, starting the fire. She moved towards the fireplace and looked around curiously. It took her a second but she soon found what she needed. A simple switch, it was electric. That was convenient.

As he set down the blankets she moved to the couch and grabbed all the pillows from it and set them down on the blanket as well before sitting down herself. It wasn't particularly cold but the heat of the fire still felt nice and she put her palms out towards it. When he came back with the marshmallows she beamed happily. "Ah! Okay, that's amazing!"

Gosh he was so cute. She grinned as he brought over the rest of the supplies, enjoying the peaceful glow of the fire as the rest of the lights were turned off. She reached for a glass after he poured them. "Yes, I think that definitely deserves celebrating." She said as she reached out her glass to touch it to Alex's. "To our forever." She said in a short and simple toast, feeling much better than she had a few moments ago and taking a sip of the champagne.

"Thank you, by the way. For...settling me down." She said with a little sheepish grin, looking over to the fire to avoid his gaze for a moment. "I don't know anyone who doesn't just love the sound of a crackling fire...or the way you can get so lost watching the flames..." She said softly before he asked her about her favorite movie.

She looked back to him. "Oh gosh, that's too hard. I love movies. The movie theater is definitely one of my happy places." She said with a smile. "My favorite..." She strained to try to pick one. "Ugh, it really depends on my mood. I usually go for comedy over drama. Honestly I rarely go for drama but there are some good movies in that genre too. Romance if I'm in the mood, but I usually prefer a rom-com to a pure romance movie. I loooove a good heist movie. I actually like scary movies too but not as a go-to. Soooo..." She said with a little laugh. "For a very long answer to your simple question...I don't know." She chuckled.

"Most recently, I really loved Knives Out. It was SO great! I love Pride and Prejudice, the one with Keira Knightley. The Zombieland films are really fun. Game Night and Tag were both great..." She trailed off, she could go on and on. "Um, what about you?" She asked with a guilty little smile.