The day only had the one blemish on it and as Anna pulled into her driveway she was almost sorry to stop the car. Her hands stayed on the wheel and neither she nor John got out. Only the sound of their synchronized breathing echoed around them, offset by the muted noises of the nightlife skittering in the trees just beyond the glow of her outside lights.
Anna pulled the key from the ignition and went to speak to John. Instead his lips meshed with hers, perhaps a bit more forcefully than she would have liked, and her hands froze while her body attempted to work around the gearbox between them. He pulled back after a minute, the shadows from the car and the night making his expression mostly guesswork on her part, and spoke softly.
"I'm sorry. That was-"
"Completely unexpected but not unappreciated." Anna responded, her hand holding the keys slipping down to give her body the support it needed to maintain her lean. "I hope that was more than a 'thank you'."
"It was partially a 'thank you' for the lovely day you gave me. As well as the insights into how I can win over this town."
"You still have to buy it first."
"Indeed." She heard his smile rather than saw it before the tone of his voice sobered again. "But mostly I just couldn't keep my feelings to myself any longer."
"I knew there was a rather passionate man underneath all that stoic exterior." Anna teased.
"Passionate about you."
"And how passionate is that?"
His finger stroked over her cheek, "Take us inside and I can show you."
Anna took a breath, "I'm not a naïve person, John, and I want very much to act on what we'd only continue to do once we're inside that house. But I think the energy of today might be coloring our impulses."
"I don't know," John grinned, "We almost set fire to your kitchen this morning and spent the better part of the last thirty six hours with one each other. I'd say that's more than most people have before they decide to sleep together."
"And I don't want either of us to have doubts in the morning as to what our intentions were or our feelings if we crawled out of the same bed." Anna took a breath, "I'm sure I wouldn't have any regrets and I doubt you would but if you're willing, I want to wait until we're both sure of what we want and what we're doing."
John covered her hand with his, "I agree."
"Good." Anna maneuvered to kiss his cheek before whispering in his ear, "Because when I finally do get you in a bedroom or anywhere dark enough, I'm not going to let up until we legitimately can't move."
His breath hitched and she grinned in spite of herself. "I think I'd be a more than willing participant in that particular activity."
"Then you wouldn't mind if we just sat on my couch and pretended to watch a movie?"
"Why is there any kind of pretend going into that statement?"
"Because I'm probably just going to make out with you the whole time instead."
John's eyebrows raised a bit but his smile took away all the shock, "And then you're going to send me to bed in your house after telling me you want your hands all over me?"
"I didn't say hands, though I might be willing to debate second base with you."
He laughed, "You really are American."
"How so?"
"Baseball metaphors and direct speech." He shrugged, "If we were in England we might get all the way to the bedroom before we even said the word 'sex' out loud."
"Then be glad we're in Ohio." Anna opened her door, "I'll let you choose the movie we won't be watching."
"I'll pick something we've both seen then."
Anna led the way to the basement, taking the stairs easily to show John her sectional sofa and large television. He perused her movie collection while she worked out a snack situation, insisting on their necessity before the opening credits rolled, and they settled into the soft cushions. John sat next to her, pretending on keeping a gentlemanly distance that closed within the first ten minutes as his fingers tickled up her arm.
She allowed the barest hint of a smile to work its way over her lips while pretending to engross herself in a movie she could almost recite line for line. John maintained his fine act as well, sneaking his hand closer only to steal a handful of candy or a few kernels of popcorn. Their hands would meet in the bag or the bowl and both withdrew quickly but side glances and swiftly turned heads betrayed their playful scheming.
Eventually Anna maneuvered the bowl and bag to the large footrest in front of the sofa and slid ever so slowly toward John. He held his course and barely moved as she sidled up next to him. And when her hand happened to rest on his thigh to adjust her position, he faintly twitched.
When she slid her hand higher, ghosting ever so gently toward his belt loops, Anna held back a grin at John's flaring nostrils. Or as she cracked her neck and rested her head on his shoulder, he only shifted enough to give her the space under his arm. Holding her position Anna let her arm rest just on his thigh and started her assault by tracing the herring-bone stitch of his trousers. Had she not already had so many things about him that amazed her, Anna would have thought his self-control the most impressive of them all.
Only to be outdone by the growing tent in his trousers.
About three-quarters of the way through the movie the arm resting around her shoulders moved to allow his fingers to trail their way up her arm. His other hand was not idle either, skimming the fabric of her thin jumper to scrape its material over her skin. Each pass left Anna giving a tiny shiver and wondering if the material felt that coarse when she chose it in the morning.
His lips slid over her hair, pressing a tiny kiss to the crown of her head before working his way down. The gentle glide ruffled her hair against her scalp in contrast the way his fingers traveled higher and higher up her arms. Anna's shivers grew more pronounced and she realized she could do nothing but subject herself to the slowest seduction any man ever attempted.
Or she could fight back.
Leaving the devious smirk on her face Anna maneuvered against John to run her hand over the tent in his trousers. He sucked in a breath, pulling her back against his chest as she leaned closer to him, and his fingers dug in at her shoulders. Anna pulled her legs off the floor and used her momentum to pivot herself around to face John.
