Twenty-one: Red and Wolfe

Wolfe wakes up with the feeling of a thousand cotton balls stuffed in his throat. He gasps for air, wheezing and coughing. Last night is a blur of events that he can't tell what was real and what was part of his binge drinking.

A glass of water sits on his bedside table. He reaches for it and empties the entire glass. But it isn't enough. He tests his head. Dizziness? Check. Headache? Check.

What happened the previous night? Who was he with?

The only thing that he can see is a face. Hers. Red. The image in his head is as clear as the daylight seeping between the closed curtains. It is nothing new. She is the first person he thinks of every single day, and the last one to enter his mind just before sleep claims him.

He sits, bringing his legs over the edge of his bed. Wolfe rubs his entire face with his hands and wonders how he has let things mess up between them, and how can he fix it? Fast. Soon. He can't think of spending another day without her, without seeing her, touching her, feeling her.

As all possibilities run through his mind, a thought fills his head: how did he get home? Followed by another: Why is he in his own bedroom?

Since the mess Caroline has created surfaced, he has been camping out in a rundown hotel, run by a Russian couple who barely speak English. Despite the less than two-star accommodations, he has felt safe away from the hustle and bustle of the city and the buzz of the paparazzi.

Then, he hears it. He tilts his head to the sound. The gush of water running in his bathroom, in his shower. He looks around his room to try and figure out who could be in his bathroom. Wolfe spots a black dress draped over a chair by the fireplace. Has he brought a woman home? He groans at the possibility. Red will never forgive him now. Not ever.

We stands, steadies himself for a minute before taking steps towards the bathroom, to find out who in the hell is in his shower.

******

Red under the hot shower. now that's a sight worth dying for. What is she doing in there? She must have felt his presence, as she turns her head over her shoulder, brushing off her wet hair to one side. He follows the line of her body, the smooth dip of her spine, the curves of her hips. She says nothing, which is a good thing. It means she isn't mad at him, as much, anymore.

Wolfe realizes she doesn't push him away, or yell at him to leave. Without another second, and before she changes her mind and wishes for him to disappear, Wolfe slowly takes his clothes off, and steps into the shower. He luxuriates in her scent, under the warmth of the water, and the soft fall of the water on the both of them.

Red sighs at his initial touch, his hands over her shoulders. Then she exhales, trembling, as he kisses droplets on the crook of her neck. Slowly, he coaxes her to turn around and face him. But as she does, her focus dips down to their feet. With a hand, he urges her to look at him, and lets her see the emotions welling deep within. Although when she stares into his eyes, he's the one taken aback. Her emerald green eyes possess him.

"I thought I'd lost you," he breathes out, kissing the shudder on her lips.

Still, she says nothing.

He moves her against the wall, propping her leg up with an arm. Her hands grasp him with earnest, pulling him much closer to him, and in an instant, he's inside her.

He pumps into her with all the vigor he can muster. She meets his every push, clawing at the skin on his back, trying to hold on to any vestige of sanity left.

Her muscles undulate. Red feels the thickening inside her. He is relentless in his movements, until they both tremble. Her entire body focuses on the sensation he has brought on as she splinters in to a thousand pieces, and he explodes inside her, emptying everything he's got.

His body. His heart. His soul. All pours out as he calls out her name.

All hers for the taking. He is hers and she is his. And this time, he lets her know.

"I love you."

He holds her closer, trying so hard to keep his head together. "I love you, Red."

Wolfe reaches over to turn off the water. He guides her carefully out of the shower, a towel similar to what he has wrapped around his hips ready for her. Wolfe can't help but smile like a fool as he pats the water off her legs and feet with a smaller towel. On a knee, with her hand holding onto the top of one of his shoulders, he looks up to her. Wolfe doesn't know what has happened the previous night, but whatever it has been brought Red back into his arms.

Red smiles down at him, with a twinkle in her eye.

"You do love me," he reaffirms.

"I do. I love you."

He stands to his full height and wraps his arms around her, and in one quick swoop, he picks her up. Red thrills at his actions. And for the first time in a while, she laughs. She suspects that it will not be the last.

****