Summary: All her life Elizabeth has done exactly what everyone expects of her. Now in her first year of college, she discovers the vast possibilities in life. But can she escape the ghosts of her past and find the courage to explore the new paths before her...including the affections of an infuriating young sophomore named William 'Spike' Giles?
Rating: NC-17
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Elizabeth woke with a contented yawn and blearily opened her eyes. A jolt of pure giddy delight passed through her body when she saw the visage of the man she loved on the pillow next to her. There was this wonderful little flutter in her chest, and she suddenly felt that, despite everything that was difficult in her life right now, everything would work out, everything was perfect just as long as she still had him.
With a happy little murmur, she pulled herself closer to him, tucking his platinum curls under the crook of her neck and wrapping a casual arm and leg over his nude body. God, this just felt…amazing. Had this been how it had always felt for him? If so, she was deeply envious that he’d fallen in love first. But now that she had a taste of these glorious new sensations, she was damn well going to fight just as hard as he had to keep them.
“’Morning, love,” she whispered softly, pressing a soft kiss to his snowy-white hair.
He murmured slightly against her throat in response and snuggled deeper into her embrace, still asleep but smiling happily in his rest.
“Love you,” she cooed gently, stroking her fingers along the strong lines of his back in a comforting manner. “Love you so much, Spike…”
A few incoherent, mumbled syllables, a brush of his lips across her shoulder, and then she felt the very real expression of his desire pressed hard against her inner thigh.
“God, you’re so hopelessly horny,” she teased lightly. “Luckily for you, so am I…” A wicked little idea flitted through the back of her mind, and she pushed on his shoulder, encouraging him to lie on his back.
He fell, and his eyelashes began fluttering slightly, waking up at the loss of the wonderful propinquity of her body. “’Liz’beth…” he muttered, still half-asleep.
She crawled up over him and smiled down at the beautiful form of her boyfriend. Men usually weren’t ‘beautiful’ to her, but Spike… He was so perfect – body, mind, heart, soul. He was a work of art, a creature of pure beauty, and she just had to show him that He. Was. Everything.
Her mouth dipped down to press feather-soft kisses to each of his closed eyelids in turn, urging him to awaken and experience her love for him once more.
A flash of deep blue appeared from under his long lashes, and his body began moving beneath her, lean muscles stretching in the most sensuous ways…
Her mouth lowered to his Adam’s Apple, and she sucked gently of the prominent feature, lathing it with her tongue.
He was definitely waking now, his arms wrapping around her back and his hips thrusting upwards, desperate to find something to rub his swollen erection against. “’Lizabeth?” he voice was still slurred slightly from slumber, but there was a definite consciousness behind it now.
“’Morning, my love,” she agreed, peppering kisses across the pulse points of his throat.
“Mmm…” he sighed happily, “’morning…”
“Nice way to way up, I take it?” she inquired, slipping down to the line of his collarbone and tracing it with her tongue up one shoulder and then back down to the other.
“God, yes!” he exclaimed, pressing his hardened cock into her thigh in answer.
“I hoped you would like,” she said in a sultry voice, looking up into his eyes for the first time since he had awakened and fluttering her lashes in a mock-innocent manner. Her head then lowered again, and her teeth found a flat nipple.
He squirmed and groaned as he felt her nibble at him, savoring his taste. The blissful thought drifted through his mind: Life doesn’t get any better than this… Or, apparently, it did.
“Christ!” he exclaimed, eyes wide as her tongue plunged into his navel, thrusting into him in a persistent manner.
She gave him an evil grin and fought off the hands that tried to pull her back up to him. “Just let me make this time about you, OK, baby?” she requested with uncharacteristic shyness. “I wanna show you, make you see…” She trailed off. “I love you…”
He groaned. “A bloke can’t very well refuse an offer like that, now can he?” he agreed, forcing himself to lie back and enjoy her attentions. He let out a resigned sigh, pretending this was such a great loss.
She laughed and shook her head. “God, you’re hopeless,” she decided for the umpteenth time.
“And you know you love it,” he shot back.
“Yeah,” she agreed softly, “I do…” Her head ventured lower…
…And his eyes widened. “Elizabeth,” he said seriously, his hand stopping her as her cheek moved to rub against the length of his erection.
“William,” she replied confidently.
“Y-You don’t have to…” he insisted.
