Happy Birthday Olivia, enjoy this and your birthday :)

Once he left the office Paul went back to his hotel and sat down at his laptop with his sandwich to eat and work whilst he was in the mood for it.

After a couple of hours of working hard he got up and put his laptop away to do more unpacking to make his room more homely before he jumped in the shower to clean himself up and make sure that he smelt good before his date with his girlfriend.

Although she had got in to work late Stephanie made sure to leave a little early because she really wanted everything to be perfect for her date with Paul tonight.

The first thing she did when she got home was make a start on dinner and then whilst that was cooking she went to shower and get dressed.

He was trying so hard to not arrive early but he tried to make excuses to himself that the reason he was leaving half an hour before he should actually need to leave was to avoid traffic but he knew deep down that it wasn't, he just couldn't wait to see her.

Knocking on her door a lot closer to 6:30 than 7 he hoped that she didn't mind him coming by early. When she opened the door dressed only in a towel with her hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun he felt guilty for turning up so early, "I'm sorry that I'm so early."

"It's okay." Although he had been apologising to her for arriving early she couldn't help but notice the way that his eyes were roving up and down her body, "See something you like?"

And now he really did feel like he needed to apologise but he wasn't entirely sure how to apologise without sounding like he didn't fancy her. "Honestly? I see a lot I like. If I wouldn't get a slap for it I would happily show you how much I like what I see."

She couldn't help but bite down on her lip as she took a step back, "Why don't you hold my hands so I can't slap you as you show me?" Where had that come from?

As much as he wanted to take what she said at face value and believe that she truly meant it he was not ready to push his luck and ruin the night before it had even begun, Paul entered the house and shut the door behind him. The stare between the two of them was intense, she was watching his every move and he was simply finding it hard to take his eyes off her. He closed the distance slowly allowing her to walk away if she wanted but when she didn't he placed his hands on her waist before he leant in and pressed his lips against hers allowing his emotions to flow in to the kiss.

The emotion in the kiss sent a tingle down her spine and stole her breath away which was the perfect opportunity for him to deepen the kiss and he did but almost as soon as he had deepened the kiss did he pull away.

It would be so easy to take advantage of her but he found himself wanting to slow things down a little tonight and not get himself kicked out before they even sat down to dinner. The word 'sorry' was on the tip of his tongue but when he saw the look on her face which told him that that word was the last word he should say right now he pushed it back and settled on explaining himself. "It would have been so easy and so nice to keep kissing you but I thought that I would maybe leave you wanting more so that you didn't kick me out yet as you had your fill of kisses."

After lunch time and now this she wasn't sure that she could survive the rest of the evening around him. "Is that the only reason that you stopped kissing me?"

Truthfully no it wasn't the only reason but it was the only reason he was willing to share because he was trying to block the other reason from his brain so that he didn't make a really stupid mistake. "Well there is the fact that you have clearly put dinner on to cook and I don't want it to burn because I am too busy being selfish and kissing you."

"So you want to kiss me after dinner?"

Feeling a little awkward he nodded his head, she was either mad or inquisitive. "Well yes, only if you want to though. I'm not saying that I'm staying for dinner just so that I can kiss you but it will be a nice bonus to the time that I will get to spend with you as we have been apart for what feels like ages."

A light blush stained her cheeks at the way that he spoke about her but she wasn't going to reveal to him that she wanted to do a lot more than kissing just yet. "I will go and get dressed so why don't you make yourself comfortable."

"Do you have to? I am more than happy for you to stay like that."

The wicked gleam in his eye had her playful glare turning in to a half glare and half grin, "I am sure that you would be but I want to be able to cook and not worry that my clothes will fall off."

He didn't want to push his luck so he playfully zipped his lips shut allowing her to go and get dressed.

Stood in front of her closet Stephanie was so undecided on what to wear, did she dress down and wear jeans or did she dress up and wear a dress? Flicking through her closet she finally settled on a red dress that had a low back and a low front, she hadn't worn it before but only because she hadn't found the right man that she wanted to look at her like he wanted to rip it off her.

Paul was bored whilst he waited for her to get dressed and come down so he was currently in the kitchen pouring himself a glass of water as he wasn't sure that he wanted to drink as he wasn't sure what he would do if he was a little buzzed from alcohol. Eventually hearing the sound of his girlfriend walking towards him he turned to the door and was surprised by what he saw in front of him.

