Angel breezed through the room straight into her office and without giving her more time than to breathe out his name, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. It took her a while to register what was happening but soon she was responding to the kiss. His arms circled around her more tightly and he backed her against the wall, pressing his body against her. She whimpered against his lips but made no attempt to move away.

After a while he pulled back, they both were breathing hard. He pressed his head against the cool wall next to hers and closed his eyes, trying to get a hold of his emotions. Buffy raised her hand, gently cupping his cheek and turning him to look at her.

“Angel? Are you okay?” she asked tentatively. For a long moment he just looked at her, his eyes betraying his passion for her but also betraying the vulnerability he held inside.

“I just... I needed to see you... I'm sorry, I came on so strong”, he said in hushed tone. He didn't understand what she was doing to him, he never apologized for anything, not without an ulterior motive, but now he was sincere.

“It's okay”, she assured him, unconsciously smoothing her fingers across his cheek. “Sure I was surprised when you called, I thought we agreed to go slow, but you have nothing to apologize”, she added. He met her eyes and slowly cover her hand with his, pressing a soft kiss to the inside of her wrist. Her breathing hitched as his other hand made its way to her hair, smoothing it back as he leaned for another kiss.

But there was a knock on the door, breaking the moment. Grudgingly she pulled back and turned to the door. “Yes?” she called out, blushing at how unsteady her voice sounded. Gloria peaked through the door, smiling at the couple, immediately noticing the flushed look on her boss' face.

“Sorry to interrupt, but that fax just came through”, she informed eying the couple with scrutiny.

“Thank you, Gloria. I'll be there in a minute”, Buffy said, thankful that her breathing had steadied enough not to show her conflicted emotions.

“Take your time”, Gloria smirked and with a wink, she left closing the door behind her. Buffy turned to look at Angel, embarrassed of her secretary's behavior.

“Uhm... Gloria... I think I should go see that fax now”, she tried to form a coherent sentence which proved to be difficult as her eyes drifted to his lips. 'Get a hold of yourself', she chastised herself, prying her eyes back to his.

“Okay”, he nodded and headed towards the door to leave but stopped mid-stride, turning back to her. “Have lunch with me?”

Buffy looked at him a little surprised by his request but smiled after she recovered. “It's a little late for lunch, isn't it?” she grinned with a raised eyebrow. He glanced at the clock on the wall and smiled, she was right.

“I guess it is. So how 'bout dinner? At my place, I'll cook”, he suggested hopefully. Hopefully? Did he actually wish she'd say yes just so he could spend time with her, not only because he wanted to seduce her. What was she doing to him? He didn't find the answer and he wasn't certain if it was a good or a bad thing.

“Angel”, she started hesitantly but he interrupted her. “Say yes. I'm an excellent cook, my friends have told me that and they aren't nice enough to lie about anything. I promise, no pressure, just dinner.”

She contemplated her options and finally nodded in confirmation. “Okay”, she agreed.

“Great. I'll pick you up from your house at seven”, he said with a smile. She was about to protest that she still had work but couldn't after seeing his almost excited expression, she was sure Gloria wouldn't mind if she left early, actually she was sure that the older woman would push her out the door when she'd hear the reason.

“Okay, I'll see you later”, he pulled her out of her thoughts. He wanted to kiss her again but remembering his promise of no pressure, he just walked out the door.

“Oh boy”, she whispered to herself as she watched him go.

Buffy was standing in front of the closet, trying to decide what to wear and it proved to be much more difficult task than she had expected. She was meeting Angel in an hour, it wasn't really a date and she didn't want to give a wrong impression.

Finally she managed to choose an outfit that was fancy enough to be good for a date and simple enough for a casual meeting. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror but soon her attention was drawn away as the doorbell rang. She hurried to the door, stopping and taking few calming breaths before opening it. She found Angel standing on the other side, looking devilishly handsome as always.

“You look beautiful”, he complimented, his eyes roaming over her body, appreciating the view. She gave him a blinding smile along with a shy blush.

“Thank you. You don't look bad yourself”, she answered. An understatement of the year. “I'll just grab my coat”, she announced and did just that. She locked the doors behind her and they headed to Angel's car.

He drove them to his apartment and Buffy wasn't all that surprised that it turned out to be an expensive bachelor pad. He opened the door and put on the lights before escorting her inside, the interior was just like it looked like outside, expensive. Everything was clean and practical, there wasn't anything that wouldn't be of any use.

“It's a nice apartment”, she stated looking around. “It's a place to live”, he played it off, he had never been too attached to things. She shed her coat and almost dropped it as a painting caught her eyes.

“Wow, is that a real Monet?” she questioned making her way to the painting, mesmerized.

“Yes, cost a fortune too”, he answered and followed her, looking at her and not the painting. “It must have”, she whispered, not letting her eyes off it. He smiled and took a hold of her hand.

“Come on, I'll give you a guided tour”, he said and led her to the second floor. He showed her the rooms, skipping one and saving the bedroom for last. Buffy glanced around herself, noting that the large bed was the center of the room, it was all dark colors and beautiful furnitures. Then her eyes landed on a drawing on the wall, slowly she made her way to it, looking at it closely. It was a beautifully done pencil drawing of a garden with a little girl sitting in the middle of it, but it wasn't done by anyone she recognized, there was just a floppy mark that looked like an 'A'.

