AN: Thank you for all the support! It is very deeply appreciated!

For the first time in his life, Severus was kissing a woman he wanted, needed, respected, adored, cherished, and couldn't live without. It was more exhilarating than inventing a new potion or casting a spell he'd created for the first time. If there was any doubt that she was the most important woman in his life, it was erased by the sounds of her moans.

Their bodies moved in rhythm, each reacting to the needs of the other. Everything in him wanted to satisfy Hermione. From the movements of her body, he knew she felt the same.

The kiss was sweet yet passionate, wild yet restrained, timid yet bold. It was everything Severus had been told a kiss could be, everything he wanted it to be, everything he'd dreamed it would be.

The kiss meant he was cheating on his girlfriend.

He took a deep breath before breaking away. Hermione stared up at him, her eyes glistening, her swollen lips pleading for him to kiss her once more.

It was a request his body was all too willing to fulfill. Everything in him wanted this woman by his side for the rest of eternity. Still, life had taught him that he never got what he most desired. If she understood how many scars he had on his body, if she had to look at the dark mark every time they made love, she would grow to resent him. Over time, she would wonder why she chose someone so damaged, someone who was so inept at communicating, someone who was so inferior to any other man she could have. No, they needed to stop now before they destroyed their friendship.

"Severus?" She whispered.

"Hermione," he rasped before ignoring his mind's protests and capturing her lips once more. Despite his mind screaming at him to stop, he couldn't get enough of this woman. How had he denied himself her affection for so long?

"Severus," she began, fiddling with the top buttons of his coat and shirt.

The feeling of her fingers against his bare skin returned him to the moment. He broke away and panted. "Hermione."

"Yes," she positioned herself closer to his lips.

"We can't," he breathed. "We can't do this."

"Can't do what?"

"Kiss. We can't do this, not now, not ever. We can't kiss again."

"We can't?" She whispered.

"No," he exhaled. "We can't do this ever again."

She blinked. "Are you rejecting me?"

"No, God no! I want to kiss you," he continued. "I want you more than I've ever wanted anything else."

"Then why..."

"Because we can't do this."

"Why?"

"Because," his words were failing him. His body was yearning to resume their activities and deal with any complications the next morning. Somehow he needed to control himself, though, and do the right thing for them both. He needed to be strong enough to allow her to find a man worthy of her affections, not a broken git of a man.

"Because why?" Her voice was shaky.

"Because that kiss was inadvisable."

"Inadvisable?" The light in her eyes died.

"Yes." He exhaled. "We got caught up in the moment. We were discussing kisses and decided to play out our wildest fantasies. It was a momentary lapse in judgment we cannot repeat."

"No," Hermione shook her head. "No, it wasn't a momentary lapse in judgment. That kiss has been building for months, perhaps years. We both know it."

He swallowed.

"You wanted it," her voice grew louder. "I know you wanted it."

"It doesn't matter what I want."

"But you want me, don't you?"

"Gods yes!" He could no longer hide his frustration. "I have wanted you for months, no, years. I want you in every way you will give yourself to me. Still, we don't always get what we want."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Her voice cracked. "I'm right here. I'm a willing partner. I want you as much as you want me."

"If you want me, then break up with your boyfriend."

Her eyes grew.

"Write him right now and tell him you're breaking up with a wonderful gentleman for your best friend, who is also your ex-professor. Tell him you're breaking up with him for an ex-Death Eater. Tell him you're breaking up with him for someone who has been called such wonderful names such as greasy git and Snivelus."

"You never should've been called those names."

"It doesn't matter what should or should not have happened. The truth is that my appearance leaves much to be desired."

"No, no, it doesn't." She kissed the scar left by Nagini.

He couldn't suppress his groan.

"I want you." She kissed his neck again. "I want you so badly."

"Then break up with your boyfriend. Do it for a broken man like me." He hoped he was hiding his crumbling resistance.

"Fine." She backed away. "Where's a piece of parchment and a quill? I'll write him right now to tell him we're through. Then we'll get back to having a lovely evening together."

"You're a fool if you write that letter," he warned.

