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[hiddlestonfanficinthebooks]

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[hiddlestonfanficinthebooks]

[hiddlestonfanficinthebooks]

Chapter 10

Minutes passed, but I simply could not let go.  When I finally did, he smiled down at me, holding my face in his hands while he kissed me.

“I have to call my dad,” I sniffed, dabbing my eyes with a tissue from the box beside me.

Tom smiled again and brushed back my hair before saying, “I called and asked him for your hand.”

My eyes filled up with tears once more as I whispered, “TOM! Really?”

He nodded before adding, “I…I even told your mom about it. I promised her to always take care of you.”

I stared at him, and falling into his arms, I AGAIN sobbed until I feared I was going to be sick.

Tom was sweet enough to start the shower, helped me undress, and a few minutes later, joined me there.With his arms around me, I leaned against his body under the pulsing hot water. And it was there that I finally composed myself.  

“Are you alright now?” he whispered as I leaned back to let the water stream down my hair and body.  

I nodded, reaching over for my face wash to remove what makeup I had not cried off. Tom handed me a bath cloth and took them both when I was finished.  He set them aside, and he then poured my shampoo into his hands and began running them through my hair. He lowered his sudsy hands to my shoulders and rubbed them and then rubbed down my arms as well. He  rinsed my hair, coated it with conditioner, and waited for it to do its job.

Sitting on the shower bench, he kissed across my chest and down my stomach where he rested his cheek. And I held him there, kissing the top of his head, my fingers playing in his long, ginger curls until he stood to rinse my hair again.

Out of the shower, we dried off and then he dried my hair with a towel before brushing through it.  We curled on the bed then, kissing, talking, laughing.

“Annah, I don’t want to upset you again,” he sighed. “And...I’m almost afraid to ask this…”

I sat up on the bed, took a deep breath, and then exhaled before saying, “Ask. I’m ready, whatever it is.”

He sat up beside me, his eyebrows lifting.  “Would…you like your ring?”

Gasping, I covered my mouth with my hands and slowly nodded.

Tom stood, dug through his overnight bag, and walked over, ring box in hand.  He handed it over, taking in a deep breath as I opened it.

And then he shut it again with a sharp snap.  “Annah, if you don’t like it…I will take it back to the store and buy you one that you love.  I don’t want you to wear a ring that…”

“Thomas!” I laughed, shaking my head. “If it were plastic and from a quarter- machine from the grocery and you bought it, I would love it!”

His eyes watered as he exhaled.  “I truly don’t want to disappoint you in…”

“Not POSSIBLE!” I explained.  “I know it is…” Pausing, I opened the box and simply stared at the ring. I looked up at Tom and back at the ring. “I…oh my god, Tom, it is…oh my GOD! I have never…oh, it is GORGEOUS, Tom. Thank you!”

Taking it out of the box, Tom slipped it onto my finger.  

“It’s…breathtaking! Oh, Tom…I…I am scared to wear it!”

“No!” he laughed, sniffling back his own tears before kissing the top of my hand and then my palm. “I want you to show everyone you meet.”

We laughed together, sniffling like crazy, and kissing every chance we could.

“Is it…is it ok if I post a picture of it, on my hand, I mean?” I asked, grabbing my phone.

He took my phone from me and snapped several from which I could choose. When I found the perfect one, I added the caption: “He asked, and I said yes.”

That was it. I had to call Mary.

While I waited for her to answer, Tom, picking out bottles from the wet bar, mixed drinks for us.  

“MARY!” I squealed as soon as she answered.

“ANNAH!” she replied in the same tone before giggling. “What’s happening, honey?”

I took a second to catch my breath.  “MARY, Tom…asked me to marry him,” I practically screamed, my voice rising in pitch with each word.

Silence. She didn’t say a word. Seconds later, she SCREAMED, “OH.MY.GOD. ANNAH, are you KIDDING ME!?!”

Again, I burst into tears.  She did, too.

“It’s ALL because of you and Charlie,” I sniffed. “If you had not introduced us, this…we…we never would have met.”

She sniffled along with me. “Charlie…he’s the one. Annah, I am so very happy. We get to plan a WEDDING!”

That made me giggle. If there were anything Mary loved more than Charlie, it was organization and structure. She would help me with every single detail of the arrangements.

Tom walked back over to the bed where I lay. He set down my drink as he sipped his. Smiling, he carefully watched my face as I chatted on and on with her.  Lowering his hand to my ankle, he squeezed there as he tickled his fingertips up my calf, over my knee, and onto my thigh. Moving them higher, he circled them on the sensitive skin between them, trailing them over to the lace on the hem of my panties. Pausing, he caressed the front of the soft fabric.

When he paused again, I looked up and caught his eye. His eyebrow lifted as he sipped again and set his drink next to mine. “Ms. Annah,” he whispered and leaned down so his face was just inches above mine, “I want to make love to my fiancée.” Grinning, he unbuttoned his shirt and began to remove it.

“Mar…Mary, I…I have to go,” I sighed, clicked off my phone, and tossed it across the bed.

My hands fumbling behind my neck, I struggled to release the clasp on my dress. Reaching down, I lifted it over my head before tossing it to the floor as well.  By the time it fell, Tom was down to his boxers.  Crawling up my body, he unfastened my bra, quickly pulled it across my arms, and threw it over his shoulder.  And then he slowed his movements, his long, beautiful fingers pulling my panties over my thighs. Slowly, he kissed down inch by inch as he lowered them; when he threw them to the floor, he kissed right back up my legs.

Collapsing to the bed, he grinned as I began removing his boxers. My hand slipped between his legs, and rubbing there, I slowly slipped my mouth inch by inch down his erection.

“Jessssssus,” Tom moaned, his hands lifting into my hair as he sucked air sharply through his teeth. “You…oh, my god, Annah, the way you…you...”

Extending my tongue, I lifted it unhurriedly back up to my mouth, allowing the tip to outline the contours of his cock’s head. That sent him pushing up on his elbows, his head falling back on his shoulders as my lips closed around it and I sucked him.

Looking up again, he held back my hair to better watch my mouth. “I love…I love watching your mouth, Annah…I…I want to be inside you…”

I giggled around him, lifting my mouth to say, “You WERE in me…in my mouth.”

Tom fell back to the bed giggling as well, his face turning red as he laughed.  “Annah! I’m trying to be all sexy, and you are making me giddy!  That’s not…”

By that time, I had straddled his legs to do what he had suggested.  His body collapsed again to the bed, and his hands lifted to my waist.

“Is that what you wanted, Thomas?” I asked, rolling my hips back and forth.

For some time, he watched me, his eyes lingering on my breasts as his face and eyebrows reflected his approval. “YESoh…OHgodyes, Annah,” he groaned before flipping us so that my back was against the bed.

My hands, running up and down his back, clutched his ass as he moved in and out of me.  And as I squealed and gasped, he smiled down at me.

“You are …so beautiful,” he whispered, his eyes fluttering shut in pleasure.

Just as quickly as he turned me to my back, he slipped out of me.  “Get on your hands and knees,” he instructed me, popping my ass as I did as he asked.“Rest your chest against the bed, baby” he added, his huge hand gently pressing on my back to direct my movements.

Stretching out my arms, I grabbed the edge of the mattress, and behind me, he gripped my hips, slowly pulling me of and off him. Gradually, he sped his thrusts, his fingers moving between my thighs so he could rub my aching clit. He leaned over me then, pressing his chest against my back. Brushing back my hair with his beautiful face, he whispered in my ear, “I want to help you cum…will you cum for me, darling?”

“OHgodyes,” I gasped, twisting my hips against him.

Growling, he added, “You certainly are going to make me…ohgodbabyamazing.”

Patiently, steadily, he rubbed inside and outside of me until I squealed through a body-shaking orgasm. Seconds later, his body did the same as he lifted higher inside me.

We panted together, smiling, giggling, until we fell asleep.

When I awoke the next morning, he was still smiling, his head resting on his hand, his elbow bent to prop him.

“Good morning,” he whispered, repositioning the sheet over me. “Did you sleep well?”

I smiled back, nodding. Suddenly, I jumped, lowering my hand to make sure it was not all a dream. It wasn’t. My engagement ring was still on my finger, its brilliance catching the morning light.

When I glanced up at him, he lifted his eyebrows in surprise. “You ok?” he whispered.

I nodded yes.

“Haven’t changed your mind, have you?” he added, kissing across my fingers and the ring.

That time, I shook my head just as there was a knock at the door.

His eyes widened. “BREAKFAST!” he squealed, hopping out of bed and jumping into sweatpants and a t-shirt before stumbling to and opening the door. Sitting up, I put on my clothes and walked into the room with him as he pushed the cart toward the sofa.  

Chatting along, he served for both of us, and it was minutes into our eating when he paused, his eyes searching my face as he chewed.

“Is your food ok?” he asked, looking down at my plate and up and me.

I took a deep breath and shrugged my shoulders.  “I was just thinking that we will be doing this for the rest of our lives, eating breakfast together, talking, sharing tea or coffee,” I smiled at the same time I batted away tears.  “I…I am just so happy.”  

Tom grinned and bit his toast.  “Here’s to many, MANY breakfasts together, my dear.  And may we always have fruit this fresh and jam this sweet.”

I had to giggle. He was too precious for words.

Twenty minutes later, we were cuddled up on the bed, the thick, soft covers pillowing all around us as we flipped through the local newspaper.  

“Mmm,” he said, straightening the section to show me.  “Let’s go here today.” He tapped an advertisement for the Kelvingrove Gallery. “Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir…amazing building. My dad took me when I was a kid. The botanical gardens are not far, so we could walk around them, maybe have a picnic is the weather holds out? Sound ok?”

It sounded perfect, indeed.

[hiddlestonfanficinthebooks]

Chapter 9

I arrived in Glasgow with no big issues, and after checking into the hotel, I strolled through the lobby to find a coffee shop. I had just turned a corner when I heard my name followed by a squeal. Slowly, I turned around to see who in the world would know me there in Scotland.

I almost didn’t recognize her. Christi had shared an apartment with Mary and me when we were undergraduates at Harvard. The three of us had been inseparable. But there had always been something not quite there for Christi. While she smiled and laughed with us, I always knew there was, behind that beautiful smile, a sadness Mary nor I could comfort.

“Christi!” I gasped.

Rushing up to me, she wrapped her arms around me in a hug.  “Annah! I saw your name on the program and was OVER the moon happy to know you would be here.”

“I didn’t see…OH MY GOD!” I gasped again when I caught sight of the beautiful diamond and band on her left hand. “You got MARRIED!?!”

“Six months ago!” she nodded, her eyes full of tears. “Yeh, the numbskulls misspelled my first name as Christian instead of Christiana, and my last name is hyphenated now, so you wouldn’t have even caught it, probably. Oh, Annah…so much has happened since Harvard. We have to catch up. Promise me we will during the conference.”

Nodding, I hugged her again. “Yes, certainly! You…you are glowing…so beautiful. I can’t wait. Wine in the bar like old times??”