“Shh,” she whispered softly, her cheeks flushing slightly. “I-I wanna try,” she assured him. “I mean, I’ve never…except for, well, when…”
“I ever find the wanker that did that to you, and ‘ll rip his parts off for good,” Spike hissed with such vehemence that Elizabeth didn’t doubt it was the case. She made a mental note not to ever let Spike get anywhere near Angel, even if the idea of revenge still was quite sweet.
“If I don’t beat you to it,” she agreed before turning her attention back to the swollen tip of his cock which was still weeping with precum. It looked so much larger up close but no less appealing and… Her face flushed slightly. “I’ve never before,” she repeated, somewhat embarrassed, “and I want to…with you, and…I mean, if you don’t want to, it’s all right, but—”
He cut her off before her embarrassed babbling got out of hand. “Yeah,” he agreed, “but you don’t hafta to prove it to me.”
“No proving,” she assured him, fingers tangling with his, “just wanna…” Her lips cautiously lowered and kissed the very tip of him.
His head fell back and he groaned in response, his fingers going limp in her grasp. “’Lizabeth…” he whispered worshipfully.
Elizabeth felt a little jolt of excitement run through her at the intensity of his reaction. She’d barely even done anything yet and…wow…how would he react if she…?
Her tongue flicked out for a second, catching the drop of milky fluid at his very tip. She was surprised to find it not unpleasant. There was a bit of a salty tang to it, but it wasn’t very strong. A rather innocuous flavor given all the high-school gossip about swallowing and the unpleasant side-effects…
His response was even better this time. He was squirming beneath her, his lands clutching helplessly at the sheets, babbling incoherently about how good she felt.
Her eyes widened in surprise and delight. Wow. Did she do that when he went down? Because, if she did, she was starting to see why he liked to do it so much.
Encouraged by his responsiveness, she parted her lips slightly, tasting his head for the first time. It was very…different from what she’d expected. A part of her had always thought of this as a degrading act, something that Angel’s attempted assault had no doubt supported. But the feel of Spike in her mouth… It allowed her to perfectly sense where to give him the most pleasure. Her tongue instinctively responded, tracing every throbbing vein she could find. She could feel the power she had over him, and she reveled in it. She needed this power to show him that she would only ever use it to bring him pleasure, that she would never, ever hurt him with it. It was an act of pure trust, of giving him bliss because she loved him and wanted to show it to him in every way imaginable…
Spike moaned out in a ragged gasp when her tongue found a vein that not even he had realized was so sensitive. It completely blew his mind away how wonderful this felt. Yeah, it wasn’t his first time doing this, but…god, it had never been like this before. He’d never felt so completely lost, all his careful control slipping away. Just his raw, pure self opened up for her to see and not fearing in the slightest for his safety… It was pure bliss.
Growing bolder at how clearly Spike was enjoying this, she began to suck up and down on him slowly. She knew she had a gag reflex and didn’t want to spoil this for him in the slightest, so she wrapped her fist around his firm base, enclosing him with both hand and mouth as she began to pump.
God, he was so spectacular up close! The skin was so soft, yet strength and hardness were buried beneath it. His flesh was smooth, warm, delightful and tasted of that Spike flavor she’d come to savor. In fact, it was like Spike concentrate, and she felt as though she could never get enough.
His hips were moving slightly against her now, unable to control himself. The feel of her warmth surrounding him, it was… He couldn’t even begin to describe it. It was just too much, and he…
He made the mistake of looking down at the blonde head between his thighs, and that was his undoing. Before he could even let out a gasp to warn her, he was coming hard and fast, the pleasure blackening the world around him and wrapping him in its all-encompassing embrace…
Elizabeth’s eyes widened when he came into her mouth. She really hadn’t thought about what she’d do in this circumstance, but…it was just instinctual now. She wanted him inside her. Completely. And the taste wasn’t half bad…
When he was done, she lazily licked him clean, watching with fascination as the blood swelled up within him once more. One hand stroked him fondly while her mind was amazed. He was so large, and she was so tiny. How on earth was it possible that they could fit so perfectly together? It was nothing short of a small miracle to her, but she felt her pulse quicken at the tenderness he always showed her turning their lovemaking. And, god, she wanted him right now…
“Wakey, wakey,” she teased lightly, crawling up the unconscious form of her lover.
