CHAPTER THREE

~Sunnydale Inn~

As soon as the Scoobies left his crypt Spike had bundled the Slayer up and moved her to the Sunnydale Inn. He was still in awe that Buffy had chosen him over her friends. If he’d had the guts he would have pinched himself to see if he was dreaming, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it because if this was a dream he never wanted to wake up.

Buffy felt as if she’d been in a fog and was only just now waking up. The Scoobies bursting into Spike’s crypt had been like cold water thrown in her face, forcing her into wakefulness. She hated it.

“Pet,” Spike said breaking into her thoughts. “Do you want to take a bath or maybe a shower? Get cleaned up.”

Buffy smiled up at him from her seat on the bed. “A bath sounds good.”

Buffy stood but found herself falling forward, her muscles still weak from disuse. Spike quickly caught her, preventing her from hitting the ground.

“Easy there, luv. Why don’t you stay here and I’ll get a bath ready for you. Yeah?” he said, sitting her gently back on the bed.

Buffy laughed weakly, “Sounds good. I don’t think it’s a smart idea for me to move any more than necessary.”

Spike nodded and turned toward the bathroom. He quickly adjusted the taps, and steaming water began to fill the tub. Spike added vanilla scented oil that he’d liberated from Buffy’s bathroom just before the Revello Drive house had been sold. After her death he’d occasionally opened the bottle to inhale the scent he forever identified with the woman he’d lost.

Once the bath was filled he returned to Buffy’s side, finding her curled up on the bed asleep. “Luv,” he said as he gently shook her awake, “the bath is ready.”

Buffy opened her eyes languidly and smiled softly at the concerned face looking down at her. “Umm, a bath will be of the good.” She then sat up slowly, not wanting to experience another fall. “Will you help me? My motor coordination seems to be lacking.”

Spike nodded, trying to get his emotions under control. Being near her, touching her, was stretching his self-control to the limit. All he really wanted to do was pull her into his arms and cover her face with kisses. ‘Somehow I don’ think she’ll appreciate me doin’ that,’ he thought.

Buffy stumbled slightly as they walked toward the bathroom. So again in what threatened to become her normal mode of transportation, unless she got her muscle control back soon, Spike swept her into his arms and carried her into the next room, gently setting her on the edge of the bath. Spike had chosen the Sunnydale Inn specifically for its amenities, particularly the whirlpool baths.

Buffy looked around the bathroom in appreciation. “Oooh! Whirlpool tub. Thank you, Spike.”

If Spike could have, he would have blushed. First, she’d chosen to stay with him over the Scoobies, and now she was thanking him. ‘Please, please don’ let this be a dream.’ Aloud he said, “Thought you’d like it, pet. It’ll help get yer circulation goin’ and relax you.”

“Spike, can you unzip my dress?” She asked turning slightly so her back was facing him.

He swallowed hard and, reaching toward her with a trembling hand, lowered the zipper on her dress, exposing the creamy skin of her back. Spike stepped back, “I’ll leave you alone to get cleaned up, pet. Holler if you need anything.”

Buffy placed her hand on his arm, “Spike, I don’t think I can get undressed by myself, let alone get in the tub and bathe. Can you help me?” she asked, as her skin blushed a becoming pink.

At her request Spike gulped, “Of course.”

From behind her he gently pushed her dress down her arms, trying to focus his eyes anywhere but on her body. “Lift up a little, sweetheart,” he said, pushing the dress down her hips as she raised herself slightly in response to his request. The black dress she’d been buried in slid to the floor in a puddle at her feet leaving Buffy clad only in a white satin bra and matching panties.

Next Spike unclasped the bra and slid the straps over her shoulders, and the bra joined the dress on the floor, followed swiftly by Buffy’s panties. As Spike’s hands slid over her skin Buffy’s body responded.

Prior to her death Buffy had begun to acknowledge, at least to herself, her attraction to Spike, and now those feelings coupled with his touch were awakening a deep feeling of arousal. Unwittingly, she moaned as Spike slid his arms around her and lowered her into the whirling waters of the bath.

Spike looked down at Buffy only to see her eyes glazed over with lust and something else. ‘Is that love?’ he thought. ‘I must be going crazy. She’s only just come back. Can’t touch her the way I want. Got to let her adjust to being here.’ But he couldn’t stop his own thoughts as she lay back in the bath with the water barely covering the coral tips of her breasts.

In a daze he reached for a washcloth and quickly lathered it with the rose-scented soap provided by the hotel. With a shaking hand he lowered the cloth and began to wash her, rubbing in soothing circles from her shoulders down her right arm and then repeating the process on the left.

Each stroke of his hand ignited the fire burning in Buffy’s womb. All rational thought was lost as she succumbed to the exquisite feelings he evoked within her. Spike soon finished with her arms and gently drew her forward into a sitting position and began to wash her back and neck.

Next he drew her left leg out of the water and using the same firm strokes washed all traces of grave dirt from it. Each time his hand swept closer to her sex Buffy felt as if lightning was shooting through her body. She honestly didn’t know how much more she would be able to take. When he moved onto her right leg she truly felt as if she was on fire.

Grabbing his hand she moaned his name, “Spike.”

As he’d bathed her Spike had become lost in the increasing scent of her arousal. A bolt of pure lust shot through him at the heated sound of his name on her lips causing him to moan aloud. The moan turned into a low, lust-filled growl as she guided his hand to her sex.

“Please, Spike. I need you to touch me,” she pleaded.

“Buffy, luv, you don’ know how much I want to, but I don’ want to hurt you. Love you so much, baby. If we do this,” his voice broke, “Buffy, I want us to be forever. I couldn’ take it if we made love and then you decided you didn’ want me.

Tears filled Buffy’s eyes. All she could think was how foolish she’d been before her death in not realizing the depth of this man’s love for her. Until almost the end she’d only allowed herself to see Spike as a monster, but when he’d endured being beaten almost to death at Glory’s hands and stayed at her side to ensure Dawn’s safety she’d started to see him as a man. Yet, if she was honest with herself, at the end she’d loved both the man and the monster and her last thoughts prior to jumping had been of him and her regret that she’d never accepted the love he’d offered her. ‘Well, no more,’ she thought, ‘I’m not wasting anymore time.’

Buffy reached up and took Spike’s face in her hands and just before she pulled him into a deep kiss she said, “Forever sounds perfect.”