Nervously descending the stairs she went to get a drink for courage from the kitchen before she joined her boyfriend in the lounge, she was not expecting to see him in the kitchen so when she entered the room and saw the look on her face she blushed furiously; his eyes were nearly out of his head. "Too much?"

Too much? Was she out of her mind? He had no words to possibly describe to her how beautiful he thought that she looked. His mouth opened and closed a few times as he searched for the words to accurately describe what he was thinking but he had nothing.

"I'm sorry, I will change." The last thing she had wanted to do was make him uncomfortable and it seemed like she had succeeded in a spectacular fashion.

Before she could leave the room he scrambled to grab hold of her arm, "Wait." He kept his grip on her arm with his one hand and slipped his other arm around her waist pulling her back in to him so that he could rest his chin on her shoulder, "You look incredible Stephanie, I just didn't know what to say." Paul refused to look down as he held her close because he knew that he would see right down her dress and probably lose all control.

Tilting her head back she noticed the way his eyes moved from the wall in front of them to her face once she looked at him, "Really? So you don't mind if I wear this dress?"

"Not unless you will mind if I kind of stare at you. You look stunning; I don't think that I will be able to keep my eyes off you dressed like that."

She liked his honesty; she liked hearing him say that he wasn't sure if he could keep his eyes off her. "I don't mind as long as you don't stray in to creepy old man territory."

Dropping his grip on her arm and moving his arm from around her waist he walked around to stand in front of her so that he could stare in to her eyes, "I will try my best I promise. I love you Steph."

"I love you too." She pressed a soft kiss to his lips before she pulled away to check on dinner.

Nothing more was mentioned about her outfit whilst she cooked dinner and they actually relaxed into a comfortable conversation and worked well together to get it finished and dished up before they sat down to eat together.

After he had finished eating Paul stood up to tidy the plates away.

"Stop that, I will do it as it is my house."

"No you won't. You cooked dinner so it is my turn to do some work and I will do the dishes. Sit down and relax whilst I do this and then I will join you." Carefully stacking the dishes he prepared to take them all to the kitchen but stopped when she gripped his arm, "Yes?"

"Leave the dishes." There was something different about this evening and she just wanted to spend time with him. "They aren't going anywhere, if you are really that bothered by them then you can do them in the morning but can we please just spend tonight together?"

When she asked so nicely and proposed something that was so appealing he couldn't possibly say no to her. "Sure, just give me a minute to put them tidy and I will join you in your preferred room." He cringed as soon as he had finished talking, he didn't mean it quite how it could be interpreted but hopefully she didn't take it the wrong way.

The bedroom was her preferred room but she wasn't just going to propose that just yet. "I will meet you in the lounge." Sliding out of her seat she kissed his cheek before she left him to handle the dishes.

It only took Paul a couple of minutes to clean the dishes and put ones that could go in the dishwasher away and the rest neatly stacked on the side. Pouring them both a glass of wine once he was done he carried them through to the lounge.

Stephanie closed her eyes and rested her head on the back of the sofa whilst she waited for him to join her. Tonight had been such a pleasant evening and it was almost like nothing had ever gone wrong between the two of them, they had slipped back in to being a loving couple so easily that it made her wonder if there was more to their relationship than she even realised.

Quietly entering the room he kissed her forehead as he passed the back of the couch before he placed the glasses of wine on the coffee table. "Are you tired?"

"No." She raised her head to look at him with a small smile on her face, "I was just relaxing whilst I waited for you and thinking about how easily we have slipped back in to being a loving couple, there is nothing awkward between us at all. Well I don't think there is anything awkward anyway."

"I don't think there is anything awkward either." Paul sat down beside his girlfriend and was unable to stop himself from smiling at the way that she immediately moved to lean against him, "I agree with you though, but I love it. I have missed you so much whilst we have been apart so being here and fixing things and just getting back together and being so . . . relaxed together makes me happy."

As she leaned against him a little more she pulled her legs up to tuck beneath her, "I am glad that you are happy." Sliding her hand across his stomach she rested it on his far side and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Close enough?" The words were out of his mouth before he thought them through so as soon as he registered what he had said he silently said a prayer that she wasn't going to be mad about it.

Was he serious? She wasn't sure if it was a genuine question, a sarcastic question or a question that was leading somewhere. "In what way?"

"Well you just seem to be as close to my side as you can possibly manage so I was teasing you to see if you wanted to be any closer as it doesn't seem like you possibly could get any closer."

There was one way that they could get closer and she really wanted to get that close to him. Without saying a word she leant up and pressed a kiss to his lips to see if he would respond to it.

