Appassionato
An accompanying piece to my Female Shepard/Kaidan Alenko fic, "Serenade," however it can easily be read as a standalone story. Takes place right after their "date" on the citadel in ME3.
Rated M for sexytimes. WARNING: THIS FIC IS VERY NSFW! If you are offended by adult content, please consider not reading this fic.
Appassionato: a musical term meaning to play "passionately."
They didn't touch as they made their way back to the ship from that little café in the presidium. He didn't put his arm around her shoulders as he would have liked, or held her hand as any lover should. They kept a respectable, professional distance from each other, but that didn't stop Kaidan from being hyper aware of her presence.
During their entire stroll back to the Normandy's airlock, Kaidan's skin prickled more acutely from their close proximity than it ever had from his biotics. He'd missed her so much, down to his very core. However, despite everything - their time apart, his pigheaded mistrust, the bloody reapers, and this godforsaken war - they were together now. Against all odds, she still wanted him. It was enough to make Kaidan feel like singing and dancing his way down the corridors of the SR2 like a damn fool.
Instead, he paused politely to let his commander enter her ship first. She glanced up at him, her bright green gaze full of playful promise, before continuing into the decon chamber. He followed after her almost blindly, the lust in her eyes and the faint smell of her shampoo pulling him along like a pet on a leash.
They skirted past the empty cockpit and swiftly made their way through the CIC, managing to avoid eye contact with the tiny duty crew unlucky enough to not be granted shore leave. Shepard paused at the elevator and turned to face him. For half a heartbeat Kaidan feared the worst, that she'd bid him "goodnight" and he'd be forced to leave her at the proverbial doorstep. Once inside however, she rolled her eyes at him impishly, before bidding him to follow with a slight tilt of her head.
The second the doors hissed shut, Kaidan felt Shepard's lightly calloused palm slide gently across his own. He sighed as their fingers intertwined; finally, blessedly giving him some small fraction of the physical contact he craved from her. It wasn't nearly enough, but just as he was moving to take her completely into his arms, to lean her into the solid metal wall and pleasure her until she cried out his name, the elevator stopped with a tiny jerk and the doors slid open.
A slight tug on his hand pulled Kaidan across the tiny landing to the entrance of Shepard's cabin. It only took a moment for her to input the pass code, but it was long enough for Kaidan's blood to sizzle in his veins until it was nearly a rolling boil. Emboldened by need and desperate to feel her skin on his, he slid his hands under the cotton of her hoodie to grasp her hips.
The exposed flesh of her waist, just above the top seam of her fatigues, was hot and smooth and so damn feminine it made his knees go weak. Giving into temptation, he leaned forward, sliding his palms around to her flat belly and letting her feel the full length of his body against hers. She let out a tiny gasp, her hand smacking the door release with a little too much force, when he pressed his growing erection against the curve of her ass. She pulled him inside by the collar of his shirt, tugging his head down to hers the instant they were past the threshold.
He groaned at her touch and sank into the kiss. He wanted more of her, all of her, right now in this very instant. He felt like a man left wandering in the arctic for too long, freezing cold and hopelessly lost, until she came back to him. Everywhere Shepard touched thawed by degrees and burst into flames.
"God, I missed you." he moaned into her open mouth as she blindly led him through the dim room towards some unknown destination. He didn't care where she was taking him as long as it involved more of this, more of her. A short, unexpected flight of stairs at his back made him stumble a bit, and she giggled heartily, clutching his shoulders and preventing his fall.
With her still on a step above him, they were eye to eye. Kaidan hotly met her emerald gaze and leaned in for another kiss. His hands instantly buried themselves in her hair, releasing the knot at the base of her neck and gently pulling out pins. They pinged against the metal stairs as her hair came tumbling down in a waterfall of light ginger waves. It was so much longer than he ever remembered it being, having grown out during her confinement in Vancouver. It was soft and feminine and Kaidan felt a little thrill go through him that this was a side of her rarely seen by those outside this room.
She tugged at the hem of his shirt and he obliged her, stripping it from his shoulders in a single motion and tossing it aside. Her long fingers skimmed up the skin of his belly, tracing around the lines defining his abs and dipping into his navel. Kaidan let out unmanly yelp at the tickling sensation she caused and retaliated immediately. She was no lightweight, between her impressive strength and extensive synthetic upgrades, but Kaidan was still able to easily pull her up into his arms and tumble her to the bed beneath him.
