Breathing

She rolled onto her side and propped her face up on her hand, chewing on one delicately polished fingernail. The starched cotton of his shirt rode up her thigh and reminded Ginny vaguely of where his hands had been not too long ago. She smiled absentmindedly and made a grab for his arm.

Stepping backward with catlike grace, Draco glanced down at her admonishingly. Her swollen lips formed a pout but he turned back to his wardrobe, choosing to ignore her while he still could.

Ginny was unbelievably persuasive when she wanted to be but he felt confident that he'd left her in no state to make demands.

He heard her give an exasperated sigh and flop onto her back.

"Don't leave me." The longing in her voice was almost too much and Draco couldn't keep himself from turning to face her again.

And she was a heavenly sight. Her brilliant curls tumbled over the edge of the mattress, contrasting brightly with the white of his sheets. She had her hands intertwined above her head and was staring helplessly at the ceiling. As if it were the wooden boards, and not Draco, that she was begging to stay.

Worst of all, she was wearing his shirt. It engulfed her tiny frame and only the very tips of her fingers peeked beneath the sleeves. Her long legs were strewn across the pillows, crossed neatly at the ankles, and he could see the tiny constellation of freckles across her left knee that he loved so much.

Taking a few steps toward the bed he saw her remove her gaze from the ceiling and plant those doe eyes on him instead.

It was all over now. She was blinking in that terrible way she did when she wanted something. Those long lashes beckoning with all the power of the moon on the tide.

"Do you really have to leave?" she asked softly.

Oh she was good. Just put a hint of a whine in that tone and lean forward a bit so that his shirt would fall off one shoulder. One very delicious looking shoulder.

"Maybe I'll just call in sick."

Before the grin could even reach her lips, Ginny was wrapped in his arms.

There was absolutely nothing in the world like those arms. She was sure there were stronger ones out there. More perfect, perhaps. But his was the only embrace she hungered for. The only one she cried out for on those nights she didn't keep his bed warm.

He kissed her, then. And no one could kiss like Draco. When those lips rested against hers she was home in a way she hadn't been since the last Christmas with all of her brothers still living under one roof.

The hand that wasn't busy with buttons ran it's way slowly up her leg and she sighed in soft release.

If she could've had her way, Ginny would never leave Draco's arms. His hands would be forever on her skin.

The only things that would fill her head would be the way his hot breath tickled her ear, and the way he bit down on her shoulder when he came. And the way loving him was so much like breathing, she was certain she always had.