Afterlife: Reincarnation

23

June 15

HARRY

I adjusted my position, crossing my legs at my ankles. Reaching behind me, I pushed on the pillow at my back, before leaning back against it. Once comfortable, I set back to work, propping the manuscript in my hands up against my stomach. I was almost finished with it, and it was still one of the better ones I had read. I had taken my time with this one more than others previous, wanting to make sure my notes were accurate and my praise noted. It was an incredible story, and needed to be recognized.

I had done almost nothing on this lazy, rainy Sunday. With the exception of my run in the late morning, after sleeping in to an ungodly hour, I had done nothing but eat, nap and read. It was a simple pleasure, such days as this. But I loved the solitude and quiet they afforded me.

It was shortly after two in the afternoon, my bedroom dark as I lay sprawled across my bed. Usually, I preferred reading in the living room, stretched out across the couch. But for some reason, I had decided to curl up on my bed, giving me equal opportunity to work and nap in changing intervals with little effort on my part. I had even pulled my black out curtains across the window, blocking out the limited daylight from the world outside. I was locked away in my private little cave, and no one was about to disturb me.

Suddenly, my phone vibrated on my nightstand, and I narrowed my eyes at it in annoyance. Clearly, whoever was calling didn't understand my current 'hide away and nap' plan.

"Hello?" I answered, trying to keep the annoyance from my voice.

"Hey," her voice called through the line, and immediately all irritation I felt at the disruption to my day evaporated.

"Hi, babe," I grinned like a fool. "What are you doing?"

"Just came to bed," she said, and I could swear I could almost hear the grin on her face. "Thought maybe we could Skype for a bit until I get sleepy. If you're not busy,"

"Yeah, of course. I'm never too busy for you,"

My compliment seemed to please her, as she giggled adorably. Reaching beside me, I mentally praised myself for bringing my laptop into my room with me. Within seconds, her call came through on my screen. Answering it, I felt a wave of relief the moment I laid eyes on her.

"Hi," I waved, setting the laptop over my legs.

"Hi," she grinned, leaning back into her bed. "Guess what I did today?"

"What?"

"Learned how to do stitches on a pig hide."

My brow furrowed, confused by her statement. "Excuse me?"

She laughed, seemingly quite excited about her day. "I said I would like to learn to do sutures, so Will taught me on a pig hide that we had. It was harder than I thought it would be, but it was a lot of fun."

"You just had a random pig ass laying around?" I asked, the thought causing my stomach to churn.

She scowled at me, playfully exasperated. "Miki is cooking it for tomorrow."

I couldn't help the disgusted look that befell my face. "Babe, that's rather gross, you know that, right?"

She laughed, pleased with herself despite my rejection of the concept.

Her face tightened suddenly, her eyes widening.

"Babe?"

"Shh," she hushed me, turning her head. She listened intently for a minute, before closing her eyes and groaning. "Oh for Christ sake."

"What's wrong?"

She snickered, moving closer to the screen and lowering her voice. "A couple of the others on the team are having sex in the next cabin," she groaned, rolling her eyes. "They are rather loud."

My eyes widened, a laugh escaping me.

"Don't laugh," she scolded. "Its kind of disturbing."

I pulled my lips together, trying to stifle my laugher. It didn't work.

Thoughts of my dream two nights before flickered through my mind, along with the memory of the email I had sent her shortly after.

"You know," I said, my own voice lowering. "We could always give them a run for their money."

She looked up to me quickly, her expression a mixture of shock and nerves.

"Did you get my email from the other morning?"

Her expression remained the same, apart from her swallowing loudly. "I did."

Her admission caused me to smirk. "It was a really good dream."

Her lips pulled tight, and I could tell she was trying not to giggle. I locked eyes with her, staring her down, until finally she lost her control, laughing as she covered her face with her hands.

"Harry," she whined with embarrassment.

"What?" I asked, feigning innocence.

Pulling her hands from her face, she looked down as they twisted together nervously. Her bottom lip was pulled between her teeth, and I could tell she was considering what I had said.

"Babe," I called, trying to get her attention. She paused for a moment, before finally looking up to me. "I love you. I want to be with you so fucking bad it hurts. Literally, because thinking about you gets me hard, and it's not the most comfortable thing for a guy. We've got a long while until we can finally be together, so until then, we need to improvise. That's the miracle of the internet."

She looked up at me from under her lashes, her blonde hair loose and falling in gentle waves over her shoulder She was wearing some thin strapped little top, the delicate curve of her neck and shoulder so God damn sexy I felt my cock twitch.

Only she could get me hard with just her fucking shoulder.

She squirmed on her bed, her eyes falling back to her hands. "I feel weird." She admitted, her voice soft.

"Why?"

She shrugged, pursing her lips. "I've never done that," she said, her cheeks coloring.

I sighed, immediately feeling guilty for propositioning her. "Lane, love, I'm just teasing. You know I would never make you do anything you don't want to do. I know I've been talking rather dirty with you lately, and if it makes you uncomfortable, I will stop. Its just how I talk, and honestly, I'm just being truthful with you. I long for you, I miss you, and I want you. But even when you do finally get home, if you aren't ready, we wont. I know this whole relationship between us hasn't exactly been typical. We will go at whatever pace you want. As long as I have you, I will take you any way I can get you."

She watched me intently as I tried to explain myself, my mixture of apology and confession rolling from me. I suddenly felt like a cad, trying to steal her virtue over the fucking internet.

A soft smile came to her lips, and she shrugged. "I didn't say I didn't want to,"

Now it was my turn to be taken aback.

"Sometimes I think you don't realize I want you just as badly as you say you want me," she continued. "I've fantasized about when I get home, and can finally be with you. Harry, even before I left I wanted you. And even though we have thousands of miles between us, it only seems to have made me want you more."

I felt my heart seize as I listened to her words, my pulse quickening with each syllable.

Squaring her shoulders to the camera, she brought a small hand to her shoulder, before slowly lowering the thin strap of her top. Her eyes locked with mine, an expression of lust on her face that I had never seen from her before. Pausing with the strap just above her breast, she tilted her head enticingly at me.

"What do you want to do to me, Harry?"