Part 9
“Being sick sucks- big time! Gimme a week with a head stuffed full of wood chips and rusty nails and I’d still be better off”.
Still grumbling ominously under her breath, Cordelia cursed when the cup jammed on the tap when she tried to fill it with water again. Not exactly easy, when your heads stuck under it too. She puffed out a breath, and not caring about dripping water on the floor, pulled her head away to try again.
“This is such a pain in the ass. Why can’t I just take a shower, or have a bath like normal people do? But no- not allowed, cos I’m sick. Gimme a break”.
Ducking back down, she contorted her arm to pour the water over her head and then yelped on finding it had run cold. “Dammit … Urghhh”. Her head came up like a shot and managed to crack against the tap on the way up. “”Owwwe”! Howling loudly, and spitting mad she forgot for a moment that she was supposed to be being quiet. Realising, she instantly clapped a hand over her mouth and rubbed the other one over her throbbing crown.
Frustration bubbled past the red line into the danger zone and with narrowed eyes Cordelia abruptly changed her mind. She was dripping wet; fed-up and so pissed off with everything she could just… scream the whole place down! Sucking in a calming deep breath she expelled it sharply.
“That’s it- no more stealth girl. I am having a bath and he can just go stick his bossy, overbearing, arrogant head up his ass for all I care.” Her face one ferocious scowl, Cordelia whipped up a towel and wrapped it round her dripping and sudsy hair. “Jackass, can’t get his thick head around the fact that I’m over it. Geeze- overprotective much?” Unfortunately admitting she loved him didn’t blind her to his faults. How could it when they were so frickin’ obvious.
Covered head to foot in a towelling robe that was too big for her and with the towel on her head, all you could see of her was pink toes and a flushed, sulky face with sullen hazel eyes spitting fire. Still muttering, she sat on the edge of the bath and twisted the hot tap on, feeling the flow of water with her fingers to test the temperature this time.
“You’d think I was terminal or something. Well Okay I am, but with boredom“. The complaint was pushed out with an added groan that did nothing to get rid of the feeling of being hemmed in and useless.
The one time she’d snuck out of bed she’d ended up scurrying back, face flaming and eyes still almost bugging out of her head. Grimacing she tried to stop the image that memory called up but it popped into her head anyway. Willow doing that to a grinning Spike. In the living room for chrissake. Not that she had a problem with it so much as…well
“I’m still a frickin’ virgin and Wimpy Willow has turned into Wanton Willow. Like- Hello! When did that happen”? Bafflement made her voice high-pitched and forgetting the bath she just sat there in moody contemplation of the falling water.
Then Cordelia’s head tilted and eyes turned inwards. What was it Willow had said between mouthfuls; something about being worried that she, Cordelia would find them and then…what would Angel think? That was it. Hmm, weird. Spike’s reply had been even weirder. “Angel’s used to it by now”. Oh yeah, used to what? Those two, going at each other all over the place? Great, I think I’ll just stay in bed.
Willow’s attitude with Angel wasn’t helping either and just thinking about that had Cordelia finally ramming the plug into its hole with more force than necessary. It wasn’t Willow’s fault really it was just the way she was- fiercely loyal. Which was great most of the time but right now it was a royal pain in the butt.
“What’s with the constant bickering with Angel? Urggghh, you’d think it was her he’d been chucking around. If I can forgive him…” Cordelia shook her head and heaved a frustrated sigh.
“I don’t need to be playing peacemaker anytime. I mean, Hello! Not exactly my style at the best of times and *especially* not when I’m sick”.
If there was a certain amount of resentment in the tone, as far as Cordelia was concerned, she was damn well entitled to it. “It’s almost like she feels guilty or something. Hah – guilty about what? Taking the razor without asking”? She asked the rising steam sarcastically, impatiently waiting for the water level to rise.
“What do you think your doing”? The door thumped ominously back into it’s frame.
Cordelia had been too engrossed in venting some week long pent up feelings to notice him opening the bathroom door, and nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of that sharp query coming in his deep, incredulously edged voice.
“Urggh, will you not do that. You nearly gave me a heart-attack”. She griped, still with a hand dramatically pressed to her chest she levelled an annoyed look at his handsome and thunderous face.