She threw her head back in laughter at the memories that flooded her as they had flooded me. Giggling all the while, she typed her contact information into my phone and told me to text so she would have mine. “Definitely wine in the bar,” she grinned, squeezed my arm, and was off in the opposite direction.

Days passed. I listened to presentation after presentation. And I worked like mad between the sessions, meeting with scholar after scholar and typing up information while I passed the long evenings alone.

Every morning, Tom sent a text, telling me how he missed me. And through each day, he sent me funny pictures he snapped at the house, the market, his favorite café.  Each one melted my heart which ached to be with him. It also helped me get through each day. I sent pictures in return: a selfie as I dressed for meetings, a picture of the view from my hotel, a selfie or two of me rolling my eyes.  

Friday afternoon of the first week ended with Tom calling me just after 2:00.

“Hiiiii!” he gushed.  “Conference week all done?”

I exhaled deeply as I dropped my bag and collapsed onto the bed.  “Yesssssssssssss,” I answered.

“Big plans for the evening and weekend?” he asked with an ehhehehe.

“Actually, I am meeting my friend Christi for a couple of glasses of wine in the hotel bar at 5:00 while we have dinner, and then…I will probably sleep for the rest of the weekend,” I answered, already feeling my body relax.

“That’s no FUN. You should get out and see Glasgow, woman!” he laughed again.  

And then suddenly his phone was muffled.

“Where are you?” I asked, frowning at the unfamiliar sounds I heard.

“Sorry,” he answered, still a bit muffled. “I was ordering some food.”

“Good…go eat. I am going to nap. I MUST nap. Call you later?” I asked, my eyes heavy.

“Yes! Rest, my darling. I love you,” he answered and clicked off his phone.

I woke up a BIT later than I had planned, so still in my heels and dress, I didn’t bother to change. I just touched up my makeup, pulled up my hair, and rushed to the elevator and then to the hotel bar.

“Christi!” I squealed when I saw her sitting in a booth.  

“Annah Bo-Banna!” she squealed back and stood to hug me.  “Annah, this is my wife Diane.”

I was so happy that the booth was close enough for me to fall into.  I blinked hard, caught my breath and reached out to hug Diane as well.  “Oh, it is SO wonderful to meet you. Christi is glowing from happiness…it must be this whole marriage thing.”

Diane laughed as she hugged me, too. She was stunningly beautiful, and she brushed back her long hair as she sat next to Christi.  “I have heard ALL about your Harvard days,” she laughed, looking from Christi to me and from me to Christi.  And then she paused. “Oh, you didn’t know, did you?”

I shook my head. “HOW could I not know that you preferred women?” I asked before I could stop myself. “You…you lived with me for over two years.”

Christi smiled as she drank from her glass. “Annah, back then, even I didn’t know. Well, I knew…deep down…but I couldn’t admit it to myself and certainly not to anyone else. I was well into graduate school before I even dated a woman.  And then…I met Diane.”

I clapped my hands and giggled. “Yayyyy! And happy ever after!  I am SO, SOOOO happy for you two.  I am.”

“What about you? Anyone special in your life?” Christi asked as she handed me a menu.

While at Harvard, we made a true art out of knowing the best appetizers in every bar around the Square.

“Ummmmm,” I smiled as I looked down at my choices. “Yeh…I am living with someone.”

Her eyes widened as she said, “Spillllll, woman!”

“Well, I live in London. And…he’s…”

Suddenly, some drunk businessman leaned well over the table. Just inches in front of my face, he slurred, “Well, I see those two are taken. How about you? Buy you a drink?”

My eyes shifted across the booth to Christi and Diane. “Uhhh, no thanks. Here with friends.”

I shifted more toward the end of the seat so that he did not try to sit down.

“Come on! One drink!” he grumbled. “What can that hurt?”

I paused, glaring at him for a full ten seconds at least. “NO, thank you,” I insisted firmly.

Grumbling something about Americans, he stumbled back to the other side of the bar.

Clearing my throat, I started again. “I…live in London, and London is home for him. Mary’s boyfriend Charlie introduced us, actually. Can you imagine?? I moved in a few months ago, and…yeh, it’s going well,” I smiled and bit my bottom lip.

“What does he do? Does he teach?” Diane asked after ordering her choice of appetizer.

My fingers played along the details of my glass. “Ummm…no, he…is…in…the theatre,” I nodded and smiled at my answer.

“A playwright? An actor?” Christi asked after she, too, ordered.

I nodded. “He acts, yes.”

“Welllllllllllll, tell me ALL about him,” she insisted.  “Everything.”

Blushing, I shifted in the booth.  “Ummm, he is…god, he is SO intelligent, Christi. And tall…and  gorgeous…and…yeh, I’ve got it bad. Dad flew over and met him…”

She choked on her wine and finally stopped coughing. “YOUR dad? Did he tell him that he knew a…”

“A dozen different ways to kill him?” I finished for her.

She nodded and grimaced.

I took the plate from the waiter and passed it to them. “Dad loves him. He does.  He’s THAT great of a guy.”

“Do you remember what he said about Cameron?” she asked under her breath, causing me to nearly spew wine all over her.

I held up my hands to make her stop right there.  Cameron was the guy I dated when she lived with Mary and me. My dad was NOT a fan.

Suddenly, a voice from behind me interrupted our talk. “ ‘Aye, lovely lass, have a drink with me…”

They both looked up, and their jaws dropped. Anxious from their reactions, I turned quickly to look over my shoulder.  My heart nearly stopped. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move.

Tom stood there, a huge smile on his face, a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

“Wha…WHAT are…Wha…TOM…I…WHAT are you DOING here??” I finally formed words to ask coherently and somehow found the ability to move out of the booth and into his arms.

“It didn’t sound like you were overly busy this weekend, so I thought…” he started to say, but when I threw my arms around him and hugged him to me, he stopped talking and kissed the top of my head as I rested my cheek on his chest.  “But I can stay with family if…”

“NO. YOU. WILL. NOT!” I laughed.  “This is…this is my friend Christi and her wife Diane. Ladies, this is, uh, Tom…”

They stared at him and then at each other, not sure exactly what to say.

“So nice to meet you,” Tom said, smiling at one and then the other.  “Christi. Diane.”

Christi smiled widely and shook his hand when he extended it.  “Nice…so nice to meet you. Annah was telling us all…all about you. Somewhat.”

I couldn’t help but giggle.

“Oooh, that looks gorgeous,” Tom said, holding up the bottle to read the label and then pouring more in my glass before sipping.  He nodded his approval. “I…I don’t want to interrupt your evening; if you want, I will just go up to the room and…” he pushed his glasses up his nose while he spoke, “watch television.”

“GO! Annah, YOU go upstairs with this man who just flew all the way up here. We…we can catch up during the week,” Christi insisted.  “Really. Go. Go right ahead.”

“I’m OUT of here first thing Monday morning, promise,” Tom laughed.  “I don’t want to interfere. Not at all.”

I said goodnight, and just outside the bar, I stopped walking and wrapped my arms around Tom again. “I can’t believe you are here…I…can’t.”

“If it’s inconvenient, Annah, please tell me…I just wanted to surprise…”

I pulled him down to me and interrupted his sentence with kiss after kiss.

In the elevator, I practically climbed right up his long body.  Tom turned and pressed my back against the wall, his hands releasing my hair to my shoulders, his mouth lowering to my throat.

“Ohmygod, baby,” he mumbled in my ear, his breath hot and restless, his hands lowering then to cup my ass.

When the elevator door opened, I grabbed his hand and ran toward my room. Flowers in one hand, I tried to fish out the hotel key from my purse with the other. He, balancing his overnight bag on his shoulder, pressed behind me, one hand flat against the door as I manipulated the card into the lock.

“Annah,” he ehehehed. “Darling, do you need me to…”

“I’mTooExcited!” I giggled.  “I can’t seem…THERE! Got it!”  

With him pressing behind me, we practically fell through the door.

Immediately, he dropped his bag, and as I put the bouquet on the table, he scooped me up into his arms and carried me right over to the bed.  Setting me down there, he began unbuttoning his shirt, and with it, he dropped off his jacket as well. He threw off his undershirt, and he was unbuckling his belt as I stood.  Tom turned me away from him, and as he unzipped my dress, he softly licked down its track.  The sides fell apart, and he continued to lick to the small of my back. Removing the dress from my body, he dropped it to the floor, and I stood there in my bra, panties, and heels.

Pulling me onto his lap, he positioned my knees on either side of his legs; as I sat back on his thighs, he lifted his long fingers to my bra. Slowly, allowing his fingertips to trail all over my chest and back, he unfastened the hook in back and gently pulled the bra straps down my arms.

I sat there on my knees as his eyes scanned over my eyes, my shoulders, my entire chest and stomach.  His hands wrapped around my sides, his thumbs lifting to circle my nipples. Leaning forward, he kissed over my breasts and around them. Rubbing his lips lightly down my side, he kissed then along my ribs, licking over my sternum up to my collarbone.

“I missed you…so, so much,” he whispered while kissing along my cleavage. “You smell so amazing, Annah. You feel… so…amazing.”

When I met his eyes, they were full of tears. “What…what’s wrong?” I asked, frowning.

He shook his head, shrugged his shoulders, and whispered, “I…I just love you, Annah.” He lifted his hands to play in my hair. “It’s overwhelming at times, takes my breath away.  I..” he ehhehed and sniffed back the tears, “I even called Charles and told him what I was feeling:  I couldn’t sleep well without you being there; I didn’t want to eat. I messaged you during the day, but it just wasn’t enough. He said, “Tommy, you are 110% IN LOVE with her. YOU are a lost cause.” Tom laughed and cleared his throat.  “So I asked him what the hell I should do about it.”

I waited patiently, my eyes meeting his again.

“He said...maybe I should marry you,” he answered, his eyebrows arching as he watched my face for a reaction.

My heart skipped. I felt it. The room began to spin. “NO!” I practically screamed as I slid right off him.

Tom looked as if I had just slapped his face. “Nuh…No? Did you say…”

“Nononononono! YOU may NOT do this during foreplay, Hiddleston! I am ¾ naked, sitting on top of your lap!”

He just blinked at me as I stood there in the middle of the room in my panties and heels.

Suddenly, fear and embarrassment washed over me in a wave; gasping, I whispered, “Wait. You WERE about to…to do that?”

Slowly, he nodded.

“GET BACK in your CLOTHES!” I directed as I bounded toward the bathroom, dress in hand. “I am going to get dressed. Then…then you can do that, ok? I mean…if you are READY to do that. No pressure, though. Ummmm...were you about to do that?”

He nodded again as he slipped on his undershirt and began to button up once more.

In the bathroom, I threw on my dress, hopped around as I zipped it up, put up my hair, and again touched up my makeup. Staring in the mirror, I blinked hard, spritzed on a bit more perfume, and walked out into the bedroom.

Tom was there on one knee, flowers in one hand, a huge smile on his face.