A purely masculine sigh escaped his lips, and he looked up at her with the most blissfully idiotic grin on his face that she’d ever seen. “Luv…” It seemed to be the only word he was capable of speaking at the moment.
She caught his lips in a passionate kiss, letting him understand that she could feel the emotions within him, even in his current incoherent state.
Their tongues intertwined lazily, dancing to a rhythm as old as time.
“You know, I read this article the other day,” she teased lightly, pulling away to catch her breath.
“Oh?” he asked curiously.
“Yup,” she agreed. “It turns out that what I just did…I mean, certain properties of your…” Her face flushed slightly.
“Spew?” he suggested teasingly.
“Ew,” she whapped him on the arm. “You can’t come up with a better word for it than that?”
He shrugged, unashamed.
Her eyes narrowed, intent on making him squirm now. He looked entirely too confident at the moment. “Well,” she went on, “it turns out that drinking guys down… There are certain properties involved. Helps in losing weight, for one. So, I was thinking it might be a good idea to start off every day with a Spike-flavored diet drink…”
He groaned at the idea, already squirming beneath her again in eager anticipation. “Bloody brilliant study,” he decided.
“Who says science never did any good?” she agreed, taking pity on those swollen lips of his and bringing them into another deep kiss.
He was grinding slowly against her now, and wetness at the junction of her thighs was becoming unbearable.
“Love you, want you,” Elizabeth murmured against him.
“Ready for slow and sweet?” he whispered against her lips with a grin.
She smiled down at him. “Yeah…” she agreed, pushing back the sweaty curls that clung to his forehead. “I wanna make love with you, baby.”
She got another brilliant, toothy smile in response to that before his expression faded. “’S morning,” he pointed out, trying to shake his mind away from more pleasurable matters.
“So?” she countered, nibbling gently on the silver loop in his ear.
“You’ve got class, luv,” he clarified.
“It was finishing school that did it,” she couldn’t help but pun.
He groaned and banged his head back against the pillow. “You do realize that was punishable by death?” he felt obliged to point out.
“Then, I should definitely get one last shag,” she decided, dropping a quick peck on his lips.
“You’re missin’ art,” he protested one last time.
“And you’re missing English,” she countered.
“I never go to English,” he retorted.
“And on this one special occasion, I can skip art, too,” she informed him.
His eyes softened into the most beautiful blue color she’d ever seen before. The artist in her instantly memorized it, the idea in the back of her head growing stronger as she looked down into the beauty of his eyes.
“You never skip class.” He sounded deeply touched by her gesture.
“Yeah, well, you’re worth it,” she agreed, stroking his cheek with the backs of her knuckles. “Make love with me?” she requested again softly, and this time he didn’t refuse her.
Instinctively, they rolled onto their sides, Elizabeth’s leg coming up to circle his waist and pull them together. It was always incredible like this, neither in control but both equals in their passion, hands free to explore and delight…
Elizabeth’s grip tightened, and Spike easily slipped inside her slick channel. Twin gasps of delight met in a kiss at being truly united once more, and they slowly and lazily began to rock, drawing this out for as long as they could.
“I love you so much,” Elizabeth whispered between soft kisses to his face.
“Love you too, pet,” he agreed, squeezing his eyes shut tight and clutching her to him.
“Spike?” she whispered softly.
“Mmm?”
“Tell me what you love about me,” she requested softly.
“Will you tell me, too?” His voice had that shy, vulnerable tone to it again.
“Of course,” she whispered, dropping a playful kiss to his nose, which earned her a little scowl and a hard, deep thrust of his lips. She gasped in delight and looked right into his eyes. “I love your eyes,” she said softly. “I love how blue they are, how beautiful, how they love me and…I just love your eyes…”
A soft smile graced his lips, and he drew her in for another kiss, leaving his eyes open so that she could look into them.
She sighed contentedly and fell back into the slow, gentle rocking of their hips. “So, what do you love about me?”
His eyes softened with love for her again, and she decided that he was absolutely perfect in that moment. Yup, definitely love those baby blues…
“I love how you look at the world with an artist’s eye,” he whispered softly. “I love…”
And the world closed in around the pair as they shared their love for the rest of the afternoon…
* * *
“Can I draw you?”
Spike blinked one happy eye open at the unusual question. “Whasat?” he asked lazily.
“For my art project,” she clarified, looking up from where her head lay on his chest, her fingers tracing archaic patterns of love and devotion into his smooth musculature, “I’d like to include you.”
