Yorkshire, England – Present Day

His breath caught under Anna's lips and John's hands moved to hold at Anna's thighs as she ground against his half-hard erection. The flutter of his fingers on her skin allowed him a moment to seek better purchase but when Anna shifted he lost the advantage. Instead he could only sigh into their kiss before Anna pulled away from him.

"I believe you demonstrated your skills and I'd like to return the favor."

"You don't…" John swallowed as Anna slid back, running her still damp center along his growing erection to rest so her folds opened around him. "You don't have to…"

"That's the beauty of it." Anna's lips ghosted over John's again, trailing to his cheek and only stopping when she found the spot where his jaw met his neck. She sucked hard there for a moment as her hands held his shoulders and her hips rolled against him. "I want to."

"Anna…" John's fingers fluttered at Anna's hips again, seeking to ground himself against the sudden shift in his reality more than hold her. A task made all the more difficult as she continued her backward slide to rest the head of him at her clit. "I… I want…"

"What do you want John?" Anna's whispers moved over John's ear as she rocked into him, leaving John whimpering under her attentions.

"I don't… I don't know." John closed his eyes, scrunching them hard enough to send colors dancing before his eyes. " I don't know what I want."

"Then we'll have to help you find what you want." Anna gyrated against his rising erection, applying just enough pressure to leave him rocking his hips in response but not enough pressure to encourage anything further. "Because I know what I want and it's a shame if I get there before you do."

"I… I don't mind." John opened his eyes, trying to make out obscured details in the dark as the wet sounds of Anna rocking against him set his hips canting against her motions.

"But I do." Anna leaned forward again, ghosting her lips over his as the pleasure radiating from where her folds parted around him to leave him slick with her as well as him caught enough of the light to set off John's imagination. His breath caught when her voice once again whispered against his ear. "I want to know what you want John."

His fingers flexed into her hips and when she gasped at the intensity of the motion John immediately released his hold. When she shifted, his heart stopped, and he feared he ruined the evening. But instead of retreating, Anna leaned into his grasp and ground harder against him.

Almost whimpering, John turned his fact to speak against Anna's cheek. "I want to feel you, Anna."

"Then do it." One of Anna's hands moved to his at her hip and drew him away. For a second he was ready to move the other hand, to completely release her if that was what she wanted, but when her soft fingers caressed the back of his hand as she raised it to her shoulder, John could not find it in him to move. And the same thought continued when she abandoned her secure hold on his chest to cover his other hand. Anna did not move that one away, only gripped it as she placed his first hand solidly on her shoulder before shifting it again.

The slow trace of her, her hand loosely gripping his wrist to guide his motions, allowed John to try and form an image of Anna in his mind. He knew her. Knew her with clothes, covered in mud, holding Michael, looking terrified, seeming at peace, learning how to survive, and so many other little ways that complied to form the multi-faceted woman above him. But with his hand running over her naked form, hidden from him in the dark, John learned her anew.

Anna's hand only stopped when John's fingers graced at her clit. She left him there, responding to the almost tentative touches John left at her nerves, and her hand retrieved his other from her hip. John almost stopped the gentle caress of her clit then but Anna pressed herself firmly against his hand and John obeyed the implied order. Obeyed it and gave a groan of his own when Anna took his other hand to her breasts and taught him how to touch her there.

If there was ever a time, in the life John remembered he led, that he had been so thoroughly used, he had yet to document it. In the past he was a tool, a soldier, a servant, and an errand boy. But this, being used to bring pleasure to the woman writhing and gyrating above him, was perhaps the best way he could think of being of service. Of putting his skills to good use.

In fact, if John considered the possibility for more than the few moments that his brain allowed to flit through his growing pleasure, he might want to trade all his previous occupations to simply take this one on for the rest of his life. There could be no better calling than to bring pleasure to the woman whose sounds grew in frequency and pitch until she came quivering above him. No higher order of honored work then leaving her gasping for breath between the cries she allowed to peter out into the dark.