That’s when I lost it. I covered my face with both of my hands and wept with abandon.

“Nooooo! Don’t CRY!” he laughed as he stood, walked over, and hugged me. “I thought you would want me on one knee, asking...”

“Yes! I do...I really do,” I sobbed, finally able to control myself. “Ok…ready. I’m…ready…okay.”

Tom knelt again, smiled, cleared his throat, and said, “After I talked to Charles, I…I ran across this Roy Croft poem. And he says perfectly what I feel. Annah,

I love you, Not only for what you are, But for what I am When I am with you. I love you Not only for what You have made of yourself, But for what You are making of me. I love you For ignoring the possibilities Of the fool in me And for laying firm hold Of the possibilities for good. Why do I love you? I love you For closing your eyes To the discords - And for adding to the music in me By worshipful listening. I love you because you Are helping me to make Of the lumber of my life Not a tavern But a temple; And out of the words Of my every day Not a reproach But a song. I love you Because you have done More than any creed To make me happy. You have done it Without a word, Without a touch, Without a sign. You have done it Just by being yourself. After all Perhaps that is what Love means. “I love you, Annah. Thank you… for loving me. If you marry me, I promise you a lifetime of love,” he smiled, tears in his eyes.

I totally lost it again.  In his arms, pressed against his chest, I said yes.

[hiddlestonfanficinthebooks]

Chapter 8

Christmas Eve, we drove down to Tom’s mum’s house. I was panicky all the way there, my tummy flipping and flopping so much that I feared I was going to lose my lunch. Somehow, I held it down and breezed through meeting her and the first couple of hours of conversations.

And then his sister walked in.  She put down her purse and walked over to Tom, reached up and tugged on his beard.  “How are ya, ZZ Top?”

Tom snorted from laughing so hard.  

“Seriously. Do you like this?” she asked me, pointing, and then resting her hands on her hips.

I glanced at her and their mom.  “Yes,” I nodded. “I really do.”

Emma grimaced and shrugged her shoulders before saying, “I think Tommy is still in there…somewhere.”

He rolled his eyes and sat beside me, slipping his arm behind my shoulders.  

“You two,” she smiled then.  “Look at you both…radiant. It’s…disgusting.

I looked at him; he looked at me, and again we got the giggles.

I fell right into place in the kitchen with the other women in his life, and together we cooked away most of the afternoon. Just after 7:00, we ate together, laughing and chatting through the meal and dessert.

After I showered, I leaned against his bedroom door. Emma asked that I sleep in the other single bed in her room so that we could get to know each other better. I felt it only right to sleep there instead of with Tom.  But I hated not being with him, feeling him next to me, smelling him in the dark when I couldn’t see him, listening to his steady breathing as I drifted off to sleep.

“You going to be alright in there with her?” he asked, tucking my hair behind my ear and kissing me lightly, pausing to rub the tip of his nose against mine.

My heart fluttered as I nodded and smiled. “I’m fine.”

“She’s pretty harmless,” he groaned. “Usually, that is…”

As she walked by him, she punched his arm. “Get out of her. Girls only,” she insisted with a lifted eyebrow.

He lowered and whispered against my lips, “I love you. See you in the morning.”

Emma and I were still awake ages later, sharing a pint of ice cream, cookies, and story after story.  At 4:07, Tom threw open the door and caused us both to squeal like girls at a sleepover.

“What in the WORLD are you two giggling and talking ON and ON about in here?” he whispered, frowning at the light from our lamp, his hair in curly disarray from flipping and flopping in the next room.

“I was telling her about the first time you discovered your erection,” Emma nonchalantly answered with a straight face.

Not saying a word, Tom instantly shut the door and walked away.

I fell right off the bed from laughing until I cried.

A few hours later, we woke before 8:00 and cooked breakfast. I loved the time that I spent with them. They were kind, beautiful, and supportive…just like Tom.

We got back home after sunset, and sitting on the table, as we left them, were the presents we bought for each other.  We promised that we would not spend too very much on gifts and limited them to one each. For him, I had chosen a men’s cashmere scarf I’d found at Harrod’s.  And he honestly loved it.

I slowly unwrapped the present he passed over to me. Opening its box, I found a beautifully dainty necklace with a diamond pendant that rested in the hollow of my throat when he carefully fastened the sides and kissed the back of my neck.

“It’s perfect,” he sighed and rubbed his thumb just under it.  “I adore kissing here…right…here…” he added before also kissing both sides of my collarbone. “I love you, Annah.  I truly love you.”

I couldn’t hold back my tears any longer. As they ran down my cheeks, I nodded and kissed him over and over while whispering how very much I loved him, too.

A week later, I was packing when Tom walked in from a meeting at the BBC.  I glanced up to find him staring at me, confused.

“Have I run you off already?” he chuckled nervously.

I had to laugh. “No way,” I shook my head and folded my pajamas.  “Research, remember?”

He narrowed his eyes as the thought.

“I am flying to Glasgow…meeting up with a group of other linguistic students…you don’t remember any of that?”

His eyes widened, and he shrugged his shoulders.  “I DO, yes. Sorry. I remember. I blanked for a moment…so…howwwww long will you be gone again?”

“Two weeks,” I answered as I tucked socks into my suitcase. When I turned back around, he was standing there, his jaw ajar.

He blinked quickly and sat down on the bottom of the bed. “Two…weeks??”

I nodded, turning back to the closet. “I have a ton to do, and hopefully, these people, with their research, in combination with my research, will help me with one of the last chapters…” I paused, looking over at him again.  “Are you…ok?”

“Fourteen days?” he asked, his brow furrowing.

I nodded again and sat down on the opposite corner from him. Because I had been so busy working and so busy planning the trip, it had not hit me until right then how realllllly long that was.

“Yeh,” I answered, exhaling deeply. “Fourteen…days…”

I frowned.

He frowned.

“That’s good, though. Research. Finishing your chapters and all,” he nodded, rather incredulous of the whole plan.

Suddenly, I felt the same way. Beside a night here or there, since the beginning of our relationship, we really had not been apart for very long at all.

He took a deep breath. “I suppose that your being gone, our…being apart, will be good for us, you know…with…my having to be gone at times for…significantly longer…for filming and such,” he explained and then bit his bottom lip.  Clearing his throat, he stood there awkwardly. “Need help? May I help you pack?”

I shook my head.  

“Going for a run, then,” he said over his shoulder as he walked down to the laundry to get his workout clothes.

While he was gone, I finished packing and took a shower so that I could get up in the morning, pull up my hair, and go. He came home just as I was flipping through conference papers.  Without saying anything, he left his phone, his earbuds, and his keys on the table, and walked upstairs to shower. When he finished dressing, he joined me on the sofa.

“Are we…ok?” I asked, dropping my folder to the table.

“Of course,” he sighed, playing with his beard. “I’m…I’m just going to really miss you.”

He nodded.

I nodded.

He got up then and made sandwiches for us. We sat, eating and flipping through television channels, neither talking much at all.

I was still downstairs reviewing articles once more when he walked upstairs to bed.  When I finally walked into the bedroom, I paused at the foot of the bed before crawling up there with him, straddling and then sitting back on his thighs. Reaching up, I took off his glasses and set them on the bedside table. I then closed his book and dropped it to the floor.

His forehead even with my chest, I leaned down and kissed it and then kissed the bridge of his nose. I lifted his chin then so I could kiss his mouth, and when he started to kiss me back, I lifted my gown over my arms and tossed it aside. His eyes lowered then to my breasts, and as he kissed over them, between them, I pulled back the sheet that rested between our bodies. He lifted his hands to my waist and began pulling down my panties as I tugged down his pajama pants.

When we were both sitting there naked, we stopped moving again.

He lifted his hands into my long hair and let it fall from his fingers back to my shoulders as he ran it through each strand.  “You are so beautiful,” he whispered and lifted an eyebrow.

My hands lifted to his beard and into his hair as well, his curls passing around my fingers.

He sat up straighter then, his arms wrapping around my body as he kissed me, kissed my neck, my shoulder, my breasts. His eyes locking with mine, I reached between our bodies, and I slipped down his erection.

My forehead pressed against his, and as I moved up and down him, I held his face in my hands, kissed his eyelids, his cheeks, his lips.

“Oh…you feel amazing,” he mumbled, the back of his head thumping against his headboard.

His hands clutched my hips, directing me to roll them faster or slower, backward, or forward.

My fingers tickled through the hair on his chest, my thumbs circling his nipples and teasing there until he caught his breath. He then began to move under me, thrusting upward as I lifted to give him more room to move.

And that’s when he flipped me right over to my back, pinning my bent legs forward under his pressing body. On his extended arms over me, he watched my face as he pushed harder, deeper inside me as that position allowed.

“OhgodAnnahIloveyou,” he whispered, his eyes fluttering shut as he came.

Minutes passed as he laid there on top of me, his heart beating so hard against my chest that I thought I could, at times, hear it. Slipping to his side then, he smiled down as his left arm wrapped around my shoulders and pulled me even closer.

Still catching his breath, he rolled his eyes. “Sorry…I…um….ehheheh…I was a BIT too quick, wasn’t I?”

I shook my head. “It was great…”

“But you didn’t…finish,” he frowned. “Let me help you with that.” He kissed me, smiled, and kissed me again. Reaching under the sheet he had lifted, he slipped his hands between my thighs…and then higher. “I made such a mess,” he giggled and blushed as he nuzzled against me.  His smile faded, though, as he pressed his fingers between my lips and circled them against my clit.

Watching my face carefully, he kissed my parted lips. “Is that it? Like that?”

I nodded, my eyes not leaving his.

“When you are away,” he whispered, kissing on the side of my mouth.  “I want you to do this and think…think about me…” Alternating with the rubbing, his long middle fingers bent to slide inside me just as his mouth lowered to lick around my nipple.  When my shoulders flinched, he began rubbing again. “I love to feel your clit under my fingers, know that I am making you squirm…”

I caught my breath and opened my legs more; my hand lowered to show him exactly how to move. Circling my hips, I pressed back against his movements.

“I want to make you cum,” he whispered against my chin, the tip of his tongue slipping between my lips and touching mine.  “Will you think…about me…about my being inside you?”

I nodded again, my heart thumping inside my chest.

“About my cock?” he asked, his beard tickling my ear.  “The way I fill up your pussy? About...your legs wide open…my face between them…my tongue inside you, my lips…softly sucking your clit until you grip…”

My entire body shuddered as I came. Giggling, I pulled his face to mine and kissed him as I caught my breath.

The next morning, Tom had breakfast nearly ready before I walked downstairs.  

“Why…why are you awake?” I asked, dropping my bags by the front door. “You should be sleeping still.”

He leaned over and kissed me as he stirred the eggs.  “I’m awake making you breakfast,” he smiled, kissing me again before serving them onto our plates.  Around the edges of the plate, he had arranged fruit and cheese.  As I sat down, he poured a cup of coffee for me.  

“All ready for Scotland?” he asked in a perfectly thick brogue.

I nodded and ate.

