At this moment, there was not a thing Miriam could think of that was more important than the unshakable grip of Spencer's entire body around her one arm. The affection seeping from her smile when she rolled from her back to face him was enough to rival the stubborn cold bashing tree branches against her window. The ball he was curled in did not seem possible with his miles of limbs, but he drooled away soundly in the grasp of sleep.

She scooted closer, coaxing his arms apart so she could slide between them. He hummed only waking enough to hook his knee over her waist.

"Spence," she whispered, prodding his stomach.

"Spencer is off duty for twenty five more minutes when his alarm goes off."

Miriam leaned over him to check the time and huffed out her irritation. "You peaked. You can't know what time it is."

"My biological clock has never failed me." He replied, finally blinking open the glowing hues of eyes she remembered from back home.

"That means we have twenty five minutes until you have to leave?"

"Yeah," he mumbled, fingers carding through the tangles in her hair.

"Do you think we're good together, Spence?"

His mouth twitched up, fingers shifting to trace beneath her mouth. "I think we push each other, not necessarily in a bad way. It's one that sort of encourages personal growth."

"You leaving your scarf in the sink encourages growth?"

"To be fair I didn't know it fell there and you were the one who poured your noodles all over it."

"I didn't know I was supposed to check kitchen appliances for clothing articles!"

His cheeks dimpled and his hair caressed her cheeks as he rolled over her to retrieve his phone from the nightstand. She continued the motion until she landed sitting up on his lap. He ignored her position, typing out a few emails and worrying his tongue between his teeth.

She sighed, pushing up the hem of his shirt to trace the lines of his hips and the sparse coarse hair above the line of his pants. She watched his chest draw a deeper breath than normal and his fingers stumbled for a moment.

"Give me a second," he muttered, brows pushing together to boost his concentration.

"D.C. has really good school districts," she said.

His phone was locked and away and he was sitting up to catch her face between his hands. "You're serious? Because I've looked into them too. To convince you that I want to be a part of this."

"Of course you did." Her hands folded over his, twining their fingers and bringing their grasp to her stomach. "In case you didn't know I'm kind of a big deal out here," she continued.

"I read every one of your articles, even the ones you commission and just sign off on."

"There's a chief editor in D.C. that is retiring next month and she flew out here to meet me. Gave me her blessing and recommendation. I haven't formerly accepted the job yet because I wanted to ask you this time."

For once Spencer did not bombard her with reasoning or even words. He just let their lips meet in a kiss filled with such passion that she wondered if they had truly ever kissed before.

"Come home," he whispered against her. "Be with me." He pulled away so he could meet her eyes for the last bit. "Please."

He might as well have held her heart in his hands for all the strings on it his tight voice tugged. She leaned forward, pressing their foreheads together, rubbing her nose along his. "Alright, fine you talked me into it."

He laughed, the beautiful sound wrapping around her chest and luring her in to taste it. He kissed her briefly, not nearly enough to satisfy the void of the months apart.

"I need to shower," he said.

Miriam heaved herself off him, striding away.

"I didn't mean right now. I had plans for you. Where are you going?" he called after her.

She cast an enticing glance over her shoulder, tracing an absent minded hand down the side of his ass to reel that man in like he was on her line. "To shower," she said.

Spencer was up, bait accepted, following her into the compact bathroom. She giggled as he caught her up in his arms spinning to press her back against the now closed bathroom door. "Take your clothes off," he instructed, turning to cut on the water and giving her the perfect angle of his small ass.

Her shirt became acquainted with the floor followed shortly by her panties. Spencer tested the water with his hand while she slunk up behind him and slipped her hand beneath his shirt to sample the warm skin of his back.

"How long will I have to wait for you this time?" he asked, raising his arms to give aid in rendering him equally as naked.

She did so and he set to work kicking away his pants while she kissed the soft skin of his shoulder. He rocked back into the simple touch, head rolling back as a needy whimper fled his parted lips. She rose up on her toes to kiss below his ear and draw out yet another one of those intoxicating noises. Her heart thumped along in time with the low thrum of the water. Steam wafted up as if they couldn't create enough heat on their own.

He turned, fingertips snatching out to find hers and coax her back to him.

"Soon." The soothing caress of the water added to Spencer's and her own moan escaped. "I've got a doctor's appointment next week if you wanted to fly back up."

"I've got vacation time. You know I was reading that it's actually highly important for…"

"You to kiss me?"

A laugh and a press of his mouth to hers. He pulled the curtain into place and she pushed her body into his, its perfect place. This time she knew what she was getting into. This time Spencer was not just a roommate, he was hers.