Karen smiled as she woke up as she felt Matt moving her hair out of the way to kiss the back of her neck and let out a small, pleased hum as she rolled over to face him, bringing a hand up to caress his face.
“Good morning”, she said softly, and he gave his own pleased hum in response, moving in to kiss her again, on the lips this time.
Karen opened up to his kiss, enjoying it for a few delicious seconds before pulling away, ignoring Matt’s groan of protest.
“I believe it’s your turn, Murdock.”, she said putting a hand on his chest.
“Hmm…are you absolutely sure about that, Ms. Page? I could have sworn it was your turn.”, he murmured, turning his attention to her neck again, causing her to bite her lip and moan. Jesus, he was good at that.
“Matt!” she managed, laughing. “Yes, it is your turn. I vividly remember going last week.”
He ignored this, his hands slipping beneath the tshirt she slept in. And as much as she didn’t want him to stop, she also really wanted her chocolate croissant.
“They’re going to be all out by the time you get down there!” she tried again.
It was part of the little Sunday ritual they had developed in the four months they had been dating. One of them would stay to make coffee while the other would run downstairs to grab a couple of chocolate croissants from the bakery around the corner and a paper (the only purpose of this was so that Matt could hear Karen read her article out loud to him. Karen had once tried to make the argument that she could simply get her laptop out and read whatever article she had running in the Sunday edition from there, but Matt didn’t want to hear it. “I like hearing the paper crinkle” had been his response). They both loved their lazy Sundays. Given their busy schedules and the fact that sometimes Matt had to recuperate depending on how Daredeviling went, they didn’t manage to do this every Sunday. But they both tried like hell to make sure they happened as often as possible.
Matt lifted his head from her neck as well as removed his hands from underneath her shirt, and a jolt of disappointment passed through Karen.
“OK. But first, I have a question for you, Miss Page.”
Karen smiled as she rolled her eyes. “Shoot”.
Matt propped himself up on his elbow, resting his head in his hand as his other hand grabbed hers, lacing their fingers together and gulped.
Karen tried to hide her surprise as she noticed his expression; clearly, this was a serious question, not a playful one like she had been expecting. She squeezed his hand in an effort to reassure him.
“I know it’s only been four months, and I completely understand if you’re not ready.” Matt’s voice trailed off as he tried to hide his nervousness and gather himself.
Karen sat up, bringing his hand up to her mouth to kiss in to trying once more to get him to relax, as Matt followed her lead and came to a sitting position.
Matt took a shaky breath before continuing.
“How would you feel about…moving in here?”
Karen had absolutely no control of the tears that immediately sprang to her eyes or the smile that was so big her cheeks started to ache. She gave his hand a squeeze before letting go and grabbing his face with both of her hands and kissing him deeply.
“I love that idea” she whispered as she tilted her forehead against his after they broke apart.
Matt smiled from ear to ear, the smile that never failed to make her melt.
“Really?”
Karen smiled and nodded, tilting her forehead against his.
“Really.” she said, kissing his cheek.
“I was worried you would think it’s too soon”, he said letting out a nervous laugh.
“If we were a normal couple, maybe.”, she said, a teasing tone to her voice, and he smiled. She reached up, running a hand through his hair before continuing.
“Matt, I would love to move in here with you. I kind of feel like I live here already. I mean, I already keep a lot of stuff here, and I sleep here almost every night.”
Matt smiled as he leaned in to place a lingering kiss on her forehead, letting out a sigh of relief as he pulled away.
“OK, Ms. Page. Now, I will go get the croissants”.
Karen grabbed his arm as he went to get up, pulling him on top of her, her earlier desire for a croissant completely fading away.
“You know what? I think I’m willing to skip routine and revisit your earlier idea, Murdock.”, she said, in between planting kisses all over his face.
“Oh, really?” he murmured, enjoying every second of this, hands slipping back under her shirt.
“Mmmhmm” she murmured, closing her eyes, once again enjoying his hands on her body. “I think you asking me to move in warrants skipping it just this once.”
Karen raised her arms as Matt brought his hands to the bottom of her shirt, his fingers closing in on the fabric, but he paused before taking it off of her.
“So this means we’re skipping my turn to run downstairs, right?” he asked, a mischievous tone in his voice. “So you’re up next Sunday, Page.”
Karen laughed. “Oh you think so? I think we’ll have to discuss that one counselor.”, she said, matching his teasing tone.
“Are you sure you want to go up against my mad negotiating skills?” he asked with a smile, at last removing her shirt.
She laughed again, grabbing his face. “Shut up and kiss me, Murdock”.
And he did.