“On what day do you speak?”

I set down my mug and smiled. “Three days into the conference, right after lunch,” I shrugged my shoulders.  “I am so nervous. I’ve presented at history conferences before, but not about linguistics.”

Tom topped off my coffee and kissed the top of my head. “You are going to be amazing, knock them off their feet.”

As we finished, he pushed back in his chair and set his napkin on the table.  “Ready?”

I picked up my phone to call for a taxi, but he shook his head.  “I’m taking you.”

I stared at him, and he stared at me.

“Don’t be silly. That’s a long drive; I’ll be fine…”

Tom held my face in his hands and shook his head.  “Stop. I’m driving you there. Understand that, Ms. Annah?”

Smiling, I blinked back tears.

He threw my bag in his car then, and we were off.  All the way there, he looked over at me and smiled, but he said nothing.  At the airport, he flew out of his car, set my bag on the curb, and stood there kissing me. I couldn’t breathe. He was so beautiful, so kind, so perfect. I didn’t want to walk away from him, from my life there with him.

[hiddlestonfanficinthebooks]

Chapter 7

A couple of hours later, the three of us were sitting in a restaurant, sharing a bottle of wine.

We all talked, and there was even laughter a few times. No one was killed in one of the dozen or so ways my dad knew how to do so. I caught him eyeing Tom a few times, trying his best to size him up. In the end, he liked him. He liked him, in fact, very much…even though he is British, he added as he shook Tom’s hand at the end of the evening.

“Daddddddd,” I groaned and rolled my eyes.

Tom just laughed and stuffed his hands in his front pockets.  “Allow me to drop you off at your hotel, sir?” he asked graciously a moment later.

“Thank you,” he smiled and nodded as he held open the door so I could slide into the almost non-existent backseat of Tom’s Jaguar.  

There was no way that my 6-foot-tall father could crunch his legs back there.  Holding my hand as it rested on his shoulder, he squeezed and patted it as we talked.

“And your classes?” he asked, glancing back at me. “You are still working toward this other degree?”

I nodded.  “Certainly. That’s what was all over the sofa when you showed up today. I’m working every day toward that goal.”

“Your mom would be so proud…she IS so proud, Annah. I just know it,” he added with a firm squeeze.

That brought tears to my eyes. Oftentimes at night, I lay awake beside Tom, wishing I could tell her all about him. She was a professor of history and taught wherever my dad was stationed.  In fact, she taught all the way through her chemotherapy. She turned in her grades at the end of her last semester and died two days later. She was that dedicated to her students. And it was that dedication that pushed my dad to begin teaching at Quantico and that pushed me to teach as well.

When he stepped out of the car and I joined him in his hotel lobby, my dad brushed back my hair and kissed my nose. “You look so much like her, Susannah…more every time I see you,” he sighed. “Sometimes, the similarities take my breath away.”

He was right; there were pictures of her that fooled even me into wondering when I had visited that place or met those people. We were the same height, the same weight, almost the same in every way. The only difference was that I had my father’s eyes brown eyes, not her blue ones.

“Do you love him?” he asked, holding my face in his hands.

I nodded, blinking away tears again.

“And he…he loves you?”

Again, I nodded.  

“That’s what I needed to know.  I’m happy for you, Annah. I am.  If he ever hurts you, though…”

I laughed and patted the corners of my eyes with a tissue I grabbed from the front desk.  “I know…I know. You’ll kill him, and no one will be able to pin it on you.”

He laughed as well and hugged me tightly. “Call more often? Please? I don’t want to get news about my daughter from some foreign landlord, Annah.  Got it?”

“GOT IT,” I smiled as he kissed my cheek. “Sorry, Daddy.  Now, we are having breakfast here in the morning, right?”

He nodded and brushed back my hair again. “Sometimes I still expect to see you as an awkward 11-year old kid, wearing glasses and overalls.”

“Dadddddddddd,” I groaned again.  “I’m not FAR from thirty. I’m a…”

He covered my mouth with his hand.  “Yeh, yeh. A grown woman living with a grown man, doing all kinds of grownup things. I got it, sweetheart.  See you in the morning after your meeting with your advisor. Got that, too.” He kissed my forehead once again and waved over his shoulder as he walked to the elevator.

The next morning as planned, we met, and we were nearly finished eating when he pressed back in his chair, patted his mouth with the linen napkin, and set it back on his lap.

“Susannah, I need to talk to you about something, since relationships seem to be the topic of the moment,” he smiled slyly.

I narrowed my eyes and waited for his response. Since it had only been the two of us for most of my life, we had always been very open and honest about everything. No topic was ever off-limit.

“I think ...I might have met someone that I’d like to see…you know, date,” he explained after clearing his throat.  

My eyes filled with tears. “Daddy! Really? That’s AMAZING. Who…who is she? Where did you meet her?”

“She is a professor in DC. A friend recommend that she ask me to guest lecture one for one of her military history courses.  We had coffee afterward, but we have not gone out on a date, per se.  I…I wanted to talk to you about it before I asked her,” he explained with a shrug of his shoulders.

Reaching out, I squeezed his hand, and I could no longer stop the tears that had threatened to stream down my cheeks. “It’s been twenty years since Mom died. Twenty. Please, enjoy your life. You worked so hard at molding me into a pretty cool citizen of the world, but I’m all grown up…and all the way in England. I’m thrilled for you, Daddy. I am.”

Nodding, he cleared his throat again. “Her name is Evelyn. She lives in Alexandria like I do, about ten minutes from my house, actually. She’s my age, a widow. Her husband was military, Army, but I will forgive that part. He was, ummmm, killed in Iraq during Desert Storm. She has one kid, a daughter who’s an elementary teacher in Virginia. Susannah, she’s beautiful, truly. Here,” he added, pulling up images of the George Washington University history department so he could show me her picture.  She WAS stunning. “I don’t even know if she would want to see me again. But I have her number.”

My eyes widened. “If she gave you her cell number, she WAS interested. How long has it been since you did the guest lecture?”

He shrugged his shoulders before checking the date on his phone. “Hmm, two weeks?”

They widened even more when I heard that. Immediately, I pushed his phone across the table and said,  “Daddy! Call her. Call her right now.”

Shaking his head, he frowned.  “Not NOW. I’m in England, for fuck sake.”

“DADDY. She’s beautiful. And now, she is thinking you are not interested because you have waited so long. Call her. CALL. HER,” I insisted.

Reluctantly, he picked up and stared at his phone. “I’m so out of practice, Annah. What should I…”

I thought for a moment and responded, “Hi, Evelyn. Sorry it’s been so long. I’m actually in England visiting my daughter, but I ran across this article in her house that reminded me of that lecture I gave for your class. I’d love to see you again, maybe dinner?”

Taking a deep breath, he opened his phone to her contact and pressed the button to call her.  I could tell by his face that he got her voicemail. Verbatim, he repeated what I had told him and then clicked off his phone with a deep sigh.

“She’ll call you back. Today, I bet,” I smiled and sipped my coffee.  “So, what will you…”

My sentence was interrupted by his phone ringing. My eyes widened. His eyes widened.

I motioned that I was going to step away while he spoke with her. I took that opportunity to walk into the lobby where I sat and sent Tom a text, explaining that I would be back later than sooner. He had back-to-back meetings, so he messaged me to take my time as he would not be back before early afternoon. He snapped a picture of himself, his eyes crossed, his mouth twisted, to show his disdain.

I was still giggling when my dad walked out of the hotel’s restaurant and plopped down beside me on the sofa.  I just smiled and waited for him to sill the details.

“We are having lunch next week,” he chuckled and scratched his cheek.  

I clapped my hands and then threw my arms around his neck in a hug.  “YAY! Oh, Daddy, I am so excited for you.  Please, keep me updated on everything, ok?”

He nodded his agreement.

“We are going to a couple of museums this afternoon, right?” I asked when he stood.

Reaching out, he took my hand and helped me off the sofa. “That’s right, Sunshine. Military history at its finest. Well, second finest, behind us, of course,” he grinned.

After a another big hug, we walked all around Piccadilly Circus, snapping pictures all along our way. We then took a taxi to my university where I introduced him to my linguistics professors. We had lunch in a small café, and after, I went home to ready myself for our afternoon and evening out with Tom.

I had just showered when he got home; in fact, I walked out of the bathroom to find him collapsed on the sofa.  

“If you are too tired, honey, really…I am fine going…” I started to say, but he shook his head.

“No way. I look forward to talking about history with you and your father. I just need ten, fifteen minutes to rest. Wake me?” he mumbled as he turned to his side and cuddled next to a pillow on the sofa.

After I put on makeup and blow-dried my hair, I sat down beside him again on the sofa.

“What…what time is it?” he asked, sitting straight up, confused and still half asleep.

I glanced up at the clock. “Just after 2:00, honey. We are meeting Dad at 3:00, remember?”

“SHIT!” he exclaimed grouchily, shooting up the stairs.  “I told you fifteen minutes!”

I blinked my eyes and looked around the quiet room. I thought he would have wanted the extra thirty minutes to rest. I guess I was wrong on that one. He came back down from the shower, hurriedly tugging on a navy jumper and buttoning his black jeans. Impatiently, he looked up at that same clock as he tied his shoes and fastened his watch on his wrist.  

I didn’t say a word, for I had a feeling he didn’t want to talk. The entire way to the hotel, he was silent. When he stepped out to give the keys to the valet, though, he grabbed my arm, pulled me to him, and guided me through the door of the hotel to a corner of the lobby.

“Susannah, I am so sorry I snapped at you like that,” he sighed, tucking my hair behind my ears and then kissing my cheek. “There’s no reason that I should have done that. You were just trying to help.”

I nodded, tears filling my eyes.  

He lifted my hands and kissed them both. “Truly, I am sorry,” he whispered. “I want us to have a good afternoon with your dad. And I hope that will begin with this apology. I don’t do well when I have to jump out of a dead sleep and GO. That’s why I wanted that extra time to fully wake up. I love you, Annah.” Softly, he kissed me, looked down into my eyes for a moment, and kissed me again.

“Everything ok?” my dad asked, walking through the room to join us.

Nodding, I put on the best smile I could. “Fine! We were just discussing which museum we should visit first.  I said the Churchill War Bunkers.  But if you would rather the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich…”

“War Bunkers,” he answered with a huge grin. “Tom, how are you?”

Tom shook his hand as my dad extended it. “Good to see you sir. Ready to escape into the height of WWII?” he asked, much to my dad’s delight.

And we were off. Together, we walked, talked, and laughed most of the afternoon away. It was truly fantastic. We didn’t even begin to slow down until the museums began to close at 7:00 that evening. Tom, having thought ahead, made reservations for us at 8:00. I had mentioned days before that I wanted to take my dad to a very British restaurant for very British food. Tom said he knew just the place, and he was spot on with his choice. Because he certainly knew all of the food, drinks, and puddings better than I ever would, he offered suggestions for appetizers and entrees, and soon, we began to eat…and eat. I feared we would have to be carted back to the hotel.  Somehow, hours later, we managed to walk there.

