Guys, I'm so terribly sorry that it's taken me a longer to get this chapter up. I normally try to update the same day every week, but I've had quite a bit going on and haven't been able to sit down at my computer and actually get something out.

But look, here it is! I will update ASAP, and will get started on the next chapter the next time I'm alone with my Blackberry.

I want to, once again, thank everyone for the lovely reviews. It's great to see people so dedicated to leaving their thoughts!

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Have a safe and happy holiday, everyone!

Leon's head was spinning when his eyes fluttered open. Was it from the vast amount of alcohol he had consumed the night before? Or was it from the kiss he had shared with a certain redhead?

Leon closed his eyes and stretched his legs, indulging in the warmth his bed had to offer him.

He could still remember the way Claire's body felt against his. A faint smile spread across his lips as he remembered the way her soft, full lips felt against his. He remembered the way her flat stomach melted against his and suddenly wished he could feel that again. When she had turned over to kiss him, her shirt had edged up, pulling his with it, and gave the other a quick tease from the warmth of their skin touching.

He opened his eyes and only then realized that Claire was no longer in his arms, leaning her head against his hard chest. Sitting up in his bed, he noticed that he was alone in his bedroom. Leon listened for movement in the living room, but was only greeted by silence. Tossing the thick sheets off him, he made his way out of his room and looked around frantically for Claire.

Claire's hand rested on the front doorknob when she turned around to look at him, hearing him approaching. He quickly noticed that she had grabbed her purse and was about to leave his apartment when he had emerged from his bedroom, stopping her instantly in her tracks.

"Oh…hi, Leon." Claire's voice was hushed as she spoke, as if she were trying to avoid waking up a third party.

"Hey, Claire. Uh, are you leaving?"

"Yeah."

"Were you planning on leaving without saying goodbye?" Leon walked closer to Claire, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the wall. He watched her carefully, reading her emotions because he knew she was going to plead the fifth.

And she did. He knew her all too well.

"Claire, what's wrong? You weren't going back home, were you?"

"Yeah, I was."

"Why? You're going to go back to him?"

"Leon, we had a fight. Has it really been that long since you've been in a relationship that you've forgotten about the fact that that's what couples do?"

Why was she attacking him? He was trying to help her, damnit. Was she trying to start a fight to ease the guilt of leaving him high and dry so suddenly? Leon had to take a deep breath to stop himself from arguing back. Instead, his voice was calm as he spoke to her. "Claire, if you can't spend the night with someone after you have a fight with them, you shouldn't be with them. What does that say to you?"

Anger flickered on Claire's features. "What that means to me is that I shouldn't come to you when I need someone because you'll just throw it back in my face. Screw off, Leon."

Claire pulled the door open and turned away from Leon. His open hand rested on the door above Claire's head. With almost no effort, he slammed the door shut, drawing out a startled gasp from Claire's lips.

Leon moved so quickly that Claire couldn't even counter him.

He grabbed her hips and turned her around to face him. He threw her against the door with a thud, careful to keep her head away from the wood in the quick motion. She tilted her head back to look up at him, her blue eyes wide with shock. She was speechless.

He leaned down, edging closer to her slowly to leave her unsuspecting of his motives. He leaned down so his lips were only a hair away from Claire's ear. He smiled, kept his hands firmly planted on her hips. Words could not explain how badly he wanted to take those small hips and grind them against his. He felt her shudder when he whispered into her ear, his warm breath caressing her skin.

"You shouldn't have kissed me, Claire." Closing the gap between his lips and her skin, he gently took her earlobe into his mouth. Her hands rested against his chest as she leaned her head back against the door, closing her eyes to fully enjoy his lips sucking on her.

Trailing kisses down her neck, he watched her from under his hair. His tongue ran along her skin between deep, rough kisses. He felt her shudder with each one. He could feel her moan in her throat as he kissed it longingly.

"I know, I'm sorry."

She could feel his lips curve into a smile as they trailing back up her neck. His warm breath drew another shudder out of her, his lips hovering over her ear once again. "I'm not."

Without warning, his lips crushed hers, taking dominance of her mouth with a fiery passion that neither of them had felt before. Towering over her, Leon leaned forward, his forearm resting against the door just above Claire's head. His other hand affectionately cupped her cheek as he kissed her with everything he had.

He smiled against her lips when he heard the thud of Claire's purse falling to the floor. He pressed his body against hers, desperate to feel the warmth of it against him.

