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"Hey," Cory spoke, rubbing his right eye, his voice heavy with sleep.
"Hey," came Bradley's reply from where she stood, facing the mirror to the side of the bed, stopping in the middle of finger-combing her hair.
Looking at his reflection, she smiled brightly. A smile, he thought, that was worth going the rest of his life without sleeping.
"I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"
Cory shrugged. "Don't be. Happy to be waking up to this view. And," he paused, propping himself up so he was in a half-seated position. "For the confirmation that this is all not a dream."
Bradley gave an uncharacteristic giggle at that and swivelled around. "No," she said, shaking her head, playfully. There was a certain glow about her, almost a halo. Cory couldn't tell if it was her happiness or his, that was contributing to it. "It's not."
She walked over to him. Cory noticed that she was fully dressed now. And yet, as she approached him, his heart started racing like a damn teenager's. When she sat down on his side of the bed and planted a deep kiss on his lips, her tongue intertwining with and caressing his like their bodies had last night, he was glad his lower half was still covered.
"And neither is this," she said, straightening with a sparkle in her eyes, as she blatantly admired his exposed chest and arms.
His gaze locked on her crystal blues; remembering how they had clouded over in a storm of passion and pleasure last night. He felt drunk. His hand was still buried in the softness of her hair at her neck. He wanted nothing more than to pull her back in, crush his lips on hers, roll them over so he could feel all her curves pressed against him, and lose himself in her over and over till the end of time. It surprised him, how much he was willing to give up in exchange to have that. Instead, he settled for letting go of her head and tucking the hair framing her face behind her ear.
"I need to get going," she breathed, squeezing his hand in silent apology.
"I know," he replied, with an understanding nod of his head.
She sighed, gave him a quick peck on his cheek and rose to her feet.
Cory tried to suppress the growing unease within as he watched her move around the room, gathering her things.
Don't, he told himself as he bit down on his bottom lip, his mind flashing back to him blurting out stuff that he hardly understood but knew to be true, deep down, that cold night only to be told he was likely out of his mind later.
She swung her handbag over shoulder, glanced at the mirror before making a beeline to the bedroom door.
He scrunched his face, painfully aware that he was fighting a losing battle here with himself. Because there was nothing casual about how he felt about Bradley Jackson. There was simply no way he could play it cool with her. He just couldn't.
"Bradley," he called out, already kicking himself before he got to the second syllable.
A couple of footsteps sounded before she stood at the doorframe. "Yeah?"
"I know you are in a hurry, but um... Could you-- I need two minutes of your time. Is that alright?"
"Yeah, of course," she said, taking the place that she had just vacated.
His mouth opened and shut, searching for the right words and not quite finding them. He forced himself to look at her and face everything that was at stake.
He felt naked under her gaze in a way that had nothing to do with the fact that he had no clothes on.
"I know we have a lot to talk about but this-- Was this like a one time thing for you? Or do you want to, you know, give this, us, a shot and see how things go?"
Bradley blinked like she didn't quite understand and then averted her gaze to let out a short, mirthless laugh.
"Well, what do you want?" she scoffed.
"That's not fair, because a) I asked you first, b) I think you already know the answer, and c) if I really was to get into it, I'd have barely scratched the surface before my two minutes are up," he finished, his face now dangerously close to hers.
She didn't flinch, however. "In that case, why don't you take me out and tell me all about it?" she challenged. "And, in return, I can tell you about exactly how long I've wanted you this way."
Cory let out the breath he had been holding, a small smile of relief blooming on his face only for it to grow wider as her words truly sunk in and his heart soared in response.
"It's a date," he stated, eyebrows raising in excitement.
"It's a date."
"I could kiss you, but," he said, clearing his throat and putting on a mock serious demeanour, checking his watch. "I am out of time and you are going to be late to work."
"Oh fuck that, noone ever accused me of being professional."
Bradley jumped into his arms, hands on either side of face, peppering him with kisses everywhere her mouth could find.