She slipped the button out of the loop. Chandler's jaw went slack and her eye traced the light stubble along his jaw.

His lips were so plush and soft looking, slightly swollen from her biting. It wasn't fair that anyone was blessed with such perfect, kissable looking lips.

"Chandler?" she asked, noticing his expression hadn't changed at all during her internal monologue. He shook his dark head as if waking from a stupor, and she cocked an eyebrow amusedly.

"I'm sorry," he said as he noticed her expression. "It's just, the last time I was in this situation I woke up to Joey's toes clawing my leg." Her eyes drifted down his long legs... yum.

She scrunched her nose with a frown, taking in that mental image. "Why were Joey's toes in your bed?"

The corner of Chandler's mouth raised and she felt a fresh kick of butterflies to her gut at his smirk.

His voice was still husky from their grind session as he explained, "He got scared after the robbery."

They both grinned at each other, and Rachel felt hungry. He had been the one to bite her, but she wanted to return the favor.

"Rachel?" came a voice suddenly. Someone tried to open the door, then knocked when they realized it was locked.

"Sophie!" Rachel covered her chest even though there was a door between them. Chandler pouted at her attempt to cover up, and Rachel rolled her eyes at him.

"Yes?" she asked, voice unnaturally high as she tried to force herself to relax. Chandler was waggling his eyebrows at her, so she turned towards the door, trying not to smile.

"I thought you should know Joanna's on her way here."

"What?" her voice came out as a squeak. The smile evaporated and she spun to face a chained Chandler. He paled. She began scooping her clothing off the floor as fast as was humanly possible.

"Yeah; Devon called up and said she wanted for you to grab her a coffee because she was going to stay late and…er… work tonight. I told him I'd grab it since you were out?"

"Thanks Sophie, be right out!" Rachel called. She was already sliding her jacket on and buttoning up.

"Pants, pants," Chandler hissed, jerking his head towards his pants lying on the floor.

"Right!" she grabbed them and ran to the hook behind the door. She spun to face him.

"Pants," he said again. She cocked her head, confused, and he nodded his head towards her crotch.

"Right," she said, heat flooding her cheeks. She zipped herself back up and slid the button into place. "Okay."

The two friends met eyes when she looked up and froze, staring at each other. What should she say to him?

Rachel could feel an odd tension in the room that hadn't been there before, when there had been closeness and lots of really great kissing. Now though, she could feel herself pulling back. She wanted very much to be anywhere but there. Chandler cleared his throat.

"Well you should get going then," he said. He couldn't quite meet her eye.

"Right." She stepped towards the door and paused.

The suffocating feeling was subsiding a little. She still felt the powerful urge to fly like a bat out of hell, but now something tied her to the spot.

It was Chandler, with his stupid jokes and his nice smell…. and his good heart. And the way he stood slightly crooked sometimes. The charming way his teeth overlapped, just a little. His long fingers. His stupid sweater-vests that she wanted to rip off of his lean torso for a lot of different reasons, some of them not sexual. His perfect lips, and the way they felt like they were made to be on hers.

She hesitated and looked back. Chandlers blue eyes had softened. He parted his lips like he was about to speak.

"Wait, Joanna! How was the meeting?" Rachel heard Sophie yell as the lock began to turn. Her eyes went wide and she backed up quickly from the door. The lock stopped its turn as Joanna replied something snide to Sophie.

She retreated to the corner. She crammed herself between the bookshelf and the wall, and even she, as tiny as she was, could hardly fit. She snagged a coatrack standing nearby and moved it in front of her spot. Chandler's eyes were wide with adrenaline, and despite her own heart's thundering, she felt warm and a little amused.

He was flushed from his neck to the top of his head. She had seen him blush more in this past few days than she had in their entire friendship. She found herself liking that a lot more than she should. Cute, she thought, deciding not to examine the thought too closely. Or for that matter, examine what they just did too closely.

"Ugh, that Sophie. Just 'blah blah blah.'" Joanna said to Chandler as she entered the room. Rachel watched as Chandler tried very hard to not look at her stuffed into the corner like some kind of circus contortionist.

Joanna locked the door behind her and spun, her most seductive look plastered on her face. Her back was to Rachel thank God.

"Ooh," she took a purposeful step towards him, "look who was a very good boy."

Chandler laughed too hard. "Yes, now come here... you," he said with forced enthusiasm. Rachel moved slowly out from her hiding spot, and if he could just direct Joanna far away enough, she could slip out and keep her job. Goddamn her heart was beating fast.

So this is what it was like to be James Bond. It wasn't fun.

...

While Joanna moved towards him with a sultry look, Rachel quietly began to reach towards the door.

