You were able to smell him long before you saw him that day.

Not that he smelled bad, of course. His subtle aftershave was just that—subtle, a barely there green scent that reminded you of early morning rain, wet and earthy, when the whole world was calm. You could almost feel the gentle patter of it upon you, sluicing over your naked skin as you stood before him on a wide, empty beach. His giant, well-muscled form cast you in shadow, your breath catching as he raised one of those meaty, clawed hands to cup your…

“Big man alert.”

The voice of one of your co-workers shook you from your daydream and you snapped back to reality with a flush, wishing you had traded away today’s shift.

It was inappropriate to have such thoughts about your boss. You knew that, and you tried to be dispassionate on the days he was at the centre, when you weren’t able to avoid him all together, which was what you strove to do most days.

The table beside you seemed to vibrate as his heavy tread thudded on the floors, huge and powerful and—

“Morning, ladies.”

He looked especially good that day, you noted dourly, in a wrinkled camp shirt that hugged his thick arms, with several small skinks clinging to the cargo pockets of his trousers. An image of his big thighs, dripping in sea water flashed through your mind as you stared at the skinks, and you realized belatedly that he’d addressed you, had spoken words that you’d missed, too lost in your daydreams. The air in your lungs caught, stalling your inhalation, leaving you incapable of answering with anything other than a strangled wheeze. 

Bodi turned from the coffee machine to glance over to you, cocking his brow at your apparent apoplexy. The seconds seemed to stretch, time ceasing to hold meaning as your body refused to draw breath.

“Morning, chief.”  Barra grinned up, her pink tongue flickering. “Didn’t expect to see you in today. Thought you’d be posing for the telly.”

The big lizard snorted derisively, turning away from the gecko woman. You had a feeling you weren’t the only person at the centre who fancied your giant dragon director, although you were possibly the only human who did. The handful of co-workers with whom you shared a species were all coupled off—married or engaged, or otherwise accounted for.

You’d started at the animal rescue centre a year earlier, with the reptile and amphibian care facility being your main home. It was volunteer work you were passionate about, and it had been a good way to get out and meet people, in the beginning. 

You’d always been adventurous, although picking up and moving to Australia had tested the limits of your bravery at first. You were terribly far from home, and very much alone, but you’d always been comfortable with your own company. The rescue facility had been a welcome oasis from your job, you worked with a great group of fellow volunteers, and you fell in love with every slimy and scaled critter that fell into your care.

Then there was Bodi.

You’d never met a komodo dragon lizardperson before, had never known someone so big and imposing. You’d graduated with two orcs, but neither of them had seemed to completely fill a room the way Bodi did, no one had the presence he commanded. His stern face matched his size, and the long, hooked claws that graced his fingertips gave credence to his aura of intimidation. 

You’d met him towards the end of your second week at the rescue facility. 

“This is the director of the reptile and amphibian program,” the small woman who was in charge of the bird rehabilitation introduced. “Bodi, come say hello. We have a few new recruits, and this one says she has some experience with monitors.”

The big dragon that turned to face you would have frozen you to the spot, had you not been working on the monitor in question. He was impossibly tall, thick with corded muscle, his long tail swinging, walking with a heavy, confident tread to where you were patiently changing the dressing on the leg of the injured lizard. You felt his keen eyes trained on you as you worked, and it was a small wonder your hands hadn’t been shaking.

“Is that so? I might just need to steal her away to my team, in that case.”

Since then, you’d worked almost exclusively under his direction. If he’d just been nice to look at, your crush might have already faded, but the time spent working with him had only fanned the flames. 

He was gruff and standoffish, but then again, so were you, at first, and you’d chanced upon him more than once in a quiet moment, working to calm a frightened animal or gently stroking the head of one of the injured inhabitants. 

He checked all of your boxes, and although you got on very well together, you were, you reminded yourself frequently, just a puny human, and likely not even on his radar. 

There had been a moment, a few months earlier, when you’d thought differently. The centre had sponsored a training session for aquatic care, and you and Barra had been the only two volunteers from the reptile house who’d expressed interest. On the day the swimming aptitude test was to be administered, Barra had called in with car troubles.

“What do we say to getting this done in the open air, yeah?” Bodi had asked you with a smile, his big forked tongue making an appearance as he grinned. 

