Chapter 9: Touring the Mansion
A saucy smile played along Cordelia’s gloss-smudged lips still swollen and flushed from Angel’s hungry parting kiss. Their rose hue called Angelus closer, demanding he claim them for himself, to erase the transitory effects created by the other vampire.
Until now, thanks to his efforts at courting her, their kisses verged on sweet, stolen moments that left them both yearning for more.
Hungry for her mouth, he took it with his own. Ice over fire, they clashed with eager need. Lips pulling at hers, swiping firmly across tender curves. A sharp tug followed at her bottom lip, teasing its inner flesh with the tip of his tongue. Demanding a response instantly given. Opening up, their tongues dueled in a sudden struggle to taste, tease, possess.
Angelus palmed her ass, filling both hands with firm curves. Holding her tight against his awakening arousal, he moaned deeply at the pleasurable ache. An echoing moue sounded from Cordelia’s throat as she clutched him tighter, arms looping around his neck.
They parted for an instant staring deeply into each other’s eyes. Cordelia whispered his name, a soft caress of air across his lips. A plea for more. Right now, he needed to taste her again, perfectly willing to submit to it. His mouth prowled hers hungrily as she let out a throaty moan. Their bodies pressed tight, hard angles meeting soft curves, taut flesh tingling at every contact. Her nails curled against the back of his neck prompting him to continue.
Angelus felt the warm slip of her tongue into his mouth massaging his and darting up to glide across the roof of his mouth just behind his teeth. His entire body jerked at the stimulation across the area where his fangs were housed while in his human visage. Cordelia’s instinctive act only fueled his desire as sensations combined with her aroused scent, her taste and the feel of her lush body beneath his hands. He gave the firm cheeks of her ass a playful squeeze before sliding over her hips and upward to tease the outer curves of her breasts.
Panting for air, Cordelia didn’t want to be separated from those deep, wet kisses. All thought evaded her. Sensation took over. Head spinning, heart thumping, a delicious throb between her thighs. More kisses. Teasing fingers. His growl of approval at her eager touch. Broad shoulders, muscle beneath silk, controlled strength, a hard bulge to grind against, all for her.
Cordelia’s leg slid along the outer edge of his leather pants, winding around to link them together. Writhing instinctively, she let out a whimper of protest as his lips left hers to travel across her cheek. He sucked her earlobe into his mouth earring and all flicking his tongue across it. Whispering, “We need to stop.”
No! The protesting thought projected as a moan.
Angelus as he set them apart. Feeling the cool rush of air at their separation, heavy-lidded confusion followed. Her kiss-swollen lips pouted their protest, “Why?”
Smirking exultantly at Cordelia’s response, he had to remind himself of the reasons. “Because it’s our first night together and you deserve more than a quick fuck on the hardwood floor.”
The brash crudeness of his response only excited her, sending a jolt straight to her womb. It sounded thrilling. The image popping into her head of their clothes strewn across the floor and his nude body covering hers only added to her arousal. Angelus obviously sensed it because his grin only widened.
Besides the shock factor of Angelus’ choice of words, it was just something else that separated him from his twin. Angel rarely spoke with such blatant crassness unless he was in one of his rare foul moods. Cordelia found that it didn’t bother her at all. In fact, just the sound of Angelus’ voice was such a heady turn-on that it didn’t matter what he said.
After a month of mental foreplay, Cordelia was ready for more than kisses. Thoughts of skipping ahead to the naked part made her skin tingle in anticipation. Being here with Angelus was the first time that stopping wasn’t even a remote consideration. Cordelia’s two experiences with sex were over faster than it took to anticipate an orgasm much less have one. Even the groping sessions in the closet with Xander were a lot more satisfying than what she had done with her other boyfriends, but she knew without a shred of doubt that Angelus could deliver what he’d boasted.
He was going to make her body sing with pleasure and it was already humming. For the past weeks Angelus had courted her with Old World charm, but it was only in the last few days that Cordelia could no longer deny her feelings. She admired Angelus’ resolve, felt her heart beat in anticipation of his presence and ached for his touch. It wasn’t a huge leap to guess that she had fallen in love with the vampire, though the realization shocked her.
