The way she wrapped her hands around him seemed like a positive, but when she said his name he still expected that she was most likely about to protest, perhaps to tell him to slow down or perhaps to change her mind entirely. So her kiss when he pulled back surprised him. He inhaled sharply and sidled slightly closer to her, so that there was barely any space at all between them now. She kissed me, he thought dizzily. He had been imagining this night in a dozen different iterations over the past few days, but not even his most optimistic variants had included this possibility. He moved one hand from her waist down around the curve of her backside, to the top of her leg, and it seemed perfectly natural to pull it up over his own. It was almost absurd how easy it was to have gotten themselves here; this was why no one wanted to let men and women be alone together for even a few minutes.

When the kiss ended Ford gave a breathless chuckle. "You're pretty good at that."

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