She pulled up in front of my … our … house. I waited for her to come to my side and open my door. After she helped me out of the car, and shut the door behind me, I leaned on the car, and snaked my arms around her neck.

“Do you feel different?” I asked softly, and gazed into her eyes. Is she with me in wanting this to happen tonight, despite her protests? Did she feel that paralyzing panic earlier, too, when she pretended to split up with me?

“Yes,” she whispered.

She pulled me closer to her by the waist and then leaned forward to kiss me.

I drew her head closer to meet her kiss.

“It’s not that I don’t want to. You know that I’ve wanted you from that moment we pseudo-kissed on the beach. But for this … honestly, I wanted to fly you somewhere, and make you feel how special this was going to be for me, too” she said softly against my lips after a few minutes. “To seduce you under the stars that you and I love so much. I imagined taking you someplace with a fantastic view of the Northern Lights. Have dinner set out for us; plan on caviar and champagne to start. Slow dancing, in between, and then cover you with soft kisses after.”

I drew my head back, smiled, and asked teasingly, “Mmmm … flashing some of those “play-a” moves are you?”

She blushed furiously. I kissed her quickly, and added, “Teasing you, baby. But really: to me, right here, right now, feels perfect, honey. If you seduce me in a bed that I hope to share with you for many, many, many nights after…. it would feel like the right move for us, given what’s happened.”

She dropped a playful kiss on my nose and then released her hold on me, but kept one arm on my back, hitched to my waist. I released her also, hugged her to me from the side and then turned to prompt us to walk into the garden, heading for the front door. I playfully dug an elbow on her side before asking in jest, “But I’m not saying that I don’t want that whole seduction scenario you just described to happen for us one day, alright?”