You’ve loved me good, deep, firm, warm. Quite literally fucked the doubt out of me. I don’t know what I expected to be in its place, but rawness wasn’t it. You don’t mind.
You laugh a bit as you gather your nerves, start to extract yourself from my grip until I tighten my legs around you, my hands to the breadth of your back: “Stay. For a minute.” So, you settle back down, forearms framing my head, fingers reaching to brush the bit of hair in my face behind me. You keep the back of your hand against my cheek while you tell me stories of afternoons you’d like to spend together, evenings you’ve spent staring anywhere but my dress, singing me little songs, until I’m not quite so misty-eyed.
“Ready?” you ask, a tilt to your smile. “Ready,” I nod, leaning into your palm as you brush one last dewdrop from my lashes. So, so gently, you break away from me, lean down, and gather me up. I’ve always felt like a weight but you raise me, one palm each under my shoulder and thigh, as if I lighten you just by the holding.