"Why?" She snapped. "I want you. You want me. It's clear from that kiss you feel a deep affection for me, and I feel a deep affection for you. We need each other. We want each other. We care for each other."

"Is that going to be enough?"

"It is for me."

"Is it? Do you want to be with a man as snarly as I can be? Do you want to deal with all the history between us, not just what's happened in Nevada, but what's happened in Britain?"

Her eyes grew. Then, they fell on her right forearm.

"We can pretend our lives began and will end in Vegas," he continued. "We can pretend we're every person who sits at the slot machines, someone with no future and no past. We can pretend we're two faces in the crowd who met on a gondola in the Venetian, but we aren't. We have histories we won't be able to ignore if we're together."

"No," her eyes watered as she continued to look at her arm. "We can't ignore everything that's happened in Britain. Still, I'd hoped you wanted me."

"God, I want you, Hermione! I want you more than I've ever wanted anything or anyone! Damn it, Hermione! If I weren't such a complex and broken man." He put his hands on her shoulders. "If we were the same age, if we were native Nevadans who had never been in a war, I would be with you right now."

She looked at him. "You would?"

His throat constricted. "I wouldn't look in another woman's direction, not after meeting you."

"But I am who I am." Her lips quivered.

"No, I am who I am," he whispered. "You are beautiful, intelligent, and kind, everything I do not deserve."

"You do deserve me!" She cried. "Why can't you believe that?"

"Regardless of what I deserve, you deserve better, and we both know it."

"What about her?"

Severus gulped.

"Are you choosing her over me?" Hermione choked.

"No, I'm choosing you over her," he answered. "I'll always choose you over her."

She blinked back her tears.

"I'm trying to give you a future, one where you could be with a wonderful man like your boyfriend, one where you aren't tied to someone broken like me."

"What if I want to be tied to you?" A tear trickled down her cheek.

"I would say that you are making an unwise decision, one which I cannot in good conscience allow you to make."

"So that's it? You're going to pretend our friendship is nothing, that our kiss is nothing?"

"No!" He cried. "That kiss was everything to me. It's everything I have ever wanted and needed. Your friendship is the one thing I cannot live without."

She shook.

"But I am a broken man. Some days I can barely manage friendship. I'd be hell to live with. I mean, I can't even cook my own food."

"I know." Her lips twitched upwards. "Our inability to cook is what keeps Pizza Castle in business."

"I know." His throat constricted. "I want and need you as my best friend. I've never felt as strongly about anyone as I do you. I'm terrified of losing you, though. If I were with you the way you want me to be with you, I would lose you forever because I would just muck it up. You are the one thing I cannot afford to lose."

"I can't afford to lose you either," her eyes fell on her right arm again. "And you're right, there are some things you can't unsee, some things nobody should ever be subjected to. Sometimes, a person is too disgraced, too broken to love."

"Hermione, you aren't those things. I am. You aren't those things, and you never will be."

She met his eyes. "How certain are you of that?"

Before Severus could answer, there was a knock upon the door. "Pizza Castle."

"I'll pay for it," he said. "Do you want to stay?"

"Yes, I'll stay," she whispered.

"Are you certain?"

She nodded.

It seemed as if he wasn't in his own body when he paid for the pizza, collected it, and tipped the delivery person. Once he returned to the kitchen, he watched Hermione wipe her eyes. It shattered his heart to know he made her cry.

Why did he have to make everyone who cared about him more miserable than they were before they'd met him?

"You know." Hermione took a shaky breath. "I think you're right. We got caught up in the moment. Neither of us has had a partner in years. Actually, neither of us has had a partner since we've become best friends. I think the fear of losing each other is manifesting itself in odd ways, like kissing."

"Perhaps," he set the pizza on the table.

"I think that once we're more secure in our relationship with each other, this urge to kiss each other will go away."

"Are you certain of that?"

"I think so," she answered.

"Do you truly think so?"

She stepped closer to him. "I do."

Before Severus could reconsider his next step, he pressed his lips against hers again.

If this was the last time he kissed a woman he loved, he wanted to savor every moment.