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Home Is Where They Have to Let You In by slaymesoftly
 
Fourteen
 
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AN: My apologies for the two ch. 13s. I thought I'd removed one of them as soon as someone pointed it out. I guess not. *sigh* Will try again....
This chapter (14 of 15) is the next to last chapter.


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Chapter Fourteen

In Buffy’s dream she and Spike were walking through one of Sunnydale’s graveyards, enjoying the cool, moonlit night and holding hands in a way they never had in reality. It was comfortable, and if a tiny voice was telling her it was also a fantasy, she blissfully ignored it. When they reached his crypt and entered, falling into each other and shedding clothing in a way that was much more familiar, the voice gave a smug “aha!” and fell silent.

Her face was soon pressing against something soft, Spike’s weight holding her there while his cock sought to work its way between her thighs.  For some reason her dream included the sound of a phone ringing – which she was beginning to find very distracting as Spike was now kissing her neck and his hands were under her body, working their way into her pajamas to tease her legs into opening for him.  She did her best to ignore the annoying sound that had no place in Spike’s crypt, murmuring in approval when his fingers found what they’d been looking for.

Eventually the distracting phone won out over the sensations Spike was creating, and she realized she was face down on her bed with Spike lying on top of her, whispering urgently that she should “ignore the bloody phone”.

With a sigh, she elbowed him into moving off her body. He growled, but quickly removed his wandering hand and flopped onto his back.  “What the hell, Slayer? I thought we were having a moment there…”

“You took advantage of me while I was sleeping,” she said, doing her best to sound as if she had not been an enthusiastic participant.  “I thought I was dreaming that we—never mind. You cheated.”

“Hey! It’s not like I planned it. Thought I was dreaming that we were back in my crypt, and when I woke up and you weren’t objecting….”

“I thought it was a dream!” she said. 

“Well, if you were dreaming about it, and I was dreaming about it, I’ve only got one thing to say ….”

“Which is?”

“Great minds think alike,” he said with a grin that she couldn’t resist responding to.  He reached for her, pulling her against his body and brushing his lips across hers.  “Don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure I’m not tired anymore…” He was interrupted by the phone, which had stopped for a minute, but was now ringing again.  When, with a sigh, Buffy pulled away to look for the source of the interruptions, he got out of bed and picked up her jeans.  The phone fell out when he tried to hand them to her and he grabbed it before she could, flipping it open and snarling, “If the soddin’ world isn’t ending, I’m going to—”

Snatching the phone from him, a blushing Buffy pushed him away while she held the phone to her ear.  “Not that I condone Spike’s rude phone manners, but there better be a damn good reason for waking me up—oh. Really? Well, yeah, that’s… that’s….” She looked at Spike, whose expression alternated between glowering and begging.  Buffy ran her eyes over him, the bare chest, the powerful arms, the flat belly barely covered by the pants hanging off his hips, and the protrusion tenting the front of those pants. She barely noticed the scars with which she was now so familiar, but had no trouble admiring the body that, while she had been busy worrying about the scars, had somehow restored itself to the lean, well-muscled one she knew so well.

“…that’s something that can wait,” she said, turning the phone off and dropping it onto the floor.  She smiled at him and scooted back on the bed.

“That’s my girl,” he said, his grin returning as he followed her beckoning finger. He knelt on the edge of the bed and moved toward her on his hands and knees. As he reached her face, Buffy fell backwards, forcing him to crawl up her body until he was suspended over her, their hips just barely touching.  He slowly lowered his upper body until he was close enough to feel her breasts brush his chest with every rapid breath she was taking.  “Tell me this isn’t another bloody dream,” he said, staring into her eyes.

“Not unless I’m having the same dream,” she whispered. She raised one hand to cup his cheek. “You’re really here. I didn’t think I’d ever… you’re really here.”

“I am, love. Think I’d have been here someway, somehow, even if I’d dusted.  This is my home. You are my home,” he quickly amended as he remembered where they were.

“Welcome home, Spike,” Buffy said, pulling him down into a kiss that lasted until they were both panting and he was pressed against her writhing body. Her legs had come up around his waist, and they both groaned at the fabric separating them. By mutual agreement, they broke apart long enough for Spike to push his sweat pants to the floor and Buffy to shed her pajama top.  When she reached for the waistband of the bottoms, Spike stopped her with a soft, “Let me.”