The ripple of her skin against his, combine with the way she soaked him further, had John's hips bucking into Anna's. She only offered a nervous laugh in response, more a way to expend the energy response than an indication of her state. But even if John thought that to be the case, and he was ready to immediately evacuate the premises if it were, Anna's next move relieved all his fears.

Instead of moving away, Anna continued her southward trek. Her legs slid along John's left, holding to him almost as if she were scaling down a mountain on a rope, and dragged the wet results of his work with her. The sensation left John shivering and distracted enough that the warm breath that ran over his arousal made him twitch and his breath hitch.

A rippling sensation against his leg, matching the echo of a smirking giggle that escaped Anna, brought John back to her presence. Another second of distraction from her obvious intent to try and focus on the joy his reaction seemed to elicit. But there was nothing that could distract him from the sensation of Anna's mouth leaving a trail of kisses over his hips bones.

Or when she sucked at his erection.

For all the actions John expected Anna to take, she chose none of them. When he thought she might retreat, she advanced. When he thought she could drag her tongue down the length of him, she sucked bruises into the skin of his hips. And when he thought she was finished, leaving him weeping and almost shuddering under her, Anna simply returned for more. She left no prisoners, offered no quarter, and only withdrew when John could only babble and fumble for words as he felt himself ready to burst at the slightest touch.

And touch Anna did.

With her knees at his hips, her left foot curling around the end of hie right leg, Anna sank down onto him. John's knuckles almost shone in the dark with how hard he gripped the sheets to keep himself from immediately coming at the sensation of warm, strangling wetness surrounding him. And the sounds Anna made as she worked herself quickly down him to leave their hips touching was almost as torturous as it was exquisite.

There was a rhythm between them, and something resembling finesse, but all hopes of recreating any decorum quickly gave way to pleasure. Anna chased hers with abandon and urged John to follow her. And he did, fumbling almost embarrassingly so as he tried to aid Anna along. Kneading at her breasts, rubbing his thumb at her clit, and holding to her hips to help control the speed and angle of his thrusts. All of it in a messy, frantic attempt at providing Anna the experience she huffed and moaned to find before success arrived.

It came with the clutching cling of her vaginal walls around him. Her nails raked down his chest and John knew he left bruises at her hips when the release struck. But as they both came down, trembling and vibrating against one another as the ending thrusts and rolls had them trying to complete the last steps in their dance together, they only sighed and gasped for air. It was all that mattered, even when John noted the weight of Anna slumped onto his chest.

They were quiet for a few moments, their chests pressing together as their lungs tried to fill. When John could find the strength, he ran his fingers over Anna's back until he found her hair. Once there, carefully maneuvering to try and not disturb Anna's position on his chest, John's fingers stroked delicately through the locks he could not see in the dark.

She sighed against him, almost purring as her eyelashes fluttered over his too-sensitive skin. "That's lovely."

"Is it?" John's fingers moved more deftly, responding to the instruction to move higher up Anna's hair and run through more of it.

"Incredibly relaxing."

"Good." John wanted to kick himself with his good leg and then his carbon fiber one for the shoddy response but Anna only took a deep breath and sighed against as he reached her scalp.

"What are you thinking?"

"What?" John frowned and then held still as Anna's weight shifted over him.

"I can hear the cogs turning in your head from here." Her finger traced up his neck, his cheek, and found the end of his nose to tap it. "So what are you thinking about so hard I can smell smoke?"

"Just…" John swallowed, "I'm not sure how to do this."

"I thought you did it quite well… Twice."

"That's not…" John shook his head, "I meant…"

"I'm not so delicate I'll shatter like glass if you touch me or speak your mind, if that's what you're so worried about."

"It's… It's part of it." John shrugged into the pillows, "But I'm also bad at this part of… this."

"The aftermath?"

"Yeah, that." John let out a breath he did not realize he was holding. "I've never… I've never had any real relationships that got even close to this stage. And for all the fake ones I've had…"

"You couldn't relax." Anna's fingers brushed over his chest. "Explains why you're still so tense, even afterward."

