Note: In this chapter I just use the real first names of a few of the wrestlers (i.e. Rodney = Yokozuna, Will = Paul Bearer, Solofa = Rikishi/Fatu, and Randy Poffo = Randy Savage) Just wanted to clear that up for anyone who was like 'who are these people?'. Okay, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

The following months, they both pretended that nothing had ever happened. They continued to chat like normal and never mentioned that day or that kiss or the way it made either of them feel. Mark wasn't about to admit that he wanted to taste more than just Stephanie's lips and Stephanie wasn't going to admit that she wanted more than just a kiss from Mark. But Mark had been very careful with his words since the kiss and he kept a fair distance from Stephanie, so she got the memo and played along. To keep the peace and follow the path they both knew to be safer and much less complicated, they kept to safe conversation and minimal teasing. This was really more detrimental than beneficial, though, as it left both of them craving more than this very limited friendship they forced themselves into.

Stephanie desperately wanted Mark to call her princess again and tease her about something, anything that would indicate he still wanted to flirt a bit with her, that he still wanted her in some way. Whatever way that was, she didn't care. She just wanted the Mark she knew back rather than this overly cautious man who was careful to not slip up and call her princess or tease her when she acted bratty. It was like she was talking to a random guy backstage who didn't want to upset Vince's daughter so they made sure to say what she wanted to hear and kept their distance. But, Stephanie allowed it from Mark as much as it bothered her because she didn't want to lose him. She still had hope that they would get together someday, even if that wasn't right now. She was willing to wait.

Mark was perhaps more of a mess than Stephanie. He told his older brother about kissing the girl and his brother warned him to be careful, he warned him that if things went wrong, he could be in some serious trouble. Not only that, but this would surely effect Stephanie's relationship with her father if Vince were to find out. So, Mark decided that it was best for both of them to just forget the kiss ever happened and maybe if they acted like it didn't happen then one day he could stop thinking about her and her soft lips that tasted too good for this world.

And so this charade continued until the annual Christmas party.

This year Vince had decided to host the Christmas party at his home in Connecticut and as he sat in the car with Rodney, Will, and Solofa, he thought about Stephanie McMahon a little too much.

All his closest friends were married and couldn't understand this internal conflict he was having about letting himself give into temptation with Stephanie, not that he was planning on telling them. He had layers to his personal sex life. He had what he presented to acquaintances (which was providing them with minimal knowledge except for basics, like that he wasn't married), the part he presented to his close buddies (which was that he fucked a fair number of women frequently and enjoyed going to strip clubs), and the part that he kept to himself (which was that he only wanted to fuck Stephanie McMahon and even though he hadn't done that, he had kissed her). He was positive that if his buddies found out that he hadn't fucked Stephanie but had only kissed her, they would assume much more was happening than he was letting on, like a real relationship or some shit like that.

Little did Mark know that his friends did think that something was up with him, but they had no idea what.

When they arrived at the McMahon house, they were greeted by Vince immediately who went through saying a polite 'hello' to everyone and when he got to Mark he embraced the man in his arms.

"Hey Mark! Great to see you! Glad you could make it" Vince let the man go.

"Yeah, I wouldn't miss it. I'm sure it'll be a great party" Mark looked around and noticed Stephanie lingering behind Vince alongside her mother. Her face looked a little flushed and she was smiling. Could the girl be drunk? And so early? Sure, Mark and the boys didn't show up especially early but he didn't think that they'd shown up too late either.

"People got here a bit early so you'll have to knock back a few to get on par with a lot of the guys" Vince joked.

Okay, apparently they had arrived a bit late compared to everyone else and from the looks of little Miss. McMahon, she had been sneaking alcohol from the get go to get to her drunk state now. Mark wondered how her parents hadn't noticed her flushed cheeks or her unusual amount of smiling and then he pondered if it wasn't really that obvious and he just paid so much attention to the young woman that he noticed any little change in her. The latter scared him a bit and he cut off that line of thinking as quickly as he had started it.

"I see that. Well, I'll be sure to catch up. Just point me in the direction of the bar" Mark chuckled.

Vince turned around "Hey Steph, can you show Mark to the bar?"

"Yeah, of course daddy" Stephanie nodded and skipped, yes skipped, up to Mark "Right this way, sir."

Mark would be lying if he said that the way she called him 'sir' didn't stir him up a little bit and if that wasn't bad enough, he took note of Stephanie's short skirt as she began to lead him to the bar. Clearly, God was testing him tonight.