He brushed his lips across hers before kissing his way down her body, giving loving attention to her pulsing throat, pausing to suck on each nipple until they were standing erect in bright red peaks. He nuzzled her navel and licked the skin on her abdomen. When he got to the top of her pajamas, he took the elastic waistband in his teeth and began to slowly pull it down her body, pausing when he’d exposed her neatly trimmed mons and sniffing in appreciation, burying his nose briefly while never letting go of the fabric in his mouth. Buffy’s canted hips reminded him that he had farther to go, and he quickly yanked the pants the rest of the way down her thighs, leaving it to Buffy to kick them all the way off.

He returned to the scent that had distracted him, pausing to run his tongue through her folds and pressing it against her clit while she involuntarily moved her hips to increase the pressure.  Surprising herself and him, Buffy pulled him up from where he had been about to remind her of one of the reasons she loved him. “Later,” she whispered. “Right now I what to feel you… all over.”

Matching sighs when they were molded together, skin to skin from head to toe, quickly turned to urgent panting and whimpers as the needs they’d been putting off for two nights became overwhelming. Her legs once again around his hips, Buffy silently urged him to obey the demands from his eager cock.  Only when he’d slid into her and was fully seated did the urgency abate enough for them to savor being so intimately connected once again.

Buffy’s moans of satisfaction and appreciation as she clenched around him were echoed by his own groaned words.

“So good. Feels so good. Never thought I’d… Could dust now…”

“No dusting. Not now. Not ever,” she gasped as he began to move.  “I missed this… missed you… so much.  Never leave me again.”

“Never,” he vowed, ignoring the pain in his side from the way her arms were gripping his body.  “Never leave you. Never leave this…”

Years of unfulfilled yearning and days of postponed desire made short work of their first love-making since well before Sunnydale’s collapse.  Buffy’s “Oh God! Oh God!” was echoed by Spike’s shouted “Buffy!” as they brought each other to orgasm almost too quickly.  Without pausing any longer than to take a deep breath and begin to kiss her, Spike’s hips were moving again, accompanied by his muttered, “Too fast, too bloody fast.”

“I don’t mind,” she gasped, arching up to meet him.  “We can just keep doing it until we can slow down.”

His chuckle was smothered by another gasp from Buffy as she flexed and flipped them over.  She pushed her body up, her hands planted on his chest and her hips churning as she rode him to another swift release.  She collapsed on his chest, smiling at the vibration under her cheek.

“You’re purring again.”

“I expect I’ll be purring for the next several years,” he said, squeezing her tightly and then running his hands up and down the skin on her back. When he reached her lower back, he continued until he was cupping her ass cheeks and pulling her against his already recovering cock.  “You know, love, I’ve never purred like that with anyone else. Didn’t even know I could until that blasted spell of Red’s.”

“All those years with Drusilla? You never purred?” Buffy couldn’t keep the note of satisfaction from her voice, and he responded by increasing the volume.

“No. It never happened to me until I spent an evening with a lapful of Buffy. From then on I was always having to watch myself that I didn’t get that happy where anyone could hear me. Really didn’t fancy explaining why there were happy noises coming from me every time you got close enough to smell.”   He nuzzled her neck and sucked on it gently.  “Especially to you. You’d have known what I was thinkin’ and I’m pretty sure I’d’ve been dust long before…”

“That’s probably true,” she admitted. “If I’d had any idea then that you were thinking about…” She wriggled against him. “But then I learned how to really make you purr….” She squeezed his softened cock, bringing the purring to a new level and gaining a moan from him.

“That you did, love.  That you did.”

Buffy giggled and sighed as she felt him swelling within her. “Ahh,” she breathed, stretching out on top of him and falling into one of their favorite games from their short-lived physical affair so many years ago.  As Spike went into game face and his cock adapted by becoming thicker and more curved, he began to twitch it, judging his success at hitting the right spot by the sounds she was making. Buffy’s response was to use her stronger-than-normal muscles to squeeze him until his eyes rolled back in his head.

An outside observer might have thought they were just resting, being unaware of the steadily increasing internal battle going on between the two bodies lying so still.  Only when Buffy’s breathing became erratic, and her soft sighs turned to shorter, louder “oh!”s, did Spike begin to murmur to her and move his hands to pull her more tightly against him. Buffy’s final convulsive “yes!” and the resulting pressure on his cock sent Spike’s demon snarling his release as he fastened his mouth harmlessly on her neck.  He sucked the soft skin there for several minutes while Buffy recovered herself.

