A/N: If you've happened to miss every other announcement up until now, I have recently (finally) started up my Patreon! All extra scenes and the smut that I've 'robbed' from you can be found over there. The link is in my WP and Insta bio.

Xander's POV:

I blinked at her, the light of that ever-building fluster creeping onto her face.

By some kind of coincidence, making me take on quite the opposite.

"Oh yeah?" I questioned, trying to press her for more, "And what is it that you'd like to do?"

My teasing forwardness looked to have surprised her, hand tightening around mine.

"Well... We did kind of get interrupted back in that hallway, so maybe we could finish what we started?"

She spoke it more like an answer rather than a follow-up question with the way she stepped back, pulling me with her towards the bed.

My smile turned almost giddy at her eagerness, debating if I should just scoop her up now and save up a few seconds.

I dared to test the scents in the air, catching the first stages of her arousal.

For the second time today.

Which gave mine the go-ahead and set my plan into motion, quickly scooping her up again by her thighs.

Her squeal turned into a jovial giggle, locking her arms and ankles around me while her hands already grabbed and tugged my shirt upwards.

I was beginning to think that her greed was starting to match mine when it came to matters like this.

Though now that the words I'd been hiding had been spoken... now that she was mine, the greed was... different.

You cant take more of something that you already have, just build upon it and make sure that it has the means and wants to stay yours.

She was mine, but now I wanted her to remember why. To show her through her body a glimpse of what this gift meant to me.

Now that I wasn't panicking about it. Now that my mind had been cleared.

I wanted to do things a little differently this time.

I laid her on the bed first, both of us moving in a way that got my shirt off impressively smoothly.

The look she gave me, that elated yet devilish look as she tossed my shirt to the side and opened her arms in another invitation was such a welcome sight.

Now that I could accept the feelings that came with such a warm sight, and the emotional thrill now knowing that they were reciprocated.

I scooped her back up, bringing us both to the head of the bed, on the side that had become the designated spot for well... this, placing a soft kiss on her lips as I set her down.

She was the one to hold me and draw it out longer, fingers slowly trailing back through my hair and across my scalp.

"There's my boy," she whispered, sending heated shivers down my back and deepening the purr that still hadn't stopped.

Shit, that sounded way too good, and the warm agreeance spread quickly throughout my body.

There was heat in our movements, but also a heavy tenderness that told me that she was on a similar page as me when it came down to how we were going to do this.

The passion was there, but it was slow, delicate. A desire for the closeness, for the connection itself more than what came at the end.

Of course, both were always rightly present during the past times we've done this, but just like those past times, they each stemmed from something different.

This time... right now, I just wanted to feel her, and have her feel with every delicate touch and kiss the many different ways that I want to silently say 'I love you'.

I worked my hands under her shirt with the same softness she was giving me, leaning back as she leaned forward to aid me in taking it off.

We parted to take it off fully, those wide eyes I adored in plain sight.

Showing the wonder beneath them. As well as a few other things.

"What's the consensus on having sex with a vampiric prince on the day of the blood moon?"

I found a wild amusement to her curiosity, making me wonder what kind of answers that mind of hers had already come up with.

"Well, the moon hasn't risen yet, and won't for a few hours, so for now, there's no difference," I explained, working at the buttons on her pants.

She kept her hand idly trailing through my hair, the other slung over my shoulder to draw little shapes on my back.

"And if the moon was up?"

Ah, Doe and her ability to casually talk about anything at any time.

I didn't sense any hopeful undertone in her words that she'd get to know soon enough. She was, right now, just inquiring about the future it seemed.

"It's hard to say," I answered truthfully, "I can only imagine the results would be exciting, but it sounds like something to try after you're a vampire."

After easing the bloodthirst, I assume with the enhancement of everything, it would be amazing, even more when the blood you're taking is from someone that you love.

"Oh, right. With vampires comes the whole blood moon freak out," I worried for a split second like that fact alone was enough to change her mind, but she swatted away those worries just as fast as they appeared, "Eh. A small price to pay to be with you for the stupid amount of time you guys live."

God, I loved how she so surely talked about our future like there wasn't even a chance for any other possibility to fill her mind.

The same thoughts I was so afraid of having, but fabricated anyways.

Her hands migrated down to slip open my belt after she'd gotten her to answer settled, consecutively aiding me in getting her pants off.

A quick team effort to get us both in only our underwear, giving us the couple seconds we apparently always gave ourselves now to just look.

Look at the person we'd just... that we loved.

My next exhale was partly a sigh of relief, more of the reality of what just happened hitting me.

The full extent still wasn't there, but it was giving itself to me in pieces.

Some part of my brain probably knew that if I had it all at once, I'd be rendered into a pathetic little sobbing mess on the floor for at least a few hours, maybe more.

And I didn't have time for that, right now, I had a woman to love.

Doe let out a little laugh at the sound like she knew exactly where it was coming from.

"Have I ever told you that you have a stunning body?" she asked, slowly pushing her hands up my torso, fingers splaying to take in every detail.

My chest warmed after the hard tug, feeling myself lean into her words and into her touch.

Feeling my past experiences of struggling self-confidence flare up and dissipate into nothing.

Her words held so much power over me that I almost couldn't believe it.

Her opinion was one of the ones I cared about the most, especially when it came to this.

"You haven't," I leaned back towards her, "Not with those words at least."

I liked to think that I felt something similar a few times, just with the way she looked and touched me.