“Stop with the creeping around. I hate it when you do that”. Her sharp tone had his brows lowering to match hers, and his dark eyes raked her from towel-covered head to bare feet.
“Yeah, I’m getting that. Is that why your sneaking around having a bath, when I’m not around”? Angel asked dangerously soft, leaning against the closed door with his arms crossed over his chest and an arrogant brow raised as if to say ‘boy are you in trouble’. He noticed the healthy flush on her cheeks and some of his anger melted. Not that he’d let her see that- after all it could be guilt.
Caught out, Cordelia’s temper disappeared like so much mist. “I’m not sneaking around…so much as – erm taking advantage of ..” she racked her brain for a good excuse to wriggle out of trouble. “Opportunities” she finished lamely with a wide sheepish smile that packed enough punch to melt an ice-block.
“Cordelia” He huffed out a frustrated sigh and pushed away from the door, dropping his arms and resisting the urge to give her a shake or maybe something a good deal less civilised. Did she really have no idea how much she’d scared him? He still broke out in cold sweats from just thinking about how close he might have come to losing her- or thought he might.
“You’ve been sick, really sick with flu and you’re having a bath! The way he said it you’d think she was planning to highjack a store or something.
Angel’s taut face and furrowed brow mirrored his frustration. Cordelia rolled her eyes at the stubbornness that was this vampire and stood up to stalk over and poke him hard in the centre of his chest with a single stiff finger. “Get real, Angel. Bathing isn’t a crime. In fact it’s a necessity of life. Ask any woman. So…. Just- get over it already”.
They stared at one another in a heated battle of wills. Cordelia filled with righteous resolve, Angel with uncertain irritation. “You’re a terrible patient, do you know that”? He finally growled out letting some of the irritation come out in his voice. He wanted her safely back in bed, tucked up warm with him, where she should be in his opinion.
“It’s only been five days, and the Doctor said ten. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just toss your sneaky little butt back into bed”. Angel towered over her even more than usual due to her bare feet. Her chin only came up to the upper middle of his broad chest.
He didn’t move a muscle to but stayed in the same position, glaring down at her upturned face, and looking all mean and snarly. It was completely fake and she knew it. Plus- and this was a big plus in her opinion. He was sexy as hell when he was bad tempered. Heat sparked to life inside her.
That spurt of warmth knock some of the aggravation out of her and a smile kicked up the corners of her lips. He was an irascible, brooding and complex creature this vampire of hers. But since she wasn’t exactly the easiest person to get along with at times, it was no biggie.
Anyway she knew how to get around him. “Look I appreciate all the tender care you’ve given me over the last week and you’re sweet to worry, but…” She turned away to twist the hot tap off and then turning back again, eyeballed him with her best, no nonsense- ‘at the end of my tether’ look.
“I need a bath, Angel. If I don’t get rid of this yucky dirty feeling I’m gonna sit in that bed and mope, stress out and knock back my recovery way more than you letting me do what I want. So who’s got my best interest at heart”?. Now it was her turn to cross her arms for a moment and pin him with an arch look.
To Angel she looked gorgeous, determined and healthy as ever, and he was powerless to stop his body responding to the sweetly feminine challenge she was unknowingly giving, simply by standing there, hands now firmly planted on hips and almost nose to nose with him.
Her eyes were uncompromisingly direct, and met his less than friendly gaze unflinchingly. The towelling robe dwarfed her small frame and the shampoo she’d used on her hair teased his sensitive nostrils but couldn’t mask the scent coming off her body – warm, healthy female and that unique fragrance that was pure Cordelia Chase. Unable not to, he drank it in and then had to clench his hands into fists before he gave into the urge to pull her closer and take more.
He stood transfixed, held immobile by a wave of lust that nearly had him just picking her up to go find the nearest horizontal position to drop her on and then pounce.She’s ill, you moron. It’s sick and perverted to even think about taking advantage of her weakened state. Yeah right! Weak my ass. Just looking at her had his conscience giving up the ghost on that one.
“Well”? When he didn’t respond but just continued to stare down at her, she started to fidget under the intensity of that dark, fathomless gaze. Then it clicked and Cordelia’s eyes narrowed consideringly.
If she didn’t know better she’d swear he was going to kiss her, and that annoyed the hell out of her. He hadn’t come near her for any kind of kissage since she’d gotten ill. Like she was contagious to him or something. Her annoyance level shot back up and she lifted a foot and without thinking, kicked his shin.
