When I woke up this morning, I saw that Chak was still asleep. I don't even remember when he covered us with the blanket. I let my fingers travel gently across his skin, tracing the line of his lips until he slowly parted them to kiss my fingertip. I knew then he was only pretending to be asleep.
Slowly, I drew lines and circles over his skin, leaning in until my forehead rested against his. I slipped my hand under his shirt, feeling the muscles that always drive me out of my mind.
"Mmm," Chak murmured, though his eyes remained shut.
I shifted slightly, leaning close to whisper into his ear, "If you want, we can take this even lower."
I reached down, pushing his waistband aside to touch what I had been longing for since yesterday. A low moan escaped him. "You're a bit dangerous this morning, Artist," he whispered back. I felt a faint blush creep into my cheeks.
His hands, which had been resting on my hips, began to roam—wandering higher, then dipping lower, teasing the spots he knows make me lose all control.
"Chaky..." I gasped, my resolve crumbling under his touch. His fingers slowly found their way to the place where I would soon feel the rest of him.
Finally, he opened his eyes. I saw that fire in them—the one he saves only for me. Our breathing quickened, and I could feel my heart hammering against my ribs. I leaned in to kiss him, but he pulled back just enough to speak.
"You started this," he said, and in one swift move, he had my clothes off. Under the safety of the blanket, we began to explore each other's bodies.
"We have to leave in thirty minutes," Chak noted. "And we still need coffee and breakfast."
"I'll have my breakfast now," I told him. Still hidden beneath the covers, I climbed onto his lap. "I need you, right here, right now. I want to make up for yesterday. Please, Chaky," I pleaded, moving slowly against him. I could feel how much he wanted me, too.
Chak let out a ragged groan as I took him in my hand and guided him to where his fingers had been just a moment before.
"Aaaah, Chaky..." I breathed, slowly lowering myself down. A few tears escaped, blurring my vision, but Chak's hand was there immediately, tenderly brushing every sing
le one away.
"You don't have to rush for me," Chak whispered, his voice still rough with sleep and desire as his thumb lingered against my cheek. "Breathe first."
I nodded weakly, though the moment I felt him fully, every thought inside my head scattered completely. My fingers tightened against his shoulders while I stayed there for a second, trying to adjust, trying to steady the trembling running through my body.
Chak watched me carefully, his dark eyes softer than they had any right to be in a moment like this.
"Look at me, Artist."
I did.
The second our eyes met, something inside my chest tightened painfully.
Not because of discomfort.
Because of him.
Because even now, with his hair messy from sleep and the blanket half slipping down his waist, he still looked at me like I was something precious.
His hands slid slowly along my thighs, calming me without words. "Better?"
"Mhm," I whispered.
"Good."
I moved again, slowly this time, earning another low sound from him that sent heat rushing through my entire body. My forehead dropped onto his shoulder as I started finding a rhythm, small movements at first, almost careful, while Chak's grip on my waist gradually tightened.
"Fuck…" he breathed against my hair. "You really woke up and decided to destroy me before breakfast."
A laugh escaped me between shaky breaths.
"You said I started this."
"You absolutely did."
His lips brushed my temple before he kissed lower, against my jaw, my neck, every touch making it harder to keep moving steadily. The blanket tangled around us while morning light slipped through the curtains, painting soft gold across his skin.
Everything felt warm.
Slow.
Dangerously intimate.
Chak leaned back slightly just to watch me, and the expression on his face nearly ruined me completely. Hunger was there, obviously, but beneath it was something deeper, something so openly affectionate that it made my chest ache.
"You're beautiful," he said quietly.
I immediately hid my face against his neck. "Don't say things like that while I'm trying to survive."
His laugh vibrated against my skin.
Then his hand moved between us again, fingers teasing exactly where I needed him most, and suddenly surviving became impossible.
"Chak—"
"That's it," he murmured. "Just like that."
The pace between us slowly picked up, the soft sounds filling the room along with uneven breathing and quiet gasps that neither of us bothered hiding anymore. Every movement pulled another moan from my lips, and every sound seemed to push Chak closer to losing control too.
I felt him press a kiss against my shoulder before he whispered, almost teasingly, "Thirty minutes, hm?"
"We still have twenty-nine," I answered breathlessly.
He actually laughed at that.
"Terrible influence."
"You love me anyway."
His eyes lifted to mine again, intense enough to steal the air from my lungs.
"Yeah," he said softly. "I really do."
For a second, everything slowed again.
