As much as she often wished she could be less predictable, Sharon knew the truth: She is good at protocol. She is good at rules, and she is good at taking things at a respectable pace.

In every relationship she'd even known, that pace was often pretty regular. You meet, you date, you kiss, you sleep together, you meet each other's families, and you move in together. Every relationship but the one she had forged with Andy Flynn.

They spent over three years fostering a friendship and intimacy that usually only comes with a romance. Because of this, by the time they did decide to make things romantic, Sharon and Andy were so comfortable with each other it was like they'd been dating for, well, years.

So when Andy was injured after being thrown from the car, it took everything in Sharon's power not to insist that he move in with her immediately so she may look after his every want and need. Thankfully, his coming to live with her developed in a much more casual way—being more a product of convenience and comfort than some kind of "taking things to the next level" cliché. Rusty wasn't thrilled, but he was dealing and being very generous with his space and home.

Then things got worse. Andy passed out, assumedly because his medication caused him to have dizzy spells and lose balance; something Sharon was less than thrilled to learn he had kept secret. The true turning point in their relationship came with Andy's emergency surgery to remove the advancing blood clot in his neck. That day, they both realized they should have been sharing 'I love yous' long before the drama of a life-or-death situation drew it to the forefront of their minds.

Thankfully Andy's surgery was successful, and he was back, resting comfortably in Rusty's bedroom before the week was out. Sharon's hyper sensitivity to his needs was comforting, if not a little suffocating. Andy found himself pushing her to return to work and enlist Patrice's help instead of hovering over his barely-bandaged neck all day long. Sharon obliged, and the next few weeks went smoothly. Andy was recuperating right on schedule, and with the blood clot having been successfully extracted, his recovery was actually fairly painless. The incision in his neck was small, and his after-surgery regimen relied mostly on blood pressure medication and antibiotics.

Needless to say, the missing physical element of Sharon and Andy's relationship took a backseat to the more pressing issues they faced in the first months they had been together.

Sharon worried that may have made things even more difficult, however, because recovering a healthy attraction and sex life might have become muddled in their new-found domesticity. She always knew Andy cared about her, and now she knew he loves her. But the smirks, the lingering looks, and the quiet, unspoken inside jokes seemed to have subsided. All of the flirting that reassured her of their mutual attraction had slowed. Not disappeared, but slowed, certainly.

Andy noticed too, of course. But he assumed it was all part of the… maybe not natural progression… but certainly the progression that most naturally fit their situation. So when Sharon walked through the door of her condo carrying Italian take-out, Andy was shocked he felt an almost painful need to touch her body. To run his hand along the curves he's grown so comfortable with, but never indulged in. He was surprised his mouth went dry, after countless similar nights. He was surprised he got half hard just thinking about the way her clavicle tasted.

Sharon was surprised too.

He had gotten up from the couch when he heard her come through the door, but froze upon turning around and looking at the gorgeous form in front of him. She had changed out of her suit in favor of jeans and a sweater. She kept her charcoal silk blouse on, however, donning the draping cardigan over it for warmth and to rid herself of the slightly constricting suit jacket. To Andy, she was all class, curves, and cleavage. It was the perfectly subtle sexiness that always made her especially noticeable. And Andy noticed.

"What?" Sharon questioned, equal parts intrigued and confused by the cocked eyebrow on Andy's face. "I brought dinner. I got chicken parm, but I talked them into giving us an extra helping of that pasta thing you like."

Andy just stared, only smirking and briefly taking notice of the brown paper sack she held in her hand.

"Why don't I give you a hand with that?" He asked, making his way to her entryway and reaching out his hand for the food.

"Thanks, I…" She trailed off as she watched him take the bag from her hand only to drop it lightly, but nonetheless haphazardly, on the floor next to her end table.

"Not hungry?" She joked sarcastically, but was cut off as Andy silently guided her back against the wall, holding her wrists in his hands against her sides.

He kissed her hard, first just forcing his closed mouth against hers, and the back of her head into the wall her ass and spine were already sharing. They opened their mouths simultaneously, Andy immediately supplying the help of his tongue. He held her wrists a few seconds more before moving his flattened palms up her arms, finally gripping her shoulders as if he was about to shake her senseless. He didn't stop the kiss, however, and kept his tongue engaged in the hot, wet mess that was their mouths. There was nothing calculated about this kiss, nothing ambiguous. They had kissed before, of course, and some were long, lingering, heated kisses. But this was different. There was something inherently telling about the way Andy insisted his mouth be on Sharon's. This wasn't just a kiss, it was foreplay. There was no question where this was going, no possibility that Andy would draw his mouth away from Sharon's to collect their dinner and go about the rest of the night.

