Bitterly Sweetly (Completed)

Chapter Fifty-five : The Peculiar Distance

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"I'll leave now," he murmured against her lips and she sighed, their breaths mingling.

Sofia had never experienced something so satisfying and yet so disheartening at the same time.

"You should," she said and saw the sadness flicker across his eyes.

"I cannot persuade you to change your mind, can I?" Another brush of his lips against hers and she quivered in sensual agony.

She moved down her face to rest her chin at the hollow between his collarbones, his addictive smell creating chaos in her senses just like always.

"No," she said as strongly as possible and prayed that it was enough.

Max sighed, and this time allowed her to step out of his embrace. An embrace which was more like a bear hug, which didn't leave much room for her to put any distance between them since the moment he had gathered her into it.

When earlier, the storm had ended and the clouds cleared to make way for the new rays of sun, Sofia had been in a tangle of limbs with Max on her bed. It was not the aftermath of making love, it was far more. After that much needed talk during the entire period of the storm in dark, it was their way of seeking reassurance and tranquility from one another, and in silence. They didn't need to sate themselves physically, they just needed the presence of one another for those quiet minutes so that they could imprint it in memory and use it to sooth themselves later while in distance. It had been perhaps an hour later Sofia made coffee for the both of them, they enjoyed the taste of warm caffeine on bed while holding hands the whole time, knowing their time was limited.

It was a bitter sweet dilemma, really.

This arrangement of staying apart, it was not going to last forever and they both knew it. And yet the knowledge didn't make it any less difficult.

"I feel like a secret lover, slipping out of your bedroom after a night of passion before anyone wakes up in the house and catches us," Max said as he sat down at the edge of her bed and bent over to tie his shoe laces.

Sofia stood beside him, leaning against the headboard. "It's best if you leave before people wake up and ambush you into a series of inquiries over last night's fiasco."

"So you're protecting your husband the damsel?"

Sofia smiled in response.

Her eyes watched him with want that she didn't bother to hide, it was way too mighty for her to cover up. Why would she try something she knew she would fail in anyway?

She ogled without shame as his sinewy hands moved—pulling down his pants in place after tying the shoe laces, buttoning his shirt all the way up and tucking the marvelous sight of half exposed view of his chest away from her lusting eyes, and then those hands ran through his hair in an attempt to tame back the disheveled tresses. 

Failing to resist herself any longer, she reached out and combed her fingers through his hair. His hands paused before dropping down to his sides and as she fixed his hair into a somewhat presentable state, he sighed contently looking up at her with the kind of incredible amount of affection that had her heart flutter without pause.

"This puppy face won't work," she said softly.

The corner of his lips pulled up into a defeated smile. "A man can try."