“This is beautiful”, she whispered before turning to look at him, he seemed strangely quiet. “Whose work is this?”

Angel just shrugged. “I don't remember”, he answered, clearly not wanting to continue the topic. Sensing he didn't want to talk about it, she gave him a small smile and asked, “Can you actually cook?”

“Yes, baby, I can actually cook. Let's go to the kitchen and I'll prove it”, he said with a smirk and led her to the kitchen which was spacious and packed with every item a cook might need.

“So what are you going to cook?” she questioned and sat down to the kitchen island, watching him as he started gathering ingredients.

“It's a surprise”, he answered with a smirk before turning his attention back to chopping the onions. She was fascinated by his skillful movements, watching his every movement. She was actually surprised he hadn't been exaggerating, she had just figured he would order from somewhere. But soon she was afraid she might be drooling and not just because of the delicious aromas in the air. 'Down, girl', she chastised herself but soon was distracted when she could see his muscles rippling under his shirt. She closed her eyes and took few calming breaths. 'Must be hormones, yeah, has to be hormones', she decided and turned her attention back to him, trying to control her thoughts.

Angel scooped some of the sauce to a spoon and turned around, offering it to her. She took the spoon into her mouth, not loosing eye contact till her eyes closed from the taste of the sauce, it was better than any gourmet stuff she had ever eaten. She let a out moan of appreciation.

“This is really good. I mean, really, really good”, she said licking her lips so not even one aroma would be waisted. His eyes drew to her tongue swiping over her lips and all he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and ravage her, but he settled into giving her a lopsided smile and returning to the stove.

“It's my specialty”, he stated to her compliment, trying to shift his thoughts back to the cooking, away from how kissable her lips looked like.

“I bet every girl falls in love with you after you've made that”, she said with a smirk. There was a moment of silence.

“You're the only girl I've ever made this to. I only make this to my friends on request but I doubt any of them is harboring hidden feelings for me”, he answered without turning and Buffy was stunned into silence. Did it mean that he didn't make his specialty to other women or that he didn't cook for them?

“When is the big show? You said you're working on a big art exhibition”, Angel asked and Buffy was grateful for the change of subject.

“About in two weeks”, she answered and that was the start of casual and comfortable conversation that didn't seem to stop. After the dinner seemed to be done, Buffy helped Angel to set the table and they settled in to eat.

“I'm not going to offer you wine, so what are you going to have?” Angel asked, signing to the pitchers on the table.

“I think I'll go with the water”, she answered and started to reach for the pitcher but he beat her to it and poured it to her glass.

“Thanks. But I could have managed it on my own”, she said not sure if she should be annoyed or happy that he was so attentive.

“I know you can”, he said with a smirk. For a while they ate in comfortable silence till Angel was the one to break it. “Uhm... You've been to the doctor already, right?” he asked little unsure if he remembered correctly.

“Yeah, I had the appointment the day I told you, I went with Faith”, she answered not quite knowing where he was heading.

“Would you mind seeing my doctor with me?”

“To make sure I'm really pregnant?” she questioned ready to be insulted.

“No! Just because... well, I want to... share the experience with you. I wasn't there the first time and I just would feel better if my doctor made sure everything is alright”, he explained, quickly easing her fears and inwardly patting himself in the back. He had no doubt that Buffy was pregnant and he was 99% sure it was his but that didn't mean he was looking forward to fatherhood.

“Oh”, Buffy breathed out, then frowned. “I'm not that crazy about hospitals. I actually hate them and tend to avoid getting anywhere near unless I have to.”

“He has a private practice, nothing like the hospital, if it helps?” he offered and she gave him a small smile.

“A little”, she stated, although just a thought of going to a hospital made her nervous. “Would it be okay if I made an appointment?” he questioned and all she could do was nod, she wasn't exactly thrilled by the idea of going to a doctor to be probed again, but she figured it was his right as a father to see that the baby was fine.

They discussed few details and cleaned the table before Angel took her to the library to show some of his artwork more closely. She didn't even notice the time till it was already nearly midnight.

“Oh, I have to go home. I have an early meeting”, she said frowning as she looked at the clock.

“How early?” he asked, resisting the smirk and suggestive eyebrow, he had promised not to push.

“Six thirty. The artist I'm having the show for, he paints all night and usually comes to his meetings straight from the studio. So I have the pleasure of waking up two hours earlier than normal.”

“No wonder his paintings are so bad”, Angel stated and Buffy let out a short laugh.

“Don't say that in front of him. He thinks he's the next Andy Warhol”, she smirked and again glanced at the clock, counting the hours she could still sleep.

“I'll try not to. Come on, I'll take you home”, he said, thinking how he really liked to take her home, but again, no pushing. 'I'm gonna need a cold shower after this', he grudgingly thought as he glanced down at her, his eyes drawing to her cleavage that wasn't much but enough for his imagination. He shook himself out of his taunting thoughts and settled into driving her home.