She sat crouched behind a supply crate and hurriedly replaced her thermal clip before shifting around the corner to get another look at the battlefield. She could see James' large armored figure in a similar stance several yards away, waiting for the next wave of Cerberus soldiers that was due to arrive at any second.
He turned to glance at her briefly before turning back to watch for the imminent attack. She saw his lips move behind his faceplate and heard his deep voice speaking suggestively in her earpiece, "Hey, Lola, how 'bout I give you a nice massage when we get back. Maybe we take our time in the shower first, and then I give you a good rubdown..."
She laughed softly, "I'm not one of your guns, James, and you need to work on your dirty talk a bit if you're trying to get me worked up. A 'rubdown'? Seriously?"
He glanced over at her and she gave him a little shake of her head.
Unfazed, he said in a slow, suggestive tone, "You know I have good hands, Lola. I'm just offering my expertise to help relieve a little tension after we're done here. You know... work out some knots. And I know
exactly where you tend to get tightest... I'd give those spots a little extra attention. Especially that one spot, right below your..."
She heard Garrus' vibrating laughter come through her earpiece, interrupting James' train of thought, "Slow down, soldier. I always thought humans were too soft, but I'm starting to get turned on listening to you two. I might take him up on the offer if you don't, Shepard."
James' voice came back, "No offense, Scars, but you're not exactly my type." He turned his head to look at her and their eyes met for a second. He grinned at her from behind his helmet, clearly having fun with the exchange.
Garrus responded in a playful tone, "I'm crushed. We would have been beautiful together, you and I."
Shepard snickered at them but became instantly alert when Garrus' no-nonsense tone spoke into her ear, "Incoming!"
She saw the Cerberus shuttle fly in and hover a hundred yards away and watched as several soldiers began dropping down to the roof of one of the stacked prefab dwellings the Benning colonists had previously called home. Two of the soldiers suddenly fell dead out of the air, which told her that Garrus was within range of them with his sniper rifle - probably on the roof of another dwelling.
She and James sat guarding the remaining group of colonists who were waiting for extraction.
"Cortez! Where are you! We need to get these colonists out of here,
now!" she yelled.
As if reading her mind, the Kodiak instantly appeared at the extraction point behind them and its doors opened up. The last of the colonists piled on and the shuttle took off again.
"I'll be right back for you, Commander," she heard Cortez' voice say in her earpiece.
She darted out from behind her hiding place and ran in a crouch to the corner of a building near where James was taking cover. She peeked around the corner again, and saw three Cerberus soldiers moving forward in a crouch.
"Cover me!" she called out.
"I've got your back, Lola. Go do some damage."
James felt the crackle of her biotics as they amped up. A second later she was just a blur of blue-white energy charging at the cluster of their enemies. He felt a pleasant throbbing between his thighs in response, followed by a sudden uncomfortable pressure behind the armor plate that covered his groin. Fuck if seeing her in action didn't get to him every time, and now was worse than ever. He was forced to ignore it and focus on laying down covering fire against the soldiers he saw stalking around the periphery.
When she hit the cluster of Cerberus soldiers they blew back like bowling pins and lay sprawled on the ground, stunned. Immediately she charged up her biotics again and crouched with one knee to the ground, sending a concussive shockwave of energy in a radius out from her body. The the force of the blast sent them tumbling like rag dolls and they landed unmoving in contorted heaps around her. She dove for cover and James could see the quick shots from her SMG firing at one, then another Cerberus soldier standing in the doorway of a dwelling, making quick work of them.
"Damn, Lola. I think I busted my crotch plate watching your pretty ass move all covered in blue lightning."
"You need to spend more time watching the enemy instead of my ass, Lieutenant," she said sternly, but he could hear the teasing laughter hidden beneath her words.
There was another pair of quick high-pitched shots and two more Cerberus soldiers tumbled from the roof of a building.
"I think that's all of them, Shepard," Garrus said.
They heard the sound of Cortez' voice in their earpieces, "Not quite. There's an Atlas headed your way, twelve o'clock, along with another squad of Cerberus assholes. It took a shot at me on my way back to you. I think it knocked out one of the thrusters. I'm going to need to set her down and take a look. You guys hold tight until I can get her moving again."
