"And that's the last of them." Anna set the post-it on the board and stepped back. "I think I might just collapse."

"Me too." John rubbed at his eyes, "Maybe we should've brought Mary with us. To organize all this mess."

"She'd organize us right to the point of jumping off the roof." Anna collapsed into a chair, "We're still going to be three songs short."

"It leaves us better than we were."

"Fair." Anna leaned her elbow on the table to put a finger to her temple. "Any thoughts for what those should be?"

"Given our collage of songs… no." John took a seat, "But I've been thinking about a theme for the album. To make the songs fit together cohesively."

"What were you thinking?"

"Metamorphosis." Anna raised an eyebrow and he hurried to continue. "It's bigger than just change and it's not evolution. It's change from something seemingly simple to something beautiful and more complex."

"We, in this case, being the things that have metamorphosized?"

"Exactly."

Anna leaned back, twisting her chair under her a moment, and then nodded. "Okay, that's a good angle for the theme. But it will take some creative restructuring for the songs. We might even have to cut one or two… Which puts us behind again."

"Or we simply rewrite some lyrics to fit them better."

"I'll take your optimism because I've not got the energy to shoot down your hopes right now." Anna scrubbed at her face. "But we've got to finish it off with something. An end point for our metamorphosis."

"I've been thinking about that." John held up a finger, "The next generation."

"You may've lost me."

"We're developing ourselves to appeal to the next generation."

"Oh…" Anna nodded. "Okay, I'm with you now… Even if I'm hanging on by a thread as my brain melts."

"Then we should sleep on it." John rolled his shoulders. "Or maybe take a walk to try and clear out our thoughts."

"If I leave this room then I'm not coming back until tomorrow morning." Anna interlaced her hands at the back of her neck and let her head hang back a moment as she closed her eyes. After a moment she stood and paced the floor, her fingers still laced at the back of her neck as her elbows splayed out. She took a turn and then stopped. Pivoting on a heel, she pointed at the collection. "We'll need to change it again."

"After all this work?" John pointed toward the mess of Post-Its from his chair, "But it's possibly the most artistic thing I've ever done."

"Then we need to get you in Freddie's art class." Anna pulled the white board over and uncapped a marker to write. "If the overall theme is 'metamorphosis, then our albums need to do that."

"Yes…" John frowned, "That was what I said."

"I know, but this is building on that theme."

John narrowed his eyes and then shook his head as if trying to clear a fog of confusion. "I'm the one not following now."

Anna wrote 'metamorphosis' on the top of the board with John's name to the left and hers to the right below it. "It's the flow."

"The flow?"

"Yes." Anna wrote under John's name first. "We call the first album, or the first half of the dual album I guess, 'Introducing John Bates, Part I' and then start with songs only featuring you. Then we fade into our featuring numbers, then our duets, back to features, and finally to songs featuring only me."

She moved to the spot under her name and wrote, "Which we'll name 'Reintroducing Anna Smith, Part II'."

"I thought we were naming them 'Reintroducing Anna Smith, Part I' and 'Introducing John Bates, Part II'."

"We were but I think we should start with your fresh face and move into my work… It keeps the structure better."

"I think people would buy it for you more than me."

"Today maybe but tomorrow or a year from now?" Anna shook her head, "We start with you and yours. It'll set the tone for the album."

"Then the album itself is a metamorphosis from me to you but also our individual metamorphoses?" John pursed his lips and nodded. "I like the flow. And the bridge helps with the transition."

"And makes the next part even more complicated." Anna pointed to the post-Its. "We need to make those tell a story in two directions."

"Like those poems that read differently depending on if you start from the top or the bottom?"

"Exactly." Anna bit at her lip, "It'll change the tone of some of the songs we're doing in cover."

"That might be better actually."

"Really?"

"Of course." John pointed at the list. "We do them in different styles and change the lyrics to make them new and different enough to be worth the listen… And the cost of buying them for the second time.'

