P led M up the stairs; a familiar route for both of them. They turned at the top of the stairs and headed into a familiar home. He grasped her hand a little tighter as he recalled those moments in August and his thumb brushed her wrist. He smiled when he saw her bracelet and lifted her arm so he could press his lips to the pulse point just underneath it. She gave him another one of those dazzling smiles; he liked to think of them as her "P" smiles, since he didn't think he'd ever seen her aim one at anyone else.

They reached her room and stopped, and P reached down for the handle and swung the door open for her. She looked up at him, and he thought he'd never quite get used to those eyes. Still, he quite liked the idea that he would never take her for granted, never stop being surprised that he was looking at M and she was looking right back.

'Come in for a second?' She asked quietly, her hand still in his as she took a step into the room. He allowed her to pull him through the door, and she stopped briefly to swing the door shut. At his questioning look she blushed slightly, letting go of his hand, her eyes settling on the floor before she spoke again.

'I,er, need your help with my dress. I can't undo the buttons down the back.'

'Okay.' P was a little surprised that his voice sounded as steady as it did. He reached out a hand and brushed it lightly down her arm. 'Turn around then.'

She did a slow turn on the spot and reached up to pull her hair over one shoulder, giving him clear access to the line of buttons than ran from the centre of her shoulder blades to the small of her back. He took a hesitant step forward and undid the first button, continuing down slowly. He did his very best to ignore the little tingles that shot from his hands down to his belly every time the tips of his fingers touched the flesh of her back, but when he undid the very last button he just couldn't resist running the knuckles of his fingers down the length of her spine, feeling the smooth softness of her skin beneath them.

He heard her inhale sharply, and pulled his hand away quickly in case he'd upset her. She turned on the spot in front of him, one hand resting on her chest to hold her dress up and the other reaching for his. She tangled her fingers with his and took a tentative step towards him, the blush on her cheeks only making her look more appealing in that moment. She stepped closer again, so close their bodies brushed and it was his turn to draw in a short breath. She rose on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his, a light teasing brush that made his head reel and his skin tingle. He used their joined hands to tug her closer, and his free arm snaked around her back to rest a hand on her bare flesh, fingertips sinking into her skin, holding her lightly against him so that he could just feel her body against his through their thin layers of clothes.

Her fingers stayed tangled with his as their lips met and parted, and met and parted, until they were breathless and desperate and there was very little rational thought left in either of their heads, and just when P thought he couldn't take any more, M let go of his hand and moved very slightly away from him; she brought her eyes up to meet his, her kiss-swollen bottom lip caught in her teeth as she looked up at him.

To his utter shock, she removed the hand that was holding her dress up and allowed it to slither off her shoulders and down her body until it was nothing but a pool of pale silver around her feet. He inhaled sharply; it might not have been the first time he'd seen her in her underwear, but this felt different somehow, something about her slowly deliberate movements made heat curl in his belly. The way she was looking at him wasn't quite like any way she'd ever looked at him before, and she was so wonderfully, ridiculously perfect standing there in lacy white underwear over creamy skin, and those bloody night colored stilettos that made her already long and skinny legs look longer and skinnier than they really were, and if she didn't take those damn shoes off he thought he might expire from frustrated lust right there on the spot. There wasn't exactly a lot of blood in his brain anymore.

He didn't have long to consider his sexual frustrations though, because M closed the gap between them, pushing up against him and wrapping her arms around his neck as her mouth latched onto his hard enough to bruise; his lips yielded under hers as her mouth attacked his, and he saw no reason to stifle the groan that wanted to escape when her tongue found his.

His hand still rested lightly on her back, and he rubbed the flat of it gently up and down her spine as she pressed even closer against him, and his other hand rose to cup her face as her hands sank into his hair and she sighed his name softly against his mouth.

The sound of his own name falling from her lips broke something in him; he tore his lips away from hers and attacked her neck with his mouth, teeth nipping and tongue swirling as he planted marks all over the pale skin, marks that meant she was his, that she wanted to be his. His ministrations drew a dry sob from her throat, and her hands fisted and tugged on his hair as his mouth made its way back up to the spot just below her earlobe.

M's hands were shaking as she clutched at his hair, and her head had fallen back as he dragged those kisses and bites across the skin of her neck, but when he sucked at the spot just below her ear she let out the gasp that had been building and twisted her head so she could nip at his earlobe.

He let out a sound that could only be described as a growl as he pulled his lips away from her skin and brought his forehead down on hers, his pupils dilated and dark and his breathing just as fast and shallow as hers; he began to take quick steps backwards, pulling her with him until his the back of his knees hit the edge of the bed and he dropped backwards onto it, pulling her down with him and kicking his shoes off as they fell.

