A/N: I feel in a smutty-type mood, so you get a little more in this chapter. As always, enjoy and please leave a review.
She awoke slowly the next morning feeling his cool skin against hers. Sometime during the night he had slipped her old pajama bottoms and a tank-top on her, had donned his pajama bottoms and taken off his shirt. His chest rose and fell in a predictable rhythm, his arm wrapped around her, a few stray strands of his hair falling into her face. She lightly traced the tattoos on his chest.
Why wouldn't he sleep with her? She wanted to, she had invited him in, and while he made sure she was pleasured he got up afterwards and disappeared into the bathroom. He returned a while later, took her still-naked form in his arms, and insisted that they go to sleep.
Was there something wrong with her? He never failed to call her beautiful, he called her 'love' more often than he used to, though she couldn't shake the feeling it was nothing more than a pet name. He had, after all, called her that before they were going out.
Carefully, making sure not to wake him, she slid out of his arms and crept out of the room. She hurried into her room and decided that a shower was in order. She got a fresh towel, slipped out of her pajamas, and stepped into the warm water.
Perhaps Sirius wasn't interested, but if he wasn't he was putting on a hell of an act. She decided that it wasn't going to worry her that he hadn't slept with her the night before. He had held her throughout the night, that had to count for something. He had to have his reasons.
He woke up as she was slipping out of the bed, but he continued to keep his eyes closed and pretended to sleep. Hopefully he'd be able to go back to sleep. He had been up half the night, Hermione cradled in his arms, thinking about what he had done. Or, rather, what he hadn't done.
This had been the first time he hadn't slept with a woman who was offering herself to him. Merlin knew he wanted to, but for some reason he told himself it wasn't right. He wanted her happy, he wanted her pleased with him, but he wasn't ready to sleep with her yet. She meant more to him than those other women. He wanted to be completely sure of himself, and he wanted to know that she would never regret sleeping with him.
And you're terrified of Harry hexing you into last week if he found out you slept with her so quickly, his brain murmured. It was true, things would be tense enough when they informed Harry and Ron of their relationship, it would only be worse if Harry thought he had taken advantage of Hermione in any way. And there was the other, more nagging barrier. She had slept with Harry. She didn't mention the circumstances, but it was a fair guess that neither one entered into that relationship lightly. What exactly had led to them to have sex? Would Harry be jealous of their relationship when he found out about it? He needed things cleared up before he could go all the way with Hermione with a clear conscience.
Resolving to have a difficult conversation with her as soon as he was fully rested he rolled over and fell back asleep.
He found her lounging in the hot tub, reading a book.
"Morning, sunshine," she smiled, closing the book and placing it on a table out of dripping range. "Or should I say afternoon?"
"Either one," he murmured, bending over to kiss her. "We need to talk," he sat on the step into the tub, staring into her eyes. She shifted so she was sitting close to him, back to him, staring into the water.
"About last night?" she sighed.
"Yes," he placed his hands gently on her shoulders. "You have to know how much I want you, Hermione."
"I was a little unsure," she said truthfully. "If you want me that bad why didn't you have me?"
He ran a hand through her hair. "I think more of you than that."
She turned to look at him quizzically.
"I feared you had gotten caught up in the moment. I feared that you would wake up this morning regretting what we had done."
"What makes you think that I would regret a thing?" she muttered, leaning forward to press her lips to his hand.
"Because there are so many things to take into consideration before we get into a sexual relationship," he sighed, fighting the urge to let his mind wander to dirtier places.
"Such as...?"
"The age difference."
She raised an eyebrow. "Do you think that I would start a relationship with you had I been worried about you being twenty years older than me?"
"No," he sighed.
"There's something else, isn't there?" she mumbled after a few moments silence.
"It's Harry," he replied softly.
"There's nothing between Harry and I. We slept together once, are under the knowledge that it'll never happen again," she crossed her arms.
He stared at her, not willing to push it any further.
She sighed. "Ron had left. It was Christmas. All we had was each other. One thing led to another and we had sex. We were entitled to a happy Christmas like everyone else, right?"
"I like your idea of a happy Christmas," he smirked.
"You have over five months left, if you really want to wait that long," she replied, moving so the top of the bikini was obviously visible.