When she finally gave a groan and tried to roll off, he released the skin with a gentle kiss and let her go.  They rested together, arms and legs touching, hands lightly clasped between them.

“I won,” he said finally.

“You so did not! It was a tie!”

“Was not.”

“Was too!”

“Best two out of three?” he asked, turning his head to smile at her.  She smiled back and reached over to brush the fingers of her free hand across his chest.

“You’re on, cheater,” she said, then dropped her hand. “But not right this second. Even slayers need rest.”  He narrowed his eyes at her, grateful for the respite, but wondering how much of her need to rest was real, and how much was based on her seeing the flinch he hadn’t been able to hide when she touched his wound.

“Well, alright, pet. I wouldn’t want to wear you out too much.”

“Exactly.”  She felt her neck. “Did you just give me a hickey?”

“Maybe?” When she glared at him, the self-satisfied grin on his face was quickly replaced by an inquisitive look and a change of subject. “So, what’s the plan for the day? Was the phone call really important, or did someone just want to make sure we weren’t doing anything they wouldn’t approve of?”

Buffy gave a guilty start. “It was important. I probably shouldn’t have blown it off.”  She sat up and stretched, smiling when his eyes went to her breasts. “One of the girls who was badly injured wanted to know if you were okay. She got knocked out before Illyria showed up, and the last time she saw you, I guess you were being swarmed by ugly, scaly things.”  She cocked her head at him. “I think it would be nice if you went with me to see her.  She got hurt for you, in a way.”

“Nothing ‘in a way’ about it,” he said, sitting up quickly. “If Blue hadn’t dropped me on your doorstep, those things wouldn’t have come here looking for me, and none of those girls would have had to get hurt.  I owe them all.”

Buffy shook her head. “Come on, Spike. They’re slayers. Things are always going to be trying to hurt them.  Yes, this time, they were here for you, but the next time… probably next spring… it’ll be something else. If anyone is responsible for putting them in harm’s way, it’s me… and maybe Willow, since she did the spell.”

“You had a world to save, love,” he said quickly.  “You made the best decision you could make at the time.  If you hadn’t, they still would have died or been hurt… and it would have happened years ago when they had no ability to fight back.”

Buffy stood up. “I know that… but still…” She gave herself a little shake before heading to the bathroom.  Spike’s voice followed her in as she closed the door.

“But still, nothing, Slayer. You saved the world for them so they could grow into the super-powered little bints they are. They should be grateful to you.”

“Some are, some aren’t….”

He could just hear her over the sound of the toilet flushing, but wasn’t sure she’d meant for him to.  When he heard the shower come on, he got up and, leaning on his cane, walked to the bathroom, opening the door and pulling the shower curtain back to peek in.

“Room for one more?”



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When they’d dressed, eaten, and Buffy had called the school back to say they were coming in if a safe method of transportation could be provided for Spike, they sat in the kitchen while Buffy drank more coffee.

“I guess I need to get you more clothes,” she said, eyeing the tight jeans he’d reluctantly put on again. Besides the blood and other stains on them, she did have to admit that they weren’t the manliest things he’d ever worn.

“Don’t want you spending all your money on me,” he grumbled. “You’d best be keeping that tab.”

She set her cup down and stared at him. With a sweep of her arm, she gestured around the kitchen.  “You do know this is all actually yours, don’t you?  The only reason I’m living here is because you left all that money to me… and Dawn.  And since you’re not really dead – or deader than usual – I don’t know if it’s legally even ours anymore.”

“Of course it’s yours. Gave it to you, didn’t I?” He seemed shocked that she would even consider that it wasn’t.

“But that’s when you thought you were going to be dust. You’re not dust, you’re here, and I’m living in your house that I bought with your money.”

“Can’t think of a better use for it, love,” he said, putting his hand over hers. “It was always going to be yours, or the Bit’s. Way back before… well, let’s just say a long, long time ago, I made sure that whatever I had left to leave was going to go to a Summers woman. Would have preferred to be seeing it split three ways, but….”