You’d ridden together as he drove to the beach, saying a silent prayer of thanks that the navy two-piece you wore beneath your clothes was brand new and well-fitted. Chopping through the waves was a breeze, and after timing your ascent and return from a buoy, he’d stripped off his shirt and joined you in the water. You’d frozen, bobbing like a cork, in danger of swallowing half the sea as his sculpted pectorals and hard abdomen were revealed to you.

His scales were a mottled yellow and slate, and as his tail undulated through the waves, the sun had sparkled off his broad, dappled back.

“Let’s see how long you can tread,” He’d called out over the crash of the slowly rising tide, and you’d felt the bump of his big tail against your bare thigh, sending a thrill of excitement between your legs. 

He’d circled you in the water as he asked about your family and career, casually wondering if you’d moved for your husband or boyfriend’s job. When you’d admitted that you’d moved simply for the adventure of it and that there wasn’t any significant other in the picture, his big, flat head had dipped into the water, masking what you’d been certain was a smile.

All the while, you treaded in place, rotating as he circled you, a predator closing in on his prey, and you’d wondered if his flickering tongue had been able to taste your arousal in the air, or if the water had thoroughly concealed it. You’d both been laughing as you finally left the crashing waves, and it had been nice getting to see a different side of him—smiling, more playful than the smart-arsed grump he was at work. 

The water made his board shorts cling to his thickly muscled thighs, and you’d not been able to help yourself from following the water running in rivulets down his broad chest. His scales glistened, more yellow than grey as they moved down his belly, and you’d been hypnotized by the flex of his arms as he’d reached for the towels. The water droplets moved down the hard plane of him, and your gaze had been pulled like magnets to the bulge at his groin. There’d been no room for guilt, for you hadn’t missed the way his gold and black-flecked eyes had moved over you as you left the water; had practically been able to feel the drag of them up your legs, pausing on your breasts, encased in the dripping blue spandex. 

There had been a moment where you thought he might kiss you; a charged instant when your small hand had brushed his as he passed you a towel, when you’d both paused, a frisson of electricity passing through you. Your eyes met, and you’d held your breath, feeling the pounding of your heart throughout your body. It had passed seconds later, when neither of you had moved, and you’d wrapped yourself in the towel with a blush, hoping it muffled the sound of your heart.

If he hadn’t been able to sense your arousal in the water, surely the smell of your dripping sex would have been evident to his tongue on the ride back to the centre.

Still, nothing had changed since that day. He was the same gruff-voiced professional, seemingly paying you little mind on the days your paths crossed, and you’d chalked it up to being a one-sided fantasy. The disappointment had faded and a deep sense of foolishness had taken its place, leaving you tongue-tied in front of him in a way you’d never been before. Not that it matters.

“They’ve got plenty of suits in the office for that job,” he grumbled into his coffee. “They’d have to do a good bit of censoring if they put me in front of the camera. Bloody government would have us shut down by dark. I’m going to have you and Cal head over to the main building for the week, Barra, they need the hands.”

You watched Barra’s face scrunch, clearly unhappy with the news that she was being sent to a different part of the facility. By that point, everyone had been shuffled over to “the main building” for a stint, doing what could be done for the steady stream of wildlife injured in the fires. 

Your volunteer work at the centre had always been important to you, but now it was importance on a different plane. You’d only been sent over to the main for a few short days, had held yourself together well enough, or so you’d thought. It was easy to push emotions aside when adrenaline was high, but once you’d returned to your flat in the evening, the horrors caught up with you, and you’d drowned your tears with wine and long baths. 

You’d not been sent back to assist with the burned koalas and motherless joeys, and although you were relieved, it bothered you that Bodi had never sent you there again; to think that you hadn’t done a good enough job in the few days you were there.

“Guess that just leaves us today,” Bodi casually remarked once Barra and Cal had gone, never raising his head from the paperwork in front of him. “You’re stuck with me.” His ringed amber eyes raised to yours at last, his smile showing his glinting teeth, and you forced a smile of your own. Bloody brilliant.

Making good your escape once his attention had turned to the ringing phone, you busied yourself in the tanks. Row after row of spacious, well-appointed habitats for each of the centre’s patients, it was your favorite place to be. There were defrosted rats to pass out to hungry snakes, and crickets to be distributed to the smaller lizards. You visited with an eastern long-necked turtle who’d recently had her shell glued back together, and checked on the well-being of a scuttling house gecko with a splintered leg. 