They both helped strip off her hoodie, before Kaidan got distracted by the band of exposed skin he'd noticed earlier, just above the top hem of her pants. Sliding down on the bed, he gently nipped and kissed her belly, making her buck and writhe a bit as he got his revenge by tickling her navel with his tongue. He let his palms slide up underneath her t-shirt, feeling ridges of muscle and ribs, before reaching the underwire of her bra. A quick and breathy, "thank God," escaped his lips when he discovered it had a front clasp.
Shepard moaned and gasped when he released her breasts from their confinement and wrapped his lips around one distended nipple. Her blunt fingernails scraped across his scalp and down his back as he lavished attention on first one and then the other in turn, before trailing a line of kisses up the length of her neck. Eventually her hands came to rest on the curve of his ass, squeezing and pulling him firmly up into the apex of her thighs. Unable to stop himself, he ground his painfully hard erection against her, feeling the intense heat of her sex even through layers of clothing.
That heat beckoned and one of Kaidan's hands stopped pleasuring her breasts long enough to slide down under the front clasp of her fatigues. God, she was wet and Kaidan had to squeeze his eyes shut and take an even breath before he came all over the inside of his pants just from touching her. For a second he focused on the soft skin of her shoulder and neck, placing hot kisses on the path of brown freckles there. A second later though, she bucked up into his fingers, obviously impatient that he'd stopped in his tracks.
"More," she panted into his ear and Kaidan was nothing if not obedient. He found the little nub at the center of her folds with little trouble and gently rubbed circles into it with his thumb. He did this for a few moments, waiting until she was nearly incoherent with need, before sliding one long finger into her depths.
Crying out, Shepard threw her head back and thrust against his hand. Kaidan was so focused on her reaction he didn't notice his pants being unbuckled until long fingers wrapped around his length and squeezed. He groaned loudly into her neck at the intense, unexpected pleasure, his vision blurring for a second as her hand began to stroke up and down. He bit her shoulder when her thumb skimmed over the head, determined not to reach the end before her.
The added stimulation pushed Shepard right over the edge. Her entire body tensed, her lower muscles gripping his finger as her sharp cry filled the room. She bucked against his hand a few more times, before almost frantically pushing him away.
Kaidan helped her when she struggled with the laces on her knee high boots. He tossed them aside haphazardly as she kicked off her fatigues and threw her t-shirt somewhere. Then, wrapping her legs around Kaidan's narrow hips, she reversed their positions, practically slamming him onto his back against the mattress.
She sheathed him inside her in one graceful motion, arching her back and biting her bottom lip as he slid home. Kaidan could barely breathe against the onslaught of sensation. He clasped her hips in his hands and met her thrust for thrust. Ignoring the instinct to squeeze his eyes shut, he watched as she rode him, completely mesmerized by the sight. She was so beautiful; with her flushed skin, sleek muscles, and all that gorgeous ginger hair cascading over her shoulders. She looked like a warrior goddess who'd deemed to honor him with the gift of her body. He wanted to worship her with his, for as long as she'd let him.
Pleasure built low in his belly, coiling so tightly it was nearly pain. He lost their rhythm and forgot to breathe, only filling his lungs back up when they started to burn. Shepard moaned low in her throat and leaned back against bent knees, her inner muscles squeezing him like a vice as she climaxed for the second time. He pumped into her twice more and was lost, pouring himself inside her with a long low groan.
A heartbeat later, Shepard went limp, collapsing onto his chest in a sweaty tangle of limbs and long, damp hair. Kaidan held her close and scraped the ginger strands off her cheeks and away from her eyes. Joy, pure and unfettered, bubbled up inside him, threatening to spill over. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this content, this whole.
Shepard chuckled against his skin, her mouth stretching into a contented smile. "I missed you too," she murmured, lifting up to give him a quick kiss on the lips. He reached for again, but she was already gone, rolling to the side and scooting herself off the mattress.
"Sorry, I'm thirsty," she explained, striding over to where he'd tossed his shirt. She slid her arms through the holes, but didn't bother buttoning it. Kaidan smirked, pleased in some primal way to see her wearing his clothes. She hit a control panel on the wall before facing him again. The lights came on in a blinding rush. "Do you want some water?"
Having just had quite the workout, Kaidan would have answered in the affirmative, but as his eyes adjusted to the bright light, he finally got a good look at their surroundings. His jaw dropped in awe.
"What is it?" She asked, pausing at the bottom of the stairs. "You okay?"
"Shepard," he gasped, only managing to say her name before completely losing his voice to a bout of hearty chuckles. He gestured to the cavernous room around them, "Oh my God!"
She smirked, folding her arms and leaning back against a long wall of illuminated glass. "Impressed?"
"You could say that," he agreed, still in shock. "That fish tank is something else. Where in the world did you find jellyfish?"
