The journey back to London was long and tiresome. Ferries, trains, carrying heavy packs. He told her of his empty house, his parents away until Tuesday. Would she like to come and stay? By the time they had got in, put a wash on, eaten a takeaway and had a shower, they were spent. Eyes closing and ready for bed. This felt different to being away, and they were more nervous somehow. And so they both fell quickly into sleep, lying in each others' arms, tender kisses and good nights. Tomorrow would be another day. But he awoke sometime early in the morning, as she shifted in her sleep and he felt differently in his half-slumber.
His hands moved slowly on her warm skin, feeling her muscles completely relaxed as she slept deeply, the sound of her deep breaths synchronised with his own. Only semi-conscious, he moved instinctively, his mind still foggy - somewhere between consciousness and slumber. The tips of his fingers reached round and down, holding her thigh ever so gently, tiny hairs the only contrast to her smooth, soft skin as he ran them along her body towards her body. As he felt her flesh draw inward, her softness giving way to the strong muscles of her groin, he rotated his wrist, pushing his hand down the front of her thigh and gradually down to her knee, noticing the change in texture as he reached her kneecap. A long breath, followed by a deep swallow.
He became more conscious as he squeezed her leg ever so slightly, cautious not to awaken her, seeking more feedback and releasing a little tension. He trailed his hands back up her thigh, reaching around the outside to trace her hips, stopping where his skin met the cotton of her underwear. He felt the thin band of elastic at the edge of her knickers and followed this with this index finger slowly and deliberately upwards until he reached the front of her body, the point at which it began to curve back inward and down into more intimate space. His palm lay flat on her hipbone as his fingers stretched and splayed, relaxed but inquisitive, and he considered what might come next.
She shifted slightly, her hand adjusting the elastic of her waistband, and she muttered something inaudible. He descended back into his dreams, his hand on her under the thin sheets on that sticky summer night.
He woke as she shifted her body, her leg slightly bent as she relaxed her hips. His hands held her thigh at their highest point, with the top of his hand feeling the fabric of her pants whilst his fingers sensed the tender skin at the very limit of her thigh. His grip tightened a little as he noticed his heart rate rise, his left hand shifting slightly on the bedsheets beside him.
He lay for some time, enjoying the peace and sensuality of the moment, enjoying the memory of exploring her body and his own. He could hear her deep breaths, sense her chest rising and falling, and feel her long hair against his face as they lay side by side, his body slightly turned towards hers as she lay sleeping on her back.
His index finger explored her thigh once more, more intentionally than before, and he reached the edge of her knickers once again. This time, his finger felt downwards, between her legs, until he could reach no further. He loved the point where her thigh met her groin, where her skin became covered by cloth, and where he knew she was most sensitive. His finger began, ever so slowly, to feel across the hem and then the soft cotton of her pants. He felt the change in texture as her smooth skin gave way to soft, downy hair under the fabric as it rose from the firmness of tendon to the softness of gently rounded labia. She took one sharp breath. His quickened.
His fingers hesitated as he reached the point where her labia met beneath her underwear. He could feel her cleft under his soft touch, and imagined being able to see her, so familiar and yet so secret and mysterious, even after all these months. His fingers followed the line of her slit until he reached the mound above her clitoris. The slight rise of the space where he knew her labia covered her most sensitive place, his finger stopped... He felt as her breathing quickened a touch, or at least he thought so. His temptation growing as she swivelled her hips upwards a fraction, only to relax again a moment later.
In the gloom he tried to recall her underwear in his mind. Pale cotton, white, or possibly cream, simple in design with a plain band around the leg, a broader, flat waist-band with a stitched brand name in the same colour as the rest. He could just make out the raised letters as he drew his finger tentatively up to the top of her knickers.