Your favorite patient was Rosie, a frilled dragon who’d come to the centre in her own bodgy crate; dangerously dehydrated, in addition to being rather worse for wear after an altercation with a bigger animal. Pulling up a rolling stool, you rolled up to Rosie’s tank, smiling when she scuttled up a rock to get a better look at her visitor. You became aware of eyes resting on your back as you filled out the small chart on the front of her tank, signing off that she’d been fed and watered, and wondered how long he’d been tracking you.

“You’re very good with them.”

He framed it as a statement rather than a question, and rather than thanking him for the compliment, you decided to agree. “I love coming here. I have to work with people all day, it’s nice to be able to disengage my brain. I don’t have to be nice to people, I don’t need to be ‘on’.” You wondered if he would pick up on your not-so-subtle hint that you wanted to be left alone.

“Well,” he went on in a low voice, intent on ignoring your meaning. “I’m glad this is where you’ve decided to spend that downtime.”

Several long moments passed in silence. Rising from the bench, you moved on to Rosie’s neighbor, topping off his water bottle and distributing crickets. You’d just been about to move between the tanks, skipping up an aisle and escaping his keen gaze when his next words turned your feet to lead.

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

Your foot seemed to be cemented to the ground as you tried to lift it, to escape this, escape him. You didn’t want to relive how embarrassed you’d felt in the weeks after that afternoon at the beach, once you’d realized how one-sided your feelings were. You’d tried to divert your romantic inclinations towards the handful of dates you’d been on since then, but it was no use. You were completely smitten with every gruff, taciturn, muscle-bound, bursting-with-sex-appeal inch of the lizardman behind you, and it was hard enough coming to terms with that and still working here.

You didn’t want to relive it and you certainly didn’t want to talk about it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you answered flatly, finally willing your feet to move.

“I’m sorry for acting inappropriately,” he blurted in his rough voice, the sound of a heat storm brewing over a sun-baked stretch of valley. “I never meant to make you uncomfortable. I thought that…it doesn’t matter what I thought. You’re great with the animals, I don’t want the centre to lose you. Maybe we can talk to one of the other departments, if you’d be happier moving to the–”

“No!” Your cheeks flushed at the thought of being moved because he was uncomfortable with you since that day at the beach. “I don’t want to be transferred. I-I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve not been avoiding you,” you lied. His words had brought a deep flush to your cheeks and you balled your fists. “And I don’t want to be moved, I love it here. You’re the one with the problem, not me.”

“Ever since that day you’ve barely been able to say two words to me,” he growled. “If you feel like you need to make a report to the intake office, then go ahead and do it, I never should have made assumptions about…I don’t want the animals to lose out if you decide to leave.”

“Make assumptions?” The embarrassed flush that had colored your cheeks darkened to red fury at his words. He assumed you fancied him because you’re the most obvious idiot in the whole damned city. The notion that he might have been pitying you for your unrequited crush made you furious. “You’ve got so much…the audacity that you think…you are the biggest tosser I’ve ever met!”

You watched him draw in breath, his wide mouth open to retort, but the shrill ringing of the office phone saved you. Bodi’s golden-black eyes pinned you, daring you to leave as he turned up the aisle quickly, making for the office.

You should leave. It would have been a shite thing to do, but you didn’t know if you could face having to continue the argument with him, didn’t want to have your crush the reason he—

“How many? All critical?”

The sharp bark of Bodi’s voice interrupted your thoughts. He was pacing, the hand that wasn’t holding the phone balled into a fist, his hooked claws curled over his scales. His brow was furrowed as he listened intently to the information being relayed through the receiver. All thoughts of walking out of the centre flew out of your head as his eyes raised to yours from across the long room, golden-black, pinning you to the spot. Something was happening, you realized, something bad.

“We’ll be ready. Send them all.”

.

.

Music spilled out of the pub, raucous laughter ringing in the smoke-hazed night, and you glanced up to your companion with a raised brow.

“What?” he barked defensively. “It’s a perfectly good pub. You want a drink, right?”

“It’s a pub,” you clarified with a laugh as Bodi huffed. Dipping your head to hide your smile as he held the door for you, you stepped inside. “We’ll see about calling it good.” 

There were a cluster of gnolls, wearing trackies and navy blue singlets, playing darts near the door, their outsized beers catching the lights as they tipped them back. Beyond their group, overly-loud conversations rang out from every direction. It was low-end and unpretentious and, you decided on the spot, absolutely perfect.