He growled, then leaned forward to kiss her. When his lips were an inch from hers she suddenly splashed him with both hands, soaking the front of his shirt.
"You little..." he started towards her with a dangerous grin across his face. She playfully screamed and pushed herself to the other side of the tub where she sat, giggling. "My, my," he smirked, "you are in trouble."
She burst out laughing.
"What, pray tell, is so funny?"
"I... can't... tell..." she managed between giggles. She took a deep breath, calmed herself, and looked directly in his eyes before finishing, "if you sound more like Filch or Snape." She tried to look innocent as she said it.
"Now you've done it, witch," he growled, throwing his shirt off and getting into the tub while still wearing his pajama pants. He grabbed her wrists and held them to the side of the tub while furiously kissing her neck. As he spoke he punctuated each word with another kiss, moving lower on her body, "Don't. Ever. Compare. Me. To. Snivellous."
"I won't, I won't!" she shrieked playfully as he nipped her shoulder.
His hands rested on either side of her as he rested over her, staring down into her face. She smiled up at him, studying him back for a few moments before splashing him again.
"I warned you," he growled before bending down to give her a bruising kiss. She reached up and wrapped her arms around him, pulling her body up to meet his. Water dripped from his hair, cutting smooth lines down her face as they continued to kiss each other.
His hands fumbled for the tie in the back of her bikini top, and it was quickly torn from her body and cast aside. He pressed himself to her, feeling her skin rubbing against his, smelling her getting excited even through the water their bodies were mostly submerged in.
His kisses moved lower and lower until his nose was touching water with each caress. His hands ran over her breasts, twirling over her nipple with a rough thumb. She moaned and sunk further into the water as her legs began to become weak.
He lifted her back up and positioned himself between her legs. She could feel him pressing against her through the soaked pajama pants, and she moved her hips to rub against him. He groaned and pressed her so hard against the side of the tub she was unable to move.
"Do you want me?" she breathed into his ear.
"Yes," he growled, no hesitancy in his voice.
"Then take me," she pleaded.
She felt him roughly push off her bottoms, then struggle out of his. He pressed against her opening, then slowly slid himself inside her.
She whimpered slightly. He was larger than Harry had been, and it was slightly uncomfortable. He moved slowly, and discomfort was quickly replaced with pleasure. She wrapped her legs around him and pressed herself into him, wanting as much of him as she could have. She closed her eyes and let her head fall back, feeling his hair brushing against her cheeks, feeling his breath hot on her neck, one of his hands holding her to him. Had it not been for the feeling of the side of the tub across the back of her shoulders she would have lost all sense of which was the right way up.
His lips roamed over her, tasting as much as he could. Each small noise she made was amplified in his ears, and each time she made one he craved to hear the next. He controlled himself, he wanted the feeling of her wrapped around him to last as long as possible.
"Sirius," she moaned as he sped up. Her hand clawed at his back, the other wrapped itself firmly in his hair. She pushed her breasts towards him, and he lowered his mouth eagerly to them. His arm was getting sore from supporting them both against the side of the tub, but he didn't dare let go.
Her fingers raked his back again as she started to clench around him. Her chest rose and fell unevenly and she moaned his name again as she climaxed. Her tightening around him brought him to his own climax, and he collapsed against her, moaning into her hair. He stayed pressed to her for a few moments, not wanting their closeness to end, but eventually moved to sit next to her. She cuddled herself up next to him and rested her head on his chest as their breathing slowly returned to normal.
"No regrets?" she muttered.
"Not a damn one. You?" he murmured into her ear.
She shook her head. They continued to sit, arms around each other, for a few minutes until the timer on the tub went off and the jets slowed to a halt.
"About your parents..." he started, summoning two towels from the room. They climbed out of the tub into the cool air.
"Oh, no, you don't, Sirius Black," she wrapped the towel around her, then placed her hands on her hips. "You can do that to me a million times, you're still going to have to go meet my parents at some point."
"I was thinking maybe tomorrow would be a good day," he smiled at her as they walked into the common room together.
"Really?" she spun to look into his eyes.
"That would give us a couple days left to re-book the room if they don't want us to stay with them, or if they don't have the room." His 'us' gave the distinct impression of 'me', but she let it slide. "Does that sound good to you?"
She answered by throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him fiercely.