She fell lightly on top of him, stretching her arms out to catch herself and prevent her full weight from landing on him, but before she had time to draw breath he'd seized her wrists and rolled them over so that she was under him, feeling the solid, reassuring warmth of him pressed along the length of her body.

His weight pressed her down into the mattress, though he was careful to prop himself on his elbows for fear of crushing her, and her skin burned where he pressed open-mouthed kisses all over her shoulders, his tongue skimming under the straps of her bra, teasing at them but never moving them.

She reached for him, her hands trembling slightly as she undid the buttons of his dress shirt one by one until it was fully open and the material hung down around her like a veil; she ran her hands up his muscular forearms, then slid them under his collar and pushed the shirt off his shoulders. Obligingly, he lifted his weight from his arms and sat up to pull his shirt off the rest of the way and fling it to one side before lowering himself back down to hover just above her, his bare skin just barely brushing hers and his face dipping down to tease the swell of her breasts with his lips, his teeth nipping at her gently through the soft material of her bra.

M gripped his shoulders, then let her fingers splay out across his back to feel his warmth; one hand skimmed up and her fingers ran lightly up his neck until her palm rested flat on his cheek and he lifted his head away from her breasts, turning his face into her hand. Her fingers ran over the planes of his face, lightly touching his jawbone, his cheekbone and running up to just dip into his hairline, and she delighted in the slight shivers that ran through him from the smallest touch from her.

She moved her hand down over his neck again until it was flat on his chest, and the other one joined it as she pushed herself up on her elbows so she could meet his lips with her own.

‘I should stay this close, don't you think?' She breathed the words against his lips, feeling the heat of her mouth mixing with his while his heart pounded under her hands; she could feel it so clearly she could swear she was holding it in the palm of her hand.

'I'm never going to disagree with that.' P murmured, his lips leaving hers to ghost along her jaw and down her neck as his hands moved to rest gently on her upper arms. 'I want you this close or closer, always.'

His lips moved back to hers, and his tongue swiped along the edge of her lip and made her groan. P caught her bottom lip between his teeth and tugged lightly, revelling in the small noises she made for him.

His voice was low and rough, but the tone was almost conversational now. 'I know so many of the little things about you by heart.'

His lips moved to just behind her left ear and the light brush made her quake under him. 'That little mole you hate, that you can see beneath your lip; that's right here.'

His hands snaked over her breasts and along her sides and he opened his eyes again so he could watch hers darkening. 'I know you're ticklish around your ribs.' He tickled her lightly and grinned as she squirmed under him; he imagined she could easily feel the effects of that little wriggle on him, since his erection was quite insistently pressing against her leg through the thin material of his trousers.

He kissed her lips once, lightly, before moving his mouth down her neck and along the valley between her breasts, tickling her skin with the faint hint of stubble on his face and kissing his way down her stomach and pausing over her hipbone.

Her breath was coming quicker and quicker now, hers fingers curling into the bedspread, and his face stayed buried in her stomach while his hands slid down from her sides, over her hips until they stopped at her knees and gripped. 'You're ticklish here too.' He swiped his fingers across the soft skin at the back of her kneecaps and felt her tremble under him again.

'I know a lot about you M, but I don't know everything.' His hands slid back up to her knickers, his thumbs brushing very lightly under the lacy material at the tops of her thighs as his mouth moved across to kiss along the top of them. 'I want to know everything; I want to learn every bit of you.'

'P...'

'Every bit M.' His thumbs hooked around her knickers and he began to slide them slowly down her legs; he felt her shivers increase, heard her breathing get rougher and he slowed down in case she wanted him to stop. He may have touched her here before, but he'd never seen her, and this was different in any case. But she didn't say anything, so he slid her underwear all the way down those long skinny legs as he pressed hot, heady kisses all over her lower abdomen and right at the juncture of her hips and thighs, his nose skimming over her and inhaling that scent of vanilla and musk that always coated her skin and drove him crazy, until finally he could remove them entirely, getting rid of those stupidly sexy shoes at the same time.

'I don't…P, I…God…' She uttered almost incomprehensible sounds, and he paused to look up at her; her head was tilted back and her hair was spreading across the pillow as her hands gripped fistfuls of the bedding.

'You can tell me to stop.' His voice was gruff and his hands moved up to grip her hips, but they were gentle on her skin and she knew he meant it; she could trust him with anything, even this.

'Don't.' Her voice was shaky, but he heard the certainty in it. 'I don't want you to stop.'

He pushed himself back up her body to kiss her lips roughly, and before he moved again he whispered in her ear. 'But you can tell me to, anytime you want.'