As they got into the hallway, and out of sight, he bent down to Stephanie's ear and whispered "Someone's gotten into the liquor cabinet already."

Stephanie stopped walking, turned towards him, and put her hand on her chest, trying to over-exaggerate her offense "Well, sir, I am offended you would think such a thing because I am underaged and would never drink alcohol."

There was that 'sir' again and Mark felt his pants getting tighter. He had heard Stephanie's tales of getting drunk at parties and even how she once fell into a pond while drunkenly stumbling home, but had never personally experienced a drunk Stephanie. He should probably have been thankful for that because with every word she spoke he was forgetting how he had resolved to keep things platonic between them.

"Well, considering your claim to have never drank alcohol, it is odd that I smell alcohol on your breath. Isn't it, princess?" Mark played along with her, even using his pet name for her, something he really shouldn't have done.

Stephanie smirked, pleased that her drunken self had gotten him to call her princess again. She missed it more than she could say.

"That is quite odd, are you sure you're smelling alcohol?" Stephanie leaned in closer to Mark "Maybe you should confirm that?"

Mark desperately wanted to confirm that. He wanted to push her against the wall and kiss her deeply. Unfortunately, not only were they in a hallway that someone could very well casually walk into, but he had been trying to pretend their last kiss didn't happen because continuing down this path was not a safe one.

"Why don't you show me to the bar, Steph" Mark said bluntly.

Stephanie was a little hurt. She thought that would work and when he turned her down, her face visibly dropped and she looked away. Mark saw her facial expression and felt a pang to his heart. He hated hurting her and wanted to tell her that he was so desperate to kiss her again, but couldn't. He couldn't because he didn't want to risk their friendship, his job, her relationship with her father, or worst of all, ruining her teenage years by fucking her up with his antics.

"Okay, yeah..." Stephanie turned around and started walking. Mark followed closely behind, feeling like a prize asshole but knowing it was for the best.

She lead him over the bar which was fully stocked and even had a bartender there, who had clearly been working hard for his paycheck that evening.

"Have a nice night, Mark." Stephanie said coldly, slowly walking away.

Okay, now Mark truly felt like a prize asshole. Hurting her was the last thing he wanted to do but evidently the one thing he had managed to do this night. He really needed a drink if he was going to make it through this night.

Mark spent the next several hours nursing several glasses of Jack Daniels while mingling amongst his coworkers. He chatted and laughed at the appropriate times but he wasn't really present for any of it. If he was being honest, he really spent those several hours keeping an eye on a drunk Stephanie McMahon. He noticed every time she would leave one conversation to go talk to someone else, which was only three times. The remainder of the time she spent searching for either of her parents, making eye contact with Mark, scowling at him, then she would proceed to stalk off in the opposite direction.

It was around 12:30p.m. when Will came up to him.

"Mark? We're going to head out soon. Rodney and Solofa are wasted" Will chuckled, remembering their drunken slurs that they wanted to pass out.

"Okay, sounds good." Mark replied, nodding.

As Will walked away, Mark took a look around the room and his eyes landed once again on Stephanie but narrowed as soon as he saw who she was talking to: an equally as drunk Randy Poffo who was a little too close to Stephanie.

Stephanie looked up for a moment and saw that Mark was looking over at her and Randy, as she knew he would be. After all, he had been basically tracking her movements all night. She leaned in closer to Randy and laughed as he said something that was incredibly unfunny to her, but did it matter? Mark wouldn't know that. She just wanted to get his attention and noted that she could laugh later about the comments he would make to her if he knew that.

By this point, Mark was making his way over to the two and when he got there he looked back and forth between the odd pair "Hey, what's goin' on here?"

"Hey Mark!" Randy drunkenly slurred, attempting to give the bigger man a hug "I was just telling Steph that she's grown up so much, am I right?"

Mark cringed at how sleazy that sounded coming from this man. He considered himself to be sick for wanting to get with the seventeen year old Stephanie, but it wasn't as if he was recently divorced and desperate for attention from women. Sure, he was eleven years older than her but Randy was well over double Stephanie's age. The man was forty-one years old, hitting on a teenager.

"Steph, could I speak with you?" Mark asked sternly.

"Hey man, maybe next week you two can do your little chatty chat thing, but for now this fine lady wants to talk to me." Randy smirked, looking Stephanie up and down, something that didn't go unnoticed by the girl.

