Chapter 49
“I’m thinking of picking up a second job over the summer,” Elizabeth commented, lying back on the checkered cloth beneath her and taking another bite of her sandwich.
“Looked around for anythin’ yet?” Spike inquired curiously, chucking a grape up into the air and deftly catching it in his mouth.
“Well, I’ve been a bit busy consoling Willow…” Elizabeth began hesitantly.
“Who would’ve thought she’d take Jonathan’s leavin’ so hard,” Spike agreed with a shake of his head. Willow’s cries that she’d never, ever see him again had been audible from the lounge where Spike had been watching his usual assortment of daytime junk TV.
Elizabeth sighed. “I guess it would be kinda rough,” she pointed out. “I mean, I feel a bit sad about people going back home, and I know I’m going to see them again next year…”
“She’ll be all right,” he insisted. “Just seems a bit overwhelmin’ at the moment, I’d wager.” He bit into a cracker and shooed away a fly that had decided to intrude on their outdoor lunch.
Elizabeth nodded slowly. “It won’t be the same without her next year,” she decided.
“Well, we could always rig one ‘f those motion detectors so that it says ‘have you finished your homework yet?’ every time someone walks into the lounge… Ow!” Spike rubbed his forehead in mock-pain where a green grape had hit him right between the eyes.
“You so deserved that,” Elizabeth informed him primly, popping the last bite of her sandwich into her mouth. “There’s a lot more to Willow than a walking homework planner, you know.”
“Just jokin’,” he insisted with a bit of a huff. Not that he ever would’ve admitted that he was pouting.
She shook her head. “I’m disappointed in you,” she began.
“Was just one li’l joke!” he exclaimed vehemently.
She gave him a pointed look. “Not about that,” she informed him. “You fell for my not-so-subtle diversion to change the topic of conversation.”
“Can’t try to decipher the bizarreness that is your mind,” he informed her, biting into another cracker. “Eating.”
“Pig.”
“Yeah, yeah…”
“You’re letting me change the topic again!” she exclaimed in irritation.
“Well, I can either harp at you, or I can just act normally an’ wait for you to return to it on your lonesome,” he pointed out with a cheeky grin. “And considerin’ that I have no idea what you’re talkin’ about…”
“Job?” she reminded him.
“Yeah?” he asked lazily.
She let out a little snort of exasperation. “Sometimes you’re the most infuriating man alive,” she informed him, although there was a hint of fondness in her voice.
“Only sometimes?” He sounded disappointed.
She cracked a smile at that. “Completely and utterly hopeless,” she grumbled under her breath just loudly enough for him to hear.
“Yeah, but I keep puttin’ up with you anyway,” he teased.
She gave him an annoyed look. “Do you try to be this aggravating all the time?” she asked with sweet innocence.
“Do you?” he shot back.
She shook her head and propped herself up on her elbows for a moment so that she could look down upon the lake at the base of the hill. The afternoon sunshine glittered along the surface of the water, creating swirls of golden confetti that ebbed and flowed with the soft summer breeze. If she hadn’t been convinced by her first ‘date’ with Spike here, she was now confident that she loved this place.
Spike cocked his head to one side as he watched her. It wasn’t often the quiet, contemplative side of this woman came out, but he rather enjoyed it. The shade they’d originally selected for their little picnic had wandered a bit over time, and she was now sitting in the sunlight, looking… Well, he couldn’t quite describe it, but he’d always felt that there was a bit of a magic to this place, ever since he was a kid.
“Your mom offered me a job,” Elizabeth finally admitted nervously.
One scarred eyebrow rose at that. “Oh?” came the seemingly disinterested inquiry.
“Not many students stay over the summer, and she needs help keeping the studio running for the summer programs and, well, I pretty much know the place inside and out,” Elizabeth provided.
“Sounds about right,” he agreed nonchalantly.
“Plus, if I want to stick with art, I’ll have to take art history next year. I figure working in the gallery will keep my mind on track this summer.”
