Miss Quinn

188 ~ Delos

Emma awoke with the sun, cradled in Cadmus's arms in a king-sized bed in a room that probably cost more than everything Emma owned. For a moment, she just laid there, basking in the comfort she would never fully believe she deserved. The sunlight streamed in through the white window drapes, settling on her skin. Cadmus's chest rose and fell against her back, his breath tingling the hairs on her neck. If this was what it felt like to wake up in an utterly peaceful world, Emma was certainly missing out. Maybe she should just take Cadmus and Orion and Phillippe and Venus and George and their parents and run off to Greece forever. Maybe the war brewing on the horizon could be handled by someone else.

Oh, who was she kidding? As much as Emma enjoyed waking up beside Cadmus Trespier, she couldn't just turn off the part of her that itched for battle, that fought to protect. She was a Gryffindor for a reason, after all.

"Good morning," Cadmus whispered into her shoulder, brushing his lips to her skin. How he knew she was awake, Emma had no idea.

"Morning," she replied in a breath, pulling his arms more firmly around her.

"How'd you sleep?"

Emma rotated her body to face him, snaking her hands across his bare chest. "Comfortably," she murmured as her fingers traced the outline of his abdomen. She had been delighted to discover last night that Cadmus slept only in a pair of soft cotton shorts. Not that she had been wondering... at all. But as far as she was concerned, the more of his skin she could touch, the better. He was still unreachable, in the back of her mind. It hadn't fully sunk in that he was something she could have. Maybe it never would. So she would not waste a moment with Cadmus, for fear it wouldn't last.

"Good," said Cadmus, pressing his lips to her forehead.

"What's the plan for today?" Emma inquired, her fingers now brushing his jaw line, outlining the lips she had kissed for hours last night.

"So eager to get out of bed with me?" Cadmus teased. "I'm wounded."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Of course not. But I would like to know if that's all we'll be doing today."

He tightened his arms around her, hands crawling beneath the fabric of her t-shirt. "We can do whatever you want to do, love."

"And if I want to lock the door and ignore the world?"

The corner of his lips quirked. "I would be thrilled to accommodate."

Emma closed the gap between their mouths, parting his lips with her own. His hands settled firmly on her waist, pulling her closer. Hers tangled in his mop of curls, tugging on them the way he liked.

There was something about kissing Cadmus in the morning that made her chest ache. Maybe it was the glimpse of a future that flashed through her mind, where they lived together and woke up like this every day. Maybe it was the softness of his lips, the tender way he held her. Maybe it was a combination of a lot of things.

Her body pressed closer to him as his hands snaked up her back, beneath her shirt. A shiver ran down her spine at his fingers' light touch.

"You okay?" he broke away to ask.

"Yes," she murmured, kissing him again. Their legs tangled beneath the sheets, and then he was pulling her on top of him. Hair fell around them, and he threaded his hands into it before she could brush it away. A moan escaped her as he tugged lightly on it. Cadmus smiled against her lips and did it again. Emma tugged on his in return.

Thirty minutes later, Orion broke them apart by banging on their door. "WAKEY WAKEY!" He shouted through the wood. "Lots to do today!"