"We'll be fine, Cortez. How are you on grenades, James?" He met her intense gaze across the bodies strewn around her.
"Full up."
"Good. Let's take these fuckers out!"
She ran to the corner of the next building and took cover with James right behind her. The Atlas and the other soldiers were just out of range.
"Do you have a visual yet, Garrus?" she asked.
"Just about in range," he replied. Less than a minute later one, then another of the half-dozen Cerberus soldiers fell to the ground in a heap. The remaining soldiers immediately ran for cover and the Atlas started shooting in the direction the driver thought the sniper shots had come from.
As soon as the Atlas was within range, James shot the first frag grenade at it, followed immediately by a second. The huge manned mech came to a grinding halt and turned to aim its guns in their direction. James shot another grenade at the same second a sniper shot from Garrus busted through the glass shield of its cockpit. The grenade hit, blowing the driver to pieces and the Atlas stuttered to a stop. It took only a few more minutes for them to take care of the remaining soldiers.
ooOoo
As they were walking back to the extraction point, Shepard noticed James moving with an odd gait.
"Are you injured, James?" she asked with genuine concern.
He unclipped his helmet and pulled it off, then looked at her with an uncomfortable wince. "Not quite. It's this damn armor. They never make the fucking codpiece big enough."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "You've never complained about it before."
"Yeah, well I've never gotten a hard-on in it before," he said slightly under his breath. "And then moving around like that, I think I got pinched. Fuck." He leaned up against a crate when they reached their destination and pulled off his gauntlets, then reached down to fuss with the armor plate that covered his crotch.
Shepard stood watching him with a mixture of concern and amusement as he attempted to shift himself around behind his armor.
"Just... stop. Let me," she said with a shake of her head, then removed her helmet and gauntlets and knelt down in front of him.
"You know, this is your fault, Lola," he said huskily to the top of her head as she deftly unfastened his codpiece and pulled it free of the flexible body armor underneath.
"My fault?" she said, glancing up at him with a smirk. "
You were the one checking me out on the battlefield, Lieutenant."
He let out a sigh of relief when the rigid plate came away and his engorged flesh finally stretched against the more elastic fabric of his body armor. But there was no way he was getting the plate back on with her sitting there, her face mere inches from his crotch.
"Do I need to check to make sure you're in one piece under there?" she asked, her lips quirking up on one side. Her hands were resting on the armor plates that covered his muscular thighs and she moved one hand over the large bulge in front of her, squeezing gently.
James glanced around them furtively then cleared his throat and looked down at her. She was still smiling up at him and was already slipping her fingers in between the layers of clingy high-tech fabric and gripping the top of the waistband.
"Well... as long as you're down there, I guess it can't huhhh..."
He lost coherent thought when she peeled the layer of snug body armor down and released him from its confines, slipping his hard length into her mouth.
James tilted his head back with a low growl of pleasure and braced himself with his hands on the supply crate. She worked him deftly with both hands and mouth, and in a matter of minutes she felt his climax building under her touch. He came with a series of quick spasmodic jerks of his hips, and clutched desperately at the back of her neck with one large hand. She swallowed deeply then pulled back from him, giving his swollen tip a gentle kiss before sitting back on her heels and delicately wiping her mouth.
"I think you should be able to fit back into your armor now," she said with quiet professionalism and gave him a smug smile as she stood up and pulled her gauntlets back on.
ooOoo
"Shepard's not responding, Garrus what's your status?" Cortez asked.
The Turian was quiet for a second, still watching the scene below the roof he was perched on. He'd caught a glimpse of the events through his scope and had watched curiously for several moments before it dawned on him what he was witnessing.
He replied slowly, "Status? Ah, we're fine. I think James was having some kind of...
thruster issue as well... or maybe it was just an armor malfunction. Shepard seems to have it... under control. How's the shuttle?"
