James Vega was a cuddler. As Shepard blinked away remnants of sleep and found herself wrapped not in her thick blanket, but in the lieutenant's arms. His forehead rested on her naked shoulder as his hot breath fanned her pale skin. When she realized that he hadn't woken up she dared to smile and slid her hand through the sparse dusting of hair on his chest. The man shifted, mouth opening and closing tiredly, before settling down again and pulling her bare body closer to his.

Despite the fan spinning languidly overhead she could still feel herself beginning to sweat. The room in the apartment was almost entirely silent, save the sound of her lover's breathing and the occasional ping of her omnitool. If she craned her head to the left ever so slightly she could see the pile of their discarded clothes that James had insisted they keep together and the equally as well organized beer cans. But that wasn't what she was looking for.

The man coveting her to himself stirred enough to nuzzle the woman's neck with his nose. "Lola..." He murmured, not quite conscious yet. Hesitantly, she reached a hand to card through his short hair, scratching gently at his scalp with her blunt nails. James gave a moan of appreciation and chuckled in his sleep. He called to her again.

Shepard suddenly became all too aware of how much heat he was giving off and the way all of his muscles rippled just beneath his skin. Flesh and bone. He whispered sweet endearments in her ear as he inched closer and closer to waking up and Jane felt something take ahold of her heart that made her stomach flutter; something she hadn't felt since...

"Mmm...Lola?"

That grasping at her heart again. "Morning, sleeping beauty."

The lieutenant chastised her lightly, but it didn't last as he brought her head to lay on his well toned chest. "Don't ruin the moment."

And so they laid tangled up in each other in silence for what felt like hours, heat generously shared between their naked bodies until James cleared his throat and raised his voice. "Wow... that was..."

"Fun? Crazy? Wild?"

"Definitely." He gave her one of his charming half grins, eyes meeting hers for the first time that morning. For a moment he looked like he was going to add more to his statement, mouth slightly ajar and gaze searching her face, though all he could manage to get out was, "I think."

And then the magic was broken. He unwrapped himself from her and turned onto his side, slowly but surely sitting upright and her heart pounded a mile a minute, a tingling beginning in her fingertips. He couldn't leave. She wanted him here.

"You alright, James?" The commander rose with him, hands holding onto his shoulders anxiously.

"Yeah, Lola, maybe let's not mention this again." James didn't look back at her, but he didn't need to for her to know that this was about to go places she didn't want it to go.

The man stretched his neck from side to side, rolling his shoulders once or twice and heaving a sigh. He murmured something under his breath that Shepard could only make out a few words from. "Tell you what," the redheaded woman began, fingers teasing at the nape of his neck. "You get up and make me some eggs, and we'll talk about this over breakfast."

James pondered her offer for a moment and nodded his head. "Alright, sounds reasonable." He leaned down to retrieve his pants, body creaking with stiffness, when Shepard laid her hand on his bicep to stop him.

"I don't think so. There's an apron in the kitchen."

Vega dropped the article of clothing in his grasp and turned to look at her, something between intrigue and lust glinting in his eyes. "Yes, ma'am, commander." Shepard took pleasure in noting the husky undertones in his voice as he stood from his seat on the edge of her bed and made his way to the door, perhaps more slowly than he would have in any other situation. He knew she was ogling his ass.

"Shameless flirt." Jane chuckled under her breath before reaching for a clean set of clothes for herself. Just because James was walking around naked didn't mean she had to be.

She pulled on a pair of panties and a bra and shrugged on an oversized sweater, pushing the sleeves up to her elbows and finally taking a second to stretch her arms over her head, back arching and toes popping. The feeling of her arched back brought vivid memories from the night before to her mind. The commander gave a hint of a smile and pulled her hair back into a bun as she took her own time exiting the bedroom and descending down the stairs.

Once she had her feet firmly planted on the wood of the first floor, she was greeted by the sound of pans clanging and water running. Turning the corner, she was greeted by the ethereal sight of lieutenant James Vega, clad in only an apron, bent over and rummaging through her fridge. With a raised eyebrow and crooked smile, she leaned against the countertop, making no effort to hide the way she raked over his body with her eyes.

"Not going to lie, I could get used to this."

The lieutenant gave a hearty laugh and stood back up. "Like what you see, Lola?"

"Always, Vega."

Retreating with butter, eggs, and milk and precariously balanced in his arms, he fumbled with turning the stove on, though cracked and whisked the eggs professionally. "I had no idea you knew your way around a kitchen."

