Buffy wondered if she should speed a little. Spike looked like the kind of guy who considered speed limits suggestions more than firm rules. Or maybe he knew they were rules and chose to ignore them out of a generally rebellious nature. Would he think she was a total nerd if she just drove the posted speed? Did it matter? She’d already humiliated herself. He no doubt thought she was a freak.
Her face felt hot, so she turned the AC as cold as it would go.
She glanced at the rear view mirror. He was right behind her. Spike Pratt was following her back to her house. Did he want her to invite him in or was he really just being a nice guy?
Far too quickly, long before she’d truly had a chance to consider all the possibilities, Buffy pulled into her driveway. Spike pulled his giant, shiny tank in right behind her. She wondered what kind of car it was. Maybe she could look it up online and impress him with her knowledge next week.
Spike popped out of his car before she’d even turned off the ignition. He tugged open her door. “How’d she feel?”
“Good. Normal.”
“Good.” He smiled. “You might have just left a light on or something--drained the battery. It happens.”
Buffy couldn’t help chuckling. “To ditzy girls, you mean? You’re being polite.”
“You seem to hold your own in class.”
She wasn’t sure how to respond. Did that mean he’d paid attention to her in class? “Thanks...for helping with the car and following and umm...thanks.”
“Like I said, love, I’m just glad I could help.” Still holding her door open, he stepped back just a little.
She climbed out and lifted her chin to look up at him. He was standing so close she could smell the aftershave he’d put on that morning. It was spicy, like pine trees and cinnamon. “Do you want to--can I offer you a drink or something?”
He nodded, shocked by his string of good luck.
She smiled and blushed in response. “Good. Okay. That’s...cool.”
She was bouncing a little on her toes. She tended to do things like that, cute fidgety things that made Spike think she needed to work off some excess energy. He’d spent far too much time during Bio thinking up ways he’d like to help her do just that.
“It’s just, um, over there.” She pointed to the right side of a brick duplex. The door was painted colonial red, but the paint was peeling off in several places. She shrugged. “Third floor walk up but the rent isn’t too bad and there’s a laundry room in the basement. I used to share a place with a friend but we had to go to a laundromat.”
He wasn’t certain how to respond. She was clearly just anxious. “Talk a lot, don’t you?”
She winced. “You don’t like that--I mean, when a girl talks too much you don’t--”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Right, because you don’t talk, or not much. I mean, you definitely don’t talk too much, do you?”
“Did we end on a question there, love? I think I got lost on one of the turns.”
She laughed a little breathlessly. “Nevermind.” She shook her head and started walking across the parking lot.
Spike followed a couple steps behind. When she opened the door, he reached up to hold it over her head as she walked in. “I like hearing you talk, Buffy.”
She just stared at him for a moment, eyes round with surprise yet again before turning and hurrying up the stairs.
He also liked watching her talk, he thought; her lips were shaped prettily and they were always shiny. He’d seen he putting on the shiny pink coating once and he’d liked that too. She’d been standing near her car at the time and she must have thought she was alone, because she’d bent over and used the driver’s side mirror to watch as she slid the make-up over her lips. Remembering the way she’d held her mouth open and then pressed her lips together twice when she was done was not helping Spike keep up the cool and collected demeanor he was going for. He swallowed hard.
She was driving him insane. Even the way she ran up stairs was inordinately appealing.
He was breathing hard by the time they reached her door but it had nothing to do with the staircases they’d climbed. Certainly she realized that he wasn’t coming in for a glass of lemonade. Right? He watched her unlock the slightly more recently painted door of her apartment. Her hands were shaky, as was the smile she showed him before walking inside.
“This is it. It’s small, but--”
“It’s a nice place, love.” His quick glance around let him assure her honestly. It was small, very small, but it was clean and the appliances in the kitchenette on the side looked fairly new. She’d hung bright turquoise curtains and had matching pillows on the tan couch. “Looks like you’ve got things set up all good and cozy.” He grinned. “The only window covering I’ve got at my place is an old sheet that blocks out the light in my bedroom.”
“Oh. That’s...”
Spike reached around her and pushed the door closed. He sighed. “Right. So, I’m going to kiss you in a minute and if that’s not what you want, I guess you’ll slap me or something.”
“Oh.”
She lifted her chin slightly and Spike decided it was all the invitation he needed. He closed the distance between them, curled his hand around the back of her neck and brought his mouth to hers. When their lips met, she shuddered, but she moved closer too.