"Keys," Joanna said suddenly, half turning to where they hung on the door.

"NO!" Chandler shouted, barely getting Joanna to turn back in time.

Rachel's hand was on the doorknob now. He didn't have time to admire her silhouette, her slightly swollen and abused lips, her long legs that had just been wrapped around him.

"Leave, the cuffs… on," he said, with almost instant regret. Rachel turned the knob. "Ooooohhh Joanna! You're beautiful," he said loudly to cover the clicks.

Rachel slid out the door with a last mischievous, flushed look at him. She was so alive. She looked like she'd been soaring on adrenaline, and now that she was safely out of the office… he could feel it. The wave of euphoria, what they had just gotten away with.

"Alright, Chandler," Joanna interrupted his thoughts, sitting on his lap. "Cuffs on."

She leaned in and Chandler had a sudden idea. He put on his most innocent expression.

"I actually was thinking cuffs on you."

...

Rachel couldn't be in the office without knowing what was going on behind Joanna's office door, so she said goodbye to Sophie, grabbed her things, and left. The air felt different, the concrete had been replaced by trampolines or clouds, and the native New York population had been replaced by a bunch of friendly small-town strangers. Countless faces smiled at her and a clean breeze brushed over her skin. Her heart soared and the city seemed to soar with her.

I kissed Chandler, she thought, barely suppressing a squeal. Well… they'd done a lot more than kiss, she amended, thinking of his mouth and teeth on her chest. And they might have gone further had they not been interrupted. She'd brushed her hands along his jaw, and felt what it was like to lock her mouth with his. And he'd kissed her back.

She smiled happily to herself. She decided to ride the wave of joy as far as it would take her, and right now, it was washing her home. The cloud of Joanna hung too far in the distance to disrupt her mood.

Rachel barely remembered the subway ride, but she spent it in a happy bubble, and a young, pregnant couple stopped her to tell her she was glowing. A pregnant couple had told her that she was glowing.

Central Perk was up ahead, and she wondered if Phoebe would be there. She smiled, and a smaller, bolder part of her hoped Phoebe was. She looked forward to keeping this delicious secret. She wondered if it would happen again. Where it would happen. When?

She opened the door to Central Perk, and that was all it took for her happiness bubble to pop. Ross was standing at the counter ordering coffee, she couldn't mistake that shiny gel-head anywhere. He was wearing a navy long-sleeve shirt, holding a magazine in one hand as he waited for Gunther to prep his coffee. He was popping the magazine against his leg rhythmically.

Joey was here too, talking to Ross from the couch in their usual spot. Ross took his coffee, replying to Joey as he sat at the table. She sighed. Here was the issue.

"Hey guys," she said, sitting in the arm chair with a close-lipped smile at both of them. She felt the weight of the secret now, like a ball of lead in her gut. Who was she kidding, she and Chandler couldn't work in this context. They couldn't be together, and keep the group together.

"Hey," Joey said with a nod.

"What are you guys talking about?" she asked, crossing her legs.

"Ross was just complaining about door to door salesmen," Joey said with an eye roll, running a hand through his tousled, dark hair.

"You have a vendetta against door to door salesmen?" She arched an eyebrow at her ex.

"I don't trust them!" he said defensively, his eyes flashing. Joey scoffed. "And you shouldn't either, Joey."

"And why were you on that topic?" she asked, confused. Her friends talked about genuinely random crap.

"I bought an encyclopedia, but I happen to think it was a great investment," said Joey. It was Ross's turn to scoff.

"I bet it was, Joe," she said, patting his leg and looking pointedly at Ross, who rolled his eyes at them.

"Alright. So how was your day, Rach?" Joey said, swinging his head in her direction. He was obviously glad to change the topic.

That was a popular trend when anyone argued with Ross. It was exhausting.

"Fine," she thought back to earlier and a pleasant shiver ran through her body. "Work was work. Chandler didn't break up with Joanna, but I caught him so...hopefully that's over. How was yours?" Joey arched an eyebrow at her, a half-smile on his face.

She frowned and looked at Ross, who was only half-listening to their conversation, studying his magazine. She looked back to Joey. His dark eyes were sparkling with humor.

He mouthed something at her she didn't quite understand. He slowed it down and tried again with a careful glance towards Ross.

"Did you get some?" he mouthed, leaning forward towards her.

"What?" Her whole face flushed. Joey quickly leaned back in his seat and casually examined his hands as Ross jumped.

"Woah. What is it, Rach?" he said, putting a hand in the center of his chest.

"Uh I- I just..."

"She was just startled," Joey interrupted. Both she and Ross turned their eyes on the actor. He rubbed his palms on his thighs, with a nod. "Yeah, I was telling her about Vikings. The Norse seafarers who raided and pillaged their way across north Europe. Scary stuff."