Vampire customs and traditions aside, there was no way Cordelia would agree to be Angelus’ lover if her feelings weren’t tied in so tightly that she knew they would not quickly fade. Otherwise, she would never have agreed to this. He wanted her, that much was certain.
As Angel suggested, his actions proved that he would do just about anything to have her, but was it anything more than a desire to possess her? He’d hinted that Angelus might not be capable of returning her love, being soulless. Maybe it wasn’t love, but Cordelia knew there was more than just lust behind Angelus’ actions. She had no idea of the extent of his feelings, but this wasn’t the time to dwell on that. Not with him standing so close, his dark male beauty entrancing her.
Catching her bottom lip between her teeth, Cordelia bit down softy then released it on an impatient sigh. Stop? Pfft to that!
Cordelia’s impish smile returned, the tip of her tongue peeking temptingly between her teeth. Watching Angelus’ eyes follow her every move, she raised one foot off of the floor running her hand down past her short skirt and along her leg in order to remove her shoe. Clickety-clack, it dropped to the floor along with the last vestige of shy reserve. The other shoe followed.
Sending him a naturally sultry look, Cordelia inquired, “So exactly what do you have in mind?”
Angelus felt his body tighten in anticipation. What didn’t he have in mind? There was not an inch of her that would remain unexplored by morning. Cordelia was all his and he was going to take everything he could, but slowly. Long before he first touched her, Angelus recognized the promise of what they could have together— what they would have together— and it had a helluva lot more to it than just rollicking in bed. Though, once they got there, Angelus wasn’t certain if he would let her out anytime soon.
Even Angel had warned him about pushing her too fast. For once, Angelus had to agree with him. Cordelia had the potential to be everything he ever wanted in a woman if he didn’t blow the opportunity. Though his pre-hell dimension plans for keeping Cordelia at his side for eternity weren’t even possible now, he wasn’t about to let that bother him. For now, he just needed to make sure she would never leave him.
Because of that, the vampire was determined to maintain his plans for the rest of the evening. Closing his hand over hers, he started to lead her out of the foyer. “Let’s go to the kitchen.”
“That is so not the destination I expected,” Cordelia’s jaw dropped. Eyebrows arched high. Impatience rang like a bell, “You’re hungry now?”
“C’mon,” urged the vampire tugging on her hand.
“So we’re here,” Cordelia glanced around at the spotlessly clean kitchen. Joking at his earlier comment, “You prefer tile instead of the hardwood floor?”
Angelus promised, “You’ll get to see what I prefer a little later. Right now we’re going to conduct the house tour. As I recall, last time you didn’t get past the dining room and kitchen.”
Maybe she should be grateful that Angelus didn’t want to drag her immediately to the bedroom, but Cordelia had already made up her mind about being with him tonight. She was tingling, aching and wet in all the right places and he seemed to be more than ready too. Not that she peeked more than once or twice. Kinda hard not to peek after feeling him against her.
“Okay, vampire guide, I wanna see where the tour ends,” she gave him more than just a hint.
It wasn’t a secret. Angelus wanted Cordelia to understand just in case she had any last minute reservations. “It ends in our bedroom.”
A heady thrill sent shivers out across her system as Cordelia met his gaze, her eyes gleaming brightly with emotion. “I think I like this tour.”
Angelus’ eyes promised pleasure as he smiled in response. Then he proceeded to open cabinets and drawers showing her that the kitchen was fully equipped. Opening up the refrigerator, he revealed a ton of food, soft drinks and juices stocked in a separate area from the packets of blood for his own and Angel’s consumption. Cordelia stared at everything with the growing realization that Angelus had prepared for her to come to the mansion. It hadn’t been like this when she had popped into satisfy her own curiosity the last time despite the fact that Angelus had said Angel kept sodas in the refrigerator for Buffy.
“Wow! I-I can’t believe that you bought all of that food.” Cordelia sounded out with an accompanying gasp. She’d have to eat practically every meal at the mansion just so none of it would spoil. Did he want her here that often? The fact that her parents frequently went out of town and were currently on a European business trip meant it was possible to be here that way, but Cordelia was uncertain that was what Angelus intended.
