The first thing that she was aware of was the sunlight that streamed through her bedroom window and straight into her face. She grumbled. Why was she sleeping facing the window? She always slept facing the wall, just so this very thing wouldn’t happen.
She stretched slowly, arching her back as she moved, and was startled when her bare bum touched something warm. She opened her eyes and turned over to see Draco sleeping next to her, his breathing deep and even.
She didn’t know what to do with herself.
She’d never actually spent the entire night with a man, let alone woken up to one still in her bed, so the situation was a first for her. On top of that, she hadn’t expected him to actually stay - especially since the last time she’d had him in her bed, he’d been gone before she’d risen.
She started to get out of bed, wincing as her bare feet touched the cold floor. The closest thing to her was Draco’s white button-down shirt, so she fished it off of the floor and pulled it over her head. She crept silently to the window, closing the curtains as silently as she could.
“That looks much better on you than it ever did on me,” a sleepy voice drawled. She turned in surprise and gave him a shy smile.
“I hope you don’t mind me wearing it – I only put it on because it was-“
“It’s no fair to parade around in front of me like that unless you plan on coming back to bed,” he said, interrupting her. His eyes were hooded, but she could still see them glittering.
“As a matter of fact,” she said, folding her arms over her chest and sticking her hip out. “I was going to make some coffee.”
“All right – coffee first, bed immediately after.”
“Is that all you ever think about?” she asked amusedly, watching as he rose slowly from the bed and slipped his legs into his pants.
“That is an entirely unfair question,” he yawned. He ran both hands through his hair to flatten it.
“Why is that?”
“To parade around in front of me half naked and then ask me if sex is all I think about - that’s very sneaky, and I refuse to answer it.”
“But you’re half naked, too,” she pointed out, dropping her hands to her hips. He glanced down at himself, then met her eyes again.
“So it would seem.”
“It would appear that we’ve reached an impasse,” she laughed softly. “Why don’t we go and have some coffee, and I’ll make us some breakfast?”
His eyes widened slightly. “Regular breakfast, you mean? Like bacon and eggs, or something?”
“What else would we have?” she asked, perplexed.
“I just wanted to make sure you weren’t trying any of your experimental cooking for this meal.”
She rolled her eyes even as she smiled. “No, it will be regular food, I promise.”
She turned her back on him and headed towards the door. When she felt him squeeze her bum, she turned around with mock indignance, to which he replied with a wicked grin.
“It serves you right, walking around with no pants on,” he said, shrugging.
“So what you’re saying is that if I don’t want my bottom to turn black and blue, I should put some pants on?”
“No,” he said, following her into the kitchen. “What I’m saying is that you should lose the shirt and climb back under the covers with me.”
“That is all you think about,” she laughed, starting the coffee. He sat down at the table and shook his head.
“It’s not all I think about, but after being away from you for six months, it’s all I want to think about right now.”
“You know, I think that’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me,” she laughed, dropping the bacon strips in the frying pan.
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” he said, smirking. “I’m as sweet as they come.”
“Saccharine sweet and so modest,” she snorted. He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at her.
“You are going to come back to bed after you eat, aren’t you?”
She placed a steaming mug of coffee on the table in front of him and poured one for herself before she sat down. “That all depends,” she said, spooning sugar into her coffee.
“On what?”
“On how nice you are to me while we eat.”
“When am I not nice?”
She gave him a stern look that plainly said he wasn’t fooling anyone.
“How nice do I have to be?” he asked, sipping from his mug.
“I was mostly teasing you,” she pointed out, sighing. “I wasn’t being literal – although it would certainly help if you were nice to me.”
“Would it assuage the guilty feelings you plague yourself with for sleeping with me?”
She gave him a surprised look. “I don’t feel any guilt for sleeping with you.”
“Right,” he said, arching an eyebrow, “and I’m the Queen of England.”
“Draco,” she said softly, curling her fingers around her mug and staring down into the liquid. “A lot of things have changed since we parted ways. I don’t feel guilty about sleeping with you anymore, and for good reason.”
“Oh? And what might that be?”
“I’d rather not go into it right this moment – let’s save some of the fun for later,” she said, pulling a face. He smirked.
“And who’s to say there will be a later?”
“Oh, were you planning on leaving?” Her manner was maddeningly calm, and Draco vaguely wondered where she’d learned to tease that way. “By all means, don’t let me delay you. I’ve had a lovely time – have a nice life.”
She stood and turned to go back to the stove, smiling madly when he couldn’t see. He frowned and rose quickly from his chair, reaching out and grabbing her arm.
“Wait,” he said smoothly, determined to win her game. “I’ll be needing my shirt before I go.”
“Excuse me?” she asked, dumbfounded.
He gestured to the pants he wore. “I can’t very well go out in public looking like this –I need my shirt back.”
“Right now?” she managed.
“Right now,” he said, nodding. After a moment, he cocked his head to the side and arched an eyebrow. “That is, unless you want to talk to me now.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “So you’re saying that you’d be willing to stay if I tell you why I have no guilt for sleeping with you?”