There was no response for several seconds. Finally Steve's voice came back, "Ah, that's good to hear... I should be finished in about half an hour. Just sit tight and I'll pick you guys up shortly. Relay the message to Shepard once she's finished taking care of James'
thruster issue." Garrus heard a low laugh before the comm cut off.
ooOoo
"Wake up, sleepy head," Shepard said quietly, punching at James' armored shoulder when they landed in the shuttle bay of the Normandy.
He came awake abruptly and glanced around, instantly alert. His eyes finally settled on her face. She was standing in front of him, bent at the waist and peering at him with an amused but oddly tender smile on her pretty face.
He swiped a large hand over his face and shook his head to wake himself up.
"Back already?" he asked groggily.
"Back already," she confirmed as she turned to exit the shuttle with him stumbling after her.
"Where to next?" he asked, as was his habit at the end of every mission. It was unlikely for her to keep the Normandy in one place for long, even as exhausting as it was, and he never knew what their next stop would be. He was always surprised at how she managed to still have energy for… well,
him, after all this running around. He clearly couldn't stay awake for more than twenty minutes after being with her as their recent mission evidenced.
"The Citadel next. We need to unload some refugees and maybe take a day to decompress before we head out to the Perseus Veil."
He amended his earlier thought. He was surprised at how he still had the energy for
her after all this running around. She was exhausting. Mostly in a good way, but damn. He hated to admit that there was a woman who could best him in the stamina department, but here she was. He laughed silently to himself at the idea and felt his groin twitch as he watched her hips sway in front of him. He stopped short of the elevator and turned to head to his station instead.
"I'll just change here I think. See you later, Lola."
She raised her eyebrows at him as she stepped onto the elevator. He thought he saw a look of disappointment on her face but it disappeared quickly.
"Don't forget your promise, James," she said with a small wave and a knowing smile.
When the doors closed he said, "Esteban, I need new fucking armor. I can't wear this shit around her. It pinches."
"Okay, but you know we need her approval..."
"Fuck that, man, just find me something on the Citadel and I'll go get it when we dock. I'll worry about approval later."
ooOoo
Shepard sat at the desk in her quarters, wearing a snug black tank top and her usual black sweats. Her hair was still damp from the shower and was pinned up at the nape of her neck. She was busy typing a series of messages, most of which were addressed to the necessary parties at the Citadel to prepare them for the arrival of a shipload of refugees.
She occasionally lifted a glass and sipped at the last of the whiskey that James had brought on their first night together. Every time the warm liquid passed over her tongue she was reminded of another passionate moment that had passed between them in the recent weeks. She let the pleasant memories simmer at the back of her mind while she focused on the myriad other administrative tasks she always reserved for the evening hours when she was alone.
She was reviewing a casualty report that Anderson had sent from Earth when her comm beeped.
"Come in, James," she said without asking who was there. He still had to ask for entry every time, but she always knew it was him. He was as regular as clockwork and she looked forward to his company every evening at about this time.
The thought had crossed her mind that she should just change the security protocols so he had unlimited access, but something still held her back. They were already far beyond a certain stage of intimacy, but there was still an emotional barrier between them that she sensed neither of them was ready to breach. The gesture of granting him unlimited access to her private space might be a little too forward under the circumstances. So she was content to maintain the status quo, at least until it became problematic to do so.
The door whooshed open and she heard his casual gait as he came up behind her.
"Still working, Lola?" he asked in a gruff voice.
"Almost done," she said with a quick glance over her shoulder at him.
She felt his strong hands slide over her shoulders and grip them tightly, his thumbs digging into her tight muscles. She groaned involuntarily at the pleasure of the sensation and her fingers paused on the keyboard before her.
She felt him bend over and place his mouth next to her ear, his breath hot against her skin, "I did promise you a massage..."
He rested his thumbs at the tops of her shoulders and let his fingers drift down the bare skin of her chest, stopping just above the neckline of her tanktop and resting there softly. The heat of his skin penetrated through hers pleasantly. She could smell a subtle spice wafting from his skin that she recognized was the bodywash he used when he didn't shower with her.
She turned her head to look up at him with a smile. "I didn't forget. Just give me a few minutes to finish some work."