"Mary and Henry will like that." Anna tapped the marker against her teeth. "But this is about setting a precedent."

"How'd you mean?"

"We're forming our images and these albums will almost set in stone the sounds people'll expect of us going forward. Once we make this decision it'll be excruciatingly difficult to turn back or even around."

"Given that you're in a restoration phase and I've nothing to set any expectations before this, I don't think it'll be as big of a worry as you might." John shrugged, "But that's probably my inexperience talking."

"But you've also got a hopefulness about all this that I don't and that's comforting." Anna capped the marker and collapsed into a chair facing their list of songs. "I do have one that I want to be the last track on mine."

"You're writing the ending already?"

"It's the beginning from my perspective."

"When did we become The Last 5 Years?" John took a seat to pick up his notebook. "What's the track you've got in mind?"

"A lullaby." Anna twisted her chair a little, swaying it back and forth with her foot as the point of contact on the floor. "I'll need your help with it."

"To write the song or the music?"

"Both. It's been a bit since I wrote my own music and I'm a bit out of practice." Anna reached over the table, scattering a few balled up pages to find her notebook. "But I've got some lyrics and a title."

"What is it?"

"I was thinking of calling it Baby Cry." Anna winced at John's raised eyebrow. "Not a fan of the title?"

"It's a bit on the nose for someone who arranged this whole house to be hidden from the world."

"Then it's good I've got you here to make it a little more oblique in its references without losing its poetry."

"That's a lot of trust to place in my skills."

"You say that like I haven't seen the songs you've written."

John cringed, "Those are-"

"If you say 'nothing' then I'll throw this notebook at your head." Anna eyed him until John raised his hands in surrender. "The fact that we both agreed on the quality of all your previously rejected songs speaks to your ability."

"If you say so."

"I do say so." Anna put a hand to her chest, "As an expert in this industry, I think that you're underselling yourself."

"Maybe." John gnawed at his lip before tossing his notebook back on the table. "But I'm literally fried so we're going to get nowhere else tonight."

"Agreed." Anna put down her notebook and stretched as she stood. "Willing to risk a bit more time with me and take a walk around the property?"

"Why not?" John pushed himself out of his chair. "If I don't at least stretch then I'll wake up with kinks all up my back."

"If we're having a competition about the relative suffering we experience when we get up in the morning, I think I can top you with abdominal strain."

"I've got all the aches of age."

"Fine, Grandfather Time." Anna led them out of the converted barn and toward the field behind the house. "But I seem to remember you being impressively dexterous in the club where we met."

"I had some significant initiative." John winked and followed Anna as they tramped along a worn path through the field. "But my back wasn't thanking me the next morning, in case you're wondering."

"I wasn't thanking me the next morning." Anna winced, "I got myself a little tipsier than I should've that night and my head decided to wage war against me when I woke up."

"How many ibuprofen did you swallow?"

"More than the recommended dose." Anna continued wending her way along the path through the field. "But the pounding in my skull did eventually subside so I guess that's something."

"They say all pain is temporary."

"I thought the phrase was 'pain is weakness leaving the body'?"

"If you're in the American military, maybe." John shrugged, "But both phrases are lies in their own way I guess."

"The memory of pain lasts longer than the pain in most cases." Anna paused, "If we're lucky then the pain eventually goes away."

"So far my luck in that regard runs fifty-fifty."

"Mine too." Anna glanced back toward the house. "And, sometimes, it's the first fifty and then the second fifth comes right after."

"That's the best way." John turned a circle in place. "It truly is gorgeous here."

"Yeah." Anna closed her eyes and took a deep breath, leaning her head back. "I love it out here."

"I could see why… After you account for the constant damp." John dodged the elbow Anna aimed at him. "But I agree, it's got a charm to it."

"I like the quiet." Anna slowed her breathing. "After being in the city, the silence is the charm for me."

"The sound of silence."

Anna nodded, "It's… It's peaceful. And it's away from everything that London is and represents."