“You made that will while Mom was still alive?” Buffy stared at him with her mouth open.  He looked embarrassed, but said, “Had no one else, and your mum was always nice to me – except for that whole thing with the axe, and could hardly blame her for that, could I?  And the Bit – my memories go back just as far as everyone else’s. Remember her when she was just a bitty thing, peeking at me through the stair railing. She never was afraid of me for some reason.”

“You are one strange vampire, Spike,” Buffy said, turning her hand over and linking their fingers.

A honk from outside told them someone had come to pick them up, and Buffy hurried to the front door to wave at their driver.  Spike covered his head with the blanket Buffy provided, holding it with one hand, his cane in the other, and hobbled to the small van; he dove in through the open side door and settled against the side while Buffy slipped into the passenger seat.  She smiled at Xander.

“Hey! I didn’t know we were getting a personal escort.”

“Well, somebody’s got to keep an eye on you two,” he said. “So, where to? I’m your designated driver for the day.”

“The Council compound, I guess. I need to visit all the injured slayers and Spike wants to thank them.  Do you think we could stop somewhere to buy him real jeans first, though?”

Xander sighed. “We could… but then I’d miss all the fun of watching the girls trying not laugh at him when he shows up in tights….”  Spike’s snarl was almost perfunctory, although he did manage to get another dig in about Xander just wanting to watch “my tight, little arse”.




Once Spike – wearing more normal, if too stiff, jeans – had personally thanked all the injured slayers for their help in keeping him safe, and had shown Gill the scar left by her stake, they followed Xander up to the office level. Buffy watched carefully, but not a single girl recoiled from the close up look at Spike’s scarred visage, and she smiled to see the relief on his face.  “If you’d left the tight jeans on, they wouldn’t even be looking at your face,” she whispered, patting him on his butt. “But you can see it’s not as bad as you think it is.”

“They’re slayers. Made of tough stuff,” he said, but she saw a trace of his former cockiness return to his carriage.  Although he was relying heavily on the cane, he somehow managed to make it look more like an accessory than a necessary support.  They took the elevator to the upper floors where Giles’s office and the meeting rooms were.

“Are you up for this?” she asked as Spike stared at the open door to the Council’s primary meeting room. “You’re not going to go all fangy on me, are you?”

“Never faulted the man for trying to protect you,” he said. “And I never will, no matter how stupid he may be to think I’d ever do anything to harm you… But, I’ll admit to havin’ some pretty strong feelings about sending a little prick like Andrew to pick up Dana… and about not telling you or Willow we needed help to save Fred.  Could be there was nothing to be done at that point, but we’ll never know, will we?”

“In all fairness, we didn’t know you were there, and I really didn’t trust Angel when he took over Wolfram and Hart.  If you’d called me….”

“I know that, love. Accept my part in everything that happened. I was a bloody coward… and I always thought I’d have time.  Could figure out what I wanted to say, how to say it… By the time I knew we weren’t going to make it, I was a mite too busy to ring you and say, “I’m alive and I love you. Sorry I didn’t call. The poof and I could use a bit of help.”  He put a hand on her arm, turning her towards him. “That’s the only reason you won’t see fang. I know it might have changed things if I’d called you right away. I have to accept that.” 

“Okay, then. Let’s get this over with.” 

She pushed the door the rest of the way open and they walked into the room, pausing before they got to the table to make eye contact with everyone there. Willow jumped to her feet and ran to them, arms up for a hug that took Spike completely by surprise.  He gave Buffy a panicky look as he put his arms awkwardly around the witch. When he realized that Willow’s hug was a genuine expression of her delight in seeing him again, he relaxed and picked her up.  When he set her down, she stepped back and smiled at him.

“You look great!” she said, adding quickly, “Well, I mean you look great compared to what you looked like a few days ago, not compared to what you really look like when you aren’t all scarry and have hair and… I’m going to stop babbling now.”

“It’s alright, Red. I appreciate what you’ve done… checking for the soul, and bringin’ the healer to see me. Babble away. I know what I look like.” 

Still looking dismayed, Willow went back to her place at the table and sat down next to Xander who was shaking his head at her.  Before Giles could get to his feet and say anything, the door burst open and Dawn came in. She walked up to Spike and stared at him, then smiled and nodded.

“Okay. I guess I don’t have to beat you with the spatula anymore.” She glanced at Buffy. “Is it safe for me to come home, or are you two still celebrating the reunion in loud and inappropriately public ways?”