Ross looked to her with a doubtful expression. Joey nodded at her meaningfully so she agreed.

"Oh yeah, they're just all big and scary, and 'ah!'" she waved her hands next her head with her little scream.

He looked suspicious, and for a moment she thought he wouldn't buy it.

"They could be a brutal people," he finally said seriously before returning to his magazine. Joey sat up and scooted down the couch to be closer to her.

"What was with the Vikings?" she asked him.

"I told you, I got an encyclopedia," he said. "And I figure you don't want Ross to know you hooked up," he said with a humble nod. She flushed sputtering while he chuckled. "You totally hooked up," he said with a smile.

"Did not!"

"Rach, I have a talent for telling when women are depressed and vulnerable, and I have a talent for telling when women have just had very satisfying sexual experiences. Usually with me," he smirked proudly at that last part, and she pushed his arm.

"I just made out with a guy from work."

"Oh?" Joey asked with a wide grin.

"That's all, Joey," her eyes rested on Ross before dropping to her lap. "It was a one-time thing."

"Good for you!" he said, nudging her arm. She smiled at him weakly, and he moved back down the couch to say something to Ross.

A one time thing. That sounded right.

Then Monica and Phoebe showed up and they sat and talked for a while. Phoebe had seen a weird artsy movie and wanted to go again with one of them, and Monica was hosting them all for dinner that week and took a poll on what food to cook.

She heard Chandler's voice before she saw him, as he thanked whoever held the door open for him. He walked up to their group and paused behind her shoulder.

He was close to her. Every nerve in her body was humming. He shifted a little closer and her back straightened. He was saying something to the rest of them but she hadn't heard. She was just aware of the vague sound of his voice rumbling above her. It reminded her of that deep, raspy tone she was sure would haunt her dreams tonight. His sex voice.

Finally she felt him shift away from her, and it was like a relief. She slouched back a little in the chair. He sat down on the arm of the couch, but now he was in her line of vision and she drank him in.

There was actually something she wanted to ask.

"So, did you break up with her?" Without her consent her hand had moved to his thigh. It was a casual touch. A friend touch like so many the six had exchanged before, only this time, it was something very different.

"Yeah, I think so," he said casually, locking his long fingers together.

"It's a good thing you got out when you did, before she blew up like that Vesuvius," Joey interjected.

"The volcano?" Ross questioned.

"Yeah and speaking of volcanoes-" Joey continued, sharing a surprising amount of information about the topic. Rachel laughed, but she was only half listening, her eyes continually pulled to the man sitting to her right. He hadn't given any sign of what had transpired earlier. What was he thinking?

Then her breath caught. Chandler's tongue slowly dragged across his lower lip and she felt an almost visceral reaction, eyes hooding and blood rushing to all the right places in her body. Her eyes flicked up met his own amused, heated gaze. The bastard had done it on purpose.

She took a deep breath and crossed her arms, looking away from his stupid, punchable face, and he laughed. His legs stretched long towards her, and she simultaneously wanted those legs around her, and to break his kneecaps.

"Chandler has a handcuff fetish!" she said, grinning up at him. Monica and Phoebe sort of knew, but Ross and Joey were quick to pop their heads up and look at their friend. Chandler was frozen, caught completely off guard. "And not using them on ladies. He likes-"

"For the love of God woman!" Chandler said with a look at her. He was sitting up, muscles tight, eyes wide. She smiled wickedly, taking advantage of everyone's eyes being on Chandler to run her tongue quickly over her bottom lip. A glint of something showed in his eye, and her pulse jogged.

"-wearing," she finished.

"W-Well b-but… I-" Chandler stuttered while all their friends stared at him. She smiled to herself. He was too easy.

"So do I," Phoebe said, leaning forward to grab her coffee. She paused, "Did I just say that out loud? …Ah, oh well." She shrugged and grabbed her coffee.

Rachel smiled at Phoebes. Who knew, maybe that was something Phoebe and no-longer-vanilla Rachel had in common now? They all engaged in some healthy teasing.

"I'm off," she said, standing before Chandler could come up with a rebuttal. She grabbed her purse, standing, and smiled at her friends. She loved them, and this flirtation still had her feeling all light and airy. She did deflate slightly when her eyes passed over Ross.

But then she turned, and Chandler was looking at her with something dangerous in his eyes, and all thoughts of Ross were gone. When she passed Chandler, she let the length of her body brush against him and leaned in.

"Don't worry, honey," she whispered, voice low so only they could hear. His harsh breath against her, and her jogging pulse were the only things she could hear. "So do I." Chandler blanched, and with that she walked out of the coffee shop.