"I've never been in a position where I could trust the other person enough to just lay here." John snorted, "Or talk really."

"Is it nice?"

"I'm not good at it."

"That's not what I asked." Anna waited but John only bit the end of his tongue. Her fingers changed the pattern they stroked over his skin. "But I can't claim to be very good at this either."

"You're better than me."

"It's not a competition." John almost cringed at the edge of a chide in her voice. "And you're not the only one who's… Who's not felt like she can fully relax afterward either. Not for awhile, anyway."

"I don't…" John swallowed hard. "I don't want to mess this up."

"You won't."

"Past being prologue, I might."

"Then maybe you need to stop thinking about what I might do, or you might do, and hear what I think about all this."

"Okay." John shifted to get himself comfortable, allowing a smile at Anna's giggle with the maneuver. "What do you think?"

"I think…" Anna swallowed, "I think we need to rest."

"That sounds wise." John closed his eyes and took a deep breath, the noting the last of the quivers leaving his body with a final shiver. "I don't think I could get up if I tried right now."

"Me either." Anna smiled against John's chest before pulling back to kiss above his heart. "Which is rather an accomplishment in and of itself, by the way."

"I take no credit."

"You should." Anna shifted slightly, sliding off John to his left side but leaving an arm over his waist. "It takes two to properly tango."

"I can't say I've ever tangoed well…. Or danced, for that matter." John offered a little snort as his fingers tangled in Anna's hair before finding their path again, "And I probably dance worse now."

"We'll keep the steps easy and familiar then." Anna leaned over to kiss John's cheek, "Because I thought you were wonderful."

"Thank you." John took a breath, "I was afraid I'd do something wrong and you'd run away. That I'd…"

"Remind me?"

"Yeah."

"It's possible but it didn't happen this time." Anna's breath ran over his skin and evoked another shiver. "What we did… It wasn't like what happened."

"I don't ever want it to be."

"It never will. It couldn't." Anna kissed at John's shoulder, "Not with you."

"Never?"

"Not ever." Anna's cheek pressed against John's skin and he allowed a fraction of tension to leave his body. "You'd never hurt me John. I wouldn't be here if I doubted that for a second."

"Thank you." John's fingers paused at the end of Anna's hair, playing with it for a moment. "For trusting me."

"Thank you for trusting me." Anna breathed out again, "We'd better sleep. Michael'll wake us up before we realize it."

"He slept through that."

"Doesn't mean he won't wake up at something else." Anna tucked herself closer to John. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." John leaned over to kiss the top of Anna's head and continued stroking through her hair until she fell asleep, breathing deeply and evenly over his skin until the grey of morning peeked through the window.

London, England – 1816

John extended his hand to Anna and helped her descend from the carriage. The smile that painted her face left him almost as effervescent as she looked and he fought the urge to kiss her passionately. And, for as much as he wanted to, their presence in public restricted his impulse to do just that. Or to even urge her back into the carriage and return home to kiss her all the more.

Instead, John pressed his lips to the back of her hand before tucking it into the crook of his arm. He grinned at the raise of her eyebrow and even resisted when she tried to kiss his cheek. Placing a kiss on her other hand did not placate her.

"My dear Mr. Bates," Anna feigned a pout at him as she tucked herself closer to his side to walk in step with him toward the doors of the theater, "I'm sure you can do better than that."

"I can but we're in public."

"And?"

"And I'm told that, in public, one can only admire the art that surrounds them because you're not allowed to touch it." John shrugged at Anna's raised eyebrows. "I promised to be honest with you."

"Then I'll be honest with you," Anna tugged slightly on his arm and John stopped, leaning his head down the necessary distance so she could whisper in his ear. "If you refer to me as art when you want to touch again, I'll drag you into the nearest closet so you can do just that."

John shivered and forced himself back from Anna's mouth. "And to think, when we married, I worried I'd scare you away if I told you how much I desired you."

