Chapter Two


The trip to Buffy’s hotel served to cool things down considerably. However, it had less to do with lack of heat, and more to do with the fact that Buffy insisted on driving her rental while keeping one hand on Spike at all times--despite his reassurance that he wouldn’t fall through the car--and maneuvering her cell phone between the hand on the wheel and her shoulder so that she could immediately call Dawn to inform her of Spike’s return. Spike was far too terrified for Buffy’s life and his own ghostly existence to think about the heat of her touches.

Once Buffy seemed to gain some semblance of control over the situation, Spike listened to the phone conversation with a wistful smile on his face.

“Dawnie? Yeah, it’s me. Listen--” Buffy sighed as Dawn apparently cut her off. “Yes, I know, I’m sorry I woke you up, but you gotta listen to this, it’s important--no, Dawn, listen. Spike is alive!” There was an extended silence. “Dawn? Did you hear me…? We don’t know how or why yet…we’re working on it. Yes…yes,” she repeated with a small laugh. Buffy’s eyes misted as she listened to Dawn and looked over to meet Spike’s eyes. “Yeah…” she whispered in such a way that Spike desperately wanted to know what Dawn had said. It seemed he would get his wish when Buffy suddenly brightened and asked, “Hey, you wanna talk to him? Yeah he’s right here!”

Spike’s eyes grew, but he remained silent as Buffy handed him the phone. “Here,” she grinned.

Spike slowly brought the phone to his ear, clearing his throat softly before speaking. “Dawn?”

He heard only silence on the other side for so long, he briefly wondered if they’d lost their signal. But then he heard the faintest of gasps, and then a shaky, “Spike?”

Spike closed his eyes at hearing her sweet voice. “Hello, Bit.” He frowned when her heard her start to softly cry. “Nibblet?”

“God…” she whispered. “It’s really you.”

“It’s really me,” he smiled.

“Man, you have no idea how much I am gonna kick your ass for dying like that.”

Her warbled threat had him chuckling into the phone. “Well, you’ll have to come to L.A. to do it, seeing as for some mystical reason I can’t leave. But I’ll be sure we have plenty of time for it.”

Dawn giggled weakly on the other end. “We never got the chance to…fix…” she trailed off again sadly.

Spike closed his eyes against the sting of tears. “We’ve plenty of time for that, too.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

“Good.”

“Now, I think that a certain sister of yours woke you up, so I’ll let you get back to your beauty rest.”

Dawn snorted good naturedly. “Yeah, yeah. You just want to get back to said sister.”

Spike grinned. “Can’t deny it. But I’ll talk to you soon, yeah?”

“Yeah. Soon. Good night, Spike.”

“Night, Dawnie.”

Spike closed the cell phone and put it back in Buffy’s purse that sat between them, so she wouldn’t have to remove her hand from the steering wheel again.

“And you were worried about how she’d react,” Buffy said smugly.

“Was not! I just…didn’t know what to expect.” Spike finished lamely.

“I don’t know why.”

Spike snorted. “Right. Cause I’ve given everyone such good reasons to want me back in their lives.”

“Yes, Spike. You have,” Buffy whispered.

Spike swallowed around the lump in his throat, but made no reply. The remainder of the trip to the hotel was made in silence.

*~*~*~*

Buffy fumbled with the plastic keycard for a moment before successfully opening her hotel room door. Spike followed behind her with a murmur of approval.

“Nice digs. Council of wankers finally got you on the payroll?”

Buffy grinned. “Yeah, actually. One of the first things Giles decided to change about the whole program. All Slayers receive a monthly stipend. Well…me and Faith get ours bi-weekly, due to our being more special,” she smiled cheekily.

“Giles…you gonna call and tell him about me?”

“Nope.”

Spike arched an eyebrow. “No?”

“Not now, anyway,” Buffy shrugged and strode toward him, stopping when less than an inch separated them. “Now, I’m gonna do…this,” and she leaned forward to place a soft kiss to his lips.

Spike shuddered. “Fuck,” he breathed against her lips when they parted.

“So much nicer being able to do that away from prying eyes.”

“Mmm,” Spike murmured his agreement. Buffy gently grasped his hands and led him over to the plush bed, and they sat on the edge facing each other, fingers entwined.

Spike frowned as her comment sparked a memory, but he didn’t know if he now was the time to bring up such a subject. Of course, if not now, when?

“Buffy?” he asked quietly.

“Yes?” she matched his tone, sensing the change in his mood.

He was still for a moment, head bowed and eyes trained on their joined hands. When he lifted his eyes to hers, they burned with an intense need for answers.

