lay a whisper
Title: lay a whisper
Rating: PG-13
Words: 694
Summary: 5 times Kate says 'I love you' to Jack.
The words have always been there. Burning inside her heart for weeks - months - years. So when she finally has the chance to say them - to mean them - she never lets him forget.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
She whispers it late one night into his sweat soaked skin; legs entwined with his and fingers tracing undecipherable shapes and words across his chest.
“I love you.”
She feels his heart skip a beat against her cheek and his hand tightens around her hip as he kisses the top of her head.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Kate says his name like it's fragile. A whispered prayer that encompasses everything about him. Beautiful and simple and hers.
“Jack.”
She steps over the threshold and into the bathroom, closing the door behind her with a soft click. Pausing behind him, she slides her hands around his waist and clinches his shirt tightly between her fingers, presses a kiss into his back. The anguish of another life lost - of someone else he couldn't save rolls off him in waves. She tries to take the pain away as she rocks his body against hers.
“I love you.”
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Jack stumbles, curses. Kate laughs and laces her fingers through his, tugging gently as she leads him up the rest of the stairs - a sway in her hips and a teasing twinkle in her green eyes.
At the top, he brushes his lips just below the line of her jaw, she arches, and suddenly she's twirling in his arms and walking backwards until her back bumps against the closed door to her bedroom. She gasps and shivers race down her spine as Jack draws lazy circles against her thigh, kissing his way down her neck before sliding both hands underneath the dress shirt of his she's wearing.
Her pulse picks up speed, the familiar surge of want and need making her stomach tighten and tremble and her cheeks flush with the whisper of desire. He lifts her and her legs wrap around his waist, fingers playing with the strands of hair barely grazing his neck. Her eyes lock with his, identical looks of amazement and wonder found, their lips brushing with every heavy breathe.
“I love you.”
- - - - - - - - - - - -
She pours everything she's ever felt for him into that kiss. Every moment. Every touch. The lifetime she'll never get to have with him. Every word that will be left unspoken.
But not those three words. She wants those to be the last ones she ever says to him. For there to be no doubts. It will always be him.
“I love you.”
Forever.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Forever.
That's what they have now.
Daylight whispers to them - finding them in a sanctuary of naked skin and cool sheets. Its brilliant light streams through the open window, splashing their bodies in hues of golden colors while a cool summer wind draws goosebumps, making Kate pull the sheet closer to her skin while she melts into the warmth of Jack's body beside hers. His hand curves over her hip protectively and she nestles her head against his shoulder more securely, wild brown hair spilling across the white pillow cases.
It's not like heaven. It is heaven.
But then she can't help but move, the sheet falling into the curve of her waist with the suddenness, and she uses her arm to prop her head on top of his chest. She does this just to watch the way Jack's eyes flutter open slowly, hazel clouded with sleep but already lazy with desire. Kate watches the way his mouth parts slightly to taste the morning air, boyish and greedy as his fingers start rubbing circles across her bare back. She traces the plains of his face first with her eyes and then with her hand, running it smoothly along the light stubble covering his jaw before brushing her thumb against his bottom lip.
He smiles into her light touch and kisses her thumb.
She smiles back and leans up and over him, hair falling in a dark curtain around their faces, the shared intimacy of their smiles and desire concealed from the rest of the world.
“I love you.”