"How much you desired me never scared me away."

"Never?"

"No." Anna squeezed his arm a moment. "I was scared because I didn't understand how much I'd desire you. And how often."

"Mrs. Bates, I thought you were relatively ignorant about the power of such a speech in a public setting." John shivered slightly and Anna almost laughed.

"You've been an excellent instructor about what does and does not lead someone to desire another. However," Anna heaved a theatrical sigh as they entered the building and John presented their tickets before steering them toward the coat check. "As the saying is said to go, the time has come for the student to become the teacher and I'm greatly looking forward to trying to instruct you."

"And what would you teach me?"

Before Anna could respond a man snorted next to them and both turned. John's hand immediately covered Anna's at his arm when she tensed at the sight of the man. And tensed again when the man began to speak.

"She could teach you how to let money slip through your fingers." John frowned as he struggled to place the man's features in any circle of his acquaintance. His mind came up empty but Anna's continued frigidity and slight lean toward John had him shifting to put slip her behind him as the man spoke again. "That's all the Guthrie family's good for, aren't they? Getting other people's money to simply pour it down the drain."

"And what would lead you to make that assumption, sir?" John looked the man up and down, the furrows in his forehead deepening as he noted the cut and style of the man's suit did not fit any circles in which he associated.

"It's in the blood. Old Mister Smith couldn't run his business for shit and then when he bit the bullet, Guthrie took over the sinking ship and ran it right into the ground." The man sniggered as he removed his coat to hand over to the attendant, He did not speak until the man handed him a ticket in return. "It's why you had to buy them out. Someone had to save the ship before it ran aground."

"You're mistaken sir."

"Am I?" The man leaned on the counter and nodded at John. "If not to save the wash of an industry, why did you buy out Old Guthrie?"

"I bought out Mr. Guthrie to take advantage of the potential opportunities that existed and still exist in the business."

"I don't think that's it."

"It's what I've told you."

"No." The man shook his head and pointed over John's shoulder at Anna. "You bought yourself an… Well, an above-average wide."

"I beg your pardon."

"No offense meant. You could've done worse than the demure mouse of a woman I'm sure satisfies your basic needs in the house and bedroom you keep."

"If this were a different venue," John risked a step toward the man. "I'd challenge you for what you just said. But, being as I consider myself a gentleman, I'll only deign to say that you're embarrassing yourself by speaking so I'd suggest you stop before you make an even bigger fool of yourself."

"Why, because you think I care about your opinion?"

"Because whatever insults you have, they're entirely misplaced as you've no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't I?" The man pointed at John. "Do I not stand before the venerated Duke of Reerbourne and the wife he bought himself as a dowry for the business Guthrie couldn't keep running on his own?"

"I am the Duke of Reerbourne, yes." John held himself a bit taller.

"And is she not the daughter of Mr. Guthrie?" The man paused, "No, sorry, I did get that bit wrong. She's the inherited daughter of Guthrie after her old man bit the bullet instead of living with the shrew he married."

"You've stepped too far, sir." John crowded the man's space and noted the shiver and the step back the man took. "I'll do us both the pleasure of not asking your name to seek reparations for anything you just said. But I'd also advise you not to take the mercy I extend to you right now for granted."

"And why is that?"

"Because it's extended as a courtesy that deteriorates the longer you stand in front of me." John took a breath, "I feel no such mercy toward you in this moment so it would behoove you to hurry and be elsewhere."

The man risked a swallow and attempted to stand up to John. "And if I decided that I don't care about your forced mercy or your toothless threats?"

"Then I'd tell you that if you don't take what I'm saying in this moment seriously then you'll find yourself the worse for wear." John forced himself to take a breath, "Do I make myself clear?"

"Clear enough to know that you took on a fool's errand when you tried to save Guthrie's business and married his stepdaughter." The man nodded at Anna before taking something from his jacket and forcing it into John's hands. "That's my name, since you didn't want to ask for it."

"I don't know why you think I need it."