“I didn’t take you for such a yob,” you giggled, and he huffed again. You got the distinct impression that if he’d been able to blush, his scaled cheeks would have been scarlet. 

The gnolls gave you a look over as you moved through the crowded pub, patrons clearing the path as Bodi moved behind you, his big tail swinging. This was the kind of place where alcohol-fueled scraps probably broke out regularly, but Bodi towered over the room, his muscular form and stern countenance keeping even the most pissed patron in check. The weight of his clawed hand at your lower back steered you through the crowd to a small two-top just beyond the bar, drinks placed in front of you within minutes. 

A burst of high-pitched laughter broke out amongst the gnolls, and he grunted into his pint.

“Bloody ockers.”

You both still smelled of smoke.

Another reptile facility, several towns over, had succumbed to the smoke, narrowly missing the flames, and the creatures in residence had all been transferred to your centre. For the last four hours, you and Bodi had worked side-by-side, moving quickly to prepare tanks and enclosures, as snake after snake, thorny devils and monitors, bearded dragons and dozens of skinks, all in various states of infirmity, arrived.

You didn’t think they would ever stop coming. 

It was fast-paced and frenzied, but you never stopped moving. When the final clutch of frightened skinks had been tagged and placed in a warm tank with food and water, you’d been trembling at the onslaught, wondering how many of these animals had permanently lost their homes. 

Bodi had laid a concerned hand on your shoulder and you’d melted against him, the huge bulk of him holding you up. The weeks of avoiding him, of feeling tongue-tied and embarrassed, it all seemed inconsequential just then. You’d fisted his shirt, burying your face against his broad chest when his strong arm folded over you, lightly stroking your hair.

“Let’s get out of here,” he’d rumbled. “We did good work tonight, we’ve earned a round or four.”

The noise of the pub obliged him to lean in close as you spoke, trading stories about nothing as the glasses before you collected.

“Are we good?” he blurted, interrupting your supposition that the reptile house would need an expansion. Heat stole up your cheeks as you considered his words and took in the earnestness of his face. You’d been a good team tonight, were a good team together. Your feelings were one-sided, but that didn’t mean you couldn’t continue to be a good team at the centre.

“Yeah, we’re good.”

He sagged in relief. “That’s…yeah, okay, good. I told myself I wasn’t going to let a crush get in the way of the job and what do I do at the first opportunity? Stick my fucking foot in it. Glad you’re willing to stick it out, despite me being the biggest tosser you’ve ever met.”

Bodi continued to talk, segueing back to talk of a future expansion, but all you heard was the sound of your heartbeat, drowning out the noise of the pub. He had a crush? The drink had addled your mind, you thought, looking over your shoulder to see if there was someone else there, someone else to whom he might have been talking.

“What do you mean you weren’t going to let a crush get in the way? What crush?” you demanded, cutting him off. 

His gold-flecked eyes narrowed as he leaned in once more. “I thought we were good.”

You blew a breath of frustration. “I’m just asking you to clarify your point, yeah? Who has a crush? You?”

Bodi didn’t say anything for a long moment, his nostrils flaring as his head lowered. When he spoke again, his voice was a low growl, one that made heat pool in your belly. “I’ve fancied you since you started, alright? Like I said before, I don’t want the centre to lose you. If you need to—”

“I’ve fancied you too.” Heat burned up your ears, but you didn’t pull away. Your heads were inches apart, and the high chorus of laughter from the gnolls seemed very far away. The fork of Bodi’s big tongue flickered out, tasting the air as you edged closer. 

His mouth wasn’t designed for kissing, but that didn’t stop either of you from giving it a go. His teeth nipped at your lips and your tongues danced, and you realized that you’d each spent the last several months secretly wanting the same thing. Bodi’s eyes narrowed again as your shoulders shook in laughter. “We’re both really stupid.”

“Let’s get out of here,” he grumbled, shaking his head with a grin. “Pashing on like teenagers, we’re no better than the blueys up there.”

.

.

There was paperwork to finish.

You weren’t due back at the centre until the end of the week, but you couldn’t help thinking about the mountain of paperwork there would be after the huge intake of injured lizards and snakes from the previous night.