"Like the bullshit?"

"Especially the bullshit."

"Well," John rubbed at the back of his neck, "I can promise that if you're thinking of upping sticks and moving out here on a permanent basis, I warn you that the beauty of it all might drive you mad after a bit."

"Would it?"

"People idealize the 'peace and quiet' but, after awhile, I think most people miss the complications and drama of living." John shrugged, "It's the curse of thinking the grass is greener on the other side."

"And you've never thought the grass would be greener somewhere else?"

"As a half-native son of Ireland, I know it can be greener in other places but that doesn't make it better."

"Maybe." Anna sighed and tucked her hands into the front pockets of her jeans. "But it didn't stop my internal debate about giving everyone the finger and staying here after everything that happened last year."

"I wouldn't have blamed you?"

"No?"

"No." John shook his head, "Would've been a shame though."

"How's that?"

"I wouldn't have met you."

"That would be a shame." Anna smiled at him as they continued walking. "But it doesn't mean the thought doesn't still sit right at the front of my mind like the eject button when I need an escape."

"And I don't blame you for that thinking but you already told me why you wouldn't, or couldn't, do that." John herked his thumb back toward the house before following suit and pushing his hands into his pockets. "What becomes of the people you love in that house if you lead the wolves to their door?"

"Hell, I'd imagine." Anna gnawed at the inside of her cheek. "The media frenzy alone would drive Jane mad. Not to mention the strain it'd put on Freddie."

"Or you."

"Or me." Anna nodded and they stayed silent until John spoke again.

"What… What do you intend to tell Aiden?"

"About?"

"About his father or… About any of this."

"I don't follow."

"Well, right now, he'll grow up believing he was Jane's son and that you adopted him." John shrugged, "I assume you'll tell him, at some point, that he's actually yours and has been the whole time because you're his biological mother… Once he can understand that all."

"That's the plan."

"But then what do you tell him about his father?"

"Does he even have to know?"

"Eventually everyone wants to know where they came from."

"Maybe but, for as long as I can help it, Aiden won't know anything about his father." Anna shivered, "I couldn't bear to tell him."

"That's fair. But what…" John bit at his lip and flexed his jaw until Anna was on the point of demanding he spit out what he was thinking when he spoke again. "What if there are medical issues? What if Green finds out about Aiden? Do you have plans for when that might happen?"

"Hopefully never if the only people who know about Aiden can be counted on one hand."

"Then I hope you've got a mutated hand because, as a general rule, anything you hope no one else knows is guaranteed to become public information eventually." John stopped their progress, "There's a reason the adage is 'three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead'."

"That's morbid." Anna counted off, "You, Mary, and Jane are the only live people who know about Aiden."

"And not the doctors and nurses that delivered him?" Anna bit the inside of her cheek at that. "Or anyone who's been involved in the legal process of getting Aiden put under the appearance of being Jane's son?"

"What's your point?"

"My point is that, in my experience, you should prepare for the worst and hope for the best."

"And what does that mean, in this case?"

"That I want to help."

Anna blinked him. "Help?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"I've got a friend, who's a lawyer, who'd be able to get you around some of the stickier legal issues of the inevitable paternity case here." John's whole body tensed, as if he thought he took a step too far toward a ledge. "Which is a good first step and, at the very least, can offer a legal barrier Green'll have to hurdle before he can come after you… Or Aiden."

"And you want to help me with this?"

"If I can."

"Why?"

"Because…" John let out a breath, "Because I think it's the duty of those who can help to do it. And if getting you on legally stable grounds keeps this place and the people here safe then it's what I can offer. Especially since I can't offer any other help by way of the law."

"Because the law was there to help me before?"

John shrugged with a degree of helplessness, "It'll at least give you recourse if there's the slightest chance Green finds out about Aiden. And, in this case, I'd take even the slightest of chances as absolute certainty when it comes to dealing with shitbags out to destroy the lives of other people." John opened his hands to Anna, "It's a first defense, if nothing else, in the hopes it gives you the offense so you're not caught on the backfoot."