Spike was struggling to keep the kiss light when she suddenly reached up and cupped his face. He was surprised, but he didn’t hesitate. Grabbing her waist with his free hand, he tugged her body tight against his and groaned into her mouth. He could taste her hunger for him. It floored him.
He tangled his fingers in her hair and pulled away to look at her face.
“Oh!” She seemed shocked, but Spike wasn’t sure what exactly had surprised her. She pulled her hands off his cheeks and covered her mouth. “Oh god!”
“Yeah, so there’s something here.”
Her eyes were glossy. “There is?”
He just waited.
“There is.”
She was a mystery. Even as she acknowledged their mutual attraction, she stared at him like she thought he’d reject her at any moment. “So what are we going to do about it, love?” Spike carefully removed his hand from her hair and rubbed his thumb over her cheek. “You gonna let me take you out sometime?”
“Let you--yeah, that would be really nice.” She bit her lip for a second. “I...” She frowned.
“What is it, what’s going on in that mysterious head of yours?”
She stood on her toes and clutched at his shirt. “I think I’m going to kiss you.” She shrugged slightly before pressing her lips to his.
Spike groaned. He felt drunk; just the touch of her lips intoxicated him. Her tongue slid across his bottom lip, clouding his mind and urging him forward. A little voice in his head told him that it was all too good to be real. This stunning woman clinging to him and kissing him with more passion than he’d ever felt was better than his very best fantasy.
She looked shocked again, when she finally pulled away. “You...I...you...”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“You and me. I say yeah.”
“Oh.” She smiled and ducked her head. “But you must think I’m...that I’m...”
He leaned in to whisper against her ear. “Love, all I’m thinking is that you’re bloody gorgeous and this morning I must have woken up a much luckier man than I’ve ever been before.” Savoring her quiet gasp, he pulled her back to his mouth. He knew that he should probably slow things down, that her concern about his impression of her wasn’t just an act, but thinking clearly wasn’t an option. He couldn’t remember ever wanting a woman the way he wanted her and she seemed so very ready to be his.
Spike circled her waist with his hands, lifted her up and carried her the few steps to the kitchen counter. “There”, he grinned as he sat her on the laminate surface. “That's better.” He moved into the space between her knees, thrust his fingers back into her hair and reclaimed her mouth with a deep kiss. When she moaned, he grinned against her lips. “Such a sexy little thing.”
“Me?” She laughed.
“You.”
“You are definitely getting the wrong idea about me.”
Spike chuckled. “That so?” He slid his hand down her back and snuck a few fingers under the hem of her shirt so he could stroke the bare skin at the small of her back.
Her eyelids fluttered and her breath quickened. “I never do things like this.”
“That’s a shame, love. You were made for things like this.” He rubbed his nose against the shell of her ear, inhaling the sweetness of the strawberry scent he’d noticed earlier and the deeper, tangier, salt and spice scent of her arousal. “I’ve never seen anyone react like you do.”
Her brow furrowed instantly and he realized that he’d made her self conscious again. She was like a tiger in a cage. If he could figure out how to unlock the bars she’d put up, to free her from all the things she thought she was supposed to do and say and all the things she thought she shouldn’t, she’d tear into him. Just the thought of her dragging her claws down his back had him hard. “Come on kitty, come out and play with me.”
It didn’t even make any sense. Buffy wasn’t sure if he meant she was a cat or if he thought there was a cat hiding inside her. Was having a hidden cat a good thing? She had no idea. What she did know, what she was absolutely certain of, was that Spike whispering those words to her was the sexiest thing that had ever happened in her life. His accent, the deep timbre of his voice, the feel of his fingertips rubbing circles on her back and the intense focus in his gaze: it all added up to this perfect stomach-clenching, knees-trembling storm. She ached. “Are you a cat too?”
He didn’t answer; he just sort of smiled at her before tugging her shirt up over her head. He licked his lips as he studied at her, sending a series of shivers through her core.
Spike reached for the front center clasp of her bra with both hands and then froze, his fingertips and knuckles brushing against her over-sensitive skin. “This is what you want.”
“Yes,” she answered even though it hadn’t exactly sounded like a question. The look of surprise on his handsome face emboldened her and she wrapped her hands around his neck. ‘You’re what I want.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
This is now completely written-I'm tweaking a couple bits in the final part, but it's done. Which means it will all be posted by the end of the week. I know, people are more interested in seeing some one or two of the other stories finished. I can only say that I'll try. And I do have another chapter of The Way To A Man's Heart ready, but I'm trying to save it until I can follow it with a couple more right away.
Thank you to Puddinhead for reading and general awesomeness.
Thank you to Puddinhead for reading and general awesomeness.