Justin had never felt better than when he woke up the next morning. A smile spread across his face as the memories of the previous night came to mind. It had been absolutely amazing. It had been so long since he had felt so connected to Brenna. He knew things were going to be alright between them.

Opening his eyes, he turned his head to see Brenna beside him. She was laying on her stomach, her head turned towards him, asleep, the sheet pulled halfway up her bare back. He turned on his side and stared at her as she slept, marveling at how beautiful she was.

He hadn’t expected everything that had happened the night before to take place. But after she had told him she loved him, he couldn’t stop himself. It was indescribable how hard it had been for the past months to not hear her say those three words. It was so hard for him to tell her he loved her and never hear anything in return. Every time she opened her mouth, he prayed her next words would be “I love you” but they never were. Hearing her finally say it the night before had filled him with more happiness than he could imagine.

Lifting himself up on his elbow, he stared down at her and pushed away a piece of hair that had fallen in her face. As he watched her sleep, he realized for the first time that maybe she didn’t have to regain her memory in order for things to go back to normal. As much as he wanted her to remember everything they had shared over the years, it now seemed possible that they could rebuild their life even with her amnesia.

Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to her shoulder, breathing in the smell of her skin. When she didn’t move, he kissed her skin again. This time she stirred and he smiled as he watched her breathe in deeply and her eyes slowly flutter open.

“Good morning,” he said, running his fingers over her back.

She blinked once and then looked up at him, smiling slightly. “Morning.”

He leaned his head down to kiss her shoulder again. “Do you feel alright?”

She nodded and closed her eyes. “I’m tired.”

He watched her for a minute as she laid there. “You’re so beautiful,” he finally said softly.

Her eyes opened and a blush spread over her cheeks. She turned her face into the pillow slightly. “Justin…” she protested with a smile.

He chuckled. “It’s true.” She didn’t turn her face back to him and he twirled some of her hair around his finger and gave it a gentle tug. She looked back over to him and he smiled. “It’s true.”

“Well you aren’t so hard on the eyes either.”

He smiled and ran his fingers over her cheek. “Last night was amazing, Bren.”

The corners of her mouth turned up. “Yeah, it was,” she agreed softly.

He leaned down and kissed her and she immediately responded, rolling onto her back. He was just resting himself over her when the alarm clock started going off. Groaning, he pulled away from her and rolled over to turn off the alarm. He laid on his back and rubbed his eyes.

“Damnit,” he sighed.

“You have to go to that meeting?” Brenna asked, looking over at him.

“Unfortunately, yeah.” He slowly sat up and ran his hands over his head. He glanced over at her laying there and smiled. “I should be home by noon though. You don’t work today, right?”

“So maybe we can finish this later?” he smiled, leaning down to kiss her.

“Maybe.”

He smiled again her lips. “Yeah?”

She giggled. “Maybe.”

“Definitely?”

“Maybe.”

He laughed and pulled away. “Are you going to get up?”

She rolled over onto her side. “I’m going to sleep for a bit more.”

“Okay.” He kissed her once more. “I’ll see you this afternoon.”

She nodded. “Mm hmm.”

He watched her settle into bed and close her eyes. As much as he wanted to blow the meeting and stay home with her, he really needed to go and with great reluctance, he dragged himself out of bed and into the bathroom to shower.

*                      *                      *

A few hours later, Brenna opened the front door, letting Kate into the house.

“Hey.”

“Hey. How’s it gong?” Kate asked as she stepped inside and slipped off her shoes.

“Good. You?”

“Amazing. You’ll never believe what…” Kate trailed off as she looked over at Brenna. “What’s with you?”

Brenna glanced over at her as they reached the kitchen. “What.”

“You’re grinning like an idiot. You look like you had a long night of hot animal sex or something.”

Brenna felt her cheeks redden and she looked away.

Kate gasped and smiled. “Look at you! You did! You and Justin…?”

Brenna raised a hand to her cheek, feeling her warm skin. “Yeah.”

“Last night?”

She nodded.

Kate hopped up on a stool by the counter and gave Brenna a sly look. “So…how’d it happen?”

“It just…did. I don’t know.” Brenna rubbed her hand over her arm. “I didn’t plan on it at all.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Cause we’ve been moving so slow and then all of a sudden…”

“Do you regret it?”

She paused. “No.”

Kate smiled. ‘And how could you regret sex with Justin.”

Brenna rolled her eyes and opened the pantry door. “Do you want some soup?”

“Sure. So where is Justin?”

“He had a meeting.”

“Oh.” Kate watched her pull out a can of soup and open it. “So, Bren, how was it?”

Brenna felt a blush rise in her cheeks.

“It was good, right?”

She looked up at Kate and couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across her face. “Really good.”

Kate laughed. “I knew it. You seem very satisfied.”

Brenna laughed and shook her head, dumping the soup into a pot on the stove. “Yeah, well…How was last night with Tyler? Did you guys get a movie?”

Kate bit her bottom look. “Not exactly. See we were going to but once we got to my apartment, we, um, kind of ended up having sex instead.”

Brenna’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Looks like we both had busy nights.”

“But how did that even happen?”

“It just did. We were at my apartment and we had some wine and it just happened.” She sighed and gave Brenna a guilty smile. “I couldn’t help it, Bren. He’s just too hot.”

Brenna giggled. “Same with Justin.”

Kate laughed. “See it’s their faults.”

Brenna smiled. “So what’s going to happen between you and Tyler now?”

“We talked about it this morning and we’re going to try it again. We’ve both grown up and maybe it’ll work this time. And if not, well at least I’ll have those memories of last night.”

Brenna laughed again and then turned her head to the doorway of the kitchen when she heard the sound of the front door closing and Justin whistling.

“Prince Charming’s home?”

She smiled and stirred the soup. “Mmm hm.”

“The look on your face is so cute, Bren. You’re thinking of last night again, aren’t you?”

Brenna bit her lip to hide her smiled. She heard Justin’s footsteps in the hall and then a minute later, she felt his body against her back and his arms went around her waist.

“Hey,” he said softly in her ear.

She smiled and a shiver went through her when his lips grazed her neck. “Hi.”

“I missed you.”

She leaned back into him and he kissed the side of her head.

“Nice to see you too, Justin.”

He pulled his head away from Brenna. “Hi, Kate. How long are you staying?”

She laughed. “You’re going to have to calm down cause Brenna and I were going to have lunch.”

He sighed. “Oh.” He moved to the side of Brenna, slipping his hand around her waist. “What kind of soup is that?”

“Chicken noodle. Do you want some? I can make more.”

“I’m good. I already ate.”

Brenna looked down at the soup as she stirred it, smiling a little when Justin moved his hand down to slip into the back pocket of her pants.

“Bren, Drew wanted to know if you wanted to go over to his place tonight and help finish unpacking. Tyler and I are going too.”

“I think I’ll pass,” she said, knowing she’d rather spend the day with Justin rather than unpack at Drew’s. “I’m not really up to it.”

Justin leaned his head down to hers. “Are you up for other things?” he whispered in her ear, giving her butt a squeeze.

She felt her face go red and busied herself with the soup. Before she could say anything, Kate laughed and stood up.

“Actually, on second thought, maybe I’ll pass on lunch.”

Brenna looked up at her. “Really?”

“Yeah. I can grab something later. Something tells me Justin wants you alone.”

She didn’t think it was possible, but she blushed even more. But before she could say anything, Justin spoke up.

“Yep, I do. See you later, Kate.”

“Bye,” Kate called over her shoulder as she left the kitchen.