"How many sports metaphors can you manage in one sentence?"

"More if you give me the time."

Anna studied John's face a moment, "But why help me at all?"

"Because I like you a great deal and it'd kill me to see you sad again." John kicked at a tuft of grass. "I had a chance, even a sliver of one, a long time ago to say something when I had a gut feeling it was wrong and I didn't."

"You're not responsible for that."

"But neither are you." John reached out and Anna shifted to allow him to take her hand. "You don't have to do this alone and now, knowing what I know, I want to help where I can because I didn't and couldn't then."

Anna stared at John another moment before using his grip on her hand to offer the leverage she needed to go on her tiptoes to kiss him. Despite the brevity of the motion, her other hand still formed around his jaw and held there long enough to keep the kiss going until she pulled back. John only blinked in shock at her as Anna smiled.

"Thank you."

"Wha… What?" He swallowed and struggled to form a basic sentence as Anna lowered to her feet.

"Thank you. You've…" Anna shook her head, blinking to keep any trace of potential tears away. "You've no idea how grateful I am that you're here. That you've offered this. That you're… That you know and you can help me. That you want to help me and protect Aiden and-"

Whether he wanted to cut into Anna's rambling or because the point was beyond reached, it did not matter. What mattered was John taking the initiative to kiss Anna. His hands framed her face and cupped her jaw so his thumbs could brush her cheeks with gentle caresses as he kept the kiss gentle but firm.

When he pulled back, from one of the sweetest kisses Anna knew she ever received, their eyes met. The undercurrent of sensuality in the continued motions of John's fingers on her skin or the way his tongue traced his lips… To keep them moist or to taste her it hardly mattered. What mattered was the invitation.

It was simple. The kiss was not suggestive or publicly indecent but the proposal remained in it. It did not beg or plead but left the decision to her.

The simplicity of the exchange was the opening of a door. One she could politely close with nothing more said about the matter. Or…

Anna almost shivered at the thought. She could leave or take the next kiss if she wanted. Or leave and take much more. The more that John's eyes, never leaving hers, urged her to take.

How could Anna refuse?

So she kissed him again.

With both of her hands utilized to keep herself stable- one gripping into John's button-down and the other finding a better hold at the back of John's neck- Anna tipped John toward her. Their bodies maneuvered closer together and Anna sighed into the kiss as John's hands slid from her jaw to her neck and then lightly down her torso. He did not pause until he reached her hips and held there until Anna broke their kiss for air.

They breathed together in the quiet, the noise of the field the only thing to distract them from one another. Anna licked at her lips and then gasped in surprise when John surged forward to seize another kiss before he drew back this time. She could only blink at him as John reddened.

"Sorry. I wanted to kiss you again and…"

"And you didn't want to overstep?"

"Not at all." John's thumbs took to stroking along Anna's hips and he only paused when the edge of her shirt caught and he brushed skin there. His eyes met hers and Anna smiled at him. "I don't want to put you in… Knowing what I know now I'd hate to think I…"

"John," Anna put a finger over John's lips. "I think I know what you're trying to say, and what you're worried you'll do, but I promise you that if I've got a problem I'll tell you."

"You will?"

Anna nodded, "I've… I've had my share of therapy about all of this. If I'm uncomfortable I'll tell you before you've a chance to hurt me."

"I'd never hurt you Anna."

"I know." Anna moved her hand to trace John's cheekbone with her thumb. "That's why I don't have a problem inviting you to my room."

"Is that wise?" Anna raised an eyebrow and John almost tripped over himself to speak. "Because… Jane's in the house and-"

"And the first time we had sex was in the backroom of a club."

"No one could hear us."

"Ah," Anna tried not to smile. "Are you afraid of someone hearing us?"

"I'm not really an exhibitionist."

