Chapter 18: Second Time

She went back at midnight, in the rain, with Hattie's voice still in her ear telling her to quit being a coward.

The outside stairs were slick.

The door was unlocked, and the light inside was off.

Percy sat on the edge of the mattress in the dark, fully dressed, with his elbows on his knees.

He stood when he saw her.

"Imogen."

"Don't ask me anything."

"I wasn't going to."

"I didn't come to say yes."

"I know."

"I came because for thirty days I watched you not sleep, and I couldn't stand it."

His breath went out of him.

"You should go home," he said. "You're soaked."

"Then take my coat off."

He crossed the room in two steps and did.

His hands shook on the buttons, and the wet wool dropped on the floor between them.

She pulled his face down and kissed him.

At dawn in her bed she had been careful with him and with herself, and this time she was not.

She kissed him hard, with her teeth.

He made a sound against her mouth and pulled her in until his belt buckle bit her through her dress.

"The terms," he managed. "Your door. I'm in your room, I should..."

"Terms are finished. You wrote that yourself."

"Then what is this?"

"This is me," Imogen said, "wanting my husband."

"Ex-husband."

"Don't be smart."

She unbuttoned his shirt, one button at a time, slowly, while he stood with his hands open at his sides and let her.

She pushed it off his shoulders.

She put her mouth on his collarbone, and his chest, and the flat place under his ribs, and felt every muscle jump.

"You're shaking," she said.

"I know."

"Good."

She knelt.

He said her name in a cracked whisper.

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