That made him grin. "Ah, come on, Lola. I'm Latino. Of course I can cook." Now it was his turn to take notice of her lack of clothing from the waist down, peering up from his work to stare, unabashedly, at her. She was cute, he decided, dress only in a sweater and panties that accentuated her long, slim legs. Adorable, even, but he would never tell her that. "Now this doesn't seem fair. How come I get to walk around in this," he motioned to the white, full-body apron, "but you can put on clothes?"

"Because you know how to follow orders. Why lieutenant? Are you complaining?"

Oh. Oh, no she didn't. That eyebrow cocked, that sinful twist of the lips. This woman would drive him insane. "You know me. Always following...orders..." His voice trailed off as he poured the eggs into the buttered pan, coaxing the edges with a spatula. "You can't imagine half of what you make me feel, Shep."

Though Shepard was touched by his words, she struggled not to show it. What he said yanked at her heart and made her stomach erupt in a fit of butterflies. "I can try." Her throat closed and made speaking difficult.

James sighed again and looked at her through his lashes with something that warned her not to test the waters. Fraternizing with his commander was against orders, and he always followed orders. He let go of the spatula and turned down the heat on the stove before wiping his hands on his apron, the open breeze bringing special attention to the arousal beginning between his legs. "Lola, we both know we shouldn't be doing this."

"You say that, but you don't mean it." Jane whispered to him, referring to his growing erection. Vega swore under his breath and abandoned his work in favor of holding Shepard's hips with his strong hands. "You're safe with me, James." His forehead returned to her shoulder as his thumbs rubbed slow circles into her pelvis.

The warmth of his breath and the closeness of their bodies urged a throbbing that inched its way down her stomach to her vagina and chose to reside there. Lieutenant Vega's hands became more adventurous, daring to scale up her stomach and push aside her bra, fingers tweaking at her small breasts and pebbled nipple. To her own surprise, she gasped and moaned. This was different than last night.

His full lips covered hers and worked to arouse her further. "Tell me what you want, Jane."

"Please...James..." He had her pinned to the counter, her cheeks red and brow creased.

"No, Lola. Tell me. Command me." His voice was on the verge of a growl, teeth nipping at her lips.

So that's how he wanted to play. Shepard liked this.

"On your knees, soldier." She ground out, grabbing a fistful of his hair.

The lieutenant obliged without a second to spare, on his knees and staring up at her, eyes full of arousal and something else Jane hadn't seen there before. He splayed his palms over her bare, stubbled thighs and teased the waistband of her underwear, asking permission.

His erection was now visible under the apron, proudly at full mast. Painfully so. This wasn't helped by the fact that he could smell her from here.

"Lieutenant." Her voice was stern, commanding. He loved it.

The holder of all the permission he needed, James slid her cotton panties down her legs and buried his nose in her curls, eyes closed, blissful. He kissed up and down her slit, hands holding her thighs in place and thumbing at the sensitive skin near the apex.

"Te amo, mi hermosa." He commented, eyes fluttering beneath his lids as his tongue snaked out to part her folds and lathe her entrance.

Above him he felt her shudder and moan, pleading through clenched teeth. "James, oh please, James..."

And he did please.

Vega's wet tongue took its time penetrating her hole, tasting her and moving inside of her. The tugging on his scalp informed him that it was time to move on. He moved his attentions to her clit, lips encasing on it and sucking on it gingerly. Shepard responded well to this, bucking her hips and moaning a slew of half-formed words.

He almost pulled away from her to make a clever remark, but the sounds she was making were so delicious and she was starting to tense under his ministrations, and he didn't need pointers to know what that meant.

"Come for me, love." James asked, flicking his tongue over her button and thrusting his own hips in time with his movements, finding some friction against the inside of her calf.

Shepard could feel something coiling in her stomach and, if James' erratic thrusts were anything to go by, so could he. She was begging at this point, afraid her knees would give out under her. Vega was sucking and licking and biting in all the right ways and before she could warn him, he was spilling against the inside of the apron and over the floor, groaning out her name.

That sound did it in for the commander and she was calling out his own name, spasming as she hit wave after wave of her orgasm. "James, James, James..." James lapped at her before slouching and pulling her down with him from behind her knees.

"Oh, Lola..."

Hair disheveled, underwear pooled around her ankles, and blue eyes smiling at him, James Vega swore he saw God.

"Still sure you don't want to ever mention this again?"

"Get down here and cuddle with me, Lola."

The cuddling was put on hold by the aroma of eggs about to catch on fire.

Whoah, hey, man. You finished this? Whoa. Good job. You know what that makes you? Sexy. You know what sexy people do? They leave sexy, sexy comments.