“Steinberg’s teachin’ next year, too,” Spike pointed out.
Elizabeth grimaced. “I know,” she agreed. “I’m thinking I should probably do some of the readings this summer, just to give myself a decent head start this time around…”
“I pretty much knew all the material before I took the class,” Spike agreed. “Was a piece of cake.”
“I’m already planning massive borrowings from your mom’s library,” Elizabeth agreed, “but back to the gallery thing…”
“Sounds like a good opportunity,” Spike shrugged. “More congenial’n serving coffee, at any rate.”
“Yeah, I thought of that,” Elizabeth agreed, rubbing at her sore foot. “Not that Jenny’s not great and everything, but…”
“You don’t plan you spend your entire life as a waitress,” Spike provided with a slight smile.
Elizabeth nodded. “It’s just that, well…me working for my boyfriend’s mom… Are we sensing any weirdness here?”
Spike shrugged. “A little,” he admitted, “but ‘ll hold out my judgment until you an’ Mum start gossipin’ the way you do with Jenny…” A light of humor lit up his eyes.
Elizabeth blushed at the very thought. “Definitely not,” she assured him with a little shudder. “Way too wigsome.”
“Then, what complaint ‘ve I got, really?” he countered.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes heavenward. “I don’t know. There could be some…guy…thing, or something.”
“ ‘Some guy thing’?” Spike repeated, amused.
“You know, how you get all illogically offended all the time,” she said with a quirk on her lips.
“How I get illogically offended all the time!” he bellowed back at her in disgust.
“See?” she teased. “Guy thing.”
He promptly returned to, er…well, whatever it was, it was definitely not pouting…
She sighed and rolled over onto her side to face him. The effect created was that her hair was backlit, glowing like a halo about her head. Spike had a rather difficult time resisting the urge to tease her about the phenomenon; after all, he was still endeavoring to remain quite irate.
Inwardly, she sighed. There was no doubt in her mind whatsoever that she would have to do some extreme ‘apologizing’ tonight. At least that was something to look forward to…
“I’m serious,” she said softly.
His only half-offended demeanor turned curious once more. “’Bout what?”
“You’re really OK with this?” she pressed.
A thoughtful expression crossed his face. “It does occur to me…” he began hesitantly.
“That this severely violates my No Help From You rule about finances?” she suggested.
He tilted his head in her direction. “You offended?”
“Nope. In fact, I’ve been rationalizing the whole thing very neatly,” she sighed.
“Oh, do tell,” he said in a voice oddly reminiscent of his father’s.
“Well, I didn’t get the job offer because Joyce is your mother,” she decided. “I got it because I spend an obscene amount of time in the studio.”
“A happy coincidence, then,” he teased.
“Jerk.” She looked for another grape to throw, but someone had managed to eat them all in the meantime. She cast a suspicious glance in Spike’s direction.
The look he shot back was so completely innocent that there was no doubt whatsoever that he was guilty.
“Double jerk,” she decided.
He chuckled, and his hand snuck out to grab at one of her sandwiches.
She watched the theft pointedly but didn’t stop him. “God, how can you eat that much and never gain a pound?” she shook her head in disgust.
“Rigorous exercise program,” he answered cheekily. “Same one you’re on.”
“You’re such a freak,” she said mock-sadly.
“And that would make you…?” he teased.
“Desperate?” she teased.
A scowl.
“Lucky?” she conceded with a soft smile.
“A freak,” he concluded with a little grin of his own.
She huffed slightly and studied the sandwich in her hand sullenly as she ate it.
“Oh, now, luv,” his tone immediately turned conciliatory. “Don’t take it that way…”
“I’m not,” she sighed, turning to him once more. “So, you’re really good about me working for your mom?”
“Not an issue,” he assured her.
A smile quirked at the edges of her lips. “You’re kind of wonderful,” she admitted shyly.
A sly smirk crept upon his own features. “ ‘Kind of’?” he repeated.
“Even if you are constantly fishing for complements,” she agreed.