“Hey” He snapped out. Moving back and looking down at his leg before pinning her with a disgruntled look. “What was that for”?
“For looking like you have kissing on your mind. Forget it, Buddy. Since you haven’t bothered all week- you can go without now too”. She raised her chin and ignored the throb in her abused toes. She’d probably hurt herself more than him- but it was the principle of it that counted, so she was satisfied.
“Is that right”? Angel, almost purred, one eye narrowing to match the ever so slightly mocking tilt to his full lips. Dressed in all black and looking like he was just waiting for an excuse to wrap his clenched hands around some part of her. The devil rather than cherubs came to mind. Cordelia took a wary step back and lowered her chin defensively.
“Been counting the days have you”? The tilt became a fully-fledged smirk. Angel’s leg still throbbed enough to piss him off. Deciding some kind of retribution was in order, he closed the distance between them. “You should have said. I might have obliged, with enough incentive anyway”. That mobile brow quirked again and he had a wolfish gleam in his sinfully dark brown eyes.
“Incentive…why you”. Words failed her. “I’ll have you know I was voted the most kissable girl in Sunnydale High. So you can just… kiss my ass”! Cordelia flipped her head and the edges of the towel slipped away and then fell off completely, leaving a tumble of glossy wet locks.
“Now there’s a thought. Are you asking or inviting”? It wasn’t the most provocative thing he could come up with, but it wasn’t bad, he decided wickedly, pleased to see temper flood her face and shoot out of her eyes with hazel fire. C’mon, Baby- slap me and get it over with.
Before she knew it Cordelia’s wildly swinging hand was caught in her a firm grip at the wrist. Her fingers curled into her palm and she tugged hard to get free. Then gasped to feel herself swept up and plonked on the wide shelf on the opposite side of the bathroom.
“Temper, temper” Angel admonished and before she could stop him, opened a leg to make a space for himself between her thighs. Doing so had the robe separating to reveal her creamy thighs, and Angel didn’t even try and hide his appreciation of that. He let his eyes wander upwards while his hands flexed on her waist, itching to follow the path his eyes had taken.
Reeling from the abrupt speed of how she’d ended up in this position, Cordelia slapped a hand on his chest and stared at his now predatory face with wide eyes. “What the hell do you think your doing”? She squeaked, and gulped at the glittering look he shot her. Her chest rose and fell as subconsciously her breathing deepened in reaction to the evident erection he was pressing into her.
“Making your feel appreciated” Angel replied easily with a dark edge to the deep tone. “Don’t you want to feel appreciated? Isn’t that what this is really all about- huh”? His lips hovered over hers, while heated brown eyes bored into startled hazel, until unnerved by it, her lashes dropped and tongue came out to moisten her lips. I’d settle for feeling loved, she thought but kept that to herself, wary of being rejected or even worse- pitied.
There were almost locked together and this close he could feel the heat from her body radiating from her to him. It seemed to wrap around and caress him with asilken warmth that was utterly seductive and impossible to resist. His mercurial temper melted away, leaving him adrift on another explosive emotion. His head swam and body trembled with tension trying to subdue an overwhelming urge to simply possess and then sink into her.
Ignoring her hand still pressed to his chest, Angel slanted his lips firmly over hers, opening them to the smooth invasion of his tongue, as it dipped in to sweep the hot cavern of her mouth, tasting her and drawing her into a heated tangle of dancing tongues.
Cordelia groaned into his mouth and sank back into him. Oh god at last was all she could think as her hands crept up to twine her fingers into his dark spiky hair, pulling him closer and urging him on. Her legs clutched his hips as arousal burst into life inside her, instantly flooding her sex with the heated onrush of blood to set the nerves alight.
Angel kissed and nipped the skin over her taut jaw, making his way to her ear to take the lobe between his teeth. The rougher skin on his jaw teased the sensitive skin, making her squirm and press her face to his, cheekbone to cheekbone.
“So you think your all better now”? Angel rasped the question out of tight vocal cords, and the vibration of that rough voiced query made her shiver. “Yeah” she got out breathlessly and ran her hands over his nape, exploring the hard muscle of neck and shoulders with searching, caressing hands. It wasn’t much of a sop to his rapidly disappearing conscience- but it was enough.