"Then it's a good thing that the rooms are pretty soundproofed in that house." Anna put her other hand on her chest. "I don't know if you know this, it's not public knowledge, but I'm kind of a big pop star."

"Are you?" John moved closer to Anna, his fingers resuming their stroke along her skin under her shirt, moving higher to leave Anna tingling when he brushed over her lower back. "Sung anything I'd know?"

"Maybe." Anna grinned at him, "And maybe I'll sing you something if you take me up to my room and give me some high notes."

"I think I could manage that." John slipped his hands free, "Especially since the alternative is trying to have sex in this field and I'm not a fan of that thought."

"Me either." Anna shook her head, "Tried it once, when I was young, and I ended up with hives for a week."

"Took the romance right out of it?"

"Killed it dead like bad poetry." Anna moved her hand to John's and interlaced their fingers. "But I'd like you to romance me."

"I can do that."

They moved back into the house, slipping in the backdoor and up the back stairs to reach Anna's room. She left John for a moment to check on Aiden before easing back into her room. John pointed toward the closet.

"Is he alright in there?"

"He'll sleep through just about anything." Anna nodded, "And I've got the door cracked if he cries."

"Do you think he'll mind?"

Anna moved closer to John, "Worried about a four-month-old being a cockblock, Mr. Bates?"

"Yes." John nodded solemnly, "I've been cockblocked by a number of things but never a baby and I don't want to add it to my list."

"Then we'll have to be careful we don't wake him up."

"That might be hard." John closed the distance between them, his hands holding to Anna's hips.

"Why's that?"

"Because, if I do as you asked," John's head dipped below Anna's jaw but his lips only skimmed her skin toward her ear as he whispered. "Then you'll be singing high notes and that's bound to wake him."

"Aiden's fallen asleep to my singing since before he was born."

"Then," John's hands moved up Anna's back to cup delicately around her jaw. "I'll not worry about the notes I draw from you."

"Please do." Anna put a hand to the back of John's neck to bring their lips together and sighed into the kiss.

John's hands pulled double duty then. One of them stayed along her jaw, gently tilting and guiding her head so his kiss could deepen, while the other shifted back to her hip. The position offered the maneuverability he needed to align their bodies so Anna could gasp into their kiss at the press of John's erection into her stomach. But when John almost released her, mistaking the gasp for surprise or perhaps even fear, Anna's fingers firmed at the back of his neck and she ground her hips back into him.

It triggered a groan from John and his hips bucked back into her as his tongue ran along Anna's lower lip. She hummed and flexed her fingers into the hair at the back of John's neck while her other hand slid down his shirt to find a better grip there. They swayed a second, finding their preferred holds, and continued their kiss until a mistimed pivot on John's part forced them to break the kiss to stop themselves landing in a tumble on the floor.

Anna snorted a laugh, hiding it behind her hand as her other flailed to find the end of her bed. She sat there and continued small laughs at the almost bashfully embarrassed expression John wore. With a shake of her head, and a crook of her finger, Anna kicked off her shoes and beckoned John forward.

He left his shoes and socks and approached Anna as she reclined back on the bed. The height difference left him with an advantage but John shifted carefully to his knees in front of the bed. With his hands on either side of Anna, John leaned forward and Anna met him in a kiss.

This one teased out longer than the others and John used it as leverage to tip Anna fully back onto the bed. Her fingers tracked over his cheeks to card into the hair at the back of his head when John tilted his head to change the angle of their kiss. The sweep of his tongue through her lips left Anna moaning and shifting against John until he pulled back.

Despite the hint of a whine on Anna's part, John traced his kisses along her jaw and down her neck to cover her with kisses there. And, between the two of them, he trekked his kisses lower once her shirt dropped over the side of the bed. Then it was about tracing the outline of her bra until Anna leaned up enough to allow John to unhook the clasps at the back.

