I got bored sitting still and made a fast fifty bucks off a couple guys who had no idea how to play pool. I wandered back to Tara’s room, and I sat on her bed while I leafed through a dog-eared volume of poetry. The cracks on the spine and her notes in the margins showed me what she liked best. “Beautiful”, she wrote in her tiny hand. “Perfect.” Her favorites seemed to be ones about the beauty of the outdoors. She liked Frost; every poem of his was underlined, and the pages were worn smooth from use.   The door opened and she was back. I smiled, happy to see her. She sat down next to me and peered over my shoulder. “Nature's first green is gold,” she read softly, “Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower. But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, so dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.” She looked away from me. The room was so still and quiet. Silence extended for a minute, and the only sound was her quiet breath. “Tara?” I asked. I reached out and touched her shoulder. Her muscles were tight. “Nothing gold can stay,” she repeated.  “I think that I must have done something wrong when I healed you,” she said quietly. I stroked her hair. “Why do you think that?” “The way that I feel,” she said. “The way that we are together. It happened during the spell.” Understanding dawned and I dropped my hand away, stung. “You think the way we feel is just a…” I grasped for the right words. “A mistake,” I said, my voice hard and cold. “You love Buffy,” she said adamantly. “You were with her. You never even looked at me twice. And I don’t even…” “You don’t even like men.” It came out harder than I intended, and she flinched.  I stood up and walked away from her. She turned to face me, and her eyes were bright with tears. “You don’t really want me.” I sounded stiff and unnatural, and I felt like my heart had been pulled out of my chest. “Spike, you’re wrong. I want you so much,” she said passionately. “I’m falling in love with you.” “What do you think is happening to me?” I asked her, hurt. “What we said last night, what we did, you think that was all a lie?” “It has to be magic,” she said as she stared at me. “It’s just too good to be true.”  I walked to the bed and kneeled in front of her. “I’ve never been so happy, ever. I couldn’t bear to be away from you for a few hours. You’re the one that I want,” I said hoarsely. I held her hand in mine and looked into her eyes. They were full of love, and pulled me like a magnet. I pulled off her sweater and undid her bra. I cradled the fullness of her breasts in my hands, as I ran my thumbs over her pebbled nipples. She made breathy little noises. “Please,” she said quietly. “Please, what?” I said. I slowly slipped off her skirt and her panties. My hand ran up the long white length of her thigh and I slipped my fingers inside her. “You feel so good,” she said breathlessly.  I pumped my fingers in and out as I played with her soft pink nipple. She came suddenly, and she bit down hard on her lip. “Don’t hold back,” I said. “I want to hear it.” “I want to feel you inside me,” she panted. “I want to know all of you.”  The feel of her, the need on her face, it was too powerful. I stood up and pulled off my clothes. “Tell me you want me,” I said raggedly as I leaned her back on the softness of her quilt. She looked up at me. “I want you,” she said, her eyes raw with lust. “I won’t ever let you go,” I said to her, needing her to understand. “Please don’t,” she said sincerely. The ruby heart that I’d given her blazed against the white of her skin. I sucked her fingers into my mouth and bit them lightly. I held the head of my cock and rubbed it up and down her slit. I traced circles over and around her clit, until we were both slick with arousal. I slipped in slightly, the head just inside her. The feel of her warmth was amazing and I thrust my hips forward. I stilled, awed by how warm and tight and good she felt. “Do it. Don’t stop. Make love to me,” she asked, her voice full of desire.

Known