She felt his shrug and his hands drifted away from her skin, leaving a warm, tingling sensation behind. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, finally managing to focus again on her task.
ooOoo
James settled on the sofa to wait while she finished her work. This had become a routine for them and he'd been attempting to brainstorm a way to break out of it, but hadn't had any luck yet. He knew she had the weight of the entire galaxy on her shoulders so the least he could do was just be here for her. He reached for the bottle of whiskey but was disappointed when he found it empty, so he set it back down and settled back in his seat.
He turned his head when he heard her moving towards him a few moments later. She came down the steps and walked towards him, then collapsed into his lap with a sigh. His large arms wrapped around her by reflex and he enjoyed the pleasant weight of her against him.
"We're out of whiskey," she said in a forlorn voice and looked at him dejectedly.
"I noticed," he said, stroking her back through the thin fabric of her shirt. There was something in the shared ownership of her statement that made his heart do a little somersault. It brought forth so many images of sharing other things with her. Imaginary things that would probably never be theirs, even if they won this war. But he could hope.
He slipped one strong arm under her knees and stood up, lifting her in his arms. He walked to the bed and set her down beside it, smiling at her.
"Take off your clothes," he said in a quiet voice against her ear.
She raised an eyebrow at him and said, "You don't waste any time do you?"
He rolled his eyes at her, "Don't get excited, Lola." He pulled a small container out of his pocket and showed it to her.
"Massage oil," he explained. "Now take off your clothes so I can do what I came here to do."
"Don't get excited, you say... This is the most exciting thing that's happened to me all day." She grinned and he raised his eyebrows at her in response.
"Well, almost," she said, teasing her fingers at his belt buckle. He took a step back from her and crossed his arms, looking at her sternly.
She laughed and said, "Okay, clothes are coming off."
A moment later she stood naked before him and tilted her head slightly to one side, meeting his eyes.
"Where do you want me?" she asked huskily.
His eyes raked over her slowly, traveling across her soft curves, down her lean, muscular legs, then back up to her face. He stepped close to her again and she could feel his body heat radiating through his clothes and warming her bare skin. She shivered slightly when he reached a hand up to the back of her neck and she felt the tug as he unclipped her hair and let the still damp tendrils fall down over her shoulders.
"On the bed, face down," he said when his eyes met hers again. He gestured to the bed behind her.
She settled herself on the bed with a pillow clutched in her arms and her cheek resting on it. She turned to watch him as he undressed down to his shorts, then moved to the bed and climbed on, settling himself with his legs straddling her naked hips.
She felt a trail of cool wetness down her spine as he poured a small amount of oil onto her back. She closed her eyes and moaned softly when she felt his large hands begin to move against her skin. He slid his fingers up her spine gently to distribute the oil, then started from her shoulders, his strong thumbs digging into her muscles with slow, circular motions. The tension began to gradually leave her body as he worked and she made soft little noises of enjoyment.
He worked his way down her back, then back up with deliberate care, not missing an inch of her skin. She felt him shift his weight off her to one side, and he gently gripped her hand, straightening her arm out. He began with her palm and moved up across her wrist and forearm, massaging gently all the way up to her shoulder. When he finished with her other arm she felt his weight leave the bed. She opened her eyes to look for him, but he had moved beyond her line of sight. She heard a rustle of fabric and after a moment she felt his touch return to her, both of his hands gripping her by one foot.
She sighed at the pleasant relief she felt when his fingers dug into the tight muscles of her heel and moved up to her calf. She hadn't realized how tight she'd been until he'd started digging into her muscles one by one. He worked at the muscles of her leg up to mid-thigh before moving back down to start on the other leg. She was mildly disappointed when he didn't move any higher.
"I think you missed a spot," she said.
"Relax, Lola. There's an art to this. You can't rush it."
She felt his weight settle across her hips again and was pleasantly surprised when she felt the bare skin of his thighs and the soft pressure of his balls resting against the swell of her ass. The growing heat between her thighs amped up by what felt like a hundred degrees. She let out a soft moan into her pillow.
