Chris wasn't stupid. He knew when he came up with the idea of an affair storyline with Stephanie that there was a huge physical aspect that came along with it. He had thought about it for a long time, knowing that he was going to have to be constantly touching and kissing her, and that Jessica and Hunter would hate it. Especially Hunter, who had taken to the storyline more or less how Chris had imagined he would. It wasn't a surprise.

What was a surprise was Stephanie's suggestion that they practice beforehand. He snickered a little at the thought. He didn't think he needed practice, but if it made her feel more comfortable, then he wasn't going to object.

"Hurry up, Chris, you're dragging."

He looked up from the ground to see Stephanie standing at the door to her office. She was leaning slightly up against the door, one hand at the handle and the other hand on her hip as she waited for him. He gave her a curious look as he walked up to her, putting his hands in his pockets.

"We're going to do this in your office?" he asked, and she shrugged.

"Sure, why not?" she said nonchalantly as she opened the door and headed inside, holding the door open for him. "Unless you have a suggestion?"

"No, this is fine," he said as he followed her in. He stood there and rocked on his heels a bit as she walked over to her desk. Stephanie then began to clear her desk of all the paperwork that was randomly scattered on it, and he couldn't help but chuckle as he watched. She looked over her shoulder at him and gave him a questioning look.

"What's so funny?" she asked. He just shrugged.

"Nothing," he answered with a hint of a smile. She gave him a disbelieving look, and his smile grew as he looked down. "You just don't seem to have inherited the neat freak genes that your dad and brother have, that's all."

"Oh, yeah," she said with a laugh as she went back to clearing off her desk. "You just haven't gotten to know the real me yet, you'll soon find out that I'm definitely not the most organized person in the world. I think I drive Hunter up the wall," she said as she rolled her eyes, gathering up all her paperwork as she walked around the desk. Chris watched with intrigue as she just deposited all the paperwork into a random drawer, before straightening and giving him a satisfied look.

"I hope all of that wasn't important."

"Not a chance, my dad has all of that. I'll go through it all later at the hotel anyways," she said as she waved it off. He nodded, before taking a deep breath and rubbing his hands together.

"So, I guess we should get started."

"Yeah, let's get started," she said, walking back around the desk. He watched as she leaned back onto it, folding her arms over in front of her. "So what kind of things do you think we should practice?" she asked, and he smiled as she fell back into her professional McMahon tone.

"I don't know, this was your idea," he said with a laugh. "You tell me."

"Practi – well, brainstorming was my idea, but this entire storyline was your idea," she reminded him, and he shrugged.

"You're right, it was my idea, but I don't think I really need practice," he said with a smirk that was very much like his trademark smirk he wore for the fans.

"Oh really?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Just my two cents."

"So why did you agree?" she asked in a curious tone, tilting her head as she looked at him.

"Well, they do say that practice makes perfect, right?" he said with an easy smile. "Plus, I want you to be comfortable, and if we have to do this so that you don't freak out when I touch you in front of millions of people, then this is what we're going to do."

Stephanie just looked at him for a few seconds, and he couldn't exactly read the look on her face as she did. Finally though, a hint of a smile came to her as well as she nodded.

"Alright then, so since the ball is in my court, I think we should just start getting comfortable with the touching and the contact. So as you put it, I don't freak out if you touch me and I don't expect it," she said as she walked over to him. He lowered his arms and straightened, unconsciously licking his lips as he watched her come closer. She laughed at that, and he gave her a curious look.

"What's so funny?"

"You are, for being so confident earlier, you sure look tense right now," she noted, and he blinked in surprise at that.

"Me, tense? I'm not tense, it's just I don't know what we're doing, that's all, so I can't really prepare because I don't know what the plan is here. I didn't know what you had in mind, and I kind of still -"

"I was kidding," she said, snickering a bit. "Are you nervous?"

"No, why should I be nervous? There's no reason to be nervous, we're just working on a storyline that I came up with, no big deal," he said as he shrugged.

"You sure do ramble a lot for not being nervous," she said as she reached for his hand. He instinctively gave it to her, acutely aware of how warm her hand was in his. She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, leaning in a little closer to him as if about to tell him a secret. "Relax, Chris, it's just me. We've worked together too many times for us to be uncomfortable around each other. Hell, we've already kissed twice, right? This is nothing."

"I know, I'm not nervous," he said, and she gave him an incredulous look, making him laugh. "I'm serious, you just… I just didn't know what you were going to do, that's all, you didn't give me a heads up or anything," he admitted, and that was true. For a second, he had thought she was going to walk right up to him and just go for the kill, go for the kiss, right in one shot. He was comfortable with this storyline, and he was comfortable with the idea of kissing Stephanie. He just needed that heads up, so he could be prepared. It had nothing to do with being nervous.

