The door closed behind the maid, and Lee pulled Amanda into his arms. "Wow." She murmured into his lips. Then "Oooh!" escaped her as he swept her up into his arms.

In one athletic, graceful movement he lowered her to the bed, and followed her down, his lips moving from hers reverently down the side of her neck. Her hands seemed frantic pulling at his tie.

"Slow down, Mrs. Stetson, we've got all night... " he punctuated his words by grazing his teeth on the tendon at the side of her neck, "And the rest of our lives." He toed off his shoes, kicking them over the side of the bed.

"But we've waited... forever." She finally figured out the tie, and threw it away with a flourish. Her stomach knotted, half with nerves, half with need. She pulled his shirt up from his trousers, wanting—needing to touch skin. His abdominal muscles clenching at her fingers trailing up brought a satisfied smirk to her face. She kicked her shoes off, reveling at the feel of his leg under her bare foot.

Lee moved back to her mouth, rolling with her so they were both on their sides. He pulled back to look into her eyes. "I never thought we'd get here."

She raised a hand to trace the line of his jaw, a gesture so familiar to him. His own hand caught hers, bringing her fingers to his lips, kissing the tips, then gently nibbling. Her eyes widened.

She continued to work on his shirt. He slid the jacket off her shoulder and followed it with lazy kisses from her neck, to her shoulder. He smiled at her shiver.

Soon they were both pulling at buttons and zippers and tugging off what remained. Lee stopped in wonder when he discovered the bits of antique ivory lace and satin underneath her conservative suit. Devoutly he undid the front clasp, bending to kiss the alabaster and rose revealed. He looked at her face as his hands cupped her perfectly. She looked... worried.

"Manda?" She looked away from his gaze, a flush rising from her chest up to her face. Her hands became busy below his waist. "You're so perfect," he managed to groan. Her clever, clever hands were bringing him toward the precipice he had waited so long to push over. His own hand found her center as his mouth trailed over her collar bone and downward. She seemed ready, but... alarm bells began sounding in the back of his mind.

Amanda shifted so she was more underneath him, her wicked hands bringing him to the edge, leading him to her. He tried to slow the pace, to bring her along with him, but she pushed her hips up and hooked her leg up over his thigh and he was lost. He slid into her, using the last of his willpower to be gentle. She was tight and welcome and he was home.

He held himself still, letting her adjust to him, but again, she lifted her hips, clenching around him. He wanted to make this last, nothing had ever felt so right. He felt something inside him so big with emotion he didn't even have words for it. He touched her, trying to bring her along with him. He could no longer hold back the rhythm, moving faster. He felt her tighten around him and he was lost...

Hearing came back first, his own breathing harsh and fast to his own ears. Smell next, the scents of sweat and sex and the smell that was so uniquely Amanda. When he could, he rolled to the side, taking his weight from her. She clung to him, rolling with him, keeping him inside her. Her head rested on his shoulder, her fingers idly playing with the hair on her chest. He opened his eyes to look at her, her eyes were closed, a small smile lifted her lips. The alarm bells had started again, and were clamouring now.

"Amanda..."

"Mmm..." she hummed. "That's Mrs. Stetson to you Mr. Stetson."

"Amanda..." he couldn't keep a note of exasperation out of his voice. He felt her entire body tense.

"Lee?" A rosy blush lit her cheeks. "Wasn't it... was something... wrong?"

"Amanda... 'it' was great for me. But... " He tilted her chin up with his fingers. She looked studiously at her fingers toying with his chest hair. He kissed her on the tip of her nose. "It's supposed to be great for both of us."

"Oh.' She snuck a look at him through her lashes. "It was lovely... I love you, Lee."

"Of that, I have no doubt." He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her even closer to him even as he withdrew from her. Right now he would gladly strangle Joe King with his bare hands. He kissed her forehead. "Amanda... " His hands soothed the silk of her back, unable to resist skimming low to her hips. That was the best sex he'd ever had in his life, and as far as he could tell, the worst a partner of his had ever had.

"On a scale of say, one to ten... where does lovely fall? Ten being, let's just say, 'the best it's ever been,' and one being, 'lay back and think of England.'