In the lobby once more, my father unwound his scarf and took off his gloves.  “The way he talks,” he whispered, peeking over at Tom and then winking at me, “I can understand your not being able to get a break to call. Blah blah blah.” He rolled his eyes and then laughed to show he was certainly teasing. ”He seems to be a good guy, Annah. I’m glad you are happy. It’s all I have ever wanted.”

I hugged him tightly.  “I love you, Daddy.  Safe travels tomorrow?”

With a quick nod yes, he reached over to shake Tom’s hand once more before walking to the elevator.

That night, for the first time in ages, I was homesick. It was the craziest thing; my dad was still in London, and all I could think about was seeing him again.  So, two hours after I left him at the hotel, I took a cab there and went upstairs to his room.

When I knocked, there was a pause as he was probably deciding if he should open the door or not.

“Annah…what in the…” he started to ask. But I interrupted him by nearly tackling him in a hug.

I was a sniffling, sobbing mess.  “Is it ok if I sleep here with you? I really need to be close to you…I don’t know what’s wrong with me; it’s like I am having withdrawals or something.”

“Of COURSE,” he answered, closing the door behind us.

Lying on the bed, I talked and talked while he shaved and packed his bags. We then talked for another hour or so before turning out the lights and crawling into bed. Scooting back against him, I fell asleep while he played with my hair, the exact same way he did when I was a little girl.

When he left for the airport the next morning, I left for home where I found a note from Tom on the table: “Meetings. Gotta talk about the holidays today.—T.”

I walked upstairs, changed clothes, and went biking. When I returned, I showered and then forced myself to research for the next couple of hours. I had just printed off two new articles to read when Tom walked through the door.

“Hi,” he smiled widely and stepped out of his shoes.  Leaning over where I sat on the sofa, he kissed me. “I missed sleeping with you last night. The bed was so cold and lonely without you.”

I bit my bottom lip and smiled.  

“God, you are sexy,” he whispered, leaning down to kiss me again.  “You have…the fullest lips…so…luscious. I crave them.”

That time, he crawled onto the sofa and laid down, his head resting on my lap. As my fingers played in his long curls, he batted his beautiful blue eyes at me.

“I am a sad case,” he chuckled. When I frowned in confusion, he explained, “Smitten. I am bloody well smitten.”

I couldn’t stop my giggles. I was a total goner, too.

[hiddlestonfanficinthebooks]

Chapter 6

The next morning, I was cooking breakfast when Tom plodded down the stairs and joined me there.  He was in cotton sleep pants and a soft t-shirt, and when I turned around, he smiled widely.  

“Hi,” he sighed, pulling me to him.  

I rubbed his biceps and kissed him when he leaned down.  “Hi,” I grinned back.

“You know, I could really get accustomed to this,” he sighed, leaning down that time to kiss my forehead. “You, being here when I wake up…someone cooking for me.”

My heart flipped in my chest, so I quickly turned back to the scrambled eggs to add the fresh spinach and tomatoes I picked up from the market down the street.  Behind me, Tom rubbed my back, his palm flat against me.

“I picked up the Times for you, too,” I said, sprinkling mozzarella cheese into the pan.  

“Coffee, as well?” he smiled as he poured a mug for him and one for me.  “You take…cream only, right?”

I nodded.

Reaching his arm around my waist, he rested his chin on my shoulder.

“ALL done!” I smiled, scooting around him to serve.  

When he sat down across from me, he sipped his coffee and narrowed his eyes at me.  “I doooo believe I have spooked you,” he whispered and flipped through the paper.

Sprinkling salt on the eggs, I cleared my throat and tucked my hair behind my ears. “What do you mean?” I asked, dipping fresh fruit into my bowl and into his.

He lifted his eyebrows.

Exhaling deeply, I bit my bottom lip.

After eating, we changed clothes and took the bikes out for a ride through the park. The day was gorgeous, and after an hour or so, we collapsed onto the soft grass in a warm patch of sunshine.

“Annah?” he asked, playing in my hair as my head rested on his chest.

My eyes closed, I answered with a “Hmmm?”

And then he said it. “What do you think about moving in together?”

My eyes opened, and I stared ahead in complete shock. I didn’t know what in the world to think or to say.

After minutes of my silence, he sat straight up, causing me to tumble right off.  “If you don’t want to move in, just tell me.  Maybe I misjudged where we were. My error.” Standing up, he wiped the grass off his legs and started to mount his bike again.  

“Tom, stop…wait. I...I’m sorry. Look, I…I have never lived with anyone before. I…I don’t know how that works,” I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair.  “I mean, what do…what do we do? Do we split bills or what?”

He stared at me for a moment and then started laughing. “Annah! I’m not asking you to be a roommate. I don’t want you to pay for anything. I just want you to be there when I go to sleep each night and when I wake up. I want to see you every moment of every day in between those times that I can. I thought that you might have wanted the same thing.”

Nodding, I stood as well.  “I do.  I really do want that. I love spending time with you. I just…I feel so naïve, so…immature, I guess.”

He walked over to me and held the sides of my face. “Now that I know it’s your first time, I promise to be gentle,” he whispered.

Together, we laughed until we almost knocked over our bikes.

When I went home that evening, I plopped down on my sofa and looked around my flat. I had no idea where to begin with packing.  Biting my thumb, I reached over, picked up my phone and called Mary.

“Hey, woman! I see you have finally remembered who I AM, I see!” she laughed.

I couldn’t breathe.  “Mary, I need to talk to you,” I finally was able to say.

For a few seconds, she sat in silence. “I’m on my way,” she answered and clicked off her phone. In no time, she was knocking on my door.

“Hi,” she whispered and threw her arms around me. “It’s all my fault. I never should have agreed to introduce him to…”

Pulling back from her hug and closing the door behind me, I stared at her.  “NO, nonono, nothing like that, honey.  He wants me to move in with him.”

Squealing, she covered her mouth and hopped up and down. “Annah! That’s…oh my god, that’s…WOW…that’s amazing news!”

I burst into tears.

“ANNAH, what in the WORLD?” she gasped, hugging me again and leading me to the sofa.

I shrugged. “I don’t KNOW! I…I am scared. What if things don’t go well? I mean, it’s his house. What if…I…”

Mary waved off my concern.  “You are worried about things that aren’t going to happen, Annah. If something WERE to happen, not that it will, you can just move in with me. If that’s your only concern, you should not have one. Really.”

Sniffling, I picked up a Kleenex and blew my nose. “He…we…said the love word,” I exhaled deeply.

Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Are you SERIOUS?”

I nodded.

“ANNAH! You two are perfect for each other, really. Go for it. Be with him. Be HAPPY for once!”

Tears ran down my face, and I tried to keep up with rubbing them from my cheeks.  “I AM happy,” I sobbed.  “I don’t know WHEN I HAVE been this happy. That’s what scares me so much.”

When she started laughing, I started as well.  “Are you listening to yourself? Things are great. Tom is amazing. He’s gorgeous, kind, dedicated…”

“A great lay…” I whispered.

With that, we both giggled again.

“I KNOW…I KNOW…my heart can’t out-shout my brain. And I HATE it.  What should I do, Mary? Tell me.”

Instead of saying a word, she picked up books from my shelves and started stacking them in an Amazon box. Standing, I walked out the door and down to the liquor store to get more cartons. When I returned, we packed for hours.

The next morning, Mary returned, and as we packed other essentials and waited for Charlie to arrive with a truck. We then packed in all the boxes I would be needing first, we rode over to Tom’s house. When we arrived, Tom popped out and helped us haul everything inside. After a quick visit, Tom helped me move my clothes into the dresser in his guestroom and the closet there.

“So, do you want me to…umm…stay in here?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

“No…no no, not at all,” he ehehehehed. “My suits, they take up so much room here in my room. I just think it would be easier, and since that room is between our room and the bath…”

My mind went numb at processing “our room.”  I couldn’t breathe.  I felt faint.

“…that way you will have plenty of room to dress and can pop in and out of there to get things as you go to shower or…”

His words floated around me as if he were speaking a foreign language.  “Our room” echoed over and over in my head.  Honestly, I lost all track of his explanation, so I just nodded my understanding.

When we walked back downstairs, he reached his hand deeply into his front pocket. “I…I have something for you,” he smiled.

My eyes widened.

Again, he laughed.  “No, not that…heh…ummm, this…this is for you,” he smiled, handing over a key.

My entire face flushed.  “Oh, yes. Thanks. I guess I do need one.”  Fishing out my key ring from my pocket, I attached it immediately.

He nodded and stuffed both of his hands into them.   “So…here we are,” he smiled.

I nodded.  

“Are you sure you are ok with all this?” he whispered as he walked over and took my hands.

I nodded again.  “I am overwhelmed, but yes, I…I can’t tell you how happy I am to be here with you.”

“I love you,” he whispered and leaned down to kiss me.

Reaching up, I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him over and over.

And that was that. Life continued. I worked, researched, and studied; Tom worked as well.

Two weeks later, I was surrounded by books and notebooks when there was a knock at the door.  Tom was out running, so I pushed one pile and another aside and then stumbled to the door.  

When I opened it, I caught my breath. “DADDY!” I squealed, hopping up into his arms.  “What…how…” I shook my head and hugged him.

Gently setting me back down, he lifted his eyebrows.

“Come in! Let me take your coat,” I smiled warily. I knew that look on his face. I knew it well.

When he sat on the sofa, he looked up at me until I sat down as well. “Your landlord called and asked what he should do with the deposit on your flat; he wasn’t sure if he should send it to this address or to me back in America,” he explained, his fingers tapping on his knee.

I bit my bottom lip.  Even though I was a grown woman, my daddy still had such a strong grip on me. “I’m in love, Daddy. He’s an amazing man. He honestly is everything I have ever wanted in…”

“So amazing you haven’t even told me about him?” my dad snipped and crossed his arms.

He was right.  “I should have called you, yes. I have been so wrapped up in my classes (not REALLY a lie) and Tom that…”

At that moment, he walked right in. Tossing his keys onto the table, he pulled off his hoodie as he walked into the room with us.  Pausing, he looked from me to my dad.

“Tom, this is my dad, Daniel Caraway,” I explained as my dad stood and extended his hand to Tom.

Tom looked from me to him again and shook it firmly. “So sorry I am a mess; I just ran six miles in the park. Very nice to meet you, sir,” he smiled.  “I’m popping upstairs to shower,” he added before leaning over to kiss my forehead.

[hiddlestonfanficinthebooks]

When Caroline Walter of Freiburg, Germany died at the age of 16, her sister, ,Selma, had a sculptor cast a life size sculpture for the gravestone - Every morning since Caroline’s funeral, a fresh flower was found tucked in the crook of the arm, and still is to this day - Nobody knows who leaves it - Every single morning! - Caroline died in 1867 - For 146 years, someone has been leaving flowers…

[hiddlestonfanficinthebooks]

posted :-)

[hiddlestonfanficinthebooks]

Chapter Five

For hours, we lay together, touching, kissing, giggling, and, most of all, talking.  I never was at a loss of what to talk about when I was with him. He effortlessly flowed from one topic to the next: kings of England, cars, disappointing partners, Shakespeare, favorite lunch foods, clothes, artists, Kennedy conspiracies.  