"Is that what it was?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then, how about you go sit on the couch?" she suggested, and he shrugged at that. Letting go of her hand, he went over and sat down, looking up at her expectantly. "We'll probably be doing some commentary together during the storyline, so I was thinking when we're sitting together, I should probably…" she gave him a look, and he smiled.

"Yeah, I get what you're saying, come here so we can do this," he teased, hoping to put her more at ease. He also wanted to prove once and for all that he wasn't nervous about this storyline. Stephanie didn't make him nervous. She was attractive, yes, and he could even go a step further and say she was definitely gorgeous, but he was married and this was business. He was going to prove it to everyone, to Stephanie, to Jessica, even to Hunter.

But first, that meant proving it to himself.

He reclined back on the sofa and watched her as she headed over to him. He gave her a nod as she turned and slowly sat down so that she was on his lap. She moved around a bit, trying to get comfortable, but she was tense and he could feel it.

"Good thing we're practicing," she mumbled, and he snickered. He felt like he was Santa and she was a little girl who was sitting on his lap and posing for a picture or something. It didn't feel natural to him. Without giving a warning, he straightened a bit and put an arm around her waist from behind, pulling her closer against him as he leaned back a bit.

"It's definitely a good thing," he agreed, and she forced a laugh as he held her close to him.

"Yes, definitely a good thing," she echoed, as she once again tried making herself comfortable.

"Stephanie, you're trying too hard," he told her, not letting her go. She shifted around a bit, and they both shuffled awkwardly.

"It just doesn't feel right," she said as she frowned. He could already see the wheels turning in her head, wondering how she could fix how they were sitting so they could both be comfortable.

"You're seriously over thinking this," he told her as he laughed. "Here, allow me," he said as he took one of her hands in his. He then lifted her arm and put it around his shoulders, simultaneously drawing her closer into him.

"Oh, that really helps," she said sincerely, and he could hear a bit of relief in her voice. He still had one arm wrapped loosely around her waist as she leaned into him. He smiled a little as he felt her start to relax.

"There, see? This isn't so bad, right?" he asked, and she looked at him and gave him a thankful smile.

"No, it's not that bad," she agreed, before suddenly standing. He leaned forward a bit, looking at her with slight concern.

"What's wrong? Did I do something?" he asked, wondering if maybe he had pulled her too close to him or something like that. He also couldn't help but feel a tinge of cold at the sudden loss of her warmth, but that was irrelevant if he made her feel uncomfortable.

"No, not at all, you're perfect, Chris," she added with a nod. "I just want to do it again, and take less than ten minutes to do it this time," she said with a laugh, and he nodded, feeling relieved.

"Good, I didn't scare you away then," he said with a lazy smile, leaning back into the sofa and once again looking at her expectantly. She gave him an in-character smirk and took him by surprise when it only took her seconds to find her comfortable position on his lap. He immediately pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arm around her waist.

"Are you comfortable?" she asked, easily putting her arm back around his shoulders. She rubbed his shoulder a bit, leaning more into him.

"Yeah, I'm good," he said, loving the way she felt like she was completely at ease. "You definitely feel more relaxed now, I think we're making progress, Ms. McMahon," he teased, and she nodded, a proud look on her face.

"See, this is nothing," she said with a smile. "I knew it would be good working with you again, and I'm really glad we're going to be practicing. This feels a lot more comfortable than the first time…"

Chris nodded when appropriate, but suddenly found himself focusing more on her consistent rubbing of his shoulder than on what she was saying. Her touch was light, and he didn't think she was aware of the movement, since she was looking straight ahead as if there was an invisible camera in front of them. That didn't stop her touch from easing his somewhat sore muscles though. She was slowly moving her hand back until it was behind his neck, where she continued rubbing his skin gently. He closed his eyes at the contact, leaning his head back to get more of her touch.

"I also don't know what Hunter's problem is, I mean this isn't that bad… sure, we haven't practiced kissing yet, but I'm sure we'll be fine. It's not like we've never done it before, you know what I mean? Your wife is okay with it, right?"

"Uh huh," he said, before feeling her rubbing stop. He opened his eyes slowly to find her giving him a slightly amused look.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said as he gave her a charming smile. "You were just hitting the spot, that's all."

"Are you sore or something?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"Are you sure? Don't lie to me, Chris," she warned, and he laughed.

"I'm fine, relax," he reassured her. "So since we got this out of the way, we can graduate to something new, right? Maybe something a little more risqué, you know, since your dad loves that kind of thing."

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, don't remind me."

"What do you want to do now?" he asked, and she thought about it for a minute, scrunching up her face as she fell into deep thought. He merely observed her, noting the focused look of concentration on her face. It made him grin a bit, making him feel good that she was really on board with this and wanted to see it done right.