Their position, a little more complicated at the forty-five degree angle they accomplished, soon returned to functional as Anna left her bra over the side of the bed. John stared at her a moment before ducking down to lavish her exposed breasts with kisses that left Anna arching into his lips and keening at the sensations. Sensations that had her clawing at John's shirt until he tugged it, without finesse, over his head.

Anna's fingers traced and raked over the skin of Johns back as he continued to adore her breasts with his mouth and hands. So much so that only the half-whispered plea from Anna to continue had John breaking away. He kissed her soundly then as she tugged him further up the bed and they both struggled to kick their jeans away.

That left them pressed together again, their half-naked bodies writhing against one another as they sighed and moaned into sloppy kisses at the sensations of gyrating hips pressing together. John bucked into her and Anna angled her hips to receive the motions as a stop-gap measure to reduce the build at her buzzing nerves. Nerves soon assaulted when John's kisses returned to her breasts and his fingers moved into her knickers to stroke through her dampening folds.

Taking her turn to buck into him, Anna flung one of her hands lower to try and wrestle her knickers lower so John could gain better access. The motion, for all the confusion and potential bruising it wrought, had John pulling back. For a moment Anna feared it was the end of their interlude. Instead, John left a kiss at her lips and then one down the line of her torso, between her breasts, and finally to her knickers.

Hooking his fingers under the elastic, John dragged them down Anna's legs. Once they hit the floor, joining the confused pile of clothes there, John zigzagged his way back of Anna's body with kisses to both her legs until he reached the crux of her hips. There he only paused long enough to ease her legs open so his shoulders could take up space there.

In the next moment Anna's head pressed back into the pillows and she gasped in mindless pleasure. John's tongue and lips and fingers worked together to drag each and every sensation out of her. So much so that the roll of her hips threatened to John's efforts. One of his arms crossed over her abdomen, to keep her steady, while his other hand formed around her ass to bring her closer to his mouth so his tongue could press deeper into her.

Anna cried out, whimpering as her heels dug into the mattress and she thrust toward John's mouth. In the next moment, or the next eternity for all Anna could comprehend of time, she came. And John's tongue and fingers guided her through it, even teasing her to another climax before he finally drew back to leave Anna gasping and drained on the bed.

But however long John waited, it was too long. Anna's hand flailed out to find John and used her rough knowledge of his geography to bring his head close enough to hers to find his lips and kiss him. He responded and the kiss seemed to bring Anna back to the moment. At least enough to help her hands find the line of his briefs and tease along the edge of them.

John broke the kiss and heaved for breath. He did not move to change the position of Anna's hand, even rocking into her touch when he cupped him and formed her hand around the growing length of him there. When he did speak, hoarse in the whisper he managed, John did it between kisses he pressed to Anna's neck and collar.

"Do you have something?"

Her fingers stroked at the back of his neck but her hand at his arousal paused. That brought John's eyes to hers and when she kissed him, briefly, she whispered her response. "We don't need it."

John frowned, "But-"

"It… After…" Anna swallowed, "I can't get pregnant anymore."

John's frown persisted, "I… I don't want to kill the mood but… Are you sure?"

Anna nodded. "I'm sure. But if you need…"

"I…" John shook his head and stroked a hand along Anna's face. "If you're sure then I don't need anything but I… I would want to be safe."

"It is." Anna loosened her fingers at the back of John's neck. "If you're alright with it then…"

John kissed her. At first it seemed almost too hard but it softened after a moment. Almost as if the gauge for possible incompetence managed itself as John course corrected. Corrected to the point that he made Anna's head spin until he broke the kiss to rid himself of his briefs.

Anna could not stop herself. She ran her hands over John's chest, finally in view, and put appearance to the skin she had coveted earlier when John left his affection over her breasts. And the sight of him, exposed above her, left Anna shivering with potential desire. A shiver Anna quickly passed on to John when, for the briefest of instances, it looked like he misinterpreted the signal again.

"I'm fine." Anna's ankle hooked behind John's thigh to bring him back toward her. When his hands splayed on either side of her, to stop himself landing on her, it left him open to the perusal of her hands at his hips and then for her to finally feel him resting in the palm of her hand.

