The warm sweet fruit filled her mouth with juice, which was a good thing as looking down at her bare legs stretched out in front of her, her mouth had gone dry and her tummy ached with the suppressed emotions.  Her clean panties lay on the bedside her, and she wondered where her top was, she couldn't even remember the direction it went in, and being naked.... right now......... it wasn't helping.<br/><br/>The sooner she was out of here the better, he obviously needed space and this was his place after all – she was the intruder.  She popped the last bite into her mouth and looked up as Elijah's hand arrived in front of her. She took it unhesitatingly, looking up into his face as he pulled her to her feet and then steadied her.  He wasn't going to make it easy was he...... to be this close to him.... Maddi swallowed her fruit, trying not to choke as it fought with the lump in her throat. Then he pulled her into him and everything got a lot simpler indeed.<br/><br/>She thought at first her mind was playing tricks on her, but as his words expanded and took flight in her heart, she flew with them.  It was a dizzying ascent, from where she had started, his kiss accelerating her heart to join the race to the conclusion which burst like fireworks around her.<br/><br/>She took her hand out of his, and stepped back a little, looking into his eyes for a moment, saving the moment, before moving closer again, framing his face with both of her hands and kissing him.  She didn't have any words right now, just the outpouring of what he had kindled inside her. She pressed her body up against him, her hands slipping round to cradle the back of his head, and deepened the kiss, letting him know she was his.<br/><br/>Hope....... what a wonderful word, she thought, she could live with that, in fact, right now that one word made everything so much better that as she broke away and smiled up at him she could feel the fizzing happiness the word gave her make her whole body tingle. She could hear the verse,<em>"Love bears all things, believes all things, Hopes all things, endures all things."</em>in her head, and caressing his cheek briefly she thought she could do the<em>bearing</em>, the<em>enduring </em>and the<em>hoping</em>,<em>Believing</em>...... well, the problem was believing there could be a happy ever after.  She rubbed her thumb across his kissable lips, she'd have to stick with the hope, that would be enough for now.<br/><br/>She kissed him softly, "Lead on Macduff, to this lagoon of yours.......... " she grinned, her eyes sparkling, maybe we can wash off some of that rust," she teased.