"Andy, I…" Sharon trailed off as his mouth landed on her chest, perfectly centered above her breasts and over her sternum. "We…" She tried again, but he moved his tongue up to her neck, nipping at the new area. "This isn't…" Again, futile as Andy took an entire bite under her ear, pulling skin into his hot mouth, sucking and licking before releasing her flesh again. All the while his hands hadn't left her shoulders, just clenched tighter around her thin arms, finger nails digging in through the layers of suddenly cumbersome clothing.

With the tightening in Sharon's abdomen, she knew it was time to either put an end to Andy's outburst or embrace it, neither of which she had been able to vocalize yet. "Andy, stop." It was breathy, ragged, and half the demand she had intended, but it was enough. Andy's face immediately relinquished the crook of her neck, hands slacked their grip, and he brought his clouded eyes to meet hers. They stared at each other for a moment, feeling the heavy breaths each released on the other's face. Andy shut his eyes and rested his forehead against Sharon's, effectively pushing her head against the wall the rest of her body was already pinned against. Sharon was the first to speak.

"I want this." She said, needing to foremost reassure the man in front of her that attraction was in no way the reason she took pause. "I just want to make sure you're up for it. I don't want to push you. It wasn't long ago you were in the hospital. I'm not sure what you need now is…" she needed to consider her phrasing on this one, "strenuous activity."

Andy let out a half-hearted smirk and released a breath in a huff, pushing slightly more into Sharon's forehead with his own. "You push me?" He said. Understanding the irony, Sharon let out a small smirk, followed by a ragged sigh.

With their slowed pace, Sharon had been able to regain a small amount of the space Andy had insisted on diminishing. She tried again to speak the pragmatic words she had choked on earlier. "I'm worried that…" Andy stopped her. He tightened his grip on her shoulders and again pushed every part of her body against the wall she was already resting on.

"Sharon. I can appreciate that you're worried about me, but you clearly have no idea what kind of self-control it is taking to not run my fingers over every inch of you right now." That, and the look in his eyes that accompanied the statement, shut her up.

"I'm happy to respect whatever speed you are comfortable with. Really. So if that's what we're talking about, I'll pick up that pasta right now and we can go have dinner like usual. But if you want me like I want you, then don't use my health as an excuse. We both know I've more than recovered." Sharon knew this was true, and made the final decision not dictate whether or not Andy was fit to engage in whatever activity he please. It was his call.

When she softened her face, allowing Andy to recognize her newfound decision, he continued.

"Say yes, Sharon. I can barely stand not having my hands on you right now. Say yes. Please." Maybe it was the 'please,' or just the raw need displayed in his voice, but Sharon was done for. She nodded, slowly, barely getting the chance to bring her head back up to its original position before Andy's mouth was hard on hers again. Their kiss was feverish, unchoreographed and relentless. Andy's hands almost immediately released her shoulders, his left palm landing on the small of her back, long fingers extending at an angle down to dig into the upper flesh of her ass. His right hand went to her neck, rubbing up and down on her clavicle, tentatively going from her ear to just above her breast.

With one grind of his hips, Sharon was flush against the wall, lifted just slightly and being held up by Andy's body. His right hand finally went further down, grabbing selfishly at her breast. He left fingerprints sure to bruise, squeezing none too softly over her sweater and blouse.

Sharon had to pull her mouth away from Andy's in order to let out a groan, half pained and half aroused, into the heated air around them.

Oh God, she thought, this is going to be too much. Sharon's own arousal almost knocked her over. She had never felt so pliable in another person's hands, like she might obey just about anything he said. Where the force he used at the onset had been startling, now it was the only thing keeping her on her feet as she finally came to terms with the fire brewing in her belly. She felt heat pool at the apex of her thighs, suddenly making her jeans feel unbelievable tight, and her sweater overwhelmingly warm.

"Andy," Sharon croaked, barely decipherable from her rasping breaths. When he continued his work on her body, she repeated herself. "Andy." She asserted, hoping she sounded at least a little more stable. Knowing she would try to insist they move to her bedroom, Andy replied with a half-grunt, half-"no time."

"Try." She said, slightly returning to the demanding vernacular of The Captain. While being fucked against the wall in her foyer may have sounded sexy in her twenties, Sharon knew the embarrassment of an unsuccessful first-time would overshadow any immediate need they had to satisfy their urges.

Andy groaned again, never letting his mouth leave her body. He maneuvered them to the hallway, going only a few steps before again assaulting her body with his hands and mouth. It was simply too much to ask that he take forty-five seconds to walk upright towards an appropriate place for carnal activities.