"You need it, Your Grace," The false emphasis the man put on John's title made him almost recoil. "Because I've been collecting on a very large debt that Mr. Guthrie owes me and I heard you're the one who settled all his other debts when you married her."

"Those were business debts."

"I don't give two shits what kind of debts they are. I'm here to collect what I'm owed and since I know you're still paying a stipend or allowance to Old Guthrie, I'm telling you that you might want to take pity where it's not due and finish settling this one before it's too late."

"And what would be 'too late' by your standards," John looked at the card, "Mr. Green?"

"Before I force them out of house, home, and clothes to leave them in the poorhouse… And that's before I break bones."

John studied the card. "Is that the business you run, Mr. Green?"

"It's the business I manage."

Taking another look at the card, John tucked it into his pocket. "Under the light of these circumstances, I'll see to it that your claims as investigated in due course." John removed his coat to finally hand to the checker still waiting at the desk. "But if there's nothing further, Mr. Green, I'd once again recommend you make yourself scarce before either of us does something we may regret in public."

"I'm not scared of you."

"Then you don't know me very well, do you?" John held Green's gaze until the man snorted and walked away toward the theater's general seating.

John watched him go before turning to Anna, "Would you-"

"I'd like to find our box, please." Anna took the ticket for her coat, handing it over to John, and walked toward the stairs as swiftly as she could in public.

Following her, John quickly reached her side and found her hand. It trembled in his grip but Anna allowed him to tuck it back into the crook of his arm. The process slowed their steps and John forced himself not to notice the eyes cast in their direction by their speed. A few of the eyes seemed confused while a few others leered as if they suspected the couples' haste was due to a desire for privacy in an attempt to have some indecency.

Whatever their thoughts, John and Anna did not speak as they reached their box and John helped Anna into her seat before dismissing their attendant. When the man tried to argue, John folded a large bill into the man's hand and hurried him away to draw the curtains over their box. The quiet it immediately allowed them had John hearing the thunder of his heart in his ears.

He took the seat next to Anna, forcing himself to breathe more slowly to try and calm himself. Eventually he reached over to lay his hand on where Anna's fingers drummed against the armrest. His motion stilled her action and John noted the way her body relaxed slightly under the weight of his hand on hers.

Taking her fingers to his mouth, John pressed a kiss to her glove before returning her hand to its former position. He waited until she glanced at him to speak, "Are you alright?"

"No." Anna took a breath, "But not for the reasons you think."

"No?"

"No." Anna shook her head.

"What do you think I believe is the reason for your not being alright?"

"You think I'm upset that someone would make comments about my stepfather." Anna's voice quieted, "Or about me and the conditions of our wedding."

John winced slightly, "I did worry."

"No need." Anna brought John's hand to her mouth and kissed there before lowering it again. "Those are nothing that we did not face when we married."

"And it doesn't bother you?"

"If it did not then, why would it now?"

John offered Anna a small smile, "Forgive a man his' insecurities?"

"Always. As long as you share them with me." Anna lowered John's hand to her armrest and turned back to his face. "And it may also surprise you to learn that I also have insecurities of my own."

"I hope you'll share them with me."

"Always."

John watched Anna's face and took a breath before he spoke again, "Then was it the comments he made about your stepfather and mother?"

"Honestly?" Anna shrugged, "I don't much care what anyone says about my stepfather or mother. I should but I don't."

"Not at all?"

"Not enough for that man's words to give me anything more than an earache."

"It was definitely an earful."

Anna cracked a smile at that. "You know my stepfather as well as I do so I guess neither of us found ourselves very surprised by what he had to say."

"I wish I were a bit more surprised, if we're being honest." John's face grew serious again at the pensive expression in Anna's. "What did Mr. Green say that so obviously troubles you?"

"I'm not sure I have the right words to describe it." Anna swallowed, "I know some of what he said troubled you."

"I know it all troubled me then but something about his monologue still troubles you now." John let his fingers glide over Anna's, as if he could soothe her into speaking clearly. "What is it?"