“Hafta, don’t I?” he countered with an amused tilt of his head. “You’re hell on a man’s ego, luv.”
“Oh, thanks a lot—” she began.
“Part ‘f why I love you,” he amended. “Constantly keepin’ me on my toes, you are.”
She smiled softly…and decided that, yeah, it was her obligation to keep him on his toes. She leaned in close and brushed a soft kiss across his lips, then pulled back so that she could look at him through the curtain of her golden tresses. “I’m thinking of dyeing my hair back to its original brown,” she informed him completely out of the blue.
His eyes jerked up to hers in surprise. “You’re kidding?” he said in disbelief.
“What?” she demanded, arms crossed over her chest. “You wouldn’t like me if I wasn’t blond?”
He rolled his eyes. “That’s ridiculous and you know it. Now, you serious?”
She bit her lower lip. “Maybe,” she shrugged.
He contemplated her for a minute. “All right, ‘ll confess to bein’ somewhat curious…”
“Did you know that ninety percent of my high-school was blond?” she countered. “To my knowledge, only four of them were genuine.”
He chuckled. “Sunnydale’s a fun place, ‘ve gathered,” he teased.
“Oh, tons of fun,” she agreed sarcastically. “Did you know I had to drive all the way out to LA for Tae Kwon-Do? The only local sports we had were football and cheerleading.”
“’ve heard bad things about suburbs,” Spike grimaced before reaching out of stroke a lock of her golden hair. “Escapin’ the hometown pressures, are we now?” he observed.
“That and if we ever get married, we’ll be arrested for obscene amounts of household bleach consumption,” she shot back.
He tried to maintain a serious demeanor, but it was quite clear that he was giggling behind his hand. “Wasn’t aware that was a crime…” he began.
She whapped him lightly on the arm. “You know what I mean,” she countered.
“Hell, I’m just impressed you’re actually admittin’ to bleaching your hair,” he joked.
She rolled her eyes at him. “You’ve known I’m not a natural blond for how long now?” she pointed out.
“Hope I haven’t been deceivin’ you, either,” he countered, “but if you want to see the evidence…” He leaned over her and brushed a kiss across her bare shoulder.
She let out a little squeal. “Not here!” she insisted.
He visibly deflated. “Why not?” he demanded in a petulant tone.
“Because your mom’s already caught us how many times with the groping?” Elizabeth shot back. “I so could not live with the shame if she walked in on us—”
Her argument was abruptly cut off by his lips. A contented little murmur escaped her as her arms slipped around his neck, pulling him in deeper. “Mum’s got better sense ‘n to crash our picnic,” he joked lightly. He rather violently shoved the plate of food out of the way and took his position hovering over her body.
“Are you always this horny?” she wondered with an only half-convinced eyebrow raised. “’Cause I’m starting to wonder if maybe it’s some kind of permanent condition…”
He shook his head and tisked her. “Sometimes I think you intentionally set me up for innuendoes,” he teased.
She smiled. “Well, for a long time those were all I could get,” she countered.
He frowned. “When?” he asked, seemingly concerned. “When’ve I ever not been willin’ to jump you in a heartbeat, and what was I smokin’ at the time?”
“Back when I couldn’t jump you without seeming like a complete ho-bag, and those same crappy cigarettes you always smoke,” she answered matter-of-factly.
“Never woulda seemed like a ‘ho-bag’ to me.” He made a funny little face at the word. “Hell, I was countin’ on it. The subject of most of my dreams back in those days.”
“You are aware that that has the markings of ‘loser’ all over it?” she teased.
“Hate to break it to you, luv, but if that’s your definition of ‘loser’, then every single male on this earth is one.” He was back to doing that little nibbling thing on her shoulder.
Elizabeth let out a contented sigh and let her arms come up to loosely wrap around his waist. “Mmm, good seduction…” she murmured.
“When is it ever not?” he asked cockily, kissing his way up to the slender column of her neck.