“I bought everything that I remembered you liked,” Angelus explained. Immediately wondering whether he shouldn’t have admitted that since finding out those favorites involved stalking her from shadowy corners.
“I see that,” Cordelia looked at him knowingly. “You’re such a lurker, but there’s just one problem.”
Frowning, Angelus stared into the refrigerator to see if he had forgotten something vital. Finding nothing, he turned back to her with a worried stare. “What?”
“I can’t cook,” she confessed sheepishly.
Shutting the door of the refrigerator, Angelus pulled her over to rest her back against its cool surface. His mouth nibbled at the curved shell of her ear, “I can.”
“You can?” Cordelia muttered the question. Despite the distraction of his tongue darting along the sensitive skin right behind her earlobe, she queried curiously, “A vampire on a liquid diet can cook real food?”
“Long story,” Angelus lifted his head. Promising with a smile, “I won’t let you starve.”
“Good, because I think I’ll need lots of energy,” Cordelia giggled at the thought of keeping up with his vampire stamina. Wondering if everything that she’d read was true, Cordelia felt another zing of anticipation. Teasing, “You know what they say about vampires.”
“Yes, I do,” Angelus responded deciding that he could no longer wait to give her just a taste of what was to come. “Before the night is over, I’ll have to ask you if you think it’s true.”
“Pfft! I’ll still have the energy to talk?” Cordelia rolled her eyes at him suggesting that it was probably a false rumor.
Angelus caressed Cordelia’s cheek with a whispered touch, his knuckles drifting gently across the curve of her face. Such a soft sensation from that powerful hand as it reached out in admiration of her beauty. Turning her face towards his touch, she momentarily closed her eyes at the simple pleasure it evoked.
“Don’t shut me out,” Angelus insisted that she keep them open. “Those hazel eyes are too expressive to be hidden. Let me see them, Cor. Turn them on me.”
Her lashes flickered open to reveal her hungry gaze. So he wanted her eyes on him? No problem. She could look into his forever. Those midnight eyes staring back at her and the way his mouth curled into a sensual smile made Cordelia heave a heady sigh of longing. Looking just wasn’t enough; she needed to touch him too. Then she saw her hands had already crept up to his chest rubbing along the hard contours of his muscled torso.
“You feel so good,” Cordelia breathed a throaty response to the sensation of rubbing her palms along the hard contours of his muscled torso. Her fingers plucked at the top button of his silk shirt. “Take this off, I want to touch you.”
At the sound of longing in her voice, Angelus curled his fingers around her chin. His own body was charged with need at her touch. “Soon,” he promised as he focused on the bowed contours of her lips. “Right now, I want your mouth on mine.”
No sooner had the vampire voiced his desire than his mouth crashed down onto hers with a rumbling moan. There was no waiting for a sign of consent, just the coaxing coolness of his lips against hers. The firm swipe of his mouth demanded entry and Cordelia quickly responded by parting her lips.
Angelus began to taste her warm sweetness with his tongue. At first, only with short tantalizing touches signaling her to mimic his motions. Then deeper, massaging her tongue with his. Swallowing her little moue of pleasure as he tucked his hard body into hers and pressed her up against the refrigerator door.
One hand curved around her hip holding Cordelia close. The other left her chin to palm the curve of her breast, testing its fullness. Cordelia’s hips rocked gently across his in an almost unconscious effort to get closer to what her body craved. While part of his brain told Angelus to lift her up against the fridge door and give her what they both wanted, he also had a calculatingly patient side that countered the idea.
However, the vampire decided he wasn’t leaving this kitchen without giving Cordelia a little taste of what was to come.
As his hand left her breast, Cordelia bit back a protest quelling it only because Angelus’ mouth had moved down to the pulse of her throat. Soft smooches and his flicking tongue stimulated the smooth flesh. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Cordelia realized she had a vampire at her throat, but felt no fear. The rousing sensations traveled straight to her loins.
