Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

The flames from the fireplace glinted off the glass as he sat it down on the table by his favorite chair. Severus had served himself some firewhisky as soon as he walked in the door of his chambers. There was still quite a bit of liquor in the glass even though he had been nursing it all evening. The week had proven to be stressful in more ways than one, and the disappointment weighing on him was not helping.

Four long days had passed since he had allowed his attraction to Hermione Granger to overrule his good sense. Despite her admission of attraction to him, he had all but convinced himself that she never really liked him in that way. He had very little experience with women, especially young ladies like Hermione. As a teenager, he had taken a fancy to a few intelligent girls at Hogwarts, one of them being Lily Evans, but he had never acted on the attraction.

Perhaps his raging libido had frightened her away. Perhaps her labored breath and heaving chest in the hall that night had been indications of fear instead of desire. Severus felt like banging his head against the wall. It had all been a mistake, every blasted moment of it. And, now, he was so tense and filled with pent up desire for her, he could barely think straight or even enjoy an evening in quiet solitude.

There was no doubt about it, Hermione had been avoiding him. He barely saw her at meals in the Great Hall, and their frequent encounters on the castle grounds had ceased without any warning. Suddenly, she wasn't anywhere to be found, and he could do nothing about it.

Severus closed his eyes and placed the pads of his fingers along his temple, hoping the pressure would allow him to circumvent the imminent headache.

Thinking back on that night when he all but threw himself at her feet, he knew there had never truly been a way to avoid the encounter. They had both been dancing around each other for days, if not weeks. How could he not have declared his intentions when she was pressed against the wall, her chest rising seductively with each breath? She had been utterly gorgeous. He remembered it well...the way her hair had been slightly mussed from the cool breeze over the lake and the subtle way her robes had clung to her curves, flattering her body. Her lips had been moist and a deep shade of pink, and her glazed eyes alone had been enough to undo his self-control.

It would have been different if he hadn't read the beginnings of her novel. He could have pretended Hermione was cold, with no secret desires worth exploring. Of course, he had found her company acceptable even before the discovery of her romance novels, but he was not sure he would have ever considered a relationship with her without that push through the mental block of considering her a former student. Those last two chapters had changed everything. Now he had no illusions of Hermione, the survivor, being frigid or undesirable.

He looked down at the front of his trousers. It seemed that each time he thought of her, his cock sprang to life, as if begging him to do something about their sorry state of affairs. Recalling how he had thrown her wanton written words back at her when he had cornered her in the hall by her quarters pressed his erection so tightly against the fabric of the trousers he became uncomfortable.

"Fuck," he muttered in disgust, standing up and making his way to his desk. It was late, but sleep was the furthest thing from his mind. Instead of retiring for the evening, he decided to grade some essays. They had been sitting on his desk for almost a week; he had put them off long enough.

Just as he settled into the chair and adjusted his cumbersome erection, he saw a flash of white along the dull gray of the floor by his door. Standing from his desk chair, he saw an envelope, very much like the ones Hermione had used to conceal her chapters, laying innocuously on his floor.

With no small amount of trepidation, he walked across the sitting room and picked up the envelope. He thought it smelled like her, even though he knew he was being silly. Carefully, he opened the flap and pulled out a small scrap of parchment with ragged edges. A hastily scrawled message filled the front of the parchment. His heart jumped into his throat when he recognized her handwriting.

I want you.

That was it. A simple statement, but it was something he had been longing to hear since their encounter in the hall by her rooms. Though he was only in shirtsleeves, he flung the door open without hesitation, prepared to scour the halls for her if she had decided to run away after slipping the note beneath his door. The plans for the search proved to be useless when he saw Hermione standing opposite his door on the other side of the hall.

She looked nervous, yet absolutely shameless in her desire. The deep blue robes she wore had obviously been thrown on at the last minute. Her lips parted to issue an explanation, but he didn't allow her the opportunity. Instead, he took two quick strides out of his room, grabbed her arm, and pulled her inside.

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Hermione didn't know what she would have said had he given her time to speak. She thought it was probably for the best that he had smothered her mouth with his own as soon as she had been pulled into his sitting room.