Hearing it with nothing but truth was the conclusion that I'd needed.

I kissed between her collar bone, "And I hope by now you know that I absolutely can't get enough of yours. Of you."

Her face filled with color, but instead of shying away, or trying to hide it, she kept her gaze right on me.

Still giving me a shy little nod that I cherished.

I knew she wasn't the type to get self-conscious. At least not to the extent I have.

She knew she was stunning. She knew her self-worth. She needed guidance here and there just from her past, but she amazed me every day given that past and still ending up the woman that she is.

And regardless of all of that, she decided that she wanted to be with me.

I think I may just be the luckiest man alive.

She arched her back pressing her body into mine to allow me to access the clip of her bra.

And with a quick pinch and slide of my fingers, it was undone first try, much to her surprise.

I grinned, proud of the reaction that got out of her.

"Wait what the hell? Have you been practicing?!"

"Maybe," I kept it vague, knowing that she definitely already knew the answer.

I'd practiced on one of her bras every time I passed them in the closet since our first time, cuz I was never living through that embarrassment again.

Good to know it worked.

She rolled her eyes, pulling a chuckle out of me while I pulled that off of her as well.

Kissing between her breasts this time, and one on each for good measure, pulling my hands down her waist and hips

I slid down with them, intending to go down on her after I got her fully naked but got stopped by a-

"Wait."

I looked up, a bit stunned by her word and the way her legs pressed tight against me like she was trying to close them.

She was regaining that flustered look, eyes darting to the side like she was searching for the words.

"Not that... not tonight at least," She paused for a moment, biting her bottom lip in agitation. "I want you up here with me I-... I want you close- against me this time. The whole time."

I just blinked, now stunned by her words and the sudden lack of an ability to string them together due to what she was requesting.

And I found it unbelievably adorable.

Enough so to where I couldnt hide my reaction but tried to stifle the laugh that came with it for her sake, raising myself up so we were face to face again.

I never wanted her to feel awkward or shy for voicing her wants with me. In any situation.

"You make it sound so tempting when you say it like that, you know," I commented, kissing her forehead.

'I want you close. I want you against me the whole time.'

What kind of idiot hears that and says no?

I checked back into the scents in the air as she pulled me down into a deepened kiss, definitely in a partial attempt to hide her face, but I'll let her get away with it.

Searching to see where she was in terms of 'ready'.

I knew that women took a bit more time to get stimulated and aroused past the initial feeling.

That it was both a mental and physical thing that you had to work with for her comfort and with my uh... difference in anatomy to a human, her comfort was something I took pride in.

What I wasn't expecting was to find her in the last state of arousal already.

Our time in the hallway probably had something to do with it.

No, it undoubtedly did.

That and the conversation I hope...

Her grip tightened in my hair, the other hand, tracing around the seem of my boxers.

A subtle hint that furthered my previous discovery.

And a nudge towards an instruction I wasn't going to ignore.

We both reached down in unison somewhat awkwardly removing that last piece, but getting it done swiftly and effectively.

Relishing the relief on my hard-on once they were off

She clung to my bicep, legs relaxing and parting further to the sides.

I was met with those wide honey eyes yet again, hearing the speed of her heart, and feeling her fingers tuck away my hair behind my ear.

She gave me the nod I always looked for, the silent 'go ahead'.

I did, but not before, cupping her cheek and bringing my lips to hers.

Swallowing her gasp when I began to enter her just for her to swallow my groan a second later.

I was hyper-aware of any tension or discomfort given the lack of foreplay I was used to, but her body gave me nothing but appraisal.

The way she felt was unbelievable and hadn't gotten old even a little bit since our first time.

It was like her body was a perfect fit to mine, calling to me in every which way, sensual or not.

Every inch of me she took adding another layer to my need for her and her alone.

A connection such as this being the one to convince my entirety that this was real.

That I had the woman I loved beneath me, lying with me in such an intimate way, and calling herself mine.

I had nothing real to compare it to but felt confident in my experiences thus far to say that it would be impossible to get better than this.

She was it for me. My one and only.

I knew that sounded abstract and dramatic, but I couldn't deny it. It was a fact embedded in my instinct.

If I couldn't have her, then I'd have nothing because this was the best there is.

A long, drawn-out noise sounded from her throat, relaxing into me and holding me close.

"I love you," The words rang through my mind, but came from her mouth with soft but loaded emotion.

I think it's going to be a while before I can hear those words from her without the added shock factor.

Without momentarily wondering if this is just all an elaborate, fucked up dream.

But her touch, the way she made me feel, the warmth against my fingertips as they tread over her waist and the underside of her thigh. I couldn't dream that.

The catch in her breath came with another little noise as I rounded my hips.

Slow, steady enough to bring the sensation, and avoid rocking her body the ways I'd done prior.

I noticed tears again swimming in those eyes again when I met them, wanting her to see my words through my eyes.

"And I love you, Doe. I will for years to come, and I will make sure you never regret your decision to allow me the pleasure."

The first tear fell when her lips rose if a softened smile, a small sob breaking through her laugh before she embraced me fully, arms hooking around my back.

My beautiful, fantastic girl.

I kissed away her tears, lowering down to her neck to cherish her there.

I'd cherish every part of her today if she'd let me.

Let the delicacy mix with the passion, the love collide with the friendship.

Fortify the strange relationship we'd built up to this day

It'd take time, but we had time to kill. With this, with her, I would take all the time in the world.