Sensing his frustration, Sharon turned around in his arms, thrust her ass into his erection and drew an arm over her head to grab the back of his neck, forcing his chin down to the side of her face and shoulder. Andy let out a low, dangerous groan, wrapping his arms around her to once again fondle her breast. The other hand, however, laid palm-flat right where her thigh met her hip. It sent a bolt of lighting straight to her clit, just inches from where his palm was exerting pressure.

From this new angle, Sharon walked them both to her bedroom, awkward but successful.

As soon as the door slammed behind him, Andy went to work on her clothes, practically ripping them from her body. She barely had time to reciprocate as Andy's hands threw her sweater to the ground and almost tore the buttons from her satin blouse. When she was standing topless in her lace bra and jeans, she made a point to make eye contact with him. Luckily, this slowed him just slightly and gave her the chance to rid him of his own shirt, and the white undershirt she found below.

When her hand moved to his belt buckle and zipper, she tilted her head down to watch what she was doing. With this, Andy lowered his face to the crown of her hair and inhaled deeply, smelling her shampoo and hairspray. Here, hazy in the fog of sex, Andy took a brief moment to appreciate that he was here, with her, doing this. He was indeed a lucky man.

Sharon startled him out of his reverie, though, when her soft hand found the thing that had been making him so uncomfortable in his jeans.

She touched him gently, firmly, and consistently. He stopped in his tracks, completely engulfed in the rush of tension that shot straight to his cock in her hand. After a moment he threw all of his energy into getting her out of her jeans, which, though only seconds, seemed to take forever.

Sharon would normally have been at least somewhat anxious about being naked in front of a man for the first time, and at her age. But with Andy's incessant need to feel every exposed inch of her body, she was more than reassured he wanted her.

Andy pushed her back, hard, against the first thing they encountered in her bedroom: her dresser. He went back to work on her neck and breasts, eliciting moans and whimpers from the back of her throat, every noise driving more blood to the head of his erection.

He hastily pushed his hand into her panties, pushing them down just enough to give his hand the room he wanted.

"Oh Jesus," he said when he felt just how wet she had gotten. The exclamation brought a hum to her lips, followed by a gasp when he sent two fingers deep inside her slippery center. Mother of God, she thought. She wrapped an arm around his shoulder, hoping to steady her diminishing balance. Andy took the opportunity to lift her onto the dresser she had been pinned against.

Their mouths met again, his fingers never leaving the delicious spot he had found inside her. Every twitch of his forefinger brought moans to her lips and tension to his cock, until he knew there was no more time for foreplay.

He gathered her hand in his own, and brought them both to his pulsing member. Slowly, together, they guided his length inside her. Sharon let out a hum as long as it took for him to fully enter her. He stilled for a moment after, just breathing and holding on to her. When he finally started to move, Sharon attempted to better accommodate him from her position atop her dresser.

Her skin was sticky with sweat, making it hard to move her ass and thighs. Andy adjusted, though, and made every delicious thrust better than the last. They tried to maintain as much contact as possible when he moved inside her, but it was awkward and strained. So they settled for tight grips on biceps, rough handles on locks of hair, and unending eye contact. While being one of the most intense screws Sharon had ever experienced, the slow tightening in her groin was never going to catch up to Andy's. She could tell he was struggling to contain his own orgasm by his frantic and dysrhythmic movements.

She stayed verbal, moaning and grunting with every delirious thrust into her center, but Andy could tell she was far from a final release. Refusing to let this end without both their satisfaction, Andy hugged her close, stilling his thrusts and lifted her off the dresser. She was disappointed at the loss of contact and warmth, but was pleasantly surprised when he turned them both around, quickly, and pushed her roughly onto the bed. She landed on her back, no time to recover before Andy was over her and guiding himself back into her middle. After a few thrusts to recover their rhythm, Andy shot a hand between them and began massaging her clit with the pad of his thumb.

That was Sharon's undoing. She relinquished the moans and hums she had previously vocalized, and instead sent out a resounding "Uuuuggghhhh fuck!" into Andy's ear.

That was his undoing. Andy released himself, hot and wet into Sharon's center, and crumpled on top of her bare body.

They both lay their, heaving, sticky, and naked, for quite some time with Andy still inside her.

Finally, when the evaporating sweat made their skin develop goose bumps, Sharon hummed, indicating she needed an adjustment.

Andy moved off of her, sliding out of her center as he did so. She groaned at that, causing him to reach for her hand instead. He wasn't willing to really release her altogether.

"Well," she said, "we made it to the bedroom."

Andy's chuckle was low and throaty. "Yeah," he replied. "Barely."