"They're hanar," she told him, not missing a beat. "Had a bit of a fling with Blasto last year when they reinstated my Spectre status. He was just as irresistible as they say, but we both knew it was never going to work long term. Still," she added, sighing exaggeratedly, "He does call once a month to talk to the kids." She turned to tap on the glass. "Doesn't he, babies?"
Kaidan rolled his eyes. "Cute, Shepard."
She shrugged her shoulders, her smile positively radiant. "I think so."
"Seriously though," he continued, pushing up from the bed and pulling his pants back up around his hips. "I've never seen anything like this. True, I've spent my fair share of time bunking in sleeper pods, but this is even worlds away from your cabin on the SR1." He ran a hand across the rich fabric on the sofa and shook his head in wonder. "The alliance could have cut this into four separate officers quarters if they'd wanted to."
"I'm glad they didn't," she murmured, calling his attention back to her face. The heat in her voice was reminiscent of the passion they just shared.
"Me too," he agreed, returning to her side. The privacy this opulent room afforded them was priceless, especially now with the galaxy gone to hell. "It's too beautiful to divide."
Shepard moved in close to his chest and slid her arms around his shoulders. "Well," she sighed, playing with the short curls at the nape of his neck. "At least Cerberus got something right."
Kaidan grew pensive at her words. He palmed her cheek, running his thumb over the flawless freckled skin and refusing to miss the scar that used to be there. "It's not the only thing they got right." He told her, finally believing it with his whole heart.
Emerald eyes grew a bit too bright and she blinked them frantically for a second. "You haven't seen the best part yet," she promised, her voice just a touch unsteady.
"Oh really?" he asked, following her back towards the entrance and up the short staircase. A door to their left opened with a soft whoosh. "You're kidding?" Kaidan threw his head back and laughed anew. "You have your own private head?"
"And shower," Shepard pointed out, gesturing towards the corner. "Everyone loves the shower."
Kaidan frowned. "Everyone?"
"Easy there, Major," she laughed. "No one's ever joined me in here before."
He grinned, immensely relieved. "Not even Blasto?"
"Nope," she played along, "Hanar prefer baths."
"Is that so?" he teased, moving in close enough to feel her breath across his chin.
She nodded and stroked a hand down the length of his arm. "Would you like to be the first?"
Kaidan leaned into her touch. "First?" he asked breathlessly, "is there a line forming behind me?"
"There might be," she quipped, flashing him a mischievous smile. "You planning on letting anyone move up into your spot?"
He looked deep into her eyes and tried to convey everything he couldn't quite put into words. "Never," he practically growled.
"Promise?" she breathed.
Kaidan slid his hands around her waist through the opening of his shirt and held her close. "I'm not leaving until you send me away." he vowed, only to flinch a little when the carelessness of his words finally registered. Eyes closing against a vision of smoke, flame, and an order from her lips that broke his heart, Kaidan's face stretched into a bittersweet smile. "Maybe not even then," he amended.
"Don't think about that," she told him, obviously guessing where his mind had gone. Her thumb came up to smooth his frown away. "None of it matters anymore. Nothing is as important as right here, right now."
Kaidan nodded silently, still a little overwhelmed with unspoken emotion. Shepard backed further into the bathroom and reached behind her to turn on a surprisingly strong stream of hot water. She smiled sweetly, beckoning him to join her as the small room filled with steam.
He paused briefly to remove the remainder of his clothes, folding his pants neatly before setting them and his boots outside the little room. Seconds later he was in her arms again as the soothing water rushed over them, washing away his dark thoughts.
They lingered in the shower as long possible, sharing open mouthed kisses and drinking the water from each other's bodies as it ran down their skin. Kaidan washed Shepard's hair almost reverently, massaging her scalp and untangling the strands with his fingertips. When the water finally grew cold, he quickly dried himself off, before wrapping her in a fresh towel and gathering her up into his arms.
The air outside the bathroom was cool, and Kaidan's skin pebbled as he carried her, bridal style, back towards the bed. Shepard laughed playfully as he made his way down the short flight of stairs and dropped her onto the mattress. She bounced a bit, before flinging the damp towel aside and scrambling to get under the covers. Kaidan joined her in an instant, gathering her close to his side and pillowing her head on his chest.
"This is nice," she decided, drawing invisible circles across his skin with her fingertips. "I could get used to it."
Kaidan placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head. "I guess I don't have to ask if you want me to leave then? There isn't a sleeper pod with my name on it?"
Shepard chuckled lightly. "No, stay." she breathed, squeezing him close as her eyelids fluttered closed. "Stay forever."