2017 Valentine's Challenge Submission #2 by Kelleher

Leia twirled her finger in the soft hair on Han’s chest as he dozed in post-coital satisfaction. Seeing the corners of his lips turn up in response to whatever he was dreaming, she grinned. She was pretty confident that his dreams were about the last few hours.  A small wave of pride swept over her…

That’s right, flyboy.  We may have been making love for only a few days, but I’m a fast learner.

She reflected that her fast learning was due to Han’s patience as well as much as her desire. He’d been a surprisingly tender lover, his strong arms cradling her while he whispered words of passion and love that made her feel like there was nothing in the galaxy but the two of them.  Only today had she found herself becoming comfortable with this sensual part of her being – the part he seemed to know better than she did – and able convey in her lovemaking the deeply primal desire that she felt for him.  Han would never say it, but she knew he must have been thrilled that they could now begin to revel in the long-suppressed…well, she guessed, the word was lust…that they had for each other.

Lust, she grinned. Lust was a charged word on Alderaan, carrying with it the implication of an out-of-control sex drive that could be used for good or ill, and something that she’d been quite sure, until Han had walked into her life, that she’d never feel or act upon. Tonight had proven her wrong about that in the best of ways.  Lust, she decided, is just fine if you are also immeasurably in love with person who drives you mad with desire…

She traced Han’s strong shoulder and collarbone.  He’d proven her wrong about so many things, and she had the feeling he probably always would.  That would have annoyed her coming from anyone else. But she was quite sure that life would always be filled with surprises when Han Solo was around.

My Han.

My scoundrel.

My husband.

She softly kissed his shoulder as she snuggled into the crook of his arm and dozed off to sleep.

******************

Han woke up to see Leia sleeping peacefully, her hair cascading down and half-hiding her naked breast.

That, he thought, is a view I could stare at forever.

He reached out to stroke her cheek, and then he smirked as their amorous adventures of last night came to mind.

That was kreffing amazing.  I think my eyes rolled back in my head. Repeatedly. I knew it wouldn’t take her very long to decide to exert some control here…and like I thought, I was lost in her the second she did.

There were a lot of women in his past. Probably too many.  At least more than he ever wanted to admit to Leia, although she’d said more than once that the past was the past.  Back then, loving someone had never been part of the equation.  Too risky, too revealing.  Sex had just been another thing you did – a really fun thing, sure, but a thing that didn’t carry a hell of a lot of meaning.

Now, if he were being completely honest, a part of him felt as new at this as Leia was. Suddenly, sex meant something, and that changed everything.

I wasn’t prepared for that, he reflected. I hadn’t realized that every time I’m with her, I’ll feel like I’ve done something that’s damn great at expressing desire, but also expresses love, and trust, and permanence.

It should have unnerved him.  It WOULD have unnerved him, even a year ago. Now? He welcomed it all, welcomed every change that their love had wrought without him even noticing it. He was sure there were more to come; life would always be filled with discoveries when Leia Organa was around.

My Leia.

My Princess.

My wife.

He reached out to trace the freckles that had adorably popped out on the bridge of her nose over the last few sun-filled days of their wedding trip and then leaned into kiss her as her eyes fluttered open, because he couldn’t wait another moment.