 Just before midnight, we still had not eaten, so we ordered delivery and sat around his coffee table, stuffing Thai food into our mouths as quickly as we could eat. Everything tastes better when a person is hungry, but wearing his button-up shirt, watching his facial expressions as he told me about filming in Vietnam, I could not imagine life getting much better.

 As we cleaned up, Tom leaned against a kitchen counter, his arms crossed over his chest.  “Do you have to go home? I mean, I know you said that you had a chapter due soon, but could you possibly stay? I am happy to ride with you to pack a bag…”

My cheeks turned bright red. “Wellll, actually…I was hoping you would ask, so I have an overnight bag in my car,” I answered, my eyes cutting over at him.

Tom lifted me into his arms and kissed me all the way back upstairs.  “I LOVE the way you THINK, Susannah,” he laughed as he collapsed onto the bed with me still in his arms.  And then the smile left his face. “There’s something that…we should discuss.”

My heart jumped in my chest. “Yes?” I asked as I turned to my side.

The hem of his shirt reached almost to my knees as I lay there, and he reached over to tickle my leg just under its edge.  “I don’t…I don’t fuck around,” he announced, surprising me so much that my eyes widened.

“Oooook,” I nodded. “That’s a good thing, right?”  I laughed, trying to lighten the mood, but he was having none of that.

“What I mean is this…if you want to go out with a variety of people and sleep with a variety of people, I’m not the right person for you to be seeing. Now, I’m not trying to fence you into a relationship before you are ready, but…I want you to know I simply don’t live that way.  If I am with a person, I am with that person. Maybe it won’t last long, maybe it will, but I am not a ‘do-as-many-as-I-can’ bloke,” he explained, his fingers lifting to play in my hair.  “Maybe we should have had this talk before we added sex to our…friendship, partnership, relationship, whatever we are calling what we have.”

I tried not to do it; I truly did, but I could not stop myself. I giggled.  He looked mortified.  “Tom, I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at what YOU said. I am just laughing at the thought of someone thinking I am a ‘do-as-many-as-I-can’ woman. I can count the relationships I have had on one hand…and I don’t mean for a year; I mean since I had my FIRST relationship.”

Tom scooted closer and kissed the tip of my nose.  “You’re lovely, Annah,” he smiled and kissed my lips as well.  “And I enjoy spending time with you.”

I was over the moon.

The next morning, we went on a long bike ride through Tom’s neighborhood and then through the park. It was a beautiful day, and spending that time with Tom made it even more wonderful. I ended up spending that night, too, and when I returned home Sunday evening to work on my chapter, I just stared at my laptop, remembering every single moment of the weekend, every vivid detail.

And that is how things continued for the next two months.  I worked like mad; he worked as well. Every couple of nights, he would stay at my flat, or I would stay with him.  And then, when Thursday, or what I called “Academic Friday,” rolled around, I would eat lunch at work and then watch the seconds, the minutes, the hours tick away until I could leave the history department and jet over there to him.

And then it happened…he had to go away for a few weeks. And after five days without him, I thought my world was ending.  I wept. I couldn’t sleep. I was a total hot mess. I was, no doubt at all, in love.

I’d had a couple of “serious” relationships in my dating life, but not for years.  When I was a junior in high school, I dated an older guy for three years and KNEW I would marry him.  He had been a football hero; graduating the year I was a freshman, he went to work for his dad who owned his own construction company.  Unfortunately for him, he got drunk one time too many and, angry that I had stayed after a school play to help clean up instead of meeting him at a local hangout, he grabbed my arm and yanked me out onto the front porch…right in front of my Marine father.  He nearly killed the kid.  And then when I was an undergraduate at Duke, I dated a guy for a couple of years, but that was all for naught.  He dropped out, decided to join the Peace Corps, and fell in love with a Tanzanian doctor. On Facebook, I found pictures of their four children. I got over both guys, eventually. I had deeply cared for them. And I had cared for the few other guys I had dated in America and here in London. But nothing had floored me like this madness. And that truly scared me.

I worked out. I went to the movies with Mary. I studied at the libraries for hours on end.  Nothing helped.  I could not get him out of my head.

The thing that frightened me the most was I had no idea if he felt the same.  There is always that emotional tightrope that people walk, unsure if they should cross it, make the leap from into the petrifying love-zone. And I was there, teetering on the line between two skyscrapers on a windy day, my only salvation in the form of a tiny parasol.

One night, I had just forced myself out of a steaming hot bath, slipped into my old, comfy bathrobe, and collapsed onto the sofa when my cell rang in the kitchen. Hearing Tom’s special ringtone, I nearly killed myself tripping over my backpack as I ran in there.

Before I could even say hello, I heard his voice on the line: “Damn, I have missed you, woman. I am walking through Heathrow, and I can’t get to my luggage fast enough.”  

I could picture him, his long legs carrying him through throngs of people rushing this way and that.

“Most of all, I can’t get to you fast enough…” he said, his cell connection breaking in and out.

My heart was beating so hard that I had to flop down on the floor.  “Tom… I…can’t…Tom?” I called to him.

His “Susannah? Are you there? Did you hear me?” mixed with my “Tom…no…hello? What did you say?”

“I said that I LOVE you,” he practically shouted.

Hearing those words, I shot up from the floor and hopped all over the room.  “OH. MY. GOD!  I love you, too, Tom!” I squealed.

“Annah? Hello? HELLO?” he yelled through the static.

And then...the line went silent, and I just stared at my phone, waiting for him to call back.  He didn’t.  When I called, I got his voicemail. Too excited to leave a message, I called Mary, waking her up to share the news. When I called him back and again got his voicemail, I threw my phone across the room, turned on my favorite band and danced all over my flat.

An hour later, there was a knock.  I ran to the door so quickly that I slid right into its frame before I could turn the knob.  Standing there, luggage all around him, he didn’t say a word.  He just stared at me. “Did…did you hear me?” he asked, scratching his cheek.

I nodded, my eyes brimming with tears. “You didn’t hear me?” I squeaked.

“NO! I didn’t know if you had heard …”

I hopped up into his arms; surprised, he toppled into one and the other side of the door as we stumbled into my flat.  All the while, I kissed every inch of his smiling face.  “I LOVE you, TOO!” I giggled.  “I DO.  I love you, Tom Hiddleston.”

Helping me slide down his long body, he held my face between his hands and kissed me properly.  “Hi,” he whispered when he stood straight again. His fingers tickling down my jawline and chin

“Hiiiiii,” I gushed, my knees so weak I could hardly stand.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered as his eyes scanned me carefully.

It wasn’t until that moment that I realized I had on NO makeup, and my messy, damp hair was twisted up, strands falling onto my shoulders.  And the robe…I was HORRIFIED.

“TOM! Let me…let me get dressed…I…l look a mess,” I gasped and headed into my room.

His response as he pulled one and then another of his bags from the hallway: “STOP!  Don’t you take ANOTHER step!”

Turning back to him, my eyes wide, I stared, not knowing what to do or say.

“You look amazing! Don’t mess that up with makeup.  Now, what… ehheheheh… do you have under there?” he laughed, closing and locking the door behind him.

I untied my robe and let it fall to the floor.  Tom walked over, swept up my naked body into his arms, and carried me the rest of the way to my bed.

When he lowered me to the bed, standing there,  I was not much taller than he was.  Looping my arms around his neck, I kissed him.  As he leaned in to kiss me back, I gasped.

“Oh! Guesssssssss what I did while you were gone,” I smiled and bit my bottom lip.

He lifted his eyebrows, waiting for my answer.

“I went to the doctor, and…” hopping off the bed, I rummaged through my purse and climbed up on the bed again.  “I…got an…IUD.”  I handed over the paper to him.  “And…I thought that I would show you those results.”

His eyes widened as he laughed; he walked to his suitcases and back. “I had a physical for a new movie, and I got mine back, too. Negative. One of the few times it’s good to be negative, right?”

I nodded.

He gasped.  “So, the IUD…the results…does that mean I don’t…have to wear…”

I shook my head. “Nope.”

With that, he began to strip down as quickly as he could.  And, reaching out, I helped with the unbuttoning and unzipping.  In no time, he was completely nude and jumped right into bed with me.

Kissing me softly, he shifted between my legs and smiled down at me.

“I…I really meant what I said,” he whispered as he kissed my throat, licking its hollow.   “I love you, Susannah.”

My heart skipped a beat. “I love you, too, Tom,” I whispered back.  My head was spinning from his words, from my excitement, from feeling how excited he was as he pressed against my leg.

His mouth lowered between my breasts, kissing them both, his lips closing around one nipple and then the next. He also kissed down my stomach, over my thighs, between them.  Biting them lightly, he separated them more with his huge hands. “I woke up at times, craving you,” he whispered as he looked up at me and lowered his tongue to slip between my lips.  “I needed to taste you.”

My hands behind my head, I clawed at my bed, gripping there and then his shoulders as he went down on me. Slowly, faster, deeper, his tongue and fingers slipped in and out of me; his lips closed around my clit, and as he tugged there, my chest lifted and fell, my hips bucked.  Minutes later, my hands held the back of his head as I shook against him.

Licking back up my body, he paused to smile down at me.  “I love making you cum,” he mumbled while positioning his body between my legs.  Pausing again, he fluttered his eyes before pressing farther inside me. “Awww…fucking hell. You feel so amazing.  I don’t think I can…oh, Annah…” His body collapsed over mine, and I wrapped my arms around his back, my fingers tickling over his still taught muscles.

When he pressed up on his elbows, he covered his face with his long fingers; even then, I could see the his blushing through them.  “I am horribly embarrassed,” he groaned.  “I just…I couldn’t…”

“TOM! Don’t be SILLY,” I giggled. “What you did…with your mouth…”  I rubbed the tip of my finger over his lips, and he kissed my hand, my wrist.  “We can always do it again…”

“Oh, HELL, yes we will,” he added, rolling to his back and positioning me on his chest.  “Just a…a nap. So tired from traveling all the way from…” His voice faded, and seconds later, his snoring made me smile.  Smiling widely, I closed my eyes, and sleep quickly overtook me.

[hiddlestonfanficinthebooks]

Finished chapter four.  :-) 

[hiddlestonfanficinthebooks]

Started Chapter Four.  :-)

[hiddlestonfanficinthebooks]

Chapter Four

Finally, he pulled himself together.  When I walked back out with our glasses of wine, though, Tom was lacing up his shoes.

 “Are you going?” I asked, my spirit collapsing.

 He nodded and stood, his hands gripping my arms.  “Yeh, I think so, dear.  But I’ll call you soon?”

 I nodded and kissed him when he leaned down to me.  “Tom, I am so sorry.  SO very sorry.”