“I believe that was what was implied, yes.”
“And who’s to say that I want you to stay?”
“Oh, pet,” he said, laughing as he slipped a finger beneath her chin. “You’d be mad not to.”
He captured her lips in a firm kiss, and she could feel her legs turning to water beneath her. Calling on a reserve of strength she didn’t know she had, she managed to push him away and wag a finger in his face.
“You,” she said, trying to catch her breath. “Are a terrible flirt.”
“Am I? I thought I was pretty good at it, actually.”
“You know what I meant,” she said, giving him a gentle shove. “Now move, or breakfast will burn.”
Reluctantly he went back to the table and finished drinking his coffee. Over the rim of his mug, he watched her cook and took the opportunity to study her. Though they were subtle at best, he could see the changes that the short time apart had wrought in her.
She carried herself differently, for starters. The old Hermione would walk around with her head bowed, her eyes pointed at the ground – as if she were serving out some sentence for which she knew she was guilty.
The second difference that he noticed was that she was making eye contact a lot more. Whether or not that had to do with their separation, he didn’t know. All he knew was that before they had parted ways, she would avoid his eyes whenever she was nervous. Since he’d seen her again yesterday, she’d barely looked away from him.
The most notable difference, though, had to be in her speech. While six months ago she would have spoken softly, even if what she was saying was something that she believed in with absolute conviction. Now her words were still soft, but he could sense their firmness and the confidence behind them. He suspected that being promoted in her workplace had a great deal to do with that.
When she turned around and caught him staring at her, she gave him a secretive smile – almost as though she’d been expecting him to be staring. She placed a full plate of food before him; eggs, toast, and bacon waited to be devoured. He closed his eyes momentarily to savor the enticing smells. Draco wasn’t used to a full breakfast; he was accustomed to toast and juice. He was too busy to sit down and eat real food.
Hermione poured him another cup of coffee and handed him a fork before joining him at the table.
“So,” she began, still smiling. “Have you done any painting recently?”
“Define recently,” he demanded, shoving eggs into his mouth.
“In the last six months?”
“Perhaps.”
“You don’t want to tell me?” she laughed. “Are you afraid I’ll want to see them?”
“I know you’ll want to see them,” he said confidently, chewing on a slice of bacon.
“Are they so terrible that you don’t want to show them?” she teased.
He almost choked on the mouthful of toast he’d just bitten off, she took him by such surprise. “Where did you learn to do that?” he asked, amazed.
“Do what?”
“Turn things around on people like that. I thought I was a master at it, but you’re actually pretty damned good at it.”
She smiled and shook her head.
“Fine, if you won’t tell me that, then at least answer my other question.”
She shook her head again and simply said, “Later.”
“What if I’m not around later?” he asked. Then something dawned on him and he smirked knowingly at her. “Or are you refusing to tell me now in the hopes that I’ll stay until you do tell me?”
She laughed at this. “All right, you have me.”
His expression sobered and the hand that had been about to raise the fork to his mouth stilled. “What if I told you that I would be here later even if you didn’t tell me?”
Her eyes darkened and she took in a quick breath. “Then I would say that I would tell you anything you wanted to know right now.”
“Hermione,” he said softly, enjoying the way her eyes widened as he said it. “I have slowly been going mad without you near me. I’m not going to risk leaving here in the event that I would not be welcomed back again.”
“I don’t think you need to worry about that,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. He noticed with no small amount of surprise that her fingers were trembling as they held her mug.
“Why?”
“I think we both know that I’d let you come back as many times as you wanted to.”
It was enough and too much at the same time. He rose from his chair and moved to hers before bending over and pressing his mouth to hers, hard. She rose and stumbled, but before she could fall, Draco’s hands shot out to grip her by the arms.
His mouth was everywhere at once, it seemed – first he was kissing her mouth, the next thing she knew his mouth was fastened on her neck, and then finally he peppered her shoulders with tiny kisses. His hands found her skin beneath the shirt, fingertips brushing satiny skin as he explored her.
His mouth became fused with hers again as she tugged his pants downward. Without breaking the kiss, he pushed his pants down and lifted her onto the table. His breath escaped him in a long gasp as her heat surrounded him; the sensation was so incredible that it was almost overwhelming.
She held nothing back, moaning loudly as he withdrew and then slid back inside. He gripped her hips so hard that he could already see bruises forming, but she didn’t complain. She whispered his name, and his thrusts became erratic and wild. He drove into her repeatedly, moving with so much force that the table shook beneath her.
“Draco, I’m going to-“ her ragged declaration was abruptly cut off as she tilted her head back and moaned louder than he’d ever heard before.
Her walls tightened around him as she climaxed, triggering his own orgasm. He poured himself into her, still thrusting as long as he had the energy to move. When they were both still and breathing heavily, he withdrew slowly and lifted his eyes to meet hers.
“We didn’t make it back to bed,” he pointed out softly. His voice sent chills racing down her spine as she shook her head.
“I know,” she whispered, her voice shaking. Then, “Why don’t we make it up to ourselves and go right now?”
Without another word, he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, closing the door behind them.