Work Text:
It was happening again, dammit.
This time, they sat on either side of a crackling campfire in companionable silence. Tomorrow they would be heading back into Paris from their impromptu country vacation for a fresh start to the work week.
She sat sideways in the lawn chair, reading a book, the pop and snap of orange sparks and undulating heat waves making her figure shimmer in his vision. The flames were burning lower and lower, yellow to orange to red glowing embers. He would be content to sit here and watch her forever, memorize her face, the way her lips pursed when she got to an interesting page, the way her index finger traced the edge of the cover.
Red, he thought. She has always looked so beautiful with red.
Since when had he started thinking her beautiful? Yesterday, as he lay in a leaf pile and watched her laugh.
A light breeze drifted through, picking up loose strands of Nathalie’s hair and making the pages of the book flutter as she set it down. She shivered and rubbed her arms. The night was deepening and even in sweatshirts with the dying fire at their fronts, their backs were getting chilly.
It was a perfect excuse. He stood, and crossed the short distance to her chair. “Move over,” he said, and she raised her eyebrows in question.
“There’s not enough room for both of us.”
“It’s cold.”
“I know.”
“Well...you could sit on my lap,” he offered, and cursed himself for being too forward when she blinked in response.
But then she shifted so he could slide in with her, and gingerly let her weight down onto his legs. He sat stiffly, unsure of what to do exactly now that he was here. Her body trembled with shivers.
Well, he could fix that. He snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her back against him, and she sucked in a breath in surprise. He paused in concern, but then she relaxed against him and her shivering slowly subsided in their combined warmth. He could almost feel her smile as her hands came to rest on top of his. Gabriel closed his eyes and rested his head in the crook of her shoulder.
Her hair smelled like strawberries and woodsmoke.