AN: Thank all who read this story for the reviews. I have lacked the time to write recently so my apologies for the shortened chapters. Also, I am sorry if this chapter isn't as enjoyable with the banter as previous chapters my wit, like Gail Peck's in this chapter, has sorely failed me today. In any case, thank you all again for the reviews, favorites and follows and I hope you continue to enjoy the story as it progresses. (:

I awoke to the sun streaming in through the blinds. I stretched out gloriously as I did every morning upon waking and knocked my hand into a still very much asleep Holly. The contact jostled her awake and she languidly stretched out before a lopsided grin broke across her face.

"Mmm, morning," she mumbled out before squeezing her eyes shut and curling up again.

"I had the strangest dream about you."

"Yeah?"

"Yep, you plied me with awful lemon flavored Alka Selzer. I wanted to get back at you so I kissed you to make you taste it. You were a terrible kisser though. Weird, since your lips aren't awful, I guess. I mean…not as bad as your other features which sort of show that you hit every single branch on the way down in your fall from the ugly tree."

She smiled bemusedly at me. How did she always know when I was fucking with her? Was she really that confident in how hot she is? I wish I could maintain that level of confidence in my own attractiveness…alas my confidence oftentimes failed me despite the bravado and arrogance I showed to everyone else.

"You mean like this?" she replied amusement lacing her melodic voice.

She leaned in, encircled her arms around my waist and kissed me like the world was ending tomorrow. Her kiss felt like desire and hope. It felt like sanity and insanity. It felt like light and dark. It felt like Earth and space. It felt like stars and sky. And the breathy moan she released was worthy of only the best poet's prose or the best lyricist's songs. Her embrace was like a warm sunrise after a harsh winter. How had I kept my lips away from her lips for such an infuriatingly long period of time? She broke the kiss, exhaled, and placed another slow calming kiss on my lips as her hand slid up my body finally ceasing its movement to cup my face. She broke the second kiss and whispered out in a husky voice that sent shivers down my spine,

"So I'm a terrible kisser?"

"Well, Holly, it is you that is always telling me to that in order to get an accurate result on something a researcher must have multiple samples to confirm or reject a hypothesis. I think we should use the scientific method to determine how good of a kisser you are. On a scale of one to ten though…we'll go with a three for now."

It was a lie. She was at least a five hundred and ninety three out of ten.

"Why, Gail Peck, are you trying to seduce me with nerd talk?"

"I don't know, is it working?"

"Yes, especially since you keep doing that thing with your tongue."

"That…thing….with…my…tongue? Really specific, Hol."

"I don't know…you open your mouth and move your tongue from the right side of your mouth to the left corner as if you're licking your upper lip…but you aren't because your tongue stays inside your mouth."

"Is that so?"

I flash a smile and do the "tongue thing" in slow motion and I chuckle when I feel her hand tremble against my cheek.

"Tease."

"You like it."

"Mmm, you forgot to tell me the best part of your 'dream', Gail."

"I'm guessing this wasn't actually a dream?"

"Oh no, you definitely kissed me. You also claimed you did it because of the Alka Selzer but we both know that was a lie. You also told me you loathed me…twice."

"Ah, yes, that sounds like me." A triumphant smile spreads across my face, quite pleased with my cold medicine high self.

"The best part, though," she pauses to smile at me. The smile is teasing one and I dread what she is about to say I did. "The best part is that you began by counting to ten out loud. You were literally whispering the numbers, quite slowly, with pauses between each number. Then after ten you kissed me. Were you trying to give me a count up to epicness or something?"

Her voice has the cadence of pure playfulness and her eyes are dancing with it. I can't help but to grin at how perfect she is when she's being playful. The slight dimple in her left cheek lends to her air of utter mischievousness and my mind is lost simply staring at her face, committing every slope and plane to memory. When I don't respond to her teasing she opens her mouth to speak again but I cut her off with a quick kiss which I break before she realizes what has happened and this time it is my turn to beam impishly at her whilst she stares back at me slack jawed.

"I had to remind myself that if I was able to manage ten seconds of outrageous courage I had the chance of possibly getting something I've been wanting for a while. I didn't actually realize I was counting aloud."

I tried to muster an appropriate amount of sarcastic edge to this comment so I could mask my softer side but it slid out as it was truly meant, tenderly. The idea of Holly's reaction to this exposure of my softer side terrified me. The reality of her reaction was far more Holly-esque in the sense that she always has a way of bringing light to a dark situation and it is this ability she has that allows me to feel safe in her presence. She listened to my words, thoughtfully pursing her lips towards the left corner of her mouth, allowing a moment of silence to settle between which gave a chance for the magnitude of that admission to settle over us like blanket. She squeezed my hand gently and smiled warmly.

"Well, I've wanted to kiss you since the moment you dragged your mother out of our dorm room and blew out an exasperated sigh and shrugged your shoulders at me as you pushed her out the door. You're incredibly adorable when you're exasperated."

"What?" I spat out, my voice reaching an entirely new octave. "All this time you let me sit here and struggle with my burning hatred and intense attraction for you and you knew all along and wanted to kiss me from the beginning?"

"You're not very subtle when you stare, Gail."

"I really do loathe you."

"Uh huh, sure."

She drew out the last word and smirked mockingly at me. I wanted to wipe that smug look off her dimpled face but my brain wasn't cooperating in giving me a method to do so. I laid there glaring at her as my brain fumbled foggily for a solution.

"You're an asshole." I managed. Not my best retort, to be sure. Maybe it would buy me some time?

"Ye-AH! I've heard that one before."

"And you will about ten thousand more times because I loathe you, jerkface, asshat, dingleberry."

I swatted her shoulder and pushed myself away from her.

"Anything else?"

"Yeah! You smell like…like…bad stuff."

"Bad stuff?"

Bad stuff? What the fuck is wrong with me? Bad stuff was the best I could manage? Leave it to my wit to fail me now. For fuck's sake.

"You heard me…really, truly, terribly, bad stuff."

There it was again. I seriously needed to shut the hell up unless I could figure out something to say to wipe that damn look off her all-too-attractive face. I could tell she could see the frustration in my expression despite my sincerest attempts to mask it. That only caused further irritation. She could read me like a book and it was annoying.

"It's so fun and so easy to play with you."

Then it hit me. I knew how to wipe that smug smile off her face and replace it with something far more enjoyable. My hand wandered up beneath her shirt and my lips moved to her neck. I nipped and bit gently at her pulse point eliciting some amazingly attractive noises from her. My hand slid the last tiny bit up to cup her breast and I rolled over so I was on top of her. I hovered my mouth mere centimeters away from her lips, flicked my forefinger gently over her nipple, and dropped my voice down an octave before uttering my well crafted statement.

"Oh, darling, I could think of much better ways to play with you."

Her smile faded, her lips parted, and her tongue darted out to wet them. It was quite possibly the sexiest thing I've ever seen and it was, by far, my sweetest victory.

The world was on fire and no-one could save me but you.
It's strange what desire will make foolish people do.
No, I'd never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you.