Bodi had followed you home from the pub. Your mouths had met once more, standing on the pavement outside your flat, and the feel of his claws dragging lightly down your back had set your blood aflame. You’d been fumbling with your keys, pulling him to follow you inside when his big hands had landed on your hips, freezing you in place.

“I think,” he’d groaned, nosing at your hair, “that we should say goodnight.”

“But don’t you want to—”

“I do, fucking hells, I do…but I don’t think we should do anything we might regret tomorrow. It was a long day, we’re tired, we drank…I don’t want a quick root tonight to change things in the morning.”

You’d kissed his scaled cheek and said goodnight, simultaneously disappointed and warmed, glad he was thinking of tomorrow, hoping that meant he wanted more than a casual hook-up. We are a good team.

Now you were back at the center, entering through a side door that would take you to the office. With Barra and Cal at the main building for the week, the reptile and amphibian house would be understaffed, and the paperwork would need filing. You’d been working for nearly forty minutes when a tell-tale heavy tread thudded through the empty office, followed by a metallic chink! of the lock being turned in the door.

“You’re not on the schedule today.”

His voice was a rumble at your back, raising goosebumps on your bare arms. 

“No, but I wanted to work on some of this intake paperwork. I know we’re shorthanded this week, I figured you could use the help.”

He was right at your back, his warm breath above you, claws grazing your shoulders. You head knew it was inappropriate, but your body didn’t care as you pressed back against him, feeling his groin at your back. “Well, aren’t you so helpful.” His voice dropped another octave as his clawed hands landed on your hips, pulling you flush to him. “I could have used your help this morning in the shower, but better late than never.”

The soft green scent of him caught in your nostrils, like petrichor rising from the earth, and the solidness of his body, huge and looming, pressed you into the desk. “Is there anything else I can help with? I made a good dent in this intake, if there are…other things, you needed a hand with?”

“You’re sure?” Another shiver down your spine as he lowered his head, forked tongue grazing the shell of your ear. “I want to take you out this week. Someplace nice, a proper date. I don’t want this to just be a secret office thing.”

“That sounds nice.” Your voice was barely a whisper, breath hitching as he brushed back your hair. “I think we’re a good team…but that doesn’t mean I can’t help with things now.”

Bodi’s strong arms spun you, pulling you flush to his front, giving you a chance to let your hands roam across his chest. You were able to feel the solid press of his twinned erections bulging at the front of his pants, pressing to your belly as his tongue tickled your collarbone.

“I can think of a few things I could use a hand with.” His voice was a rumble in your hair, and as he spoke, his own giant hand moved from your waist to your ribcage, one of those long, hooked talons flicking your pebbled nipple beneath the thin cami you wore. You gasped, surging upwards, pressing against his cocks, gratified to hear his grunt of pleasure.

Your hand was small and the girth of him was enormous, as you stroked him through the front of his pants, tracing the shape of one large cock, then its mate, giving them each a firm squeeze in turn. There were matching spots of moisture already seeping through the khaki-colored fabric, and you wanted nothing more than to undo his buttons and set them free, to suckle their tips and taste the essence they were drooling.

You didn’t get the chance.

With a squeak, you were scooped up and swung through the air, landing gently on the long desk, which Bodi cleared with a massive hand. Those same hands were gliding up your bare legs a moment later, claws grazing you with the lightest pressure, until they reached the edge of your shorts. You rarely wore shorts at the centre: bare skin was vulnerable to being accidentally scratched or un-accidentally bitten by a frightened or injured animal. Today you’d not planned on leaving this arrid office, and were thus dressed far more revealingly than you ever normally were, in shorts and a cami, but you were thankful for the fortuitous circumstances now. 

Thick fingers worked your shorts open until he was tugging them down your hips, a claw pressing to the front of your knickers as his tongue laved at your neck. Wriggling your hips, you assisted him in pulling the shorts down your body, before your legs were spread wide. His powerful tail hooked around one of the rolling work stools, bringing it close and dropping to it, before jumping up again with a grunt.

“A bit too tight for comfort, that. Look at the state you’ve got me in.”

Your breath came out in shallow gasps as he undid his straining fly, gripping his cocks in one hand, giving them a slow pump. A slow grin spread across his face, teeth glinting, as he watched you watching him. You’d be lying to yourself if you pretended watching him stroke himself wasn’t wildly erotic. 