Amanda squirmed against him, clearly not comfortable with the conversation. "Lee... "

"Amanda. Answer the question." To reassure her, he kept moving his hands against her back, and nuzzled his lips to her shoulder.

"Lee, you were wonderful. I'm just not..." her voice broke slightly... "I'm not exactly very good at this."

His hands tightened possessively on her hips. "Where did you get that idea?"

"I just..." She buried her face in his chest. "I should have told you," she murmured.

"Amanda. Answer the question. One to ten."

A heavy sigh, suspiciously watery escaped her. "Nine," she whispered.

Yes, Lee thought, he could easily kill Joe King barehanded right now. Slowly. Painfully. He knew Amanda had never been with anyone except Joe, she'd told him as much when they had decided to wait until the wedding to consummate their own relationship. He knew Joe had done a number on Amanda's self-esteem when he had left her and the boys behind to go traipsing off to Estocia to save the world. He suspected Joe thought Amanda would cave-in once he left and follow him.

She staunchly refused to talk about the divorce. What Lee could dig up was a few court transcripts citing irreconcilable differences. The separation had been more than two years before the divorce. Joe had only been back to the States once.

Lee took a deep breath to calm himself. "Why do you think you're not very good at this?"

"If I were any good at it, would we be having this conversation on the first night of our honeymoon?" she asked wryly.

"Amanda, I've never lied to you... " he caught her raised eyebrow, "well... I've never lied to you about us." His lips found her temple. His hands started to wander more intimately, no longer soothing, but seeking to kindle the spark again. "I've never, ever been with anyone like you. I love you Amanda, and that makes... this... so much more than anything I've ever known."

"But I need you to talk to me. I need you to tell me what you like, and don't like. This should be as amazing for you as it is for me."

Her hands were starting their own small, restless explorations again. "I don't know..." her sigh spoke volumes.

"Tell me about you and Joe." Lee prompted.

"Lee Stetson I will not talk about my ex-husband on my honeymoon!" Lee chuckled at her raised voice. "Don't you laugh at me." She swatted ineffectively at his chest, an edge of tears in her voice.

"I'm not. I promise." She pouted at him. "Only a little..."

"I just... we just... " a huge, long sigh escaped, only slightly watery. "We were young, you know? He was my first. I didn't know any better. Everyone told me what a good catch Joe was, he was going to be a lawyer, and he was handsome... It was just what was... expected of me. And then before you know it we had Phillip on the way... And I loved him, but we were never very good together. I just don't think I'm like that... I tried to, you know, satisfy him," her face was bright red with blush by now, "but then I was pregnant with Jamie, and when he left... I guess I just thought... you know... that he probably would be happier with someone more... sexy."

The last word was barely a whisper.

Lee would have happily shot Joe, and done CPR to revive him just so he could shoot him again.

"You're serious? You believe that? I don't know what line he tried to sell you Amanda, to get you do do what he wanted regardless of you and the boys, but you can't believe that." His lips and teeth worked on her neck, that place that made her melt. "You are beautiful and hot as hell. You have those legs that go on for days... " His kisses punctuated his words, moving to her shoulders, "Your shoulders, especially in that white gown..." Now on her collarbone, and the heat was building inside her, something deep in her curling and unfurling at the same time... " Man... that white gown makes me crazy... "

And then his mouth was on her breasts, first one, then the other; while his hands were tracing the outline of her hips, her ribs... his mouth moved lower, worshiping her abdomen, then lower still...

"Lee... no-" her words were cut off with a gasp as he found her, his mouth on her most intimately. His hands now running down the backs of her thighs, to the back of her knees... Her fingers found his hair. She bucked against him while his hands and mouth worked their magic. He could feel her, taste her getting ready, coming so much closer than she had been. She fought it, fought the overwhelming hugeness of it, but for once he was grateful for his experience. He coaxed her in every way he could. He felt the ripples even before she recognized the climax coming. Her fingers gripped at his hair. His fingers worked inside her while his mouth worshiped her. And he took her over the edge. She screamed his name as he felt her clench around his hand—for real this time.