 “It’s ok, Annah, really. You had no idea a priest was going to show up knocking at your door in the middle of all that,” he laughed, rubbing his finger down my cheek. “Good Night, beautiful.”

 When he closed the door behind him, I collapsed on the sofa and called Mary.  As soon as she answered, I wept.  For minutes, I could not say a word.  When I finally could, I told her everything.

 And she laughed.

 “MARY!” I screamed in frustration.  

 She couldn’t stop.  “A PRIEST?  He was JUST about to go down on you, and a PRIEST knocked on your door?”

 That did it. I was in tears again.  “He is NEVER going to call me again. NEVER.  The man is gorgeous and can date anyone he wants, and for some reason, he picked ME to have sex with, and we get interrupted by a priest. Never. NEVER going to call again.”

 But he did, ten days later. He was back and wanted me to come over for supper. But I couldn’t.  As much as I wanted to be there with him, I had a guest lecture I had to attend so I could talk with the presenter about my research. It all had been planned for over a year.

 “How about on Wednesday?” he asked after my explanation.

 “Wednesday, I can do,” I smiled.  “Are you going to cook pasta?”

 Laughing, he said he would.

 I was over the moon. And I was bound and determined to make sure everything that evening would be absolutely perfect: I bought a new outfit; I made a fantastic salad to take; I bought the perfect wine again. And I was there in plenty of time.  Parking a street over as he asked, I walked through the yard beside him and knocked on the side door.  

 “Hi,” he smiled, a kitchen towel again over his shoulder.  I have no idea why, but that look always got me.  Leaning down to kiss me, he smiled again and took the salad and wine.  “Wow. You look amazing, Susannah.”

 “Hi and thank you so much,” I answered, walking in behind him.  

 Everything was going perfectly.  PERFECTLY. But that did not continue for much longer.

I was bent over, digging through Tom’s mostly empty fridge when there was a knock on the door.  I stood up sharply, my eyes wide.  “Were you expecting company?” I teased as he walked by me to open the door.

There stood a very tall, very leggy woman, a cardboard box in her hands.  “I am bringing this stuff back…”  Her eyes widened.  “Oh, hello, there” she finished as she set the box on his table.

 I stood there like a deer in headlights.

She reached out her hand to me.  “I’m Erika.”

 “Annah,” I answered, really wanting to hurl all over her amazing high heels which probably cost more than the rent for my flat.

Tom wasn’t breathing; finally, he said, “Ohhh, why, thank you for bringing everything…uh…Erika.”

 She looked at him and then looked at me. No one said anything.

 “I just got back from a month in France and have not had a chance to collect everything for you. How are...things?”

Tom nodded, using that towel to wipe his hands.  “Going well…I just got back as well. From the States. You? Things ok?”

She shrugged her shoulders and flipped back her perfectly long, perfectly straight, perfectly styled hair. “Fine. Working too much, not resting enough. Same old story. Well, it looks like you have a busy evening planned, so…I’ll be heading on my way. Oh, your watch is in there, the one you asked about. I found it under the bed. I should have looked there first, I guess. Good night then to you both…take care, Thomas,” she said as she wrapped her arms around Tom in a hug.

When she kissed him, I walked out of the room.  

For some time after Erika had shut the door behind her and left, Tom stayed in the kitchen, stirring food and clanking around pots and pans.  Looking around the corner, he found me on the sofa and plopped down beside me.

“I…” he began, his huge hand flat on his chest.  “I stopped seeing her about a month before we…”

I lifted my hand to stop him. “Tom, you don’t owe me any explanation of what went on in your life before we met.  And honestly, you don’t owe me an explanation of what goes on in your life NOW. We have not announced any formal relationship here. We’re just friends as far as I know, so…”

That time, he stopped me... with a kiss. Holding my face in his hands, he kissed me again…and again.  At that point, I probably was not coherent enough to know what year it was. His kisses were soft and then more passionate as he lifted his fingers into my hair.  When his hands lowered to my hips, he guided me onto his lap and began grinding against me. as he unbuttoned my shirt and began kissing across my cleavage. I honestly thought I was going to pass out, but somehow, I managed not to lose it.  

And then…his fire alarm blasted.  He had come into the room to tell me that our meal was ready, but we had started talking and…playing around.  Of course, we lost all sense of time, and when I looked up, startled by the sound, his entire kitchen was full of smoke.

“Fuck,” he mumbled as he shot from under me, nearly tripping over his own long legs as he rushed in there.  “Shit… shit… shit!”   I could hear him fanning and lifting windows.  

 When he walked back into the living room, he was in the middle of saying, “Well, I hope you were not too hungry. Ummm...Annah?”

 “Up here,” I answered, smiling over the railing of his loft bedroom.  I was standing there, completely naked.

 He flew up the stairs in two steps, and even faster, he tore off his clothing and hopped into bed where I awaited him.

On his knees between my legs, he kissed me repeatedly as his fingers expertly fumbled with a condom package.  

 When he paused to glance down for the application, I giggled, “THAT was some impressive multi-tasking, Tom.”

 Ehhehehehing, he grinned naughtily.  “Oh, you haven’t seen ANYTHING yet, darling,” he teased.

 And then the smile left his face.  Crawling up me, his arms bracing him above my torso, he paused to allow his eyes to trail over my body; his mouth lowered to my neck and then skimmed lightly over to my mouth.

 “Oh, Annah…I do want you…so very much,” he whispered as he extended his tongue which teased the tip of mine.“Tell me…do you want me inside you?”

 My hands rubbed up and down his muscular back down to his ass.  “Oh, I do, Tom.  Please…yes…”

 And with that affirmation, he pushed inside me, his eyes fluttering in pleasure before again focusing on my face, studying it to direct each of his focused moves.  

 My heavy breathing echoed his, and as he began to move more freely, explore me more deeply, he became more vocal, his grunts growing louder and louder…until he paused suddenly, his mouth resting over mine. He began then kissing down my chin, my neck, my chest, my stomach…not stopping until his face was between my legs and he was licking my thighs, his long fingers easily wrapping around them.  

Watching my face again, a grin on his face, he lowered his open mouth to my aching clit. Immediately, he sucked there, his tongue slipping all around it as he did so. Soon, he was just as loud as before, his fingers slipping in out of both me and his mouth. My nails clawed at his shoulders; my back arched. In no time, my hips flew up and down wildly as I pressed up on my elbows and came.

Sweaty and wiping his face along my thigh, my stomach, and up my side, he rose, pushing inside me again.  

 “OhGODyoufeel…sofuckinggood,” he mumbled beside my ear, breathing even heavier.

 My knees resting apart, I gripped his ass and met each of his moves until he shook through his release.

[hiddlestonfanficinthebooks]

I added some more to Chapter Three. :-) 

[hiddlestonfanficinthebooks]

Chapter Three

While Tom opened a bottle of wine in my kitchen, I did a quick cleanup in the bathroom, lit jar candles all around it, and threw any junk sitting around in my bedroom into my close before shutting that door.  Thank god I had just washed the sheets the day before.  Taking down my hair, I fluffed it out before Tom walked back there, two glasses in his hands.

 Leaning against the wall, he smiled down at me. “You first,” he nodded at the shower.  

 “Quid pro quo?  I take off my shirt, and you take off yours?” I asked, trying to ease my shaken nerves.

 He liked that idea. We started with our shoes and socks. When I then removed my shirt, he did the same. One after another, we both put them on top of my hamper.

 “Hmmmm...I don’t have a bra,” he laughed, looking at his chest.

 “You will have to lose your shorts, then. Only fair. You might end up naked before me, but that’s the way it goes, I suppose,” I grinned slyly.

Tom stepped out of his shorts, added them to the pile, and then leaned against the wall again.  He stood there, just in his boxers, his lean, perfect body was beautiful under the bright lights of my bathroom.

He was waiting for me to remove my next piece of clothing, so I chose my shorts, too.

 “Wait!” he groaned. “I thought you said…”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Well, I don’t think there was an exact contractual order for removal, was there?”

He narrowed his eyes.  “So, let me get this straight: you will be fully covered, and I will be standing here stark naked. You are a sneaky, cheeky woman. And I love it.”

Stepping out of his boxers, he added them as well before leaning again, his arms crossing over his chest.  “Now, sassy Susannah, which piece will you lose next? Your bra…or those white cotton knickers?”

Biting my bottom lip, I reached around my back and unfastened my bra, allowing the straps to slowly fall down my arms and then to the floor. As I stood there, I rolled back my shoulders. My nipples ached from a mixture of excitement and the cool circulating air of the air conditioning.

 Walking over, he kissed down my neck and over my chest. “Your breasts are phenomenal,” he whispered against my collarbone. “Pale pink, sharp nipples. I remember someone once commenting how sublime it is when reality outshines fantasy. I am feeling that right now, Annah. Your body is even more beautiful than I ever imagined.” His hands lowered to my hips, and slowly, he lowered my panties down my thighs to the floor below me.

I honestly thought I was going to pass out, right then and there. When his hands lifted back up my thighs, up my hips to my waist, he pulled me toward and into the shower with him.  Standing in the water’s spray, he lifted his hands into his hair and tilted his head back so the water flowed over his face.  

 My hands covered with soap, I reached to rub them along his body, touching him nearly everywhere, watching the lather dribble down the rest. When Tom closed his eyes, I took that second to look at his entire body, and instantly, I felt faint again. He was perfection; from his muscular calves and thighs, what was between those legs, his tightening abs, his bent biceps, his sharp jaw and cheekbones…nothing could be better. Not one thing. When he looked down at me again, he lowered his lips to mine.

 “I can hardly look at you,” I whispered between kisses. “Your body…simply everything…”

Tom lifted my thigh to his waist and then pressed me up against the wall of the shower. Pausing, he smiled before closing his mouth around my nipple.  He did the same to my other breast before kissing up my chest and neck. His hand lowered then between my legs, and as he watched my face’s changing expressions, he slipped a finger inside me. “Susannah, you feel like a dream,” he whispered softly.

 Lowering my body slightly, he knelt in front of me, resting my leg then on his shoulder as he kissed my thigh down to my knee, over the bottom of my stomach, and then down my other thigh. His tongue trailed there, teasing sharp, warm lines along my skin.

 “Annah, I…I want…”

Gasping, I nodded. “Yes, I want you…please…let’s…my bed,” I stammered as he lifted and carried me there.

Placing my body along the bed, he rested on his side next to me.  “I want…to look at all of you,” he whispered as he kissed me.

 Nodding, I smiled as I rolled to my back. Tom knelt there between my thighs, his eyes scanning my body.  And then his fingers explored over it while he watched and kissed all along the way.  “You are simply stunning,” he whispered as he licked up my side to my breast and circled my nipple.  And then he paused and added, “Annah…I want to taste you.”

 The entire room began to spin around me; I couldn’t breathe.  But somehow, I nodded my consent.

 And then, just as he was kissing over my stomach, there was a knock on my door.