She vaguely heard the door slam shut behind her before he pressed her against it, trapping her between the unyielding wood and his lanky body. She had not been prepared for this urgent display of desire and need. Words to explain and excuse her ridiculous note had been forming in her head even before she wrote the damn thing. Little did she know, she didn't need explanations. Severus's lips and tongue tasting the sensitive skin of her neck made that quite apparent.

Using the door behind her as leverage, she pushed her body more firmly into his as he moved his mouth to the modest neckline of her robes. His hands at her waist were bunching up the material of her robes, lifting the garment up her bare legs. She knew he was only seconds away from pulling them over her head, and she willingly helped him toss them aside when he finally did.

"Mmmm..." he murmured under his breath when he saw she had nothing but her undergarments on beneath the crumpled robes.

"I forgot my clothes," she tried to explain when he stopped kissing her long enough to stare at her plain, cotton knickers.

He moved closer, ghosting his lips over hers. "That is certainly not a problem, Hermione. I do prefer to do this without clothing."

She tried to smile at him, but it became more of a nervous grimace. She couldn't believe she had actually jumped off the proverbial cliff and all but asked him to fuck her senseless. Not that a roll in the sack was all she wanted; she just wasn't sure what that something else was.

The thoughts flashed through her head just as his lips touched hers again. The kiss was deep, but less frantic than the first. His hands were everywhere, on her bare skin, tracing the hems of her knickers, teasing her nipples through the fabric of her bra. Finally, he buried the fingers of one hand in the messy mane of her hair to pull her head back and expose the elegant column of her neck. She shivered in his arms as she felt his teeth gently scrape down the skin there.

"Severus..." she said softly.

"Take the bra off, Hermione." His voice vibrated against her neck as he closed his lips over the curve where her neck and shoulder met.

With fumbling hands, she found the clasp in the middle of her back and unhooked it, letting the straps slide down her shoulders. Severus pulled away just enough to allow the bra to fall to the floor between them. It was quickly forgotten when he dropped his mouth to her breasts, playing her nipples with the tip of his tongue.

That pleasurable sensation was dwarfed when he slid down her body, kneeling at her feet and tracing the edge of her knickers with his tongue. She watched the dark-haired crown of his head dip lower so he could place open lips over her mound, licking her through the drenched cloth of her knickers.

"Oh... Oh, my..." Hermione gasped. Her hands clutched at the door behind her, finding no purchase on the hard wood.

His fingers slid beneath the waist of her knickers and pulled them over her hips and down her thighs. They dropped, forgotten, to the floor while he pressed his face between her spread thighs. Her head was fuzzy, and she was unable to think properly when he guided one of her legs over his shoulder, letting the bend at her knee rest comfortably there.

When he finally buried his tongue within her, she cried out and clutched at the door again. Finally, she grasped the fabric of his shirt on his other shoulder and wound the fingers of her second hand in his dark hair. "I don't know if I can do this standing up," she said between heavy breaths.

Snape's only response was to move his tongue up to her clit while he carefully pushed two fingers inside her.

"Oh!" Hermione called out, rocking her hips into his hand. "I think... I might... my legs might... stop working. I don't want to fall on you."

"I'm not allowing you to move until you come," he answered before sucking her sensitive clit between his lips.

Each thrust of his fingers tightened her abdomen even more. The muscles there were already so tense she could feel them quivering. Severus's muffled moan and the way he moved his tongue from his penetrating fingers to her clit sent Hermione over the edge. She cried out in release, feeling her entire body flush with pleasure. If he had not held her bucking hips against the door, she would have collapsed into the floor with him.

Seconds ticked away as she slowly recovered from the orgasm, the thunderous roar in her ears finally subsiding. He was still on his knees before her, watching her with more than a little interest. His dark eyes were shining in the dim light of his sitting room.

Without much thought, she acted on impulse. Pushing him back, she dropped to the floor in front of him. He had been so surprised by her actions, he lay sprawled out on the ornate rug behind him. Hermione descended on him quickly, her hands darting to the opening of his trousers. While she managed the buttons there, he pulled his shirt over his head and toed his boots off. By the time she had undone his trousers, he lifted his hips for her so she could easily pull them down his legs. Always one to be efficient, she made sure to pull his briefs down with them.

