Babyville Page 0,13

they have not shared breakfast in such a long time that Mark has forgotten which exactly is her favorite spread. He thinks it's honey, but he doesn't want to be wrong. To be on the safe side he has clustered Marmite, honey, peanut butter, and strawberry jam on one side of the tray. “What have I done to deserve this?”

“Nothing,” he says, smiling back, sitting next to her on the bed, and dropping the paper on the pillow. “I just wanted to surprise you. Plus we've got the wedding today and if I'd let you sleep we would have missed it.”

“The wedding,” Julia sighs. “I can't believe Adam and Lorna are actually getting married. God. I thought they'd just live together forever.” She sneaks a sideways peek at Mark. “Rather like us.”

“Are you saying you want to get married?” Mark is shocked. It's a subject they haven't brought up for months. Years. Not since the early days. Julia's thoughtful look dissolves into giggles.

“Scared you, didn't I?” she teases. Although Mark won't admit it, his mental sigh of relief is enormous. He hides it by picking up his coffee and taking a sip.

“Seriously, though, I never thought Lorna wanted to get married, but I suppose I never thought she'd last this long with Adam.”

“But Adam's a really nice guy.”

“Yeah, but let's face it, he's not exactly the most dynamic man in the world. He's practically had a charisma bypass . . .” and she tails off, knowing that she has, in her more vicious moments, said exactly the same thing about Mark. “But he is lovely,” she quickly continues, before Mark has a chance to notice, “and I'm sure they'll be very happy together.”

“Go on, then.”

“Go on what.”

“I know what you're thinking. What's your prediction?”

Julia hugs her knees to her chest as she grins at Mark, because at times like this she remembers why she is with him. Although she usually admits it grudgingly, he knows her better than anyone else, knows the way her mind works, knows how to get her attention and keep it.

“Five years.”

Mark raises an eyebrow. “That long?”

“Okay, okay. Four years and three months. You?”

“You know I don't indulge in these games.”

“I'm guessing you'd give it ten and a half years.”

“That sounds about right.” Mark laughs, and in that moment of intimacy he leans over and plants a kiss on the side of Julia's neck. She turns to kiss him in return, laying her toast slowly down on the tray.

“Wait,” he whispers, pushing her gently away as he lifts the tray from the bed and places it carefully on the floor. Julia inches down in the bed until she's lying down, and Mark lowers himself on top of her, kissing her, smelling her hair, her neck, feeling her skin.

He moves one hand down and unbuttons the top button of her pajamas. “Fuck, I hate these pajamas,” he whispers into her ear, and she giggles before moaning as his fingers stroke her nipples to a peak, all the while kissing her.

“Wait,” she whispers, pulling back until she can look at him. “It's not . . . you know.”

“Not what?” Mark speaks quietly because he knows what she is about to say, and can already feel the mood beginning to break.

“Not, you know . . .” She is embarrassed and she looks away for a second before meeting his eyes again. “. . . the right time.”

Mark doesn't say what he would normally say. He doesn't explode. He simply lowers his head to kiss her as his fingers move further down her body. “I know,” he whispers as his tongue follows the trail his fingers have left down her stomach, and then neither of them says anything for a very long time.

“Well, that was a lovely surprise,” Julia smiles and curls up in the crook of Mark's arm, lazily trailing a hand across his chest. The smile is genuine, she truly had forgotten how wonderful it had once been to make love with Mark. It had always been the glue that held them together, this extraordinary passion they had, right from the start.

The first time they went to bed together it stunned both of them. The electricity was so strong you could almost smell the sizzling in the air. They lay in bed, that first time, breathless, speechless, unable to believe their luck at finding one another, neither having ever experienced anything like that before.

Julia thought it had disappeared. Mark thought maybe he had imagined it in the first