“It’s your house too, Bit,” Spike said, unable to hide a smirk at Buffy’s angry blush. 

“Nah, it’s Buffy’s house. She wouldn’t let me use any of my money to buy it—” She broke off.  “Is it still my money?  I mean with you being not dust and all….”

“It’s yours. I think trying to reclaim it – even if I wanted to, which I don’t – would be a bit too complicated.  Explaining how I was dead, but not, and then dead again, but turns out not, and then in another dimension… Yeah. All things considered, I think we’ll just leave things as they are.”

“It’s not like he doesn’t have a place to live,” Buffy said into the silence. “Or access to his money if he needs it for anything.” She moved closer to him and took his hand, in case anyone wasn’t getting the entire message. Giles sighed and sat back down.

“So, you expect him to be a permanent fixture in your life?” His face gave no indication of his feelings about that state of affairs, but when Spike began to growl under his breath and Buffy’s eyes took on a cold determination, he held up a hand quickly. “I am not objecting to that. Not in any way. I just wanted to be clear about it before I make my offer.”

“Offer?”

“Of employment. When we discussed the vampire in your home before we knew who he was, we were planning to use him for training purposes.” Before the growing anger in Buffy’s eyes could explode, he hastened on. “Now that we know he is an expert fighter, with experience training potential slayers, I am prepared to offer him full employment with the Council. Both as an instructor, and as a member of your team when needed for emergencies.” He waited, watching the vampire’s eyes for any sign of rejection.

Spike, however, was totally focused on Buffy. “Your call, love. What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to do whatever you want. You don’t owe us anything.”

“I want to be where you are. Doing what I can to make your life easier.”

“Then I guess it’ll help if we work in the same place, won’t it?” She smiled at him, unconsciously moving closer until they were standing facing each other, oblivious to the other people in the room.  Only the clearing of throats all around the room brought their attention back to the table.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Giles said with a wry smile.  “Welcome to the Slayers’ Council, Spike.”

“Slayers Council, yeah? I like that.”

“Well, technically—”

Giles interrupted Dawn’s intended correction.  “Yes, it is technically the Slayers and Watchers Council, but I doubt very seriously if William the Bloody would have much interest in working for the Watchers Council.”

“You got that right,” Spike snorted. “So, when do I go to work?” 

Before anyone else could answer, Buffy said, “When you can spar with me without falling down.”  At his glower, she added, “You’re entitled to some rest before you start work. And I think I need a vacation….” She went up on her toes and whispered in his ear, bringing a smile to his face.

He nodded. “Alright then, love. Two weeks from now, it is.” He looked directly at Giles for the first time. “Is that alright with you, Watcher? Two weeks from now when the Slayer and I—” Buffy’s elbow to his ribs cut him off.

“That will be fine. Assuming that there is not some apocalypse lurking that we are unaware of….”

“You don’t think a demon invasion from another dimension counts as an apocalypse?”  Buffy was indignant on behalf of her injured slayers.

“Well, since we know of nothing else looming, I think we can assume so, but just in case….”

“Just in case, you’ll know where to find us,” Buffy said, taking Spike’s hand and leading him toward the door.  “We’re going home now. Don’t bother us unless the world is ending.”  She paused as she remembered how they’d arrived. “Xander? Do you mind?”

He rose to his feet, gesturing to Dawn. “Let’s go, Dawnie. We’re going to want to pack some clothes and stuff.”

“Are we going somewhere?”

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan to stay in the same house with these two while they get reacquainted.  They might be all lovey-dovey now, but sooner or later there’s going to be violence. Trust me.”

“True,” she said as she followed him out the door. “Not to mention all the sex we’d have to listen to when they weren’t fighting…”

Buffy looked up at Spike as they all crowded into the elevator. “Should we be offended?”

“I think we should be bloody grateful,” he said, nibbling on her ear and ignoring the gagging sounds from Dawn.  “We’ll have the house all to ourselves. Can shag anywhere we want to… kitchen table, living room floor, Dawn’s bed….”


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The ride home and subsequent packing by Dawn and Xander lasted well into the afternoon and evening.  The four people were sitting around the kitchen table, Spike drinking his blood while Buffy, Dawn and Xander argued the virtues of coffee and tea in the afternoon.  The lackadaisical argument had dwindled off when Xander brought up the subject they’d all been avoiding.