"The way he spoke of my father." Anna took a breath, "He didn't… My father did not commit suicide."

"I never thought he did."

"But some do and…" Anna swallowed. "My father worked hard. He slaved away to provide for my mother and I. And… And when he died…"

She slipped her hand free of John's twisting them together in her hands as if she could pull apart the words she wanted to say and make them clearer. "It ruined me. He… He was the only one who fought for me. The only person who believed in me and what I could do and become. He promised… He promised his business to me and when my stepfather…" Anna shook her head. "The moment he could take it from me, he did. He ruined my father's legacy, stole my father's home, and then ruined it and my father's name with it."

Anna swallowed and took a shuddering breath. "My father never had much but his name and he wanted to do right by it and the world. I wanted to do right by him with it and now…" She closed her eyes and tried to take a steadying breath. "And now I've the chance to spend the rest of my life rebuilding it."

"If you'll allow me," John turned his hand on the armrest of Anna's chair, shifting his fingers from her skin to leave his hand open toward her in a gesture that offered if she wanted to take his hand with hers. "I'd like to continue to help you to do that. I want to leave his legacy as something you'd be proud to carry."

Anna faced John again and smiled as she put her hand solidly in his. "You are, as always, too good to me."

"No, I'm as good as I should be to you." John smiled back at her. "Your father's memory'll be safe in your hands, I promise. And, if you'll continue to allow me, it'll be safe in mine as well."

"Then," Anna held up their joined hands so his ring faced him. "Can you keep this safe for me as well?"

"Always." John leaned over and kissed the back of her glove again. "You're always safe with me, Anna."

"I know." Anna settled in her seat as the orchestra began the overture. "It's why you're here with me now."

"Then I consider myself the luckiest man alive."

They kept still, only moving with the position of their held hands led to slight strains in their posture. At least that is what John thought. But, when Anna slipped off her gloves halfway through the first act, John raised an eyebrow at her. She shook her head in response. And when he opened his mouth to speak she shook her head again and John forced himself to focus on the performance before them instead.

But the performance did not hold his attention for long as he noted Anna adjusting herself in her seat, leaning closer to John so her head rested on his shoulder while her left leg touched his right. He moved to make the position more comfortable for her and the maneuver slipped his arm slightly off the armrest. Before John could fix his position Anna tugged on his arm to stop him pulling it back.

Again, before he could attempt to question the motion, Anna put a finger on his lips to stop him speaking. John frowned but did not argue as Anna moved in her seat and adjusted the position of his arm. At her next movements there were no words John could form to even hope to express his emotions at her maneuver.

It finally dawned on him what he had not noticed about Anna's shifting and moving in her seat. Each motion brought the slit of her dress up higher on her hip. The hip closest to his seat. The hip closest to the hand she now dragged under the skirt of her dress. A dress that did little to cover her now that John finally noticed the way Anna positioned her legs to leave them open enough for his hand to slide between them.

"Anna?" John could barely breathe the question, his eyes darting to gauge the distance between their box and any others around them while his ears suddenly pricked with ridiculous clarity to note every small sound around them. All his senses stood on high alert as Anna's fingers on John's wrist measured his motions and movements to apply tantalizing pressure to the already pulsing heat between her legs over her undergarments.

"John?" Anna taunted back as her eyebrow barely rose. She did not even face him, her focus entirely on the performance below them as her fingers graced his wrist and angled his movements against her center again.

"Are you sure?"

"Only if you are."

"I…" John forced himself to take a breath, almost losing it when he noticed the hitch in Anna's as she grazed his knuckle against her clit. "We're in public."

"I'm aware." Anna finally turned to him. "But I find I can't wait until we're in a more private setting for you to touch the artwork before you."