With a satisfied, somewhat feral grin, he moved up her body, kissing, soothing, his way up. He slipped into her. She was impossibly wet, slick and welcoming for him. He kept her on the edge, pushing her, using every skill he had ever acquired as he advanced and retreated, pulling almost all the way out only to slide back into her, coming home with each thrust.

He felt her fighting it again, felt her frisson of fear at the enormity of it... when he knew he couldn't hold back any longer, he slipped a hand in between them, and together they crashed into eternity in a moment.

This time it was far longer before he could move to shift his weight off her.

"No... don't..." she mumbled, ineffectively pulling at him to stay with her. He rolled them over so he was on his back and she sprawled on top of him. Both of them were catching their breath.

"On a scale of one to ten..." Lee murmured...

Amanda giggled. "How about... a hundred and fifteen?" She kissed his shoulder beneath her. "Wow."

"Yeah."

Long moments passed. Lee wrapped his arms around her.

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"Is it always like that?" Amanda was blushing again.

"With you? It will be." Lee's fingers found her hair, soothed the back of her neck. "It was never like that before."

"You're just saying that." She turned her head to look at his face.

"Mrs. Stetson, you make me hot just seeing you across the room. I want the back of your knees to sweat when you think about us."

"Oh." Her eyes widened. "I think I could get to like that." She smiled.

O . o. O . o

Six Months Later

Amanda glanced up through lowered lashes across the conference table. She prayed fervently that Billy Melrose did not ask her any questions. She had not heard a single word he had said in the last ten minutes. Not a single word since she had looked up to see Lee Stetson surreptitiously catching her eye and loosening his tie so minutely that no one else would even have noticed.

She concentrated on not squirming in her chair. The backs of her knees were sweating.

As soon as the meeting ended, she retreated out the door, brushing by a flabbergasted Francine not used to her abruptness. She studiously dropped by the one report to International that had been due, then made the long trip down to Accounting in the basement to drop of expense reports for the month.

She entered the Q bureau, closing her eyes with a sigh as she dropped her purse and the notes from the meeting onto her desk. She barely had time to register the 'snick'of the door locking before she was grabbed from behind, spun around, and pushed against the wall.

"You're slowing down, Mrs. Stetsion." Lee held her wrists up against the wall, and brought his mouth down to hers.

"I knew you were there, Scarecrow." She met him, eagerly, mouths crashing. She tugged at his captive hands but he would not relent. She changed tactics and in one smooth jump, hooked her legs around his hips.

He let go of her wrists in surprise, lowering his hands to catch her bottom.

"Vault. Now." She ordered, hoarsely.

He complied, walking them into the film library vault, awkwardly closing the door almost completely behind them. Her hands expertly worked his belt and trousers. His found their way up under her proper, wide, long skirt, to the very scant bits of lace and satin underneath. He skimmed her thigh-high stockings along the way.

With just a slight re-positioning, a minor displacement of skirt and pants, he was sheathed inside her slick silk. She groaned and dropped her forehead to his shoulder. The cold, smooth steel of the rear wall of the vault was against her back. Lee held onto her hips as he pushed into her, the ancient rhythm building. His lips found her neck.

"Don't you dare give me a hickey. I only have so many summer shirts with collars, Buster..." She chastened... and then words were gone. Quickly, together, they crested the wave and crashed to eternity in a heartbeat.

Gently, Lee lowered them carefully both to the floor. Breaths mingled, heaving for air, savoring the coolness of the vault.

"We gotta... " she started, catching her breath, "stop doing this. We're gonna get caught."

He nuzzled his face in the open space her pretty summer blouse left on her chest, careful not to wrinkle it. "Then you have to stop looking at me like that."

"ME?" She swatted at him ineffectually, indignantly. "You started it."

"What are you going to do about the meeting notes?" He asked, soothing a hand through her hair.

"I'll tell Francine I spilled coffee on them or something and get hers. You didn't hear a word of it, did you."

"Nope." He said, a dumb, boy grin on his face. She couldn't help but run her fingers through his hair. Had anything EVER been like this?

"Amanda?"

"Ten, Lee, Ten."

"OK. Just checking." He smiled, kissing her. "I thought you said you weren't very good at this."

"I"m better at everything with you." She smiled back.