“Last year,” he began hoarsely, “when you cleaved the preacher man in two, and Pea--and Angel showed up…” he trailed off, pain shining in his eyes.

“Yes?” Buffy asked again, though with a note of acceptance in her voice.

“Why?” was all he managed to choke out.

Buffy sighed, and held his hands in hers more firmly. She met his eyes unflinchingly. “Because,” she began, “I used to be in love with him. And at that moment, it was really good to see him.” She held his gaze, the need for him to understand burning in her eyes.

Spike remained silent for a moment longer, his eyes searching hers for the meaning behind her words. Seeming to find it, Spike’s lips quirked in a soft smile. “But you love me now,” he whispered.

Buffy released they breath she’d been unaware of holding with relief. “Very much. And I loved you then. And you love me now, regardless of anyone you may have loved first, right?” she reasoned.

“Right.”

Buffy grinned. “Look at us. Being all mature and stuff.”

Spike giggled, and Buffy felt such a surge of love for him that she gasped. “I love you,” she breathed, before leaning forward and meeting his lips with her own, her hands coming up to grasp his face, guiding them both to lay down on the bed, Spike’s arms instantly banding her waist and pulling her flush against his body, rolling them to the side as Buffy’s leg slid over his hip, holding him to her more closely.

Lips parted and mouths fused together, tongues meeting and withdrawing in a dance that neither had ever forgotten. Spike moaned as a wave of lust washed over him, the feeling almost foreign in face of his long isolation. To go from being unable to feel anything at all to feeling Buffy, her heat and skin and hair and lips, to be able to smell her arousal touching the air, her blood as it rushed beneath the surface of her silken skin, and, god, to be able to feel her deep inside his chest again, the very essence that screamed Slayer…he couldn’t stop the tears from stinging his eyes. Tears he could now, also, feel.

Buffy felt them too as they coursed down his face, trickling over her hands where they cupped his cheeks. “What is it?” she whispered as they parted, breathing heavily.

“It’s too bloody much,” he panted.

Buffy immediately pulled back, the apology written across her face. “God, I’m so stupid, of course! We…we don’t have to--to do anything, really. I’m sorry, I should have realized--”

Spike halted her ridiculous ramblings by tugging her lips back to his. “No, kitten, ‘s not what I meant at all. Christ, luv, how could you think I wouldn’t want--? No. It’s just…it’s too much to wrap my brain around, is all. One minute I’m haunting this existence the way I’ve been for what seems like forever, and the next you’re here, and you’re loving me and touching me when I haven’t been able to bloody touch anything! Haven’t felt the clothes on my body or the chairs that I could somehow sit in. Haven’t felt the warmth of touch from another--from anybody. And now…it’s you. Somehow you can touch me and let me affect the world around me like I still bloody matter. And you’re so warm and soft and smell so damn good…” He trailed off as his lips found the warm column of her neck, burying his face against the soft flesh there and inhaling deeply, nipping kisses along the tender skin.

Spike growled and rolled Buffy beneath him, relishing in the feel of her body taking his weight, pressing her into the mattress. He trailed his mouth back up to hers, kissing her as deeply as he could, savoring her taste as it burst against his tongue. He ground his hips into hers, her legs immediately cradling him against her center. Spike groaned as he felt her moist heat press against the ridge of his cock, the novelty of even being able to get hard barely registering before he lost all thought as Buffy writhed beneath him. Both sets of hands worked the others’ shirt up, as Buffy ran her hands over his abs and chest, raking her nails lightly back down and Spike eagerly palmed her exposed breasts.

“God, you feel amazing,” Spike gasped, lowering his head to her chest and placing wet, open-mouthed kisses all over her soft flesh. Buffy cried out as his mouth engulfed a nipple, his tongue swirling around before nibbling expertly at her now pebbled nipple, then switching to give its mate the same treatment.

When Spike’s hand slid down her stomach to begin undoing the fastenings of her jeans, Buffy lifter her shoulders and whipped her top over her head, her hands immediately assisting his in pushing the denim over her hips and down her legs. Spike momentarily appreciated the feel of the rough material as it slid over her skin, each sensation feeling brand new. He turned his newfound appreciation to the feel of her silk thong, sliding his hand over the smooth material before dipping down between her legs, savoring the differences in the feel of the silk where it was now hot and damp with the slayer’s arousal. He slipped his fingers underneath the garment and drew it down her legs, lifting the fisted material to his nose where he deeply breathed her scent.