Then a swift move of Angelus’ hands lifted Cordelia’s short skirt around her waist. Now wanting to touch her more intimately, he moved just enough to allow room for his hands to explore. For the first minute as Angelus’ hands wandered from the plump curves of her breasts down to her supple thighs, Cordelia said nothing in favor of focusing on the way he was making her feel. Then his fingers teased the elastic edges of her panties though his eyes never left hers. Angelus let his knuckles brush across her covered mound eliciting a shudder and another throaty cry.
Angelus watched every reaction to his touch from her flickering expressions and flushed skin to the changing rate of her breathing. She was so responsive without even trying hard. He felt the thrill of his possession of her all the way down to his loins.
“Going somewhere?” Cordelia asked with a not quite steady voice as she watched the vampire begin a slow descent into a crouching position.
“Not far.”
Those large hands molded her curves as they traveled down across her hips to massage her firm thighs. Cordelia felt a momentary urge to press them closed against invasion, but the movements of his fingers coaxed her to relax to his touch. She leaned back into the refrigerator door staring downward through the dip of her cleavage to watch him.
When Cordelia was almost convinced that he was just teasing her, stimulating her thighs and calves, memorizing the shape of her legs, Angelus made a swift, but sure move. On an upward sweep, his fingertips pressed higher curling into the elastic band of her silk panties. Then in the countering downward move, he slipped them off, sliding them over her thighs. The guiding touch at her calf signaled Cordelia to lift her foot and she stepped out of the panties one leg after the other.
“Oh!” A startled cry came forth at the sensation of the cold door against her bare ass. She repeated the sound as a longer moan when Angelus pressed his pursed lips directly onto her neatly trimmed muff of dark curls. His large hands cupped her bottom, squeezing gently. For a moment he stayed put, inhaling her feminine scent and nuzzling his face against her warm belly.
The sight of Angelus’ dark head tucked against her brought another rush of heat to her loins. Reaching down to massage her fingers through his hair, Cordelia traced her glossy nails along the nape of his neck. She shuddered as a pleasurable tingle zipped across her skin as those cool hands moved up and down the back of her thighs.
Then his fingers trailed up, keeping her skirt bundled at her waist as Angelus moved back into a standing position. Showing her his prize of her silky panties, he slid them across her exposed skin, a playful twinkle dancing in his potent gaze. Gripping the top of the refrigerator with one hand and her chin with the other, Angelus leaned in close to steal one short steamy kiss.
Cordelia wound her arms around his neck, letting out a moan of discontent as he left her. Releasing her chin, Angelus’ hand made a slow, steady descent, keeping contact with her body. Stirring sensations along the way, his fingers tripped across the peak of her left nipple, and then dipped into the curve of her waist to slide across her bare hip.
A shaky gasp of anticipation escaped as Angelus slipped his cool hand between her parted thighs. Cupping her heated flesh, his fingers nestled against intimate folds and then he held still, watching intently as gold-green pools darkened with arousal. Seemingly speechless, Cordelia gaped silently at the vampire, too focused on the sensation of his still fingers to form coherent thought.
Nervous, yet wanting more, her hand slid down to his wrist, fingers fluttering almost anxiously. Thick honey coated his promise of pleasure as Angelus encouraged her to tell him what she liked. That voice rasping in her ear left her shuddering against him. “Tell me how you touch yourself. I know you do.”
A hot blush colored her skin. Says who? Doesn’t everyone?
Without waiting for an answer she seemed determined to keep to herself, Angelus remarked, “You’re so warm and wet,” that husky tone dancing across her flesh as incoherent purrs gurgled deep inside her. Cordelia’s hips bucked forward in response to his fingers slip-sliding along her cream-slicked folds. “Do you like that, baby?”
“Yessssss,” Cordelia hissed as he circled her clit. Now clutching at his shirt with both hands, she trembled under his skillful touch. Those lightly calloused fingers leaving a teasing trail of fire. Entering her slowly, dipping inside and coming back for more.
Expertly, Angelus built her pleasure at his touch. The steady timbre of his words continued to titillate Cordelia as well. “You’ll be so snug and slick when I’m inside you. All of me…filling you…stretching you to the fullest you’ve ever been.”
A throaty laugh of delight sounded as pleasure and merriment entwined within the depths of her eyes. He could sense the silent question, How would you know?
