She kisses him again and moves with him until he’s on his back on the makeshift bed. There’s no need to rush, and she doesn’t; she savors him first, dropping kisses along his collarbone and over his chest, smoothing her hand over the warm plane of his belly before she undoes his belt and the button of his slacks.

“I like that,” she murmurs. “Darling.”

It’s sweetly old-fashioned, but in his lips, directed at her, it feels brand-new. She presses a kiss to his stomach and undoes the zip of his trousers, then slips them off over his hips, along with the shorts beneath, until he’s bare and beautiful, stretched out on the sheet.