“Shh,” he murmured, kissing her again. His hands were on her hips; gliding them upwards, he could feel the slim cello-dip of her waist. “Listen to me. You don’t have a halo. You don’t feed. The only way you could hurt me would be to stop touching me. That would hurt. A lot. This feels...really good, actually.” The kiss deepened, their mouths moving together. He felt her give in to it, pressing close against him and twining her arms around his neck. He stroked his hands up her spine, relishing her warmth. The thought of sleeping separately from her was agonizing.

When they drew apart, Willow rested her head against his chest; he dropped his cheek onto her hair, caressing her back through the softness of the plaid shirt. “Promise me you’ll tell me if you ever even suspect I’m hurting you,” she said after a pause. “I mean, if you even have a cough that you don’t think you should have, you’ve got to tell me, all right?”

He started to make a joke and then Willow looked up; her expression was gravely serious. “I promise,” he said, touching her face. God, he could kill Kara for putting this idea in her head. “But, Willow, it’s not going to happen. You’re not hurting me. It was just a headache – everyone on the planet gets them sometimes.”

She hesitated, her eyes searching his. “I really hope you’re right.”

“I am,” he said. He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “I promise you. I’m completely fine.”

Willow let out a breath. “Okay,” she said at last, nodding. “Maybe I overreacted a little.” She reached up and covered his hand with hers. “I’ll believe you until I have a reason not to, how’s that?”

“Much better,” he said. He drew her back to him again. Lowering his head, he whispered in her hair, “So now that we’ve got that settled...maybe we should think about finishing what we started the other night.”

She glanced quickly at him; her cheeks reddened a little, but she was smiling. “Oh, I’m definitely thinking about it – believe me.” She traced a finger over his chest. “But next time, someone needs to be a little more prepared.”

Alex nuzzled at her neck. “I bought some on the drive down today,” he murmured against her smooth skin.

“You did?”

“Mm-hmm.” He nibbled at her ear; felt her shiver.

“Oh,” she said faintly. “That makes it...really, really suck that I’m going to sleep in the girls’ dorm while we’re here.”

He pulled away. “You are?”

Willow sighed. “I think I’d better. Don’t you, honestly? I mean, I don’t want to cause any problems, and it sounds like it’s sort of the established thing.”