Bodi leaned back, letting you take a good, long look at his impressive assets. Thick and veined, dark pink and shiny with lubrication, deepening in color at the heads, his cocks jutted from a slit in his scaled abdomen. Thick and long, bigger than any partner you’d had previously, but not so big that he would hurt you. There was a ridged line of up the underside of each length that you knew would rub deliciously inside of you. He groaned, pulling upwards slowly, twisting over his cockheads before repeating the motion, giving you that devilish smile once more. You were panting.

When Bodi released himself, his cocks sprang apart, bouncing. 

“Now, where was I…”

Your knickers were tugged down your hips and down your bare legs, which he dropped between on his rolling stool, spreading you open. His flickering tongue danced across your thighs, teasing over your mound until you were gasping, desperate for contact.

“Greedy girl…is this what you want?”

You were glad for the empty room, the locked door, the absence of any co-workers as you moaned, Bodi’s long tongue sliding through your slick folds, darting back and forth, a constant onslaught against your clit. When it pressed into your opening, your hips lifted from the desk. His deep groan vibrated up your thighs, rattling up your spine, crying out again when he resumed licking at your aching pearl. 

Several days of constant sexual tension already had you wound up like a clock, and the constant attention and rough texture of Bodi’s tongue was enough to easily send you over your peak. For several shaking moments, nothing existed but the pulsing of your sex and the crisp, green smell of him, temporarily pushing the acrid smell of smoke which lingered in the center from your nostrils. He groaned again as your thighs trembled, lapping at the gush of fluid from your release.

When you stilled his head, he rose from the stool, looming over you, cocks bobbing. He was so tall, so big and solid and muscular, and you were in a perfect position to pull on his open pants, leading one of his weeping cocks to your mouth. 

You had a vision then, one of Bodi lying in your bed, the sheets mussed around him as he pleasured himself, gripping his cocks together in one big hand, smiling up as he stroked them rhythmically.

You had all weekend to make that vision a reality.

His cocktip was slippery against your lips, tasting the pre-come he wept steadily before lowering your mouth down his length, sucking as you did so. There was no way to fit his entire length into your throat, so you wrapped a fist around the base, ignoring his other cock for the moment, pumping as you sucked. That textured line of ridges depressed easily under your tongue and must have been sensitive. Bodi moaned deeply, jerking as you tongued him, and you repeated the motion, earning a similar reaction. 

You were excited to have him inside you, wanted to feel the texture of all those bumps and ridges, were just about to ask if he’d had enough oral stimulation when his claws grazed through your hair, holding the back of your head as his hips began to match the rhythm you’d established.

“Can I finish in your mouth?”

It was not what you were expecting. 

You did ask if you could help him with anything, you thought, nodding. There was plenty of time to do more, and he had taken care of you first. His release was hot and his groans were deep and noisy as he filled your mouth, the hand in your hair tightening. His wide, scaled hips jerked once, twice, and then he was slumping, spent and satisfied. His slippery cock was already softening when it slid from your mouth, and he pulled you back into a sitting position atop the desk.

His other cock was still hard and straining.

“Can we have dinner tonight?” he asked, guiding his weeping tip to your entrance. Bumps and ridges, pressing into and dragging against your inner walls, making you clench around him in ecstacy. He was thick, so thick, but he pressed in slowly, giving you time to adjust. Good partners. “Yes,” you gasped, raking your nails down his hard scaled back. “Your pick…I have  a company party in a few weeks. Do you have a nice suit?”

His chuckle was low as he bottomed out at last, pulling back several inches, giving you a few shallow pumps. “I’ll have you know I clean up very well, don’t let my choice in pubs fool you. Just say where and when. You can come to Sunday lunch at my brother’s place next week, meet the whole clan.”

You didn’t have a chance to respond, for his next thrust was deeper and you lost the ability to do anything but gasp and moan. “Tha—that sounds nice,” you wheezed after you regained the ability to speak. “I’m looking forward to it.”

You were looking forward to it. You were looking forward to waking in the morning pressed to his wide chest, to walking to some dodgy little pub for a morning fry up after a late night, to movies and concerts and holding hands, to more afternoons at the beach. You were looking forward to him.

“I’m glad you stayed,” he groaned against your neck. Your legs were over his elbows, and as he moved, clawed hands slipped under your rear, lifting you from the desk, forcing you to cling to his neck. From this new, more intimate angle, you were able to feel his heartbeat thudding against you, and its cadence nearly matched your own. A very good team indeed.

“So am I.”