“Whenever you talk,” she shot back, “or get all arrogant or—oh god!” She let out a strangled little gasp, and her fingers clutched in his hair, holding him to her.
He chuckled and continued laving attention on her sensitive pulse point. “You said what about my seduction skills?” he demanded in a lilting tone.
“Good,” she decided vehemently, yanking his head up for another kiss. He tasted of the usual Spike-flavor combined with the unmistakable sweetness of all the grapes he’d stolen from her. All in all, it was quite tasty. It almost even covered up the usual dry cigarette taste.
She waited until he pulled away, looking dazed and out of breath, before very matter-of-factly asking: “Have you ever considered quitting smoking?”
He scowled down at her. “No, the thought had never occurred to me,” he retorted sarcastically. “’Cause, you know, all that lung cancer? Ever so tempting…”
She sighed and pulled him close. “Just a bit concerned,” she assured him softly. “Smokers tend to lose their…endurance over time…”
“You’re right,” he agreed with a soft smile. “That is horrifyin’.”
She giggled and pulled him down to her again. “Less talk, more Spike,” she commanded.
“Bossy chit,” he grumbled, clearly not put out in the slightest. His body covered hers, careful not to crush her under his weight but pressing against her just enough to maximize the delightful friction between them.
Her legs were gliding along his now, bare toes rubbing at the material of his jeans and obviously wishing that it would disappear.
He chuckled against her and broke their kiss to take several very necessary deep breaths. “Thought you were worried about Mum catchin’ us?” he pointed out.
“Mum’s got common sense,” Elizabeth countered. “She’d have to be crazy to come out after us.”
He gave her an irritated look since she was obviously completely ignoring the fact that he’d made that exact same point all of five minutes ago. “You drive me outta my mind, you know that?” he shook his head.
“You too, baby,” she agreed, yanking him down to her once more.
“Do you ever,” he managed to gasp out between kisses, “worry…that we…have too much sex?” He finally completed, breathless once more.
“No such thing as too much Spike sex,” she decided. Her hands had slipped to the waist of his jeans now and slid beneath his button-up shirt to play with the smooth skin at the small of his back. The warmth of her caresses was electrifying.
“No arguin’ with that, I s’pose,” he murmured against her ear, one hand deftly slipping up beneath her skirt to find – without much surprise – that she had foregone underwear on this little excursion. “Naughty girl,” he commented with a grin.
“Arrogant bastard,” she retorted with a soft smile. The smile turned wicked. “Arrogant predictable bastard,” she amended.
“You know, there’s only so much a bloke can take,” he teased lightly, nibbling at her ear as his fingers found her clit and began to stroke it rhythmically. “Might get discouraged one ‘f these days…”
“Spike? Discouraged?” she countered, fingers tangling in his peroxide curls to force him to look at her. “Never.” A soft nibble of that luscious lower lip of his. “You’re the most stubborn, exasperating, persistent man I’ve ever met.”
A delighted smile crossed his face. “Which means?” he practically purred.
She rolled her eyes. “I love you,” she grumbled before grabbing roughly at the fastenings of his jeans. “Now, will you stop torturing me and get on with it already?” she demanded.
He chuckled. “Such a romantic lover…” he teased.
“Screw romance. Quit fooling around.” His fingers had found the most wonderful spot inside of her now and were keeping her poised on the brink of ecstasy. Despite her sex-fogged mind, she managed to open his jeans and slip one hand inside, stroking the length of him up and down.
His eyes instantly glazed over. “Right then. Quit foolin’ around…” It was really remarkable how little she had to do to have him eating right out of the palm of her hand. And vice-versa.
By now it was second nature for their bodies to slip together and join. Quick exhalations accompanied their reunion, followed by a long pause. For a minute they just lay there together, each trapped within the moment and the feel of the other. There was something about their lovemaking that neither had ever been able to truly identify. Feelings of pleasure and completion, of course, but there was something that ran deeper than that. Deeper than love, even. Something that could take a lifetime to decipher.