“Trust me, I know these things.” Angelus nibbled at her earlobe as he continued to work her slick flesh below. Keening, Cordelia moved her hips in a matching rhythm. Her eyes snapped shut, head knocking against the refrigerator as he flicked her clit, setting off sparklers.
A little whimper sounded as he focused his attention there for a few seconds before shifting away. “Tell me where you want my touch,” he demanded she say it, wanting to hear her explicit plea. He preferred a vocal lover and knew Cordelia wouldn’t be a difficult pupil in that department. “Let me hear you.”
“My clit. Now. Do it now.” Any self-directed surprise at the urgent command drowned in the wake of pleasure that followed. Angelus’ low growl of approval accompanied the rhythmic stroke of his fingers against the swollen nub. Each touch sent jolts deep inside her womb.
Angelus licked the flat of his tongue along her throat, pressing his open mouth along her pulse point, tasting flesh and inhaling the tantalizing mix of scents that made her unique. A low rumble sounded from deep in his chest, his cock hard against her hip as his fingers worked their magic.
Stroking along her tender folds, building friction along the edge of her swollen clit, circling, tweaking, rub, rubbing, rubbing there, just there until euphoric pleasure slammed into her electrifying her flesh and melting her in his arms. Limbs like jello, Cordelia clung to Angelus, her body hot and pressed between the cool surfaces of his hard frame and the refrigerator.
When the glazed look started to fade from her eyes, Angelus slipped her skirt down over her hips. One eyebrow quirked sharply, “So how do you like the kitchen?”
“Nice service,” Cordelia answered on a long breathy sigh. “Does it come with every meal? I wanna see the menu.”
He threw his head back and laughed in a way that Cordelia had never seen before, certainly not from his broody double. Angelus didn’t like holding anything back and Cordelia certainly didn’t want him to when it came to this. Though feeling sated, the anxious butterflies were already stirring low in her belly. There was more ahead and soon, she hoped.
“We haven’t finished our tour.”
“Riiiight,” she remembered what they were supposed to be doing. Stretching like a cat drunk on amaretto cream, Cordelia’s smile spread slowly rounding her flushed cheeks. Commenting on the size of the mansion, she tried to appear even remotely interested in its statistics when she was really curious about only one part of it.
Angelus gave her a sharp stare, but answered, “Thirty rooms, give or take.”
“Oh, I’ll take,” Cordelia’s eyes glittered mischievously. “Which one’s yours?”
“Impatient?”
“Pfft, like you aren’t.” Boldly, she ran her hands down his chest and hips, pausing only when she got close to the bulge he made no effort to hide.
Trailing his thumb over her mouth as he cupped her cheek, Angelus whispered on a husky note, “You have no idea how patient I can be.”
Snatching up her hand and closing his around it, Angelus led her out of the kitchen into the adjacent living room. A large sectional sofa and other furniture were arranged in front of a large empty fireplace. The entertainment center had a large stereo system. Cordelia let her gaze wander over the room hoping that this would be a very brief stop, but she was distracted by his closeness.
Leaning against him, Cordelia breathed deep, forgetting all about the room and just closing her eyes as she drank in his tantalizing male scent. Geez, he smelled good. Her hand curled around his thick bicep, nails gently scraping along the silk shirt as she pressed her body closer to his.
“Mmm,” the slight sound hummed in the back of her throat.
Nudging her with his elbow, Angel caught the guilty expression flitting over her face. “What was that?”
“Mmm, nice room,” she covered for herself quickly, wondering if there was such a thing as being too eager.
Making a serious effort not to throw herself at him to demand more of those searing kisses, Cordelia moved over to comment on the quality of the stereo system. Then moving on to look at the pictures on the walls, she guessed correctly that they were left there by the previous owners.
“That’s kind of creepy,” she muttered and moved back toward the center of the room where the vampire was now standing and staring at the sparse furnishings with a frown on his face.
Beyond keeping Cordelia happy, well-fed and in his bed, Angelus hadn’t considered spending a whole lot of time in this room. Now that she pointed it out, the place was obviously inadequate.
Angry at himself for not thinking of that, he sat down hard on the couch, a grunt of self-directed irritation causing Cordelia to laugh as she joined him.