This is the slightly more reasonable alternative to what I first imagined in my head. The less reasonable version involved a shotgun wedding in Rio and hiding a marriage for a year ;)

Payson knocked on Sasha's door with a little bit of trepidation. She was probably more nervous for this date than she was the first time they slept together, because she'd spent months building it up in her head.

Of course, she'd also spent months building a real relationship with Sasha, so that helped her nerves. In the absence of any possibility of sex, they had spent hours upon hours just talking, getting to know each other in a way they hadn't allowed themselves to do before Rio. They loved each other more than ever.

Sasha answered the door, and she could tell immediately that he was just as nervous as she was. She shook her head and chuckled. "We are such idiots."

Sasha smiled in response. "I know. I've been this way all day and I don't even know why."

"I know why," she said as they moved inside his apartment. "It's because we've spent every night since we left Rio thinking about today, about how amazing it's going to be. Now that it's actually here, we're worried that it's not going to live up to expectation."

He slinked his arms around her waist and pulled her against his chest. "You're right about part of that—I have been thinking about tonight for months, and I have built up a lot of expectation, but there is no way that us being together won't live up to those expectations. We are going to be amazing together."

His reassurance made her feel better. "You're right, Sasha. I love you, and tonight is going to be amazing."

"I love you, too, Payson." They kissed, and all of her anxiety melted away. They were so good together, so right together.

Payson took his hand and led him to his bedroom, then paused in front of the bed. She remembered doing to same thing their first night together in Rio, but this time there was no doubt in her mind. She had a purpose.

She started to open the row of buttons down the front of her dress, and Sasha caught on and joined her until she let the dress drop around her feet. Beneath it she was wearing a white lace corset, chosen specially for this night. Even though she wasn't a virgin and they weren't married, this felt an awful lot like a wedding night.

Sasha was speechless, staring at her with a mixture of awe and arousal that she hadn't seen so strongly since the first time they made love in Rio. She'd hoped it would affect him like this. When he kissed her again, it was with unrelenting fervor.

His prediction had been right—they were every bit as good together as she'd been dreaming of for so many months. Better, even, because she'd forgotten just how right it felt being connected with him on that level.

It was a night to rival their last night in Rio, when they'd been driven into a frenzy of passion by the knowledge of their coming separation. Now, though, it was nine months worth of pent up desire that was driving them to new heights.

When they ventured out of bed, they ate dinner naked on the couch, something that she would never have been confident enough to do the first time they were together. They had each other for dessert.

It was late into the night before they slowed down long enough to have an important conversation. As she laid draped on top of Sasha, Payson asked, "We've got another year until the Olympics, so what's our plan? How are we going to handle this?"

"Obviously we've already ruled out waiting until after it's over," he joked. Waiting until after London had never really been an option; waiting until her eighteenth birthday had been hard enough. "You could just move in here with me and we could spend every night like this."

That part was not a joke, and she loved that he really wanted her to live with him, but it wasn't realistic. "That sounds wonderful, but it's not very subtle. I'm pretty sure me moving in here would lead to a bunch of people finding out about us and you getting fired as the National Team Coach."

He accepted her reasoning and asked, "What do you think we should do?"

"Maybe I should get an apartment of my own," she suggested. The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea. "We can spend some nights here and some there, but when we need to pretend to be normal single people we'd have separate places to go."

He agreed, but with a stipulation of his own. "Let's just try to make sure that the times we need to be single people are very rare. I've spent more than enough night without you already."

"I can definitely get on board with that plan. I don't want to spend any more nights without you, either." She paused as something occurred to her. "So I guess this is real now. We're officially a couple."

He chuckled. "Yes, a secret couple, but a couple nonetheless. You, Payson Keeler, are my girlfriend now, and I plan on keeping it that way."

"Not forever, I hope," she said, grinning down at him. "I'd like to think that one day I'll be your fiancé or your wife."

"That can definitely be arranged."

She hadn't set out to plan their future together, but somehow it had happened anyway, and there was nothing more to be said for the moment. All of the important stuff had been covered, and they had the rest of their lives to talk. Instead, they spent the rest of the night speaking with actions instead of words.