She squeezed and sent John's eyes rolling back into his head. Doing it again left him gasping and a third time had them locked in another kiss. This one forced Anna to abandon her grip on him to bring her hands to John's face and the guide the otherwise impassioned but directionless kiss. And if it was a distraction then it succeeded. Succeeded long enough for John's hips to widen Anna's legs so he could slide the hot length of himself against her.

Anna broke their kiss, pressing her forehead to John's as she angled her hips to better enjoy the motion as he rubbed against her. Each pass left him sliding over her clit and Anna dug her nails into the back of John's neck as she tried to stop herself crying out at the sensation. But when John kissed her again, Anna gave into the obvious distraction and buried her moan of pleasure in it when John thrust forward to seat himself inside her.

It took a few thrusts, each leaving Anna with more of him, until they were skin to skin. Anna moved her legs onto John's hips, changing their angle to leave John growling into Anna's shoulder, and she dug her heels into his thighs just below his ass when John twisted his hips into hers. Her fingers threatened to leave claw marks along John's shoulders and back when he gyrated his hips in circular motions until Anna relaxed under him.

They started a rhythm then. With Anna's grip shifting over John's skin- sometimes at his shoulder or his side of his neck or his ass to bring him closer- it was a matter of time before their cries matched in crescendo and tone. Angling her hips into John's thrusts, Anna huffed for breath and came with the addition of Joh's fingers at her clit. And, in the after haze, it was only by force of will that left her conscious of John's finish when he grunted into her shoulder.

Her fingers traced down John's back as his body shuddered and finished the last of his thrusts. Each one brought them down, although the press of his pubic bone against her clit and the weight of him adding to the force of it left Anna releasing another climax on the tail of the first. One that had John groaning slightly and heaving himself to the side.

Taking deep breaths, trying to fill her lungs in the aftermath, Anna slowly recovered her energy. At least enough to roll onto her forearms and watch John. His chest rose and fell so slowly Anna almost wondered if he fell asleep. But the slight smile on his lips told her otherwise.

"That was…" He swallowed to try and speak again. "I regret that not being the first time we did that."

"I don't." Anna ran her finger along John's chest. "We wouldn't have been comfortable enough for that if it'd been the first time."

"I wouldn't felt a little less bad about our first time."

"I liked our first time." Anna leaned over and kissed John, dragging it out until the need for air forced them apart. She lifted herself away from him and sighed, "But it does mean we can't tell Mary about this."

"Afraid you'll regret it?"

Despite the forced joviality in the tone, Anna caught the twinge of fear at the corner of John's eyes. She shook her head and kissed him again. A little more soundly this time before pulling back. "I could never regret it. Maybe I should but, if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing."

"Nothing?"

"Not a thing."

"Then why not tell Mary?" John frowned and moved an arm under his head. "She already knows about the first time."

"That's why she's not allowed to know about this one." Anna shifted closer to John, resting her hands on his chest to put her chin on top of them. "We're not going to tell her about this."

"Think she'll berate you for being unprofessional because you fell into bed with me again?"

"I didn't fall anywhere and no, I'm not afraid of that." Anna traced her finger idly over John's chest. "I'm afraid that she's got a calendar with the date she thought this would happen marked and I don't want to give her the satisfaction of being right if she picked today."

"She'll figure it out."

"Of course she will. She's not stupid. But," Anna lifted herself up and moved to straddle John. "I don't have to tell her the date and time."

"That would be weird."

"And an invasion of our privacy. Now," Anna leaned forward, noting the way John tried to force himself not to look at Anna's breasts. "I'd like to give us another date and time if you're willing."

"I'm ready."

"I feel that," Anna intentionally rocked back to leave John biting at his lip to stop himself moaning. "But I asked if you're willing."

"Always."

"Then," Anna put her lips right by John's ear as she shifted her hips again. "Why don't we try this again."