Neither had the patience for that now, however, and almost as if by mutual signal, their bodies began moving together. Hands trailed over heated flesh before turning to the cloth that separated them itself and unfastening the buttons that held it in place.
Elizabeth sighed in contentment when she finally exposed Spike’s chest to her hungry eyes. Her tongue flicked sensuously along the sculptured muscles before finally arriving at one dusky nipple and covering it with her mouth.
Spike groaned in response, and the movement of his hips picked up in speed and intensity. He caught the back of her thigh in one hand and used the leverage to plunge deeper inside of her. Her now-bared chest rubbed erotically against him as he moved, bringing him ever closer to that single moment of perfection…
“William…” she sighed, catching him to her for another kiss as they spiraled over the edge together.
His own cry was muffled by her mouth as their sweat-slicked bodies locked together in climax.
For a minute or so, the normal sounds of the afternoon forest dominated, the natural world entirely disinterested in the human pair panting for breath on the blanket below. Finally, with a groan, Spike pushed himself off of Elizabeth and rolled to one side, barely avoiding landing in the cream cheese.
Elizabeth stretched in a lazy, contented way, watching the blue skies above. “Admit it,” she giggled slightly, curling up against his side in the blissful aftermath, “you’ve been wanting to do that here forever.”
He chuckled at that. “Got me there, kitten,” he agreed before squinting and covering up his eyes from where the sun baked down on him. With a groan, he felt around for his shirt, but it evaded his search. “This was all a malicious plan to make me get a tan, wasn’t it?” he joked lightly, squirming slightly as the sun shone down on his bare chest.
“Well, you are a bit pale…” she teased lightly.
“I burn,” he informed her matter-of-factly.
With a sigh, she rolled off of his shirt and handed it to him. “Bronzed Spike body,” she pouted. “I’m drooling just thinking about it.”
“Yeah, well ‘m drooling over brunette Elizabeth,” he countered, fingering her hair lightly before slipping back into the sleeves of his shirt.
“It was just a thought,” she hastily amended. “I mean, I was just thinking…new look? Might be kinda fun…”
“Might,” he agreed with a sexy little murmur, kissing her still-bare shoulder.
“Plus, I wouldn’t have to spend so much time on my hair.” She rolled on her side so that she faced him. “You could do it too, y’know,” she teased. “I bet you’d make a cute brunette.”
He scowled at the word ‘cute’. “Quite happy the way I am, thanks,” he countered.
“No chance of losing the nail polish?”
He snorted derisively.
“Good,” she said with a smiling yawn. “I’d almost feel let down if you ever caved in on anything.” Her head came to rest in the pillow of his shoulder. “Pig-headed bastard,” she mumbled.
“If you’re questionin’ my parents’ marital status this often,” he retorted, “’m sure Mum can set you straight.”
One sleepy eye opened to glare at him. “Metaphorical bastard,” she teased.
He laughed at that. “A bleedin’ menace is what you are, Summers,” he accused fondly.
“Big kitty-cat,” she countered, hugging him to her tightly.
He sighed and let his head fall back into the cradle of his hands. “This feels nice, doesn’t it?” he commented lazily. “Could very well get used to this.”
She murmured an affirmative reply.
A pause. “Things goin’ all right?”
Elizabeth frowned slightly at the worried tone. “How do you mean?”
“I mean, there anything buildin’ up into another huge catastrophe?” he clarified.
“Mmf,” she acknowledged, burying her head deeper into his shoulder. “Well, there is that awful racket you call music…” she teased.
A grin. “’m not annoyin’ you to death, then?”
“Only in the good ways,” she assured him. “How about me?”
“All good, pet,” he assured her.
“So, you’re perfectly content to just lie here forever?” she pressed hesitantly.
He frowned. “You sticky, too?”
“God, yes,” she breathed a sigh of relief.
“Go back and shower?” he suggested.
“Knew I loved you for a reason,” she agreed, planting a swift kiss on his lips before they awkwardly moved to get up…