Cordelia was enthralled by both the kiss and the feel of his powerful body between her thighs; so much so, everything else disappeared and the world narrowed to just the two of them. Then he was gone, stepping back to lift her down, only holding her upper arms to help steady her until she could feel her legs again. Disoriented, Cordelia blinked and ran her tongue over her lips, tasting him still and wanting more. “What…” She didn’t get given the chance to frame the question.
“You can have a bath. On one condition”. The words were out before he’d fully thought it through. But the hard, throbbing length of his aching shaft resisted all efforts to even consider calling them back.
“Okay” Cordelia said distantly, bemused by his rapid changes of mood. She should be used to them by now, she thought dazedly, he’d been acting weird all week. “What’s the condition?” Her seesawing emotions still hadn’t caught up with the fact that he’d so easily gotten over what to her, had been a mind-blowing kiss of epic proportions.
“Well, we don’t want you straining yourself”. Angel gravely told her, an unholy gleam in his eyes. His lips twitched at the bald-faced lie but he was past caring about that.
Then deciding keeping her off balance was a good idea. He caught one of her hands in his and tugged her closer. Then raising the hand to his lips, he kissed the palm before draping it over his shoulder, pulling her close so that she was pressed all along the length of him.
“So, you just… lie back and I’ll do the work”. He carried on smoothly, tracing the bones of her face with feather light touches of his lips. If she refused she could forget the bath and they were going straight to bed. Seduction could take place anywhere but he preferred a bed if given a choice.
“Erm, okay” she sighed. Then it hit her. Her eyes went as wide as saucers and jaw dropped open. “You want to bathe me”? She asked in shocked disbelief while hundreds of butterflies exploded to life in her belly.
Her pulse kicked into a higher gear and spread a tingling warmth throughout her body, right down to her toes. She didn’t miss the hard length of his shaft, pressing insistently into her belly, either. Oh god There was that flash of heat again, lower now though and followed by an intense tingle directly between her legs. Needing to see his face, she stepped back so she didn’t have crane her neck.
“Are trying to seduce me”? She asked baldly.
“Maybe. You got a problem with that”? He said it lightly as if they were talking about a walk in the park. Cordelia searched his face trying to find what…? An indication of his feelings maybe- did it really matter? Hadn’t life already shown her, you have to grab what you can?
Angel shot out a hand and latching onto the belt of her robe with strong fingers, pulled her back to him. No way was she getting away that easily- in fact; forget getting away. Instinctively his nostrils flared and he let the air trickle down, delicately tuning out the smell of toiletries to focus on her, and caught the intoxicating hint of spicy arousal.
“No, no problem”. How the hell do you answer that? She asked herself flummoxed. “I mean it’s about damn time”. Then Cordelia was hit by a horrible thought, as if the synapses in her brain where working overtime to make up for the funk of a few minutes ago.
“This better not be because Spike’s getting some and you aren’t”. She warned darkly, almost growling the words out. Her hands, trapped between their bodies were splayed on his chest and she pushed at him.
This time he didn’t let her back off, but wrapped his other arm around the small of her back. “Cordelia” Angel growled back warningly. Instant annoyance adding fuel to his already inflamed senses. “If that was all I cared about. I wouldn’t have held back from you, and believe me”. His eyes caught and held hers. “You’d have been flat on your back a long time ago”. He finished curtly, deliberately being crude.
His fingers had twisted tighter around the belt, obviously ready to halt any move by her to push away. Cordelia didn’t even try, realising she really didn’t mind him being crude; in fact it was incredibly reassuring. He wouldn’t be like that if he felt nothing for her- right? But still, “Oh really. I might have had something to say about that”. She challenged him softly.
“I never said you wouldn’t. But I can be very persuasive”. There was a definite edge of certainty in that wry reply that made her smile.
“I bet”. In fact she could image there wouldn’t need to be much persuading. Just having his erection pressed into her was doing wonders for melting any resistance. Not that she’d had any to begin with she defended herself.
What would it be like to have him make love to her? Would he be long and slow, taking his time to nibble on every spot? Or maybe a little rough, a hard and fast mating that was a tiny bit mean? She’d fantasised about both and every single connotation in between.
