Chapter Text
“Bike’s warm. Gotta go.”
Connie growled in the back of her throat, fingers unlocked from Daryl's vest long enough to plead. “One more.”
He obliged, sucking her lower lip between his own. She snugged her body against his, small and perfect. When he tasted her tongue, worries about the bike and the waste of gas fled.
He crowded her against the wall of the barn loft where they’d spent the night. They’d been up half of it, in the bedding he’d stashed for nights he couldn’t sleep outside the walls. It was cold up here, and he wished he hadn’t given up his room in the house to Lydia. Clothes had stayed on, hands on top. It hadn’t been a decision either had made consciously, it just felt right. Plus there was so much to say to one another. Half of the night had been talk— This changed everything.
No rush, she’d signed patiently. This is nice.
Nice wasn’t the half of it. Whatever was between them was electric, painful after so long being held in check, denied. He couldn’t keep his hands off her. The frustration of having to let him go to talk burrowed in the little line between her brows.
But he had no complaints about time making out like teenagers between rounds of talking about nothing and everything and not enough sleep.
Except dawn had come to fast and with a storm coming in he needed to get folks back to Alexandria or risk getting caught out in it. All of a sudden he wished they’d done more, gone farther. But neither one had protection. And he couldn’t shake the last of his doubts that this wasn’t really his to want. To have.
Her spine arched, the hem of her shirt slipping away from her jeans and he did the thing he’d been wanting to do after every overnight watch since they’d started—he slipped his fingertips against the skin revealed in that gap.
Her belly hollowed out against his fingers and he withdrew mistaking it for displeasure.
Connie slapped a hand over his without breaking the kiss, pressing his fingertips back. He could feel her smile on his mouth. Her palm over his urged him on.
The skin at that gap was even softer than he imagined—cool silk, pebbling under the cold air and his touch. Higher up over her the skin was warmer, tight over her ribs. When the tips of his fingers brushed the underside of her breast they both shivered.
If he kept going he wasn’t going to be able to stop. Her heart beat like a hummingbird’s wings against his fingertips. He wrapped his palm around her ribcage, fingers flexing on the muscles beneath her shoulder blades and bent down. She liked having her back stroked, and he ran his fingertips up and down in long, slow passes until she made soft little whimpering noises of pleasure.
He pressed his ear to the thunder of her hummingbird heart, watching the way her t-shirt beneath the blanket he’d wrapped around her shoulders trembled with her hitching breath. His nose brushed the shadowed outline of her nipple beneath the cloth.
Fingers parted his hair, each strong, slim length sending prickles of heat along his scalp as she curled around him. He pressed a kiss to her heartbeat through skin.
“Daryl, you ready to head out?” Aaron called from below.
He dragged himself away from her to call down. “Just a minute.”
He pressed his ear to her chest one more time. She looked down at him, eyes full of words she wasn’t willing give up touching him to make. He knew the feeling.
“Daryl. Storm!”
“Hold your goddamn horses, coming down!” He shouted, sighing. He whispered the rest of his words, his eyes on her, keeping up the slow sweeps of her shoulder blades to the small of her back. “I’ll be back, soon as I can.”
She nodded, kissing his cheek, his nose, his jaw, his lips. Arms flung around his neck he lifted her off her feet for a long breath. Then, reluctantly he let her go.
Connie waited in the loft for a few minutes, occupying herself with tidying the few signs that anyone used this space. The blanket smelled like him. Eventually her stomach squeezed sharply, demanding breakfast and she headed down the ladder to start her day.
Her family was circled at their usual table, everyone looking a little worse for the wear of the festivities the night before. For a second, she thought she might actually get a respite on the teasing she knew was coming.
Then Luke gave her a thumbs up with a grin. Connie felt the flush in her cheeks.
“You got some,” Kelly leaned in, fingers plucking at her hair and emerging with a piece of straw.
Magna’s shoulders shook, though she kept her attention her her breakfast. Yumiko nudged her, but the smile pressed at her lips.
“So you guys like, official?” Kelly asked, twirling the straw between her fingertips. “Boyfriend and girlfriend?”
Luke snickered.
Connie glared at them all, tapping the table to get everyone’s attention. “This isn’t junior high.”
Kelly and Luke tried to fake seriousness as they nodded, but failed miserably.
Magna looked up, jabbed her eggs with her fork. “He fucks with you, I am going to cut him.”
Yumiko glared at her. “We’re happy for you, Connie. He’s a good guy.”
“About time one of us got laid,” Kelly sighed, then corrected, pointing at Magna and Yumiko. “You two have been together the whole time and so, don’t count.”
“Thanks,” Connie sighed. “But it’s not that. We’re just…”
“Hanging out?” Kelly mocked. “So not junior high, it’s high school?”
Connie glared at her sister and stole a bit of her eggs. She was ravenous. “It’s none of your business.”