29.
simple
It was the little things. The way Kaidan rubbed his neck when he was nervous or embarrassed. The small smile that curled the side of his mouth. The way he made tiny chuckles as he spoke.
These were the things that drove Brielle Shepard crazy, and they were the reasons she adored her husband so much.
A fiercely strong core and moral center, but a kind and gentle soul. Just what someone like Brielle, hardened but passionate, needed. They were united in their moral determination, but attracted on a more primal level by those little things. The things that didn't necessarily speak to their convictions alone, but to the other parts of their identities as well.
Generosity. Tenacity. Inherent goodness.
Brielle's physical attraction to Kaidan was borne of her admiration of those things that made him the soldier he was. More than that, she appreciated the way Kaidan the Soldier was the same as Kaidan the Man in spirit.
When they made love, no touch was idle or wasted. They knew all too well that everything could be lost without a moment's notice. Even as they remained certain of the relative peace in the galaxy following the war, they maintained that doctrine of living with the same sentiments that they shared from the very beginning: wildly passionate even in comfort, never taking a moment for granted, knowing that every single second they spent beside each other was nothing short of a miracle.
Brielle laid across the counter and shuddered as Kaidan grasped her hands, weaving his fingers between hers, and placed a kiss against the small of her back as he pressed inside of her. The simple things stimulated them, building to a peak: small quivers in Brielle's legs as she strained to lay flatter and flatter against the counter so as to take him in deeper and deeper; the crackling of Kaidan's skin as he built towards his spark; the pressure that passed between their hands as a means of wordless communication; the softness of Kaidan's tongue against Brielle's skin as he sucked and bit at her neck and shoulder; the pitch of Brielle's breaths that grew with every thrust of their bodies; the gorgeously guttural tone of Kaidan's groans.
These were simple things. But the climaxes were anything but.
And neither were they.