“So, I notice that neither one of you are, even insincerely, trying to talk us out of staying somewhere else for a while.  What’s up with that?”

Buffy and Spike exchanged looks, but offered no explanation.

“Because neither one of them wants us around, obviously,” Dawn said with a surprising lack of anger.  “It’s déjà vu all over again.”

“That’s not—“

Spike interrupted Buffy’s attempt to deny that they wanted to be alone.  “Yes, it is.”  He met Dawn’s gaze with affection but firm conviction. “Your sis and I haven’t seen each other in too bloody many years to count. And we’ve only had a few very busy days to get to know each other again.” He took Buffy’s hand and brought it to his lips.  “Know I love her. Know she loves me.” He gave Buffy’s hand a squeeze. “But neither one of us knows where we’re going from here.  Need some time without distractions to just… be.”

“Oh, bullshit,” Dawn said, waving her hand at him. “You just want to have lots of sex and you don’t want to worry about being quiet or having privacy.”

Spike shrugged and grinned at her. “An’ there’s that.” 

“On that disgusting note…” Xander stood up and picked up their bags.  “Let’s go, Dawn. If you’re nice to me, I might spring for dinner somewhere before we move into our bunks at the slayer compound.”

Buffy and Spike stood in the kitchen doorway, his arm draped across her shoulders, the cane dangling from his hand.  They watched Dawn and Xander let themselves out the gate to where he’d left the car.

“Take her to dinner, huh?” Spike mused.  “Am I going to need to have a talk with that boy?”

“’That boy’ is almost older than you were when you were turned, and Dawn is a young woman. Leave them alone.  It’s probably just a big brother/sister thing, anyway.”

He sighed and squeezed her shoulder before turning to walk back to his chair.  “I’ve got a lot to catch up on and get used to, don’t I?”

Buffy followed him to the table and leaned over his back, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head next to his.  “That’s why we’re taking these two weeks of vacation.  We have a lot of talking to do.”

He turned his head and met her waiting lips with his. “I hope you don’t mind if we do our talking naked and horizontal.  ‘Cause that’s pretty much what I have in mind for the next two weeks.”

“I think I can talk naked,” she said, giggling when he pulled her down in his lap and slid a hand under her shirt.  “I was kinda hoping your leg would get well enough that horizontal wasn’t going to be our only position, though….”  She turned to straddle him, putting her arms on his shoulders and leaning in for another kiss.

Spike’s attempt to stand up while holding her didn’t work, as his uncooperative leg refused to hold their combined weights and he fell back into the chair, swearing in several languages.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” she said.  “I didn’t mean right this minute. We’ve got the rest of our lives for that leg to get strong again.”  She stared at his frozen face and stroked it softly.  “Horizontal is going to work just fine for now.”

“Think I’ve kind of lost the urge,” he said, lifting her off his lap and setting her on the floor. “Maybe later, pet.”

Buffy stared at him in dismay, easily reading the embarrassment and frustration that were making him lie.  “Bullshit,” she said, putting her hand on the hard cock still visible in his jeans.  He gaped at her with indignation when she squeezed it.  “The important thing to me is that it’s you making love to me.  I don’t much care how you do it.  It’s been a long damn time, and if you think you’re going to use that leg as an excuse to leave me—mmmph!”

As intended, the suggestion that he might be leaving her unfulfilled brought Spike’s demon roaring out. He threw her to the floor, landing heavily on top of her as he growled and pressed his hips into hers.  Buffy suppressed her satisfied giggle as she reached in between them and pulled down his zipper.  The skirt she’d worn that morning was already rucked up and she easily pulled aside her thong so that he could push into her.

As Buffy wrapped her legs around him, holding him fast while he pounded into her, his urgency faded along with his demon and he had soon slowed down and was gazing at her from bright blue eyes. 

“Think you’re smart, don’t you?” He tried to growl, but it came out as more of a rumbling purr.

“I think I know you,” she said, smirking at him and stroking his brow. 

“I guess you do,” he agreed, beginning to move again, more slowly this time.

As Buffy began to move with him and murmur her appreciation, she gasped, “So, we can take the kitchen floor off the list now.”

A soft chuckle was the only response as he rolled them over to let his own back take the brunt of the hard floor.

 
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