"Yeah Mark, but what about?" Stephanie was almost taunting him at this point.

"Oh, just about what I thought of that movie you recommended" Mark gave her a look that only she noticed.

"That can definitely wait, man. Steph and I have some more chatting to do and-" Randy drunkenly insisted.

"Yeah, let's go talk about that" Stephanie interrupted Randy and walked off towards the hallway she had lead them to earlier that evening. Mark took off after her and left Randy there, angry and drunk.

Once Stephanie saw that Mark was in the hallway she opened a door and motioned for him to follow her. They slipped into the room and down the stairs in what Mark quickly concluded was their basement.

As soon as Stephanie flicked on the light at the bottom of the stairs, Mark pinned her against the wall "Just what the hell do you think you're doing? Flirting with Randy? That man is over twice your age."

"He was flirting with me! Besides, you're eleven years older than me."

"I don't flirt with you." Mark lied.

"Oh, you're right, kissing me isn't flirting."

"God damnit, Steph!"

"What? Did I bring up something I shouldn't have?"

"You have quite the mouth on you, little girl."

"And you have quite the mouth on you, sir." she winked at him.

He paced back and forth for a moment as he felt his pants tightening again and he fought to not think about Stephanie teasing him like that. How did he manage to get himself caught up with Vince McMahon's spitfire of a daughter? He was usually so good at avoiding trouble.

"You know, before I started talkin' to you, I was totally fine. I had my life together."

"Yeah, going to strip clubs and fucking randoms sounds like having your life together."

"At least they didn't keep me up thinkin' about them! I haven't lost any sleep over any woman I've fucked!"

Stephanie was stunned by his angry admission and Mark was too. He wanted to take it back and pretend it never happened like the kiss but he knew this wouldn't be as easily ignored as the kiss. This was him admitting that he thought about her, not only that, but that he lost sleep thinking about her.

"I don't know when it started exactly but," Mark kept going, now just blaming the few drinks he had for this confession "I never wanted it to go this far. I spent this whole fucking party watching you and making sure you were fine. How fucked up is that?"

"That's not fucked up at all." Stephanie contended "That's sweet and caring."

"I should not be being sweet and caring to a seventeen year old! I should be polite and respectful, but nothing beyond that" Mark shook his head "Don't you get it? This can't happen."

Stephanie felt her stomach tie into a tight knot as she tried to think of a way out of this. She didn't want this conversation to end with Mark ending their friendship or declaring that nothing could ever happen between them because she fiercely wanted something to happen, something more than just a kiss.

"You know when I told you that I was ready to have sex, just not with Anthony?" Stephanie asked.

"Oh God, Steph. Don't."

"And you asked if I was with someone else then?" Stephanie hesitated momentarily "Well, that someone else is you. Mark, I have wanted you for so long and I am so grateful for our friendship and I would take that over nothing, but I...I want to be with you."

Mark tried to take it all in. He tried to process it all. He tried. But, between the Jack Daniels and the short skirt she had on and the things she was saying, that she wanted him. Yes, she wanted him. He decided he would rather wake up regretting everything once again and thinking of how Vince would plot his murder than deny himself yet again.

He pinned her against the wall, pressing his body against hers, he bent down so that their lips were almost touching and whispered "Do you feel what you do to me, Steph?"

She felt him pressed against her and she bit her lip "I think you should feel what you do to me."

That was it, Mark was over the edge, and he knew the devil would be waiting for him shaking his head when he got to hell.

He kissed her. But not like before, he kissed her hard. He nipped at her lips and forced his tongue into her mouth while Stephanie wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to pull him closer if that was possible. He lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Mark had felt her skirt ride up and pressed himself against her as he moved from her delicious lips to her neck where he sucked rather bombastically in different spots. As he moved to her collarbone to leave several kisses and soft bites there, Stephanie moaned and Mark thought that it may have been the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard.

"Oh shit! Mark! I'm so sorry!" a voice said from behind the two.

Mark thought at that moment it was a very real possibility that his heart could beat out of his chest. Someone had caught them. Someone had seen them and he was going to lose his job. This was it. He had fucked up and now he would have to face the consequences of that. He momentarily pondered if once Vince found out he would hire a hitman.

He slowly let Stephanie down, turned around and saw his lovable, plump manager Will standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"I just couldn't find you and we were ready to go..." Will looked past Mark and saw the face of the woman his friend had been pressed against.

"Will..." Mark began but didn't know where to go. How was he supposed to nicely demand that Will never tell a soul about this ever?

