Work Text:
Kate Sharma is watching her boyfriend sleeping on a February night.
Normally when Anthony sleeps over, he spends the night wrapped around her body but honestly this evening they had worn each other out so much that he was asleep almost before he had fully withdrawn from her body. Kate had extricated herself from his embrace to go clean up and pee and by the time she had returned to bed he was out like a light.
So Kate takes a moment to admire him.
The first time she met Anthony she thought he was attractive, with his thick hair and his velvety voice and his big hands. And now of course she knows that he's clever and committed and really very sweet. And he's still gorgeous.
He's lying on his stomach, arms above his head, face turned towards her. The sheet is rucked untidily at his waist and one leg is exposed from the knee down. Kate admires the play of the moonlight on his pale skin. The swell of his biceps. The sharp lines of his nose and his jaw. The tousled thick hair and slightly kiss swollen lips. The definition of the muscles in his calves and forearm. The breadth of his shoulders and the divots of his spine.
He's like a statue carved from the finest marble.
Her handsome, sexy man. She wanted him the first time she saw him. And now that she knows that he's not just sexy, but also affectionate and caring. And now that she knows exactly how the slide of his skin feels against hers. How he tastes. How his lips feel pressed against her body. Well she just wants him more. Quite honestly, some days at school she finds it hard to keep her hands off him. Only the fact that she has to work with the other people in school, and a certain decorum about what they do in public, preventing her. But anticipation makes their pleasure all the sweeter when they get home.
She lies down. And even in sleep, Anthony slings and arm over her and snuggles her closer.
Kate doesn't object. She likes the weight of his arm around her. The heat of his body. His smell.
Actually she's a bit obsessed with Anthony's smell. He wears a sandalwood cologne, but although a trace still lingers under the tang of sweat from their activities, what Kate loves most is the scent of his warm skin. Something indefinable and green and uniquely Anthony. But of course she can't be sniffing him in public. So she takes the opportunity she has right now and buries her nose in his neck. And inhales deeply. She can't help the satisfied little sigh that escapes her.
"Mmm."
And she's surprised when a sleepy voice murmurs:
"Are you sniffing me?"
And Kate thinks that although they have only been together for just over four months, she and Anthony both know that what they have is special. It's serious. He could be her one. Very probably. And she feels she can tell him anything. That he'll accept it. So she doesn't hesitate.
"Yes. I love how you smell Anthony. I can't get enough of it. And I know that might be weird. But it's true."
Anthony shifts so that he's lying on his side and his dark eyes are shining as he whispers. Something excited in his voice. As though he's uncovered something that delights him.
"I feel the same. The way you smell Kate. It drives me wild. Your scent is imprinted on my brain. Why do you think I always have bouquets of lilies in my house?"
They both laugh softly and they lie there for a while, trading whispered secrets and soft kisses.
And Kate thinks about how happy she is that Anthony Bridgerton came to Hastings. Because they are a pair.
He is her match.
And she is his.