Without another word, and forgetting the movie echoing through her surround-sound speakers, Anna straddled him and eased her knees into the sofa cushions on either side of John. Sliding over the fabric she tightened the grip of her knees on his hips and used her advantageous position to grind down. His head went back into the cushions, his groan filling her ears over the din of the other sounds in her basement. Her hands went to his shoulders and Anna just watched his face as she rocked her hips against him.
It was like playing chicken when neither side wanted to win. John's hands used the fabric of her jumper as a guide to skim and glide over the skin of her back before massaging into her hips. When his grip finally settled on her ass, pulling her into the returning jerk of his hips, Anna finally kissed him.
Their mouths countered the friction and motion of their bodies. Slow, steady movements skated their lips over one another as if sensation was purest when implied more than explicitly obeyed. Anna's fingers relaxed into his hair and around the skin of his face to enjoy the dance when she snuck tastes of his lips with her tongue.
He responded with enthusiasm, following her lead at their mouths while changing the pace of their hips, and one of his hands slipped up her chest. Anna gasped into John's mouth, only encouraging him, when he brushed fingers over her breast. In that moment Anna vaguely remembered attempting a similar situation in high school in this very same basement but thought the situation vastly improved.
Then it was two teenagers with limited experience and only a theoretical understanding of sex just bumping their bony, pubescent bodies against one another in an attempt to better understand the dynamic. This was two grown adults responding to the oldest call of time. And Anna enjoyed the response John gave.
She tried to pull herself closer to him when the hand from her ass abandoned his attentions to play in her hair. His fingers lightly tugged and played in the blonde locks he found there while Anna firmed her hold on the back of his neck before slanting her mouth over his. Their mutual voyage of discovery had them driving harder into one another and Anna recognized the rise in her own pleasure from the pull of her jeans and knickers against her sensitive nerves.
Anna noted John's pace increasing by the vigorous knead of her breasts and the press of his chest against hers when he went to draw in more air. She abandoned his mouth a moment, seeking to fill her own starved lungs, and he set his lips to kissing from her neck to the bit of skin exposed by her V-neck. And in a moment that surprised her as much as him, Anna drew it over her head.
With barely a nod of invitation John's lips trailed down to the cups of her bra and his hand sought another location. She keened when he popped the button on her jeans and worked the zipper far enough down to stroke one of his fingers down her knickers. He paused, a rumbling moan rolling through his chest when he found her knickers already damp.
Their eyes met and Anna almost gave up her earlier statement about sex just to take him there on her sofa with his eyes that dark. Instead he pulled her knickers down enough to work his fingers through her dewy folds and tease her higher. Just when dark patches spotted her vision John used his other hand at her back to draw her even closer.
Between the lift of his hips and the attentions of his hand Anna soon toppled over the edge. Her forehead rested on his shoulder, her hands trembling in their grip of his shirt, and eventually she found the strength of sit up straight. John held her gaze and drew his fingers to his mouth, sucking them dry in front of her.
Anna threw herself onto his mouth, one of her hands working his trousers open to finally hold him. John bucked her grip but Anna persisted. Their motions held no finesse, only a frantic energy that had Anna stroking and pulling at him like a randy teenager. Albeit a teenager with far more experience, enough to know that if she positioned herself just so then they could come together. And with carefully planned motions they did.
The closing credits of the movie accompanied their mutual cries of satisfaction. Cries that soon drown in the satisfied smiles and kisses of their denouement. Anna pulled back first, grinning at John while her hands smoothed over his shirt, but John spoke before she could.
"If that's only a hint of what's to come when you trap me in a darkened room, Ms. Smith," He caught her hand, the one she used to get him off, "Then I'm more than willing to wait for more."
"I'll be honest," Anna slipped some of the hair off his forehead, "If I'd known what I was getting into then I wouldn't have made my earlier statement."
"I think you were right to." John shrugged, "That's a big step."
"We've already covered first and second base and… if I remember all the teenage stops along the way, we're well on our way to third."
"If I remember my baseball metaphors correctly then I'd say we're probably somewhere near short sighted."
Anna laughed, "It's short stop."
"Whatever."
"Come one then." Anna stepped backward, using her hand to pull John to his feet before zipping him back in place. "I believe you need to borrow my washer and I think we could both use some sleep."
"In our separate beds."
"In our separate beds for now." John handed over her jumper and Anna closed her jeans. "Though I'd imagine your bed's comfortable enough to not feel so lonely if I'm not there."
"I wouldn't be so sure." Anna winked at him, draping her jumper over her shoulders. "It might feel very lonely now."
"Then just write down what you'd want me to do to you in it when I eventually make it there." John dipped his head to capture her lips with his and Anna's hands held onto his shoulders for support until they bad to break for air. "Then I'll be more than willing to fulfill your every desire."
"That might take time."
"You did say you wanted to keep me there until neither of us could move."
"So I did." Anna caught her jumper when it tried to fall off her shoulders. "But now I think that might not be as ridiculous a feat as I thought when I first suggested it."
"I guess we'll just have to find out."
"I'm willing to wait for it."
John took one of her hands, kissing the back of it, "So am I."