Then his mouth was making its way back down her body, over her lace-covered breasts, across her stomach to the very apex of her thighs, and her legs trembled as she felt his lips brush there, then her whole body shook violently when his tongue slid over her. Her hips bucked automatically up and his hands pressed her down into the mattress as his mouth worked over her, lips and tongue sucking and swirling; when he caught her lightly with his teeth she slapped a hand over her eyes as she bit her lip and her other hand grabbed for his shoulder and dug in firmly.

'P. Oh, oh god!' Her words were mumbled, stifled by her biting at her own lips, but there was no way she could have expressed the way she was feeling anyway; his mouth lit fires, fires that spread from her sex through her whole body, until even her fingers trembled from the feeling of his tongue against her.

When she couldn't take any more and everything inside her burst and flooded her senses, she called his name and caught him by the shoulders, tugging with shaky hands and no real strength, but he immediately acquiesced and allowed her to guide his mouth back to hers. It was surreal, to taste herself on his mouth, but it barely registered next to the curling lust that was settled low in her abdomen. She reached for the waistband of his trousers and popped the button and fly with quick clever fingers, and her hand delved straight past the line of his boxers to grasp him; he let out something between a hiss and a groan as she stroked the length of him, hand firm but soft on hot skin.

'M.' He groaned her name as his eyes closed against the stiffening in his groin and his hands reached for the clasp of her bra so he could rid her of the last item of her clothing, even as he kicked his trousers and boxers down his legs until they hit the floor with a dull thump.

There was nothing between them now, it was skin against skin and he didn't think he could take much more of her touching him like that when she was naked and perfect and under him.

'M.' He bent forward and his mouth ran across her now uncovered breasts, peppering them with soft pecks, his hand sliding down to gently part her legs again until his thigh could slip between hers, and then he paused, holding himself tightly against her as she caressed him. 'M, are you sure that this is what you want?'

'P please…' she groaned the words out, then gasped suddenly, letting him fall from her grasp. 'No, wait, wait, just…one second.' She used her free arm to grope around on the bedspread. 'Where's the condom, we need…'

'Shit, of course.' The curse fell from his lips as he pushed himself off her just long enough to reach down and yank the conom from his discarded trousers; he hovered over her and brought his lips to hers. 'And you're sure? Really certain?'

She nodded just once, her fingers ghosting over his face, and he put the condom on, dragging it slowly over his aching hardness, before lowering himself down onto her, resting carefully between her thighs.

Their bodies pressed against each other, all warm skin and shaking muscles covering the nervous pulsing of their blood and the hammering of their hearts. P's lips came down on hers for another slow, gentle kiss, and then he pulled away as he felt himself brush up against her entrance, and the sensation made his whole body jerk and sorely tested his control. Their eyes met and M gave him the smallest of nods as encouragement, then their mouths caught and clung just as P pushed inside her.

M broke the kiss on a gasp; there was pain, a dull burn, but it wasn't anything compared to the warmth that spread through her when he began to move slowly and gently inside her. He brushed kisses across her cheekbones and pressed his face against hers as he whispered to her.

'Are you okay? I'm sorry love, I'm so sorry.'

'Don't be.' M hissed out, arching upwards as he hit just the right spot, then she surprised him by sinking her fingertips into his waist to encourage him to speed up a little as her eyes locked with his. 'I wouldn't say the pain is the main thing on my mind right now.'

He smiled as he pressed his lips down on hers again, feeling every inch of him moving against every inch of her and knowing that it was right, it was perfect, it was where they should be, and she felt it too.

They gasped and sighed and moaned, and hands slid over flesh and mouths scattered kisses over exposed skin, but always came back to cling to each other as they pushed each other higher and higher, bodies moving against each other and twining together as they reached for a release.

When M cried his name again, P felt his whole body begin to shake, and he let himself fall off the edge of the precipice they'd climbed together; when his shaking limbs couldn't support him anymore he slumped down onto her and breathed in the scent of her sweat-sheened skin. They stayed there for a long moment, bodies pressed together and arms wrapped around each other, absorbing the feel and smell of each other and preserving the moment in their memories.

'I love you.' M whispered the words first, her voice rough and breathy, and P lifted his head from the crook of her neck to kiss her again and whisper the words he sometimes still had trouble believing he was allowed to say to her.

'I love you.'

He brought their foreheads together again, and then rolled them until they were lying on their sides facing each other. They lay quietly, smiling at each other, their breathing evening and slowing as their heart beats calmed.

'Stay?' asked M, her voice sluggish as drowsiness overtook her, her hand reaching up to push P's hair out of his eyes. He pulled her a little closer and pressed his lips to hers again, his eyes fluttering closed as he answered sleepily.

'Do I look like I'm moving?'

M's lips curled up in a smile. 'Happy Anniversary P.'

He laughed quietly and kissed her temple. 'Happy Anniversary M’