He’d kissed her!  That was definitely against the agreement.  She knew it was just a little thing, but it was something, right? That was proof that he loved her. Unless… what if it was only out of habit? They had been living together for almost a year now. She was confused. She didn’t understand how they could live together for that long and notadmit that love was there, helping to hold them together. She had agreed in the beginning to move in because it had made so much sense the way he explained it. They could combine their resources and provide for their girls better by working together. Theirs would be a relationship built on mutual convenience and trust, with the advantage of giving their girls a two parent household.  Lots of relationships were born out of convenience, or so he had said in the begining. Of course she had known then that she loved him, but she had gone along with the logic because it had made sense. But now she wondered.

      What if he didn’t really love her? Yes, they were very good friends, and they shared a mutual passion for each other. What if that’s all it really was to him. A good friendship and great sex. For the first time since they had struck their deal, she began to have doubts.  Maybe the affection he showed her was just out of habit, not out of love.  How could she convince him that he loved her if he truly didn’t feel that way, but was only comfortable with her?  She yawned. She really was very tired. I’ll just wait until tomorrow to think about this. It will be OK, she thought. She rolled over and quickly fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.

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      When he came into the room she was already asleep. Good, he thought. If she was asleep then he wouldn’t have to worry about making her think he loved her when he curled close.  He just felt comfortable that way. 

      Who was he kidding? He couldn’t take his mind off of her the whole time he was in the shower. If she had been awake, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stop himself from making love to her.  But that wasn’t because he loved her. No, it was because he was very caring of her and thoroughly enjoyed the physical side of their arrangement. Yes, that sounded like a good logical explanation.  He curled up behind her, put his arm around her, and quickly drifted off to sleep.