Buffy lay back on the pillows watching the display with a mixture of lust and sympathy, seeing Spike so obviously savoring each new moment. He dropped her thong onto the floor next to her jeans before returning to his place at her lips and in her arms. Both moaned at the feel of his cool flesh coming into contact with her warm skin, Buffy wrapping her arms and legs around him and kissing him wildly, unable to contain herself or her love.

Spike drew one of her legs down from around his waist, sliding his palm from her knee and up her smooth thigh, finally coming to rest over her mound, cupping her sex reverently. Slowly, he parted her wet flesh with his fingers, slipping inside her swollen passage once before drawing back up her folds to find her engorged clit with the confidence of one who knew her body better than herself. He slowly circled her clit, massaging the flesh gently, belying the violent shudders wracking the slayer’s body with every stroke.

Suddenly he plunged two fingers inside of her, swallowing her gasp of pleasure as he pumped them in and out, striking her spot with more of the familiar ease with which he knew her body. He longed to sink his mouth against the wet flesh he was now stroking, jealous of his own fingers while at the same time unwilling to give up her mouth against his. He withdrew his fingers and moved them up over her clit, rubbing against her faster and more firmly than before, causing her body to almost immediately seize up and begin trembling, the tension within building quickly before suddenly releasing, her climax shuddering violently through her as she came with a shout of his name.

Spike slipped his fingers back inside of her, feeling her walls flutter against them as he helped her ride out her orgasm, gathering her liquid release before lifting them to his lips to savor the taste for which he’d been longing.

Buffy lay panting beneath him, her hot little hands finding and stroking every inch of Spike’s exposed flesh that she could reach. She threaded her fingers through his hair, tugging his head back down to her so she could press grateful kisses to his lips, tasting herself slightly, evoking memories from nights long past when he taught her things about pleasure she’d never before guessed at. The thoughts sparked a sudden urge within her to reciprocate, and she used the leg still around him to pivot their bodies around, putting Spike suddenly beneath her.

Spike, for his part, didn’t mind in the least, so it was with a murmur of complaint that their lips parted. Buffy sat up, settling her bare bottom against the exposed flesh of his abdomen, her warm thighs cradling his ribcage. “You know,” she said huskily, “of the two of us, I am not the one who hasn’t been able to touch anything. So,” she leaned back down and whispered against his lips, “let me touch you.”

Spike swallowed thickly and nodded, lifting his arms out of his duster at her urging. When she began to lift his shirt from his body, however, Spike’s hand on her wrist ceased her movement. “Not so sure about that, luv.”

Buffy frowned. “Why not?”

“Well, my clothes are usually all ghostly, too. What if once they come off, I can’t get them back on or they fall through the floor or something equally absurd?”

Buffy arched a brow and grinned. “You, unable to be dressed? I’m not really seeing the bad here.”

“Very funny,” he huffed.

“Not a problem,” she shrugged, finally succeeding in wrestling the garment off his body. She turned the trademark black tee shirt back right side out, then slipped the worn cotton over her own head, grinning as she fitted her arms through the holes and flipped her hair out of the collar.

Spike pouted. “Now you’re all covered up.”

“Well,” she drawled, “not all covered up.” She accented her point by pressing her still damp pussy against Spike’s hard abs, making both of them moan.

“Fair point,” he panted.

“Now…as I was saying. I think it’s definitely your turn to be touched,” she said as she lowered her palms to his bare chest.

“N-no arguments here, pet.”

“Good.” And that was enough talking for the moment, as Buffy began slowly mapping out his skin with her hands, first molding around his pectoral muscles and sliding down over his firm stomach, then back up over his ribs to his shoulders. She slid her hands up his neck, savoring the blissful expression on his face when she thrust her fingers into his hair, massaging his scalp for a moment before bringing her hands back down to his muscular shoulders, then down his arms, squeezing his biceps and feeling the fine hairs on his forearms. She grazed her fingers over the backs of his hands, stroking each of his fingers before turning his hands over, rubbing her thumbs firmly over his palms.

She drew her hands inward toward Spike’s hips, ghosting her fingertips along his waist, then grasped his belt buckle and swiftly undid it and the fastenings of his jeans. His erection sprang free from its confines, but Buffy only spared it a glance before she worked the denim down his strong thighs, bunching the material down as far as it could go before getting caught at his boots. Starting at his ankles, she stroked his legs, up over the hard shins then behind to clutch at the calves that tensed and stiffened against her palms. She caressed the sensitive skin behind his knees, then kneaded at his muscular thighs, front to back, finally slipping her hands between his firm buttocks and the mattress, squeezing the muscled globes of his ass fondly.