Tom looked up at me, licking the corner of his mouth as he listened.  “Were…you expecting company?”

 I shook my head, my eyes wide as I listened, wondering if someone had simply knocked on my neighbor’s door. With the next knock, I was certain it was on mine.

 My eyes met Tom’s, and he lifted his eyebrows in concern.  “Should you... check on that?”

 Biting my bottom lip, I sighed deeply.  “I really don’t want to, but…”

 Tom rolled over so I could scoot off the bed, walk into the bathroom, and throw on my clothes.  When I walked to the door and looked through the peephole, I gasped, cleared my throat, and opened it.

 “Father Cregan,” I smiled nervously.  “I, um, I...I am so sorry I totally forgot that we were going to meet today.”

 He lifted his hands in concern.  “I am so glad you are alright,” he blurted out. “I remember we were talking about your living here in the same building as my sister, so I thought I would drop by to check on you.”

 “I am FINE, yes, thank you. I, um…today has been a bit a crazy, so I apologize again…”

 He reached over and touched my arm. “Do not concern yourself with that. Really. We all have times when we forget appointments.  But you, alone, in this big city, well, my concern was that something had…”

About that time, I heard Tom behind me, sitting down on the sofa.  Glancing back, I smiled at him nervously as well.

 “Would…would you like to come in?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest so my lack of bra would not be so obvious.

 “Well, I brought those documents you requested,” he explained as he walked  through my doorway.

I looked at Tom; he looked at me; we looked at the priest standing there in his vestments, shuffling through a file folder.

 “I found three of those…” he began to tell me and then paused suddenly, catching sight of Tom, his hair still wet. He looked at me, looked at Tom, and then looked at me again; instantly, I knew he knew.  He cleared this throat.  “Why, hello there,” he smiled. “I did not realize you had company.”

(Company. I thought I was going to die on the spot.)

 “Father,” Tom responded, nodding in respect and rubbing his hands together nervously.

Father Cregan looked back at me. “Susannah, I found three of those notations you mentioned in your email. So I copied all of them and also found a similar mention in three other religious texts. Do you  think this will help your research?”

 It certainly would. I was thrilled and mortified at the same time. “Yes! Thank you so very much. I appreciate your help.  May I  reschedule our meeting? I do have a few questions I’d love you to answer for me.”

He nodded, pulling out his phone from his pocket.  “Does, uh, Thursday of this week work for you?”

 I flipped through my calendar.  “Thursday is fine, yes.  Same time?”

 He nodded.  

 “Perfect. Thank you, Father.”

 He looked over at Tom again and extended his hand.  “Father Cregan,” he introduced himself with a smile.

 “Tom,” he stood and shook his hand.  “Nice to meet you, sir.”

 “I’m going to excuse myself and go to the next floor to visit my sister. You two have a nice evening,” he smiled, looking back and forth between us.

 “Thank you again,” I said as I closed the door behind him; pressing against it, I slid right down to the floor, my hands over my face in utter humiliation.

 Silence filled the room until Tom started laughing. “I…I am sorry, Annah, but…I was caught by parents when I was young, but…uh…I have never been caught in the act by a Catholic priest.”

 When I peeked around my hands at him, Tom howled, nearly falling off the sofa as he giggled.

[hiddlestonfanficinthebooks]

Chapter Two

Days passed, and I honestly feared he was not going to call again. I felt so horrible about my accusation that I honestly would not blame him. I just prayed he was not as sensitive about the whole thing as I was.

 On a Saturday after the ordeal, I was actually able to sleep late. When my phone rang at 10:00 AM, I sat straight up and answered it, not even awake yet.

 “YES?!!” I gasped, waking suddenly from a dream that I was late for work.

 I was greeted by a laugh.  “Susannah? Hi. It’s Tom. Is this…a bad time?”

 “Nonononononono…no…really…” I yelped. “Hi. Hi, Tom. Hi.”

 He laughed again.  “I will happily call you back…”

“I’m fine. Sorry, I was asleep still.  How…how are you?”

 AGAIN, he laughed.  “I am well, thank you.  I…I happened to get my hands on a pair of tickets to see Hamlet.  I hear Andrew Scott is brilliant in it.  Want to come with me?”

 My eyes widened; I was suddenly wide awake when I answered, “Yes, certainly. That sounds amazing. Ummm…what time should I be ready?”

 “Play is at 7:00 and is nearly 4 hours long. Want to eat beforehand? Or after?”

I fell back to the bed and kicked my legs in excitement.  “After?”

 “Sure; I’ll cook,” was his answer.

 I was so stunned I could not speak. “Uhhh…I….ummmm…ok,” I finally squeaked.  “May I bring some wine?”

 “Certainly,” he laughed. “I’ll never say no to wine. 6:15? Does that work?”

 It worked perfectly, giving me time to shop, shower, and dress.  

 He was early again.  When I opened the door, he stepped right into my flat.  “Hi, look at you,” he gushed, kissing my cheek. “Wow. GREAT wine. Thank you.  Are you…ummm…you’re not expecting me to sleep with you since you paid so much for this wine, are you?”

 I nearly passed out right there. I was mortified.

Tom wrapped his forearm around my waist and pulled me to him.  With his other hand on my face, he rubbed his thumb under my bottom lip.  “Teasing…I am TEASING. I’m so happy to see you again, Annah,” he smiled and then leaned down to kiss me properly.  I could have stood there all night and would have been perfectly content.

 But he had tickets to one of the most popular plays on the circuit.  After Tom made a few calls, we were off to the back of the theatre and were allowed right in so we did not have to wait.  The four hours of the play flew by, and in no time, we were backstage shaking hands with Andrew and other cast members before we were again in Tom’s car.

 “Do you like pasta?” Tom asked as we waited in traffic. “I know some people don’t eat carbs…”

I had to laugh at that.  “Well, I shouldn’t eat carbs, but I LOVE pasta.”

Tom smiled over at me in the darkness, “I am happy to hear that because that’s what I am cooking. I make amazing pasta, if I do say so myself.”

 “Well, I can’t wait to try it,” I smiled back. “All that, and you cook, too.” Somehow, that slipped right out of my mouth.

 He thought it hilarious, and I just sat there, blushing like crazy.

 His house looked very close to what I had imagined. As he changed into jeans and a t-shirt, I walked along his bookshelves, reading from title to title. Unexpectedly, he popped out from around the corner with a pile of clothes in his arms.  “My sister left these clothes; want to change into them so you can be more comfortable?”

 I happily took them. as I loved the idea of getting out of my heels and dress. “She won’t mind, will she?”

He shook his head and shrugged. “I’ll wash them before she comes back, so she’ll never know.”  His laugh echoed through the room as he walked into the kitchen and opened the wine I brought.

 Setting it on the counter, he began gathering ingredients and cookware.  I stepped into the bathroom to change into her shorts and Clash t-shirt. There I also found a pony tail holder and happily pulled up my hair into a messy bun. I stepped out of the bathroom just as Tom walked up to it, two glasses of wine in his hands.

 “This wine is gorgeous,” he said as he sipped. “Everything is on, so if you want, we can sit for a few minutes.”  He pointed to his sofa, and as I sat, he did as well and then scooted even closer.

 When I emptied my glass, he filled it again as he walked back and forth to cook and then serve the food he prepared.  Every single bite of it was delicious, and I ate way too much. As we finished the food, we finished the wine.  And then he opened another bottle which we finished, too.

Leaning over, he kissed me, his hand clutching my arm. “Susannah, would…you like to stay the night?”

 I swallowed hard.  “Ummm…”

 He brushed back my hair and kissed me again. “ No pressure, whatsoever. We can do as little or as much as you…”

 “Ummmm,” I repeated, biting my bottom lip.  “It’s just that…”

 “Wait. You…you aren’t attracted to me like that?” he asked, frowning and leaning away from me.

 My eyes widened, and I covered my mouth before bursting into laughter.  “Oh, my GOD, Tom.  I am SO very attracted to you. Very. Really. Believe me. SO, soooooooo very.”

 He shrugged his shoulders. “Go to bed with me, then?”

 “I…I can’t,” I sighed, biting my lip again, thinking of a delicate way to put it. “I mean, I can’t this week. I…it’s…”

 And then the understanding crossed his face. “Oooooooooooooh, this WEEK you can’t…” Tom’s face turned bright red.  “I…I just…ehhehehehehe…I’m sorry if I have embarrassed you…”

 I waved off his concern and said, “You have two sisters and a mum. I am sure you grew up knowing all about that stuff.”

 He nodded.  “I knew more than I wanted at a young age, yes.  You are…interested in one day, NOT this week, of course, but one day…possibly…”

I nodded and smiled.

 “But you could spend the night, though.  Sleep with me? Stay here?” he asked, lifting his eyebrows.

I did just that, cuddled up against his perfect body.  It took me hours to fall asleep because all I could think about was him under that thin shirt and his boxers. My heart beat nearly out of my chest.

 The next morning, we went out for breakfast, and at the door of my flat, we said goodbye...reluctantly, slowly, we kissed over and over before he left.

 Four days later, right after I walked in from work, there was a knock on my door. When I opened it, Tom was standing there, wearing shorts and a t-shirt and with a huge smile on his face.

 “What…HI…What in the world?” I asked, looking up and down him.

 “Close your eyes,” he answered, leaning forward and pressing his long fingers over them. “I have a surprise for you.”

 Biting my bottom lip, I waited as patiently as I could.

 “Taaaa-dah!” he exclaimed, his hands holding a bike and helmet on either side of him.  

 I gasped and jumped up and down.  “One’s for me?”

 He nodded and smiled wider.  “Want to ride me?” His smile vanished, and he turned bright red.  “RIDE WITH ME!?!” he laughed and covered his own face in embarrassment.

 “Why, yes, I would,” I smiled, knowing I actually meant both ways.

 Changing into shorts, too, I joined him; we toted the bikes outside, hopped on, and rode all over Regent’s Park which was not that far from my flat. The day was perfect, and the ride was even more so.  

 Back at my place, a couple of hours later, we collapsed on the sofa, water bottles in our hands as we both rested and re-hydrated. “Tom, thank you SO much for the bike,” I smiled, drinking more.  “What a great gift.”

 “NOW,” he smiled, moving closer to me, “you will have to go with me regularly.”  Rubbing his hand behind my neck, he kissed me softly, his fingers playing in the strands of my hair which had fallen loose during our ride.

 When I reached out, my fingers tickled along his cheek, and I kissed him back.  “I love that idea, sir,” I answered and grinned.

 Pressing his face against his arm, he groaned.  “Sorry, I need a shower…REALLY need a shower.”

 “Oh, I do, too,” I groaned.  

 He stood to leave, but I reached up and took his hand. “You could shower here…”

 He paused to think.  “I would, but I don’t have any clean clothes or anything to…”

 I cleared my throat before adding, “…with me…if…you want…”

 His eyes widened.  “Now, Annah, THAT is a LOVELY idea,” he grinned, helping me stand.

[hiddlestonfanficinthebooks]

first date dress