“You’re not drawin’ any naked pictures of me to show Mum,” he said decisively.
She laughed. “Not those kind of drawings,” she assured him. “Although…if you’d let me, I might enjoy creating a couple of nudes from my private collection…” She licked her lips at the delectable sight of him in all his glory.
He chuckled as well. “So what you want me for, then?” he teased. “If not for my perfect physique…”
She rolled her eyes and swatted him playfully in the shoulder. “Ego much?”
“Much,” he agreed happily before adopting a mock-hurt expression. “An’ I thought you said you were gonna stroke my ego…”
“Again?” she joked, her eyes twinkling in merriment.
“Could never grow tired of you, pet,” he agreed softly, his voice taking on the more cultured tones of his upbringing in his sincerity.
Her expression softened. “Will you let me?” she repeated. “It’s…about something that’s important to me, about who I am now, and I want you to be a part of it.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, his voice husky, “’ll be a part of it.”
“Thank you,” she leaned in close and brushed a quick peck across his lips. “You up for some sketching now?” she asked cheerfully.
“That and ‘m up for somethin’ else, too,” he teased.
She pouted and then brushed him off, reaching over the edge of the bed to riffle around in her bag. “If I have to tie you down first…” she began threateningly.
He purred and preened. “Please do,” he agreed wholeheartedly.
She rolled her eyes and snatched up her sketchbook and colored pencils. “Now stay still,” she ordered.
He let out a resigned sigh. “What’re you gonna be paintin’, then?” he asked curiously.
“It’s a secret,” she informed him with a conspiratorial little wink, her pencil flying across the page as recorded the highlights of his beauty for later reference.
“You’re not even gonna tell your dotin’ boyfriend?” he demanded with a mock pout.
“Later,” she assured him, “when I’m done. I promise you’ll be the first person I show.”
“You’d better,” he harrumphed before following the command of her light whap and turning into an obedient model…
* * *
Elizabeth had long ago learned that just when everything seemed perfect, something inevitably came along to screw it up. She suspected Spike had a similar philosophy since they’d both always taken to savoring the moments they had together. So, she really usually was prepared for the worst to happen. Which was why what had happened shocked her so much.
Work had been grueling that night as usual. Her job wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t fantastic, either. She did spend hours on her feet with only rare breaks between customers, and she was always thoroughly exhausted by the end of her shift. It was worth it, though, to come home to a warm Spike-filled bed every night and not have to worry about what her father thought of her life anymore.
Oh, her father was making a general nuisance of himself, to be sure. He’d tried to spew out some bullshit about how she was still a dependent and wasn’t fit to act in the capacity of an adult. Apparently, this had been the sort of shady thing Linda had been waiting for because she’d whipped up a legal backlash so strong, Hank’s neck still hurt from the impact. If nothing else, Elizabeth was eternally grateful to Linda for knowing all of Hank’s sneaky legal tricks.
Furious that his attempts to control her had failed, Hank had pulled his last card on Monday and finally withdrawn her tuition. It had obviously been meant to discourage her. Westing House had thrown a ‘Ding, Dong, The Witch Is Dead’ party in response. She and Spike had thrown a special, private celebration afterwards.
Surprisingly, after all the worrying she’d done, it was a relief to have her father completely gone from her life. Things were less in a state of limbo now, and she’d actually had to fully take charge. She’d taken her stepmother up on the loan offer and had calculated that, if she worked full-time this summer and lived with Spike so she didn’t have to pay rent, she could have a good half of her debt off by the time school started up again.
Scholarship applications had been mailed off, and she would hear from most before graduation. If not, she’d already checked through the student loan options and had plucked out her favorite choices.
And, despite the effort her work required at the moment, she didn’t hate it. Jenny had turned out to be a nice and fair boss, and Elizabeth had even managed to get her and her daughter free tickets to the new gallery exhibit in the art center. Brownie points with the boss for the art major.
So, all in all, as Elizabeth collapsed into her favorite booth that evening after her shift and accepted the latte Spike had kept warm from her, she felt completely and utterly contented.
He gave her that soft smile of his, and she fell in love all over again. Their hands met in the center of the table, and Elizabeth mouthed a quick “I love you” before taking a sip of her coffee.
And then, right on cue, the disaster both of them were so used to expecting struck.
“Spike,” a nasal voice interrupted the small smiles they were sending each other.