This position also put her face directly in front of Spike’s straining erection, and he could only whimper at the warm breaths he felt rhythmically caress his cock. Buffy’s tongue darted out to lightly lap at the weeping head, and Spike could take the strain no more. He reached out and grasped Buffy by her upper arms, dragging her up his body to fiercely kiss her, lips and tongue and teeth clashing against the other. He had vamped before he realized it, and their violent kisses managed to slice Buffy’s tongue against one of the points of his elongated canines.

Spike growled his pleasure as he sucked at the small cut, his hands clutching at her hair and face and roughly caressing her free breasts beneath his shirt. He slid his hands over her shoulders, pushing her down his body. “Please,” he whimpered, game face slipping away. “Please…”

“Shhh,” cooed Buffy. “Don’t hafta beg…” she murmured as she wrapped her fingers around the base of his cock, forgoing teasing in favor of immediately suckling on the head. She moaned as the salty flavor of his precum touched her tongue, and Spike moaned in response. Slowly, she engulfed inch after inch, until the tip brushed the back of her throat, and she completed the enclosure by covering the last couple of inches with her hand.

Up and down, she began to stroke his length with her mouth and hand, swirling her tongue around the sensitive head on the upstroke before descending once more, twisting her hand around the base. She gently cupped his heavy sac with her other hand, tenderly caressing his balls. She held his shaft immobile with her thumb and forefinger before releasing him from her mouth, earning a whimper of complaint from Spike, which quickly turned into whimpers of pleasure as he was treated to the sight of Buffy laving his cock with long licks, drawing his foreskin down and flicking her tongue over the swollen head, drawing out his flavor from the small slit in the tip.

She surrounded him with her mouth again, redoubling her efforts as she massaged his sac and bobbed her head up and down over his cock. Seeing her raise her eyes to his as her cheeks hollowed out as she sucked her way to the tip was the last strain on Spike’s very short rein on his control. He stretched his arms out, threading his hands into her long blonde locks to hold her head immobile as he thrust up and came hard into her mouth, a long groan escaping Spike’s clenched jaw as stream after stream of his come was released and swallowed by Buffy.

Holding him between her lips until she was sure he was spent, Buffy finally sucked free of him, and Spike collapsed back against the pillows. Buffy crawled up his body, laying down on his chest and resting her warm thigh against his damp cock. Spike held her head tucked under his chin, slowly coming down from the euphoric high she’d provided.

After a moment, Buffy stirred and leaned back to see Spike’s face. She couldn’t help but gasp at the look of awe she found there, and shuddered when he spoke.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you, too,” she whispered back.

Spike closed his eyes in bliss, and leaned forward to kiss her sweetly, his tongue briefly sweeping across hers to chase his own flavor within her mouth.

“Wanna get some sleep?” Buffy asked against his lips.

Spike nodded, and together they worked the blankets down out from under them. Spike frowned and sighed, then seemed to come to a decision and he reached forward and began unlacing his boots.

“Bugger it. Not gonna sleep in these things and if they go all ghostly I can do without shoes for a bit.” With that, Spike leaned over the side of the bed and set his boots carefully down on the floor. When nothing happened, both breathed a sigh of relief. Spike quickly went about ridding himself of jeans and socks, but bit his lip in indecision when he got to his beloved duster.

Buffy grinned and bit at his shoulder. “It’ll be fine, Spike. I promise.”

“Bloody better be,” he muttered as he lowered the precious leather to the floor. It, too, remained at rest on the plush hotel carpet.

Buffy giggled as she also consigned her borrowed tee shirt to the floor. “Told you so, you big baby.”

“Hush,” he told her, then gathered her in his arms and pulled the covers over them, settling in and quickly falling into deep, contented slumber.

*~*~*~*

Many hours later, Spike awoke briefly confused about his surroundings. Then the cocoon of warmth registered, as well as the heated flesh pressed against him. Buffy. Idly, he wondered what time it was, and he lifted his head from the pillows to glance around the room. The alarm clock was on the nightstand behind him, and Spike carefully extracted himself from the slayers arms and rolled over, reaching out and turning the clock to face him.

Whatever hour the numbers showed him would be forever lost to Spike. All that registered in his mind was his hand. And the clock he had just moved. And the blankets and bed he could feel around him. All without touching Buffy.

TBC……

Author’s Note: Okay. Seriously. I cannot say enough about how much I love everyone! My li’l ol’ story got over two hundred hits, and so many lovely reviews. Thank you all so much! Just wanted to let anyone know who is reading this that Chapter Three might take a few days…I am going out of town to visit my man. But I will post just as soon as I can! Thanks again everybody. *squishes*