“Look at me.”

She opened her eyes and was reminded of the first time they'd ever had sex. He'd made the same command, told her to keep her eyes open. She nodded her head and began shivering on top of him, something she also hadn't done since that first time.

With his hands guiding her, she worked her hips back slowly, then slid them forward. He moaned and pressed his forehead to hers. His hips began jerking forward, and soon enough they were moving like a finely tuned machine. Like a pair of dancers.

The fireworks exploded around them and Misch pressed her hand to the side of his face as she gasped for air. She wasn't able to fill her lungs, she needed him to breathe for her. He stared straight into her eyes, and his lips were moving, but she couldn't hear anything over the explosions. Over her heart beat.

When her orgasm came, she didn't close her eyes. She shouted and shook and cried out. Called out his name, over and over again. He called back to her, and she finally heard what he was saying, over and over again.

“Please.”

By the time he came, Mischa knew. She knew it wasn't over. Knew two days wasn't long enough. A week wasn't long enough. Another month wasn't long enough. There wasn't enough time for her and Tal. Not nearly. A tear slid down her cheek, quickly followed by another.

“I don't want you to go away,” she whispered, kissing his lips, his jaw, his cheeks.

“Then I won't,” he was panting for air and kissing her back.

“I don't know how to be like this,” she cried quietly.

“Then I'll teach you,” he promised.

Funny how things come full circle.

~Boom Boom Boom~

They spent the night in the suite that was meant for her boss, and they talked. Said the words that were too scary to say before, said the things they felt. The things they wanted. Then they built from there.

“Did you really cut your job short?” Mischa asked, stretching out on her stomach on the bed. Tal was laying on top of the covers next to her, only wearing a pair of boxer briefs.

“Yeah. I was sitting in this room and I just kept thinking, 'I shouldn't be here, I'm not needed here', you know? I'm more of an in-the-field kind of guy, anyway,” he told her.

“Isn't that kind of necessary, to be a photographer? Are you gonna get in trouble?” she wondered out loud. He shook his head.

“No. I said exactly that to them, that I wasn't needed there, why not just let me go, and call me back when I was needed? They said sure. I came straight here,” he said.

“How romantic,” she teased. He snorted.

“No shit.”

“Ug, never mind, I take it back.”

“Let's go over it again,” he suggested, ignoring her. She cleared her throat.

“Alright.”

“What are you gonna do when he gets here?” Tal asked.

“We're going to go to dinner – I already have reservations. Then we're going to go for a walk on the beach,” Misch went over the plan she'd come up with earlier in the week, before Tal had reappeared.

“Not our beach,” he interrupted.

“No, I wouldn't take him there. We'll walk on the beach, and I'm gonna sit him down and I'm gonna just tell him. I'm gonna make him listen to me, and I'm just gonna tell him,” she said, making a decisive slice with her hand.

“And then?”

“And then, if he's understanding – eventually, obviously – I'll go to the airport with him and say goodbye, then I'll meet you back here.”

“And if he's not 'understanding'?”

“Then I'll apologize as best I can, as much as I can, but I won't … I won't let it deter me. I won't back down,” she said it in as strong a voice as she could muster.

“And then?”

“Then I'll meet you back here, and we'll go to Istanbul, and we'll just see,” she finished.

“We'll see where it goes,” Tal agreed.

“Are we really doing this?” she double checked. He snorted again.

“You better believe it, baby.”

“I wasn't looking for a boyfriend,” she told him.

“Are you kidding? I was just using you for sex, left, right, and sideways. I think I've been brainwashed. That's it, I've changed my mind, the plan is off,” he stated in a loud voice.

She hit him with a pillow.

“But what if this is just like … a rebound relationship?” she voiced her fears.

“Babe, you'd have to be out of your relationship in order to be on the rebound,” he pointed out. She rolled her eyes.

“What if it's cause this is just new and exciting? What if this is just cause I was forbidden fruit to you?” she went on. He reached over and pressed his hand against the back of her thigh.

“You were never forbidden fruit to me – you were just an apple that needed to be plucked,” he told her, and she swatted him in the chest. “And like I told you before, if you can look me in the eye and honestly say this doesn't feel as real as can fuckin' be, that it's just something 'new and exciting' to you, then I'll walk out that door. Never contact you again.”

Mischa leaned over and kissed him, working her tongue against his. His fingers clenched into her thigh, then raked their way up to her ass, moving under the edge of her underwear.

“I think it's real,” she whispered.