“I’ve spent twenty years pretending not to be in love with you,” she said. “I can handle another few hours.”
He pressed his forehead to hers. “I love you so much.”
“Hold on,” she said. She lifted her cell phone camera to take a photo, posing the two of them against the night sky. “Before we go back, we need a photo of us together with that sky.”
“No,” he said with an affectionate tone. “Not like that. If you take a picture of us with a flash and no tripod, so help me, I will never forgive you.” She laughed as he found his camera to set up the shot.
16
FRIDAY
Several people wokeup to shoot the green and lavender haze that made up the summer version of the Northern Lights, and the rest woke only three hours later to capture the first pink light of dawn on the still water. By the time the boat arrived to pick them up, everyone was sleepy, hungry, and dirty from a night of shooting and curling up in sleeping bags in the woods. Only Kyle looked fully refreshed.
“Didn’t sleep once,” he announced as he followed the other workshop participants aboard the boat. “It’s all about focus.”
“Kyle,” Selassie said from where she was carefully resting her sore ankle on a cushion, “someone is going to murder you one of these days, and I’m not going to stop them.”
Ren announced that they would meet for a final photo review at five, then dinner at a local pub before a last night of shooting at a different beach.
Then he and Sarah drove back to the hotel together through the crisp early morning, stumbled back into their hotel room together, and put down their gear.
“I know I should download my photos,” Sarah said. “But I think I’m showering and then falling asleep.”
“Me, too,” Ren agreed. “But first…”
He stepped her backwards until she was against the wall and kissed her until she felt breathless.
“I’ve wanted to do that all week,” he said.
“Me, too. Every time I entered the room with you, I thought of that time in Las Vegas.”
“Me, too. That was the best kiss of my life.”
She ran her hands through his hair and he pushed her against the wall again, one hand on her waist, the other gently cradling her neck. It was so good that she almost didn’t remember that she was exhausted and tired. And dirty. And probably had sticks in her hair.
He ended the kiss gently before leaning over and whispering in her ear, “You can shower. I’ll put your camera batteries in the charger and get your card reader set up.” It might have been the sexiest thing a man had ever said to her.
When she got out of the shower a few minutes later, wearing her tiger pajamas, Ren had already set everything up for her and had started downloading his own images, too.
“My turn,” he said, standing up.
She crawled into bed. “I may not be awake when you get out,” she said. “But you can sleep in my bed if you want.”
He smiled and opened his mouth to speak, then just nodded once.
She was half-asleep when he finally crawled under the covers next to her and held her against him. He was wearing a thin t-shirt and pajama pants, and her whole back felt warm when it was pressed against him. He smelled like soap and like Ren, familiar and perfect. She turned over, wanting to kiss him forever, her body stirring, but all she managed was to kiss his neck once and snuggle into him before she fell asleep.
She woke to mid-afternoon sunlight,wrapped around him, one leg twisted over his thigh. It should have been impossible to sleep like this, but she had slept deeply and without dreams.
When she stirred, he opened his eyes and smiled.
“What time is it?” he said quietly.
She looked over her shoulder at the clock on the nightstand.
“A little after two in the afternoon.”
“I can work with that,” he said.