The pair looked up in surprise to see who had interrupted them.
Spike groaned inwardly. “Harmony,” he agreed, his voice sounding somewhat hoarse.
Elizabeth gave him a curious look.
“And you,” Harmony went on, hands on her hips. “Bitsy. Or whatever your name is.”
Elizabeth just blinked slowly. “Harmony?” she repeated the name Spike had used, assuming he was correct even though she didn’t think she’d ever actually picked up the name of the ditsy blond.
“Decided to have a second go, I see,” Harmony commented primly.
Elizabeth looked confused.
Spike was enraged. “How dare you—” he began.
Harmony shot him a condescending look. “Now, now, Spikey, there’s no need to be bitter. I’m mean, you’re cute and all, but you’re not that cute.”
“Bitter?” Elizabeth’s tone was more curious than anything. “You two know each other?”
“Oh, yeah,” Harmony agreed with a toss of her hair. She gave Spike’s hand a condescending little pat. “Such a fun distraction. I can see why you might go for seconds. Especially if you couldn’t find *snicker* anything better…”
One of Elizabeth’s eyebrows rose. She gave Spike a disbelieving look, and his smile assured her that her assessment had been right. “It’s generally a bad idea to talk about things you know absolutely nothing about,” Elizabeth informed Harmony with an irritated tone. “Now, if you’ll just leave us…”
“Hello?” Harmony snarked. “The waitresses aren’t allowed to order actual customers around. Nice outfit, by the way.”
Elizabeth let out a weary sigh. “Look, we’re on a date. Can you just Leave. Us. Alone.”
“A ‘date’?” Harmony repeated incredulously. “Things really have gone downhill for you, haven’t they?” she taunted. “You know, I heard how daddy dumped you and now you have to actually work for a living.” She scoffed. “Guess Spike is the best you can do now.” She gave them the smug smile of one who knows she’s superior – and prettier – than her rival in every way.
“The lady asked you to leave.” Spike’s tone was a dangerous, warning hiss.
“You know, you two fashion victims deserve each other,” Harmony said primly. “I mean, honestly? The eighties are so dead! And the whole vamp thing is just way lame.” She turned her scathing attentions to Elizabeth. “And I can’t believe you would be caught dead in that hideous, common…ugh! I can’t even begin to insult your clothes, they’re so horrible.” She let out a little shudder of disgust.
“You little brat!” Elizabeth began in a fury. “How—”
“Puh-leeze!” Harmony held up one hand before turning to walk away. “Like either of you are even worth my time!”
With a definite sashay of her hips, just to let Spike get a good look at what he’d lost, Harmony left the café, a small smile on her lips.
Ha! Her mind cheered in triumph. I showed THEM! Revenge is so, so sweet…
* * *
Elizabeth and Spike blinked in response to the odd encounter.
“What on earth was that?” Elizabeth asked, still not quite sure what was going on.
Spike shrugged. “She made a pass at me once,” he offered. “Guess she’s pissed.”
Elizabeth nodded in slow understanding. “Immature much?” she couldn’t help but offer.
Spike chuckled at that.
And she smiled. And abruptly realized what had happened.
Harmony’s technique hadn’t actually been that idiotic. She’d tried to play on Elizabeth’s insecurities – money, status, Spike’s loyalty, even fashion. All in all, it was exactly the sort of strategy most of the snobby factions of her previous class used.
Yet not even one of them had affected her.
Yeah, money was going to be tight for a while, but it didn’t matter as long as she had enough to stay in school. She had no desire to associate with her father’s ‘kind of people’ at all which was more of a relief than something she felt ashamed about. And Spike’s loyalty…
She cast a soft smile in her love’s direction. In the past, she would have considered herself a bit of a jealous person. But with Spike… There was just no doubt anywhere in her mind that he loved her completely. He was hers, just like she was his.
In the past, she knew she would’ve been looking for this sort of thing, worrying that it could come between them and break them apart. But now…
She had no worries, no concerns. Problems could come, but she knew that if they trusted in each other, they could overcome them. And, deep down, she just knew that they would overcome them all.
With a contented smile, she blew the steam off her latte and took a small sip.
Spike raised one curious eyebrow. “What?” he demanded of her impish little smile.
“Just thinking about how much I love you,” she answered enigmatically.
The smile he gave her could warm her heart for eternity…
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