Not the movement.
Not the heat between us.
Just that feeling inside my chest, expanding so suddenly it almost hurt.
I kissed him before he could say anything else, messy and desperate and full of all the things I still didn't know how to explain properly. Chak kissed me back immediately, one hand sliding into my hair while the other kept guiding my hips, helping me move faster now.
The sounds escaping both of us became harder to hold back.
My entire body felt sensitive, overwhelmed by him, by the warmth of his skin beneath my hands, by the way he kept whispering my name like it meant something dangerous.
"Niran…"
I shivered.
"Again," I whispered against his lips. "Say it again."
His forehead pressed against mine as he obeyed, voice low and wrecked. "Niran."
That alone nearly pushed me over the edge.
I buried my face against his shoulder again, moving faster now, unable to stop the broken moans falling from my lips while Chak's breathing turned uneven beneath me.
"That's it, baby," he groaned softly. "God, look at you…"
The praise made everything worse in the best possible way.
Outside the room, the world probably kept moving normally.
People were probably already driving to work.
Meetings were probably starting.
Coffee machines were probably humming somewhere downstairs.
But under those blankets, wrapped up in warmth and tangled limbs and quiet morning light, it felt like the rest of the world had disappeared completely.
Chak's hands tightened around my waist as I buried my face against his neck, trying and failing to hold back the sounds slipping past my lips. Every breath between us felt warmer now, heavier, the quiet morning around us slowly disappearing beneath the rhythm we had created together.
"Careful," Chak murmured, though his voice sounded just as affected as I felt. "At this rate, neither of us is leaving this bed."
"You say that like it's a bad thing," I whispered back, lifting my head just enough to meet his eyes again.
There it was.
That look.
The one that always made my stomach twist.
Possessive.
Soft.
Completely ruined for me.
He brushed his thumb under my eye again, catching another tear that escaped without permission. "Still okay?"
I nodded immediately. "More than okay."
The corner of his mouth lifted slightly before he leaned forward and kissed me slowly this time, completely opposite from the desperate pace our bodies had fallen into. It was unfair how he could do that—how he could make everything feel intense and gentle at the same time.
My fingers slipped into his hair while the kiss deepened, warm and dizzying, until I finally pulled back just enough to breathe.
"You keep looking at me like that," I whispered shakily, "and I'm not going to survive this morning."
Chak smiled against my lips. "That's dramatic."
"You made me dramatic."
"That," he said calmly, "is probably true."
A laugh escaped me, though it dissolved quickly into another breathless sound when his hands slid up my back again. I rested my forehead against his shoulder, trying to steady myself while he kept grounding me with slow touches and quiet murmurs near my ear.
The room smelled faintly like coffee from somewhere far outside our door, mixed with the clean scent of the sheets and Chak himself, and somehow that made everything feel even more intimate.
Domestic.
Dangerously so.
I didn't realize I had gone still until Chak tilted my chin upward gently.
"What are you thinking about?"
"You," I admitted immediately.
His expression softened again.
"That can't be healthy."
"It's absolutely not healthy," I whispered, making him laugh quietly.
For a moment neither of us moved much, just staying close, breathing each other in while sunlight slowly crept higher across the bed. My fingers traced absent patterns against his chest underneath his half-open shirt, and Chak watched me with that same unbearable tenderness.
Then he glanced toward the clock.
"…Artist."
"No."
"We really do have work."
I groaned dramatically and dropped forward onto him, hiding my face against his chest. "Cancel the company."
"The entire company?"
"Mhm."
"That seems inconvenient."
I felt his chest shake with laughter beneath me.
After another moment, his hand slid gently through my hair. "Come on. Shower. Coffee. Then you can cling to me again later."
"I already cling to you now."
"You do," he agreed softly, sounding far too pleased about it.
I lifted my head enough to narrow my eyes at him. "You like it."
"Very much."
The honesty in his voice made heat rise straight back into my face.
Chak noticed immediately, of course.
"Cute."
"Stop calling me cute after completely ruining my ability to think."
"Impossible request."
I leaned down to kiss him one more time, slower now, softer, until he finally pressed one last kiss against my forehead and carefully helped me off his lap.
The second the cold morning air touched my skin outside the blanket, I regretted every life decision that led me there.
Chak smirked openly at my expression.
"Suddenly you want the blanket back?"
"I want central heating, five more hours of sleep, and you."
"You already have one of those."
I smiled helplessly at him.
And honestly?
That alone felt enough to make the entire morning perfect.