His erection sprang free, jutting proudly into the air, begging her to slide on top of him and ride it. Just the sight of it made her ache with desire. Instead of succumbing to her initial reaction, she knelt beside him and pulled her hair back. Just as she lowered her mouth to within inches of his tip, she felt him grab her upper arm. She looked up at Severus and met his dilated eyes.

"I wouldn't be able to control myself," he whispered.

She smiled. "That's fine."

He chuckled and pulled her more firmly up his body. "I want to fuck you right now, Hermione. But, later, I will be more than pleased if you'd like to slide those hot little lips over my cock."

She couldn't deny him or argue. Besides, her body was screaming for him to fill her. Severus reached down and brushed the pad of a thumb over the moist head of his shaft. Never taking his eyes from her face, he lifted the drop of moisture to her lips. Hermione took his thumb into her mouth, sweeping her tongue over the salty taste of him. Severus groaned when he saw the heat in her eyes.

As if spellbound, Hermione slowly climbed on top of him, straddling his hips and letting his cock tease her entrance.

"That's it..." he hissed. His hips made small, jerky thrusts up toward her heat.

With a hand on his chest for balance, she guided him inside, slowly sinking down until he was completely enveloped inside her. She could feel his fingertips pressing firmly into the soft flesh of her hips, his thumbs pressing into the bones of her pelvis. They both stayed like that for a moment, adjusting to the new sensations.

Finally, Hermione lifted herself up and rolled her hips as she settled back down on him. "Yes," he groaned, throwing his head back and lifting his hips up as if he could push himself deeper inside. She had to agree with him; it felt fantastic to finally have him inside her after all those nights of fantasies.

The way his cock felt as it filled her each time she dropped down on him worked Hermione into a frenzy. Unaware of her surroundings, she began to move faster, slamming down harder on his pelvis with each thrust. She could barely see him through hazy eyes that were half-closed, but she could feel one of his hands move so he could press his thumb lightly against her clit. The additional stimulation was all she needed to shudder and come with a wordless cry of pleasure. She could feel him convulsing inside her, and she managed to open her eyes to see his face contorted in pleasure.

Feeling boneless and sated, she collapsed on top of him, feeling the subtle, but defined, muscles in his chest and arms shift to accommodate her more comfortably. His diminishing erection was still inside her when she laid her head on his chest. In a rare gesture of tenderness, he brushed her hair over to one side with a gentle hand.

"This isn't exactly how I planned it," Hermione said softly in the still room.

"Is that so?" he mumbled, looking down his chest at her bushy hair.

"Yes. I thought we would at least make it to your bed." Hermione lifted her head and rested her chin on his breastbone, watching the subtle play of expressions on his face.

Severus pressed his lips tightly together and laughed silently, never taking his eyes off the woman draped over his body. "We've all night, my dear. My bed awaits you."

"Severus?" Hermione asked, turning her head to rest on his chest again. Something things were easier to say if you didn't have to look at the person.

"Hmm?"

"I... Well, I just wanted you to know that I've been thinking about you lately. I've been thinking about you a great deal, actually. And I can appreciate this...you know, the sex...for what it is, but I want you to know that I would have never come here tonight if I didn't want... you know, more."

His warm arms wrapped tightly around her, and his voice rumbled in his chest. "I know exactly what you mean. Let's bathe and discuss this further in bed."

"This wasn't just sex for you, then?" She cringed at the blatant hope in her voice.

"Well, it certainly was sex, but I would be lying to you if I said I had no designs on something a bit more long-term with you."

Hermione looked up at him in shock. "Really?"

"Yes." He gently pushed her off so he could stand on shaky legs. "My tub is big enough for two. Would you care to join me?"

Her grin lit up the room as she took his extended hand and allowed him to help her off the floor.

Author's Note: I just want to give a final (and HUGE) thank you to moonrevel and JenF for being such wonderful betas. I appreciate them both greatly. Also, thank you to all of the readers who have left comments about this fic while I have been posting it. You have all been so encouraging and fantastic that you make a girl want to write many more stories.

Author's Note #2: Because several reviewers asked nicely ::wink, wink::, I have attached at epilogue to this fic.