She knows it doesn’t mean as much if she has to force him to say it, but she’s feeling needy right now (and Stevie hates that so much because she doesn’t need him; she just sort of, well, depends on him, dammit) and she wants him to repeat the words over and over again until his throat runs dry from speaking and she actually believes him.
"Lindsey?" she whispers into his ear, a soft hand stroking his bicep lightly, enjoying the familiar masculine muscularity of him. He’s not a particularly heavy sleeper and she blows on his cheek, once, twice, watching fondly as he huffs and rolls from his back onto his side. The hotel room is starting to become lighter, dawn approaching steadily, and she wonders if he’ll notice how little sleep she got tonight. They’d gotten back to their suite from the restaurant before one am, had gone straight to bed after a few short kisses and helping each other in undressing, and he’d been asleep before she could even say goodnight. She clings to him now, her breasts pressed firm against the width of his back, one arm slung over him somewhat awkwardly. "Lindsey?" she repeats, voice slightly louder this time.
Groaning, her lover turns over on his other side to look at her, his eyes bleary and unfocused. “Mmm? Wha?”
"Do you love me?" She almost wants to laugh at the confused expression on his face and, when his brow furrows and he blinks rapidly, she looks at the small gap between them then wriggles closer so a mere inch separates them and she can see every line on his handsome face. She lets her fingers curl into the soft gray curls on his chest, savoring the way he closes his eyes briefly as her fingertips scratch him lightly. "It’s okay. I just…"
Frowning, Lindsey takes her hand in his, entangling their fingers together in a way which is so ridiculously familiar and yet still sends a shot of something akin to excitement through her. “You know I love you.”
"Yeah, I know," she sighs, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. "I know."
"Then what’s the matter?" he asks, his voice hoarse and husky, the way it always is first thing in the morning (she loves it when he says her name in that tone, the way it caresses every syllable). "Did you have a nightmare?"
"No, nothing like that. I just was laying here and thinking and…"
"And you suddenly needed to wake me up in order to ascertain that I still love you?"
"Big words this early, Mr Buckingham? Very sexy." He smiles softly, his lips looking stupidly kissable (and how can she resist?, she thinks, kissing him gently and relishing the way he responds, the way he smiles contentedly into the embrace). His touch speaks his love and affection as honestly as his voice ever could.
"Well, naturally. I just find it so difficult to not be sexy."
"Unfortunately. Would make life a lot easier if I could resist you."
"Ditto, baby, ditto."
"But then we’ve never liked easy, I guess," Stevie grins, moving her hand from Lindsey’s hip down to the smooth skin of his thigh. "Sun’s going to be up soon, y’know?" she says. "Brand new day."
"Mmm. I think it’ll be-" He breaks off with what she would swear to a jury as a squeak (adorable) and bucks off the mattress as she squeezes him firmly.
"You were saying?"
"You’re evil, Steph, really."
"Unlike you?"
"All I wanted to do is talk to my woman and she’s apparently set on torturing me before I’ve even woken up!"
"We’re calling it torture now?" Stevie smirks, voice slightly muffled as she bites his neck gently.
"Most definitely. Can I beg for mercy?"
"I don’t know. Can you?"
"Will you stop if I do?" he says with a grin and his blue eyes are sparkling and alert now. Perfect. "If I say, please, darling, stop?"
"This is Opposite Day, actually."
He actually laughs out loud at that and flicks one of her nipples playfully before lowering his mouth to her breasts. When he breaks contact and looks back up at her flushed face, he looks proud. And very awake. “You are such a child sometimes, Stevie.”
"Don’t feel like one right now," she says with a pout and pulls his ridiculously talented mouth back down onto her needy body.
"Love you so much. Adore you, worship you," he groans as she hooks one leg around his body and pulls him closer to her, his cock hardening rapidly against her.
"Need you," she says earnestly.
Because she does. And he needs her too