Chapter Text
They were both all smiles and inexplicable laughter as he pulled her into his lap, covers pooling around them as his hands traced her bare skin. Her arms draped his shoulders, hand doing its telltale glide up the base of his neck as they locked eyes only briefly, lips slotting together once, twice.
Kelly pulled away first, but before Stella could pout and pull him right back, her husband’s hand gently pushed her unruly curls over her shoulder, peppering the skin in kisses that made more laughter start to bubble out of her as he trailed up. “Kelly—”
His nose brushed her jawline, kissing the corner of her mouth before looking up at her with those piercing blues and almost-boyish smile. She all but swooned, more than appreciative for the amber glow of the sunset streaming through the tall loft windows. Did he realize just how pretty he looked? “What?”
“I think you missed,” she pointed out, brow quirking.
Kelly matched her expression, but there was clear mischief behind his. “Did I?”
“Uh-huh,” she answered, squeezing the back of his neck before both hands came up to cup his face, thumbing his cheek delicately. “Need some help?”
“Nah. You’re just impatient.” A squeeze to the back of her own neck accompanied his quip, gradually pulling her face closer to his own once more.
“Oh, so that’s how you’re gonna be?” Stella returned. “Y’know—”
He only laughed before muffling the remainder of her sentence with the aforementioned kiss. Her eyes fluttered back shut immediately, melting just a little more securely into his lap. God, she really could just stay there for hours if they could, feeling his hands wander her body but still keep her held close all the while.
Kelly had all but melted at that point as well as the kisses turned lazily loving, her hands cradling his face always filling him with a honey-sweet warmth. As much as he loved being smothered by her, though - the only exception - then wasn’t the time. It was her time, he’d decided.
That said, he swiftly flipped them over, earning Stella’s contagious laughter as their noses brushed. His hand found her left one on the pillow, fingers lacing together seamlessly. His admiration was shameless as he took a moment, studying her; long, dark curls splayed across the pillows, sunkissed skin and brown eyes illuminated amber, that somehow-unfaltered adoring smile that graced her face almost every time she looked at him the last four years and change.
“I am actually the luckiest man in Chicago.” Yeah, that certainly still held no less true than that cold day he finally gave her her ring.
Stella seemed to read at least some of his thoughts, free hand finding the back of his neck as her smile returned. “I love you, Kelly.”
Kelly’s did too, sealing another small kiss against her lips. “I love you too, Stell.”
One thing was clear by a few minutes later, when he’d flipped onto his back and she’d immediately taken the opportunity to drape herself against him and revel in his hand slowly stroking up and down her arm: down to the touch, nothing compared to those moments. Not even the job they loved so much. Nothing.