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He realizes right in the first month they are together.
This thing that grows between them is still delicate and fragile, both are still learning to navigate a relationship together after so much turbulence between them. After so many years just wanting.
They are getting to know each other again, not only as friends but now as a couple.
How to make your brain understand that after so long Olivia wasn't just his friend?
How to make your brain understand that you finally have what you have wanted for more than two decades?
How to make your brain understand that now they were no longer just good friends but were walking to share a life together, side by side?
How to make your brain understand that now he was free to touch her, love her and caress her?
That was crazy, he just couldn't understand how he was so lucky.
Of course there was a lot of strangeness in the beginning, both were still discovering how to act, how to touch each other and how to expose their feelings and emotions. That’s normal, both only knew each other like Olivia and Elliot separated, and not Olivia and Elliot as a couple. Together.
Everything was new. They were getting to know new smiles and looks, new touches and sighs. They still had the same communication and synchrony as before, but it seems that now everything has intensified and they were more connected than ever.
It was only ten months that day in her office, where he arrived with a crumpled paper bag and a necklace in a box that said more than his words could say to her. He was choosing her and waiting for her, even though he had to leave and spend six months away from her, talking only by message and sporadic calls.
But what was six months for those who spent ten years away and waited for more than two decades? He would wait as long as it took if he could just compensate her for all the pain and sadness he made her go through.
When Elliot returned after six hellish months in Chicago where he watched a drug gang and was on a stakeout, she was still waiting for him and he realized that the compass had not come out of her neck.
From that moment on, they both spent the next two months working on their friendship.
Elliot took the time to take care of his family and get closer to his children while he was there for her too.
There were two months of many breakfasts, lunch outings and many emotions being exposed.
Finally after years they sat down to talk and put everything on the table, with no more lies, omissions and feelings locked inside them. It was painful, it was a lot, it was heavy, but little by little they were getting there, they were healing.
Olivia began to open more space for him in her life at the same time as she worked on herself and tried to understand her feelings. She knew he was just waiting for her. That ring wasn't on his finger anymore.
It seems that finally all the ghosts were leaving.
After these two months of healing and release, finally, on a cold and cold January night in her kitchen (again) she approached him and confided to him that she felt ready. Elliot thinks he can never forget how his heart beat wildly and how she took his breath away with just those three words.
"I am ready"
And he also thinks he will never forget the trembling look on her face, the sigh of confidence and the smile that grew on her face soon after.
And he will not forget when she took the courage to lean over to him, reached out her hand and touched his cheek so gently before joining her lips to his. It was the sweetest thing he's ever experienced in his life.
He will definitely never forget that.
***
They both had a hard day at work, it's the end of March and things are starting to get very busy in her unit and his, and all Olivia wanted was to get home, have dinner with Noah and take a good shower.
It was already around nine p.m. when she received a message from him saying he was going up.
Noah had been in bed for some time and she thinks it's better this way, still not totally comfortable to let him know that Elliot spent the night. Noah knew they were starting a relationship but she preferred that they take things slow and that Noah only saw Elliot for breakfast, as if he had just arrived to join them.
Elliot came most nights since during the day they rarely managed to have lunch together and Noah monopolized her during the weekend. So they were still trying to figure out the way to make room in their schedules, but until now this adjustment was working well.
Except this week that was a complete mess and they didn't see each other three nights in a row. They just exchanged some messages and calls, and Elliot sent some food deliveries to her at the office, since she wasted her time and forgot to eat most of the time.
She received him with a plate of fresh pasta and a glass of whiskey, and smiled at him as soon as he finished eating.
"Looks like we haven't seen each other for a week," he says as he puts his plate and other dishes in her dishwasher, and approaches again letting his hands fall on her hip. "God, I missed you" he leaves an affectionate kiss on her soft lips. "Thank you for dinner."
She smiles and runs her arms around his waist. “I missed you too. God..." she leaves a kiss in the middle of his chest. "Seems that this week was endless and would never end... I'm so exhausted."
He agrees and holds her shoulders doing a small massage while kissing the top of her head. “Come here. Let's go to bed, you need to rest."
They both walk together to her room and Elliot undressed, goes to bed and waits for her to change and do the whole night skin care routine.
But as soon as she leaves the bathroom with a simple black nightgown - which highlights her milky skin even more -, her face clean and dry hair, he forgets everything about resting and only knows that the next minute they are in her bed kissing madly and her nightgown is gone.
***
He realizes right in the first month they are together.
She likes to be praised as much as he likes to talk.
And he decides that he will take advantage of it today.
Not that he had never praised her the other times they were together, but today he is determined to raise the level and see if he is really right about it.
"That's it, baby" Elliot has two fingers rubbing inside her as she writhes on the bed and moans. “Shhh. Need to be quiet" he reminds her of Noah in the hallway and kisses her face, going down to the soft and so sensitive skin of her throat. "Just like this. I got you."
She gets a little quieter and her nails stick to the flesh of his shoulder and he thinks it might be a good time to try his experiment.
Her hot and wet interior squeezes around his fingers and he thinks he can pass out just because he's the one who makes her feel good that way. "So beautiful, Olivia" he incites her while increasing the movement of the fingers inside her, she squeezes him even more and opens her eyes to him, and he thinks time has come.
"That's it, baby. Let it go," he keeps his eyes on her face to catch any reaction. "The most beautiful thing I've ever seen and taking my fingers so well" Olivia's eyes widen and she lets out a noise of surprise that he has to take the other hand to her mouth to stop her, and he can only laugh because after all, he was right. She likes him to talk during sex.
He moves his hand away from her mouth and kisses her strongly. God, he loves her so much...
Olivia's thighs tremble as an announcement of her release that is about to come and he moves away, his eyes land where she is rosy and wet and swallowing his fingers.
He moans watching her like this just for him and slides his free hand to touch her breasts, feeling the softness of the skin and the weight against the palm of his hands. "So fucking beautiful, and just mine" he plays with her nipples a little and Olivia whines, and when he looks at her face again Elliot catches her watching him, and he smiles before saying again "You're everything I've ever wanted, Olivia." she moans at him again and writhes against his fingers. “Jesus, El” she takes a deep breath.
"You can't imagine how much I dreamed of it. How much I wanted you every day and I could only imagine what it would be like..." he whispers watching her agony "What would your smell, your body feels, your taste on my tongue be like... But nothing has prepared me for reality," she trembles and closes her eyes tightly while scratches his back painfully. "Just like that, darling. Come for me, Olivia. I love you so much."
It didn't take any more words. She came so hard that he couldn't move his fingers inside her. He waited for her to calm down, removed his fingers from her, wiped his hand on the sheet and brought her into his arms.
His hands caressed her back and his lips kissed every inch of her face he could reach, as she calmed down and returned to earth again after a mind-blowing orgasm.
"You okay?" He walked away a little to look into her eyes and saw some tears dripping.
“I'm fine. It was just... very intense” he agrees and kisses her head.
"I had a brief notion that you liked when I spoke but I decided to test you a little more," he laughed as he looked at her. "Now I'm sure."
She laughs and sinks deeper into his body "Who knew that a good catholic boy would be a talker in bed" she kisses his chest and feels him tremble with the laughter that escapes.
And who would have thought they would end up together after waiting so long?