"Well, what would you do if there was a camera on us right now? What's natural to you?" she asked, turning her gaze back on him.

"Like if we were really together?" he asked curiously, and she nodded.

"Yeah, do what's totally natural for you to do. We're probably going to have to get used to just thinking on our feet out there, because it's going to be hard to plan every move," she said, and he nodded.

"You're right, it's probably just easier if we get in the moment," he mused, and she smirked.

"But not too into the moment, just enough for the fans."

"Oh, of course," he said, hating how Hunter's voice was ringing in his ears. "I'd never get too much into the moment, I just meant…"

"I was kidding," she said with a laugh. "So what would you do?"

"Well, if you were really my girl, I'd probably be kissing you nonstop," he said impishly, and she snickered.

"Alright… go ahead," she said, turning towards him expectantly. "We might as well start somewhere."

He looked at her for a moment, and she gave him a nod, encouraging him. Reaching up, he brushed her hair back over her shoulder slowly, and she visibly shuddered at this.

"Are you okay?" he asked, trying not to laugh. "I barely even touched you."

"I know, I'm good now," she said as she exhaled deeply, before turning her face back towards his and closing her eyes. "Alright, I'm ready. Let's see it, Chris."

He hesitated for a moment, before wondering what the big deal was. She was right, they had already done this before. Not once, but twice. And yet he knew that this would be different. How different, he wasn't quite sure – but he was about to find out. He leaned forward and tilted his head a bit, closing his eyes as he leaned in more to kiss her. His lips had barely grazed hers when she pulled back, laughing as she did. He opened his eyes and gave her a curious look.

"What happened?" he asked, and she shook her head.

"It's just, I don't know, weird to think that I have to kiss you that way," she said, smiling even though he could see the hint of blushing started to creep up to her face.

"But we've kissed before," he reminded her, and she nodded.

"Yeah, but that was different, that was only for a few seconds, and that wasn't nearly as involved as our kisses are going to be now," she said, her blush becoming more and more noticeable. He nodded, understanding where she was coming from.

"Alright, let's do baby steps then," he said, and she raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

He once again reached up to her hair, smirking a bit at the hairdo she had chosen for the evening. He tilted his head and leaned in lower this time, going in towards her neck and stopping just about an inch away from her.

"If we were being natural, and you were really my girl, I'd do something like this…" he breathed out, catching the smell of her shampoo lingering as she nodded.

"Go ahead," she said in a softer tone, and he closed his eyes and leaned in. He gave her a light kiss before she pulled away, shuddering and yet laughing at the same time. "God Chris, that tickles," she said, and he rolled his eyes.

"That's not good then, you don't want to start laughing every time I try to kiss you," he told her, and she nodded before clearing her throat and closing her eyes.

"Okay, try again. I'm ready now."

He watched her for a few moments, wanting to make sure she was relaxed. Finally deciding that this was about as good as it was going to get, he leaned in again, closing his eyes as his lips found the skin of her neck. He was surprised at how soft the skin was as he started kissing her. The feel of her warm skin along with the light smell of her strawberry shampoo was enough to make him feel a little dizzy, and making him forget the fact that he wasn't kissing his wife. He was vaguely aware of Stephanie's tightening grip on his shoulder as he went from dropping light kisses to gently sucking on the skin of her neck. She had a sweet taste, sweet and different…

"Stephanie, are you ready to… what the fuck is this?"

And just like that, Stephanie was up and out of Chris's lap almost before he realized what was going on. It took him a few seconds to realize that he wasn't kissing her anymore, and took him another second to realize why.

"Hunter, baby, we were just trying to get comfortable with each other for the storyline," Stephanie said as Chris finally regained his bearings and stood up behind her.

"Yeah Trips, we're shooting for realism over here," he added, noting how Hunter looked like he was fuming as he glared at them both.

"Realism huh?" he said, as he gave Chris a dirty look. Chris rolled his eyes, before reaching to Stephanie's arm from behind.

"That was pretty good, but I think I should probably go call Jess now," he told her, not wanting to be in the same room as Hunter right at that moment. The man just pissed him off, and he knew that Stephanie could handle him much better than he could.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow for Smackdown," she said, giving him an easy smile, and yet he caught the slightly apologetic look in her eye. He just nodded in understanding.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," he said, returning her smile as he turned and headed towards the door. He completely ignored Hunter, walking right past him and out of the room as if he wasn't even there. The less he saw of that man, the better.

Walking back towards his locker room, he tried to remember when was the last time he had called his wife. He groaned at the thought that he'd go back to get his cell phone only to find tons of missed calls from her. She still wasn't taking well to this storyline at all, and so he knew that telling her about his… "brainstorming" session with Stephanie probably wouldn't go over that well. It was probably best to keep it to himself and let the arguments stem only from the on-screen things he and Stephanie were going to do.

After all, what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.