She leaned over to him, whispering in his ear. "I'd like to enjoy the skills of my husband at this very moment. But if you think we should wait until we're somewhere more private than this box then…"

She went to move his hand but John stiffened his arm and leaned toward Anna, his lips landing on hers in a surprise motion. The sweep of his fingers opened Anna's mouth and John slid his tongue over her lips before pulling back from the kiss. His fingers pressed forward in contrast and he grinned at Anna. "I do enjoy appreciating fine art in private settings but, sometimes, the beauty is enhanced when there's an element of danger and a risk of being caught."

"I completely agree." Anna ran her tongue over her lips. "And I find the atmosphere here conducive to the appreciation of fine art."

"As do I." John's fingers set a languid pace as he turned back to the performance, moving only enough so as to not leave his arm at an awkward angle but allowing him to continue to heighten the teasing pleasure to Anna's center. "But we do need to keep quiet. It'd rude to disturb the other guests."

"I trust I can contain my excitement."

"Can you?"

"I'm a woman, John," Anna made one final shift in her posture and John noted how her hands now gripped the armrests. "We always know how best to not interrupt the enjoyment of others."

"But what about your enjoyment?" John's hand paused and he calculated, for a moment, before pivoting to put himself on his knees before Anna in the box. "I want you to enjoy this."

"I already do."

"Then please, allow me to help you enjoy it all the more."

The construction of the chairs was not conducive to pleasure beyond the restrictive enjoyment of theatrical entertainment but John made do. Despite the rough carpet under his knees, and the odd contours of the chair, and the potential that an attendant might think to look through the curtains to see to their more publicly appropriate needs, John ducked his head under the skirts of Anna's dress and tugged her undergarments out of the way.

Part of him thrilled at the idea that any moment may bring them to the epitome of embarrassment if they were caught. The other part of him exulted in having the opportunity to take the pent of flirtation from the moment Anna stepped from the carriage until this moment and put it to good use. But most of him, all of him really, dedicated himself to the singular task of bringing Anna to climax.

They had until the intermission, triggered by a long aria sung by the antagonistic mother of the hero's love. The song, much like the overture by Tchaikovsky, offered a few high notes to hide any possible noises Anna might make. More to the point, the final high note was long enough, and possibly loud enough, to cover the noises John wanted Anna to make by then.

And he only had five minutes to do it.

Between the desperate work of his fingers and mouth, John brought Anna to the edge once. She tumbled over, almost missing one of the covering high notes. But John calculated the time he had left and set himself to work, his fingers and tongue delving deep to urge the quivering tremble of Anna's muscles to risk the peak again. A peak she reached with John's lips sucking hard at her clit, both of her legs over his shoulders, and his fingers crooked inside her to stroke along the spot inside her that triggered Anna's second climax.

She came just as the note started and held until almost the end.

Emerging carefully, wiping at his mouth with a handkerchief he then pressed between Anna's legs, John flexed his jaw to try and work out the hint of soreness there. With his help, Anna replaced her undergarments and took her seat as daintily as before. Except John could see the shine to her skin from the sweat of her orgasm and the way her hair pushed out from her temples where one of her hands must have pressed into it.

That thought had him touching lightly at his own hair and snorting a little laugh as the lights rose in the theater at the disturbance of his public persona. Anna only smiled at him, her eyes still a touch hazy after her finish. She offered John her hand and he bent over to help her from her chair while scanning about them for any evidence that those in the surrounding boxes took any notice of their state at all. None paid them any mind so John pressed a kiss to the back of Anna's hand.

"I think, dearest, I've had my fill of the theater for the evening."

"We'll miss the second half if we leave now."

"I know how the story ends." John stepped closer to Anna. "The hero succeeds and wins the heart of his love."

"Well now you've gone and spoiled it for me."

"I'd rather go home and spoil you." John ran his tongue over his lips at the dilation in Anna's pupils. "But if you'd rather stay then-"

"Then I'd find myself bereft of a truly glorious evening." Anna ran her thumb over John's fingers. "You can bring us back tomorrow night instead."

"I can."

"Then take me home John," Anna grinned at him, "Because I think it's my turn to show you something you'll enjoy."

John could not get them out of the theater fast enough.