"Your secret is safe with me." Will nodded and started walking up the stairs "But we do have to go."

"Oh...okay yeah, thank you...yeah" Mark was frazzled to say the least "I'll...I'll see you soon, Steph."

"See you soon, Mark." Steph agreed as she watched Mark somehow stumble his way upstairs as if the man had forgotten how to walk.

Stephanie slumped down the wall as soon as she heard the basement door click shut. She was still in shock over what had just happened and her drunk brain wasn't really allowing her to run through it as she would like. She was only able to formulate pieces of it together and let out a sigh. She had wanted that for so long from Mark, but she still wasn't satisfied. Now, she wanted more. Wanted more kissing, less clothing, more exploring, and less reservations.

Even her drunk brain knew that she didn't just want that, though.

Stephanie wanted Mark. She wanted all of him and certainly not just in bed but everyday. She wanted to be with him but had no idea if he would ever want to be with her. Clearly, he had sexual desire for her, that wasn't the problem. Stephanie wanted that desire to extend to her entire being, she wanted him to desire her as a whole and as more than just friends.

After nearly twenty minutes of sitting, trying to piece together that night and how much she wanted Mark, she felt herself tiring. Even her drunken mind was telling to stop and to go to sleep.

She meandered her way upstairs once more and just as she was closing the basement door, her father appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Hey sweetie! Have fun tonight?" Vince asked, smiling. She could tell he was a little bit drunk.

"Yeah, daddy! So much fun!" she tried to perk up or at least act like it for her father.

"That's great!" Vince sipped on his wine "Have you seen Mark anywhere? Will said they were leaving soon and I just wanted to say bye before they all left."

"Uh, I dunno where he could be" Stephanie shrugged "Sorry!"

"Oh, no worries honey! I'm sure I'll find him."

With that, Vince took off in search of Mark who had already left. Stephanie made her way up to her bed and laid down. Even then, her father asking about Mark in such a casual way had her heart beating faster. Any mention of him by her father made her nervous and she knew Mark must feel this threefold because she knew her father would always love her no matter what, but that love would not extend to Mark if he found out about what he did with his daughter.

Stephanie hated admitting that Mark was right but she knew it would be safer if they never went further down this path and stopped all the messing around right now. But, she didn't want that and she didn't really care about what was safer. She wanted to continue down the path and didn't really care where it lead.

The drive back to the hotel was silent. Mark didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing.

After Will and Mark had gotten Rodney and Solofa into their hotel room, the two men went off to theirs, still walking in silence. As soon as Mark sat down on his bed he decided to try to explain things to Will, if only so the man wasn't ever tempted to go back on his word.

"What you saw..." Mark sighed "That isn't a regular thing."

"Okay." Will rummaged through his suitcase for his pajama bottoms.

"Her and I...we've only ever kissed once before, a few months ago." Mark tried to explain but he wasn't sure what to say or how much to say. Probably because he himself had no idea what was happening.

"Okay."

"Do you have anything else to say?"

Will sighed heavily "Mark, I have known you for years and I know what kind of a person you are. I'm not concerned that you've coerced Vince's daughter into some weird affair, if that's what you're wondering. I don't think you're a predator and if anything, I'm glad I know now why you've been so weird."

"Why I've been so weird?"

"You've been different for months now, always off in thought, never fully there unless you're in the ring, and I've seen more women pass through your hotel rooms in the last few months than I have in the last few years."

"So how does what you saw tonight explain any of that?"

"I now know that you wanna be with Stephanie and you're trying to fight that."

"No, I don't wanna be with Stephanie. I just wanna get with her" Mark tried to correct his older friend, who he really couldn't believe he was admitting this to.

"Whatever you say." Will dismissed him and went into the bathroom to change.

Mark rested his head in his hands. Why couldn't he just fuck Stephanie and get it out of his system? Life would be so much easier. Then, he could go back to what he knew as normal before this woman took over his life. Surely after having Stephanie in bed, he would get this out of his system. One fuck, maybe two, and she could go back to just being a friend.

He didn't even want to think about what Will thought was happening. Not a chance.

Mark crawled into bed and shut his eyes. As he tried to fall asleep his mind ran through the events of the evening and he kept coming back to the feeling of being pressed against Stephanie and her sweet moans. The last thing he remembered thinking about wasn't how her mouth tasted even better this time around, but instead her sweet flushed cheeks and just how angelic she looked. How she always looked.