Claire's mind was completely empty as she kissed Leon back. A strong tingling feeling between her legs was making it impossible to push him away and firmly remind him of her fiancé at home. She knew she should have, but she couldn't bring herself to. Her fingers intertwined at the back of Leon's neck as she wrapped her arms around him. She pulled him closer to her, even though at this point, it wasn't possible. The only way they could possibly be closer is if he were in her.

He knew he was hard. The feeling of having Claire against him was too much for him to bear. All the government training in the world couldn't give him enough self restraint to keep himself from tearing off all her clothes right there and then.

The moaning deep in her throat was driving him absolutely insane. His knees nearly buckled below him when she nipped on his bottom lip, sending him a sexy smirk as she did so.

"That's it." Leon muttered.

Claire let out a squeal as he grabbed her ass and lifted her up. Holding onto him out of fear he would drop her, Claire leaned her chest against his as he pushed her against his front door. Leon saw her eyes nearly roll back into her head. His hardness was pressing up against her, where it had belonged all this time. All this God damn time.

His lips found hers again, a hot, heavy, urgency for the soft feel of hers ran through his entire body. He felt her wrap her legs tightly around his waist, pulling him as close as she could to her. He lost the fight against the moan in his throat when he felt her against him. Good God, he could feel her against him.

"Wait, wait, Leon, stop." Claire begged him between kisses.

Reluctantly, he let go of her when her hands began to push against his chest. Bending down to pick up her purse, she tucked her hair behind her ears and looked up at him, trying to avoid the very apparent bulge in his pants.

"What's wrong, Claire?"

"What's wrong?" She pointed her fingers back and forth between them. "This, this is what's wrong. Leon, I have a fiancé. A fiancé, for God sakes."

"A fiancé who doesn't treat you good, Claire." He reminded her quickly.

"Oh? And you would treat me better, Leon? I seem to remember you absent from my life about ninety percent of the time. You really think you would be better for me?"

Leon was silent. He didn't have anything to say to that. It was true. Painfully true. Even if he did try to establish a relationship with Claire that went beyond friendship, his job would ruin it. That would probably be by he couldn't even remember the last time he had a girlfriend.

"Look, Leon, I'm going to go. I'm supposed to have lunch with Jill." Claire shot him one last look as she pulled open his front door. "Bye, Leon."

Leon let Claire leave with apartment without getting another word in. He wasn't happy about her leaving, but he wasn't fond of the idea of holding a woman in his apartment against her will, either. Leaning his forehead against the door, he couldn't fight against the smirk that grew on his lips.

He could still feel hers against them as he let out a small chuckle. Jesus, what had he gotten himself into?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"He kissed you?" Jill nearly choked on her ice tea when Claire filled her in on just how she had spent her morning.

"Yeah. Well, after I kissed him in bed last night."

Jill sat down her drink and swept her long, chestnut brown hair behind her. Leaning her forearms against the table, she leaned in closer to her friend. "You were in bed together?" Laughter erupted from Jill as she enjoyed the news. "Oh, man, Chris is going to kill him."

"Wouldn't Chris be happy about this, though?"

Jill looked at the redhead and cocked her eyebrow, narrowing her eyes. "Why would news of his best friend hooking up with his little sister make him happy?"

Claire shrugged and took a long sip of her coke. "Isn't that a good thing? I mean, who do you trust more than your best friend? You know him, and he's got to be a good guy if he's your best friend."

"Wow, it's like you don't know Chris at all. It's your best friend doing your little sister, the last ray of sunshine in his life. I don't think that's ever going to be considered a positive thing."

Claire nodded, rethinking the words that were just spoken between them. That was one thing she always admired about Jill. The woman could always see both sides of a situation and constantly had a clear mind to asses them with.

"Just for the record, though, there is no "doing" of each other or hooking up between Leon and me." Claire corrected.

"Yet…right?"

"I have a fiancé, Jill. It was terrible of me to just kiss Leon, forget about adding sex to the equation."

"You have a fiancé who's an ass, Claire. You should never settle for someone who doesn't deserve you, and I hate to be the one to say it, but I think you have. I'm not saying you should throw your world upside down for a man who's hardly ever in it, but think about what you deserve and how you're not getting it right now. You and Leon have gone years without acknowledging the feelings that have obviously been between the both of you. Maybe it's time to step back and just let fate work its magic."

A wide smirk appeared on Jill's red lips as she picked up her ice tea. "And tell me all about it when you do."