His hands were on her back again, but softer this time. She felt him lean over her and his soft lips pressed against the skin between her shoulder blades. She could feel the hot, smooth skin of his arousal brush against her lower back. He shifted lower, caressing down her spine with his fingertips, following the trail with his lips and tongue. She felt his hard length drift against the crack of her ass as he moved down her body and she tilted her hips slightly in response.
She could feel his lips move softly against the top of her cleft. "Tell me which spot I missed, Lola," he said throatily. "Am I getting warm?" His oil-slick hands began gently massaging her taut cheeks.
"Mmm, more like hot," she murmured. Her entire body tingled with pleasure as his hands squeezed her supple flesh.
His hands moved lower, his large fingers and thumbs massaging the muscles of her upper thighs. Her breath quickened when she felt his thumbs drifting to the tops of her thighs, ever closer to her center. She moaned when one large digit brushed softly against the outer folds of her sex, then groaned in frustration when his touch moved away and back down her thighs again.
"James..." she gasped. "Are you trying to make me beg?"
He laughed softly. "Be patient, Lola. I'm working up to it."
She felt his weight shift again and he pushed her thighs apart, moving to kneel on the bed between her legs. She heard a deep rumble in his chest when his hands slid back up her inner thighs and pushed them a little wider.
"I can see how wet you are, Lola," he said, his voice thick with desire. His hands gripped her ass again and one thumb slipped between her cheeks, sliding downward until he made tantalizing contact with her wet core. She inhaled sharply when she felt his thumbs slip in between her wet folds and draw them apart. She moaned as one thick digit slipped in deeper. He slipped his thumb back out of her and slid it across her slick flesh, finding her small, swollen pleasure center and gently teasing at it.
"I want you inside me, James," she gasped roughly. All she heard in response was a deep growl from behind her and his hands gripped her hips tightly, urging them up off the bed. She bent her knees and raised herself up on her hands, tilting her hips back towards him.
She let out a soft cry when he plunged his thick length into her. He grunted at the sudden pleasure of her tight flesh wrapped around him and sat unmoving for a moment, enjoying the sensation. He bent over her and snaked one muscular arm around her, urging her to a kneeling position with her thighs still spread wide and straddling his bent knees. Her bare back was flush against his muscular chest, their hips still nestled together tightly, connected by hot, throbbing flesh.
He slid his large hands down her arms and grasped her by the wrists, lifting her hands up and placing them at the back of his neck. His hands caressed slowly down her arms again and over her torso as he began moving inside her with slow, deep thrusts. He cupped her breasts gently with both hands and teased at her hard pink tips, then trailed the fingertips of one hand slowly over the soft skin of her stomach and lower, finding the sweet spot between her thighs again.
"You feel incredible," he whispered in her ear and continued to move his hips against hers.
"James," she sighed in response as she clutched the back of his neck with her hands. She felt his lips and tongue trail soft kisses and bites down the side of her neck.
She moaned in pleasure at the sensation of being spread wide before him with his fingers working deftly at her core. The exquisite thrusting pressure of his thick sex filled her up over and over and she felt the flood of her climax rise suddenly and begin to overtake her. She cried out his name again between heavy pants for breath.
He embraced her with both arms and bent his head, biting gently at the flesh of her shoulder as he increased the tempo of his thrusting. The delicious clenching spasms of her muscles around him and her smooth, pliant flesh under his hands finally sent him over the edge. He threw his head back, emitting a loud, guttural cry at the stars overhead as he came.
They collapsed in a tangle of sweaty limbs. She curled into him and his arm drifted around her shoulders, holding her closer.
"I was a fool to doubt you, James," she said with a sated smile. He met her gaze with a look of smug satisfaction.
"Just admit it, you knew it would be good," he said.
"Only because it's
always good. You never cease to amaze me."
She studied his face and in the span of a moment something seemed to
click between them, like two halves of a latch finally connecting. She felt a funny little flutter inside her gut.
He held her gaze and then cleared his throat.
"The feeling is mutual, Lola," he said quietly, and for a second she wondered if he had read her mind.