Paul would never deny that he was a sucker for his girlfriend's kisses so when she kissed him he wasn't really that interested in teasing her about being close any more, he was more interested in drawing her even closer to him. Tilting his head a little to deepen the kiss his hand found its way to her thigh and he slid it higher up her leg to pull her to straddle his legs. He didn't realise his hand was beneath her skirt until she gasped in to his mouth as he palmed her bare ass but yet she wasn't pulling his hand away.

She knew that she should remove his hand but this was what she wanted so she just went along with it in her own by rubbing his chest with her hands.

To begin with it was easy to maintain control over his body but when their kisses got deeper and his hand began to massage her bare ass as her hands rubbed his chest was too much and he had to rip his mouth free, "We should stop." Short of breath he was panting a little as he tried to keep his body under control but as he looked at his girlfriend's face there was a flash of hurt which made him feel guilty.

He wanted to stop; maybe he wasn't as ready to take their relationship further as she was. "I'm sorry." She tried to not look disappointed, he was still here and he hadn't indicated that he was leaving so at least she had that.

The second that she tried to move he grabbed hold of her hips to stop her, he probably should let her move but he just didn't want her to be mad at him so he just wasn't thinking. "We're cool right? Maybe we could pick back up where we left off in a minute . . . once I've cooled down."

She watched as his eyes widened and he looked a little panicked, "Are you okay?"

"I didn't mean to say that last bit out loud." The look on her face told him that he may want to reconsider that last sentence.

"What did you mean by it then? Are you mad at me for going too far?" She had a feeling that she knew what he meant but she had to be certain so that she didn't make a fool of herself.

Absently his thumb started to rub her hips as he maintained his hold on her. "I'm mad at myself for letting it go that far. The last thing I want to do right now is push you further than you are ready to go and I got caught up in kissing you that I almost pushed you further, if you know what I mean. Steph I love you and I am happy to go at your pace and I don't ever plan to push you or make you feel like I am mad at you so I'm sorry for tonight."

"Did it cross your mind that maybe I was doing the pushing and not you?"

It honestly hadn't crossed his mind that she was behind it all, he was so wrapped up in beating himself up for getting so caught up in the kiss he almost took things further and in trying to cool his body down he didn't even begin to consider that.

His silence told her that the answer was no, it didn't surprise her but she wished that he had considered her feelings. "As you are admitting to already being heated up I may aswell be truthful with you. The reason that I have worn this dress is because I was hoping to seduce you."

"You wanted to seduce me huh?" If she wanted to seduce him then he would be more than happy for her to go through with it. Reaching for the bottom of his shirt he untucked it from his pants as he leant forward a little in his seat before he pulled it over his head and dropped it to the side of him, "Does this help?"

Stephanie couldn't help but bite down on her lip as she stared at her half naked boyfriend right in front of her, "What are you doing?"

"You want to seduce me, I want to be seduced, I'm just making it easier on you. Steph I want this as much as you do." With a fire in his eyes he leant back on the couch reaching to brush her hair behind her shoulders before he gripped the shoulder straps to her dress and pulled them to the edge of her shoulders, they could easily be shrugged down but he wasn't going to take that final step.

Sitting there like a statue whilst he removed his shirt and played with the straps on her dress her stomach was doing somersaults, he wanted her as much as she wanted him. When he stopped short of actually pulling her dress down she couldn't stop her eyebrow raising, "Are you getting shy on me?"

"You wish." Still chuckling at the thought that he was getting shy he reached for the straps again, "I was just giving you the opportunity to tell me that I had completely gotten the wrong end of the stick."

Pulling her arms in closer to her body and lifting her shoulders in a shrug she allowed the straps to fall down her arms exposing most of her breasts to his eyes, "Depends, if you got the end of the stick that would require me out of this dress then I would say that we both have the same end of the stick."

There was no longer any denying that this evening was going to be taking them to bed really soon and he liked it a lot. He pulled the straps even further down her arms licking his lips when she removed her arms from them completely, "I love you."

Sliding her hands up his bare chest to behind his neck she leant closer until they were bare chest to bare chest whimpering as it sent shivers down her spine, "I love you too." When her lips touched his it was like a million tiny explosions went off in her body, this kiss was so different to the one just a few minutes ago, she had never felt anything like it and she couldn't get enough of it.

Their kiss quickly deepened and they soon realised that they weren't going to make it to the bed, their first time together was going to be right here on the couch but it didn't bother either of them, they just kept kissing and touching each other.