“So now what? I mean, how do you want to do this”? Okay, what’s this, nerves now! C’mon two seconds ago you were raring to go, get a grip will you. If you spoil this, you just know I’m never going to forgive you. Still illogically arguing with herself, she felt his hands drop away and wanted to kick herself.
“Erm never mind that…I’ll just get in the bath then shall I”? She shot him a nervous smile and couldn’t meet his strangely intense gaze as she started to pull the belt of the robe open.
It didn’t take a seer to see the exact second reality crashed through the remnants of the hazy passion their kiss had left her in. Suddenly she was as nervous as a colt and it made him want to kick his own ass. He’d let temper and desire blind him to the fact that she was a novice at this, and he’d been treating her like she was experienced at love play. Asshole, fix it now.
Large hands settled soothingly on her shoulders. “Trust me. I just want to look after you. Can you do that…trust me I mean”? Cordelia looked back up into meltingly warm dark chocolate orbs and melted herself. Her heart squeezed and belly quivered at the onrush of mingled love and tight, tingling anticipation.
“Sure. What’s not to trust” it came out choppy as her chest was still tight but that just made it more potent. She saw his pupils dilate, as they both understood what she was agreeing to.
Angel ran his hands down her arms and without breaking eye contact took over the job of pulling open the belt and slowly so as not to scare her, tugged the robe off her shoulders. Even without needing to breath he sucked in a breath when she was slowly revealed to him.
The delicate bones of her shoulders underneath that graceful neck were burnished gold by the sun, while the slopes of her firm breast were pert and full, tipped by rosy buds already puckered into tight turgid tips. “You’re beautiful, do you know that”?
He couldn’t say more, couldn’t get anything else passed the need gripping his hungry body, closing his throat and making speech- difficult. He almost didn’t hear her nervously joking reply; too entranced by the sight of her taut belly and the utterly feminine curve of her hips.
“So I’ve heard but a girl can never get told that enough, ya know” he heard the hitch in her breath though and inhaled the sweet smell of mixed excitement and arousal with the hint of fear.
He didn’t mind the fear now and tasted it and the arousal on his tongue, making lust crawl in his belly along with the hunger that only fed it. He was holding himself stiffly though and forced his shoulders to relax. His dark eyes strayed lower past her smooth abdomen to become trapped again by the damp nest of curls at the juncture of her thighs. With nerveless hands he tossed the robe and stepped away, dragging his gaze back up to her flushed face.
The silence with thick with tension and he had to force his vocal cords back into action. “Get in before you get cold” he told her huskily and licked suddenly parched lips. He watched intently as Cordelia stepped into the water and then lowered herself to lie back in the hot steamy fluid. Each lap of the water against her skin had his hands itching with the need to follow its example. Soon.
“Won’t you get wet”? Cordy asked him, her voice every bit as husky as his.
Distractedly he looked down at his clothing and then took care of the problem by simply hooking his hands on the hem of his sweater and whisking it over his head. Oh wow, and yes there is a God and he lurves women. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Nerves were forgotten as heated caramel eyes devoured the broad shoulders and muscular chest so effortlessly revealed.
He is ripped. “If I’d have know what you were hiding under all that black. I’d have let you invade my bath ages ago”. She joked while her eyes wandered down his ridged abdomen, stopping to admire thick arms and supple forearms before settling just under the waistband of his pants.
“You definitely score high on the Chase ‘salty goodness’ scale of hotness”.
They both froze for an instant at the shared memory of their first meeting. Back before the Master emerged. Angel had known she’d been attracted to him back then and it had effected him strongly before. Now it nearly shattered his self-control having her practically eat him with her eyes.
“Thanks. I think”. Cordy grinned at him, relaxing now she was safely under the dubious cover of the water. Plus eye candy never hurt.
Desperately reaching for his slippery control, Angel started at her feet. Massaging them in his large soapy hands, making her arch as he pressed knowing fingers into the sensitive arch and rubbing gently between each perfect toe. Breathlessly, Cordelia watched his face. Loving the intense concentration furrowing his brow and making his lips curve with the bone deep sensuality that always lurked just beneath the surface of that gruff exterior.
Then those clever fingers slid along her leg, following the muscles of her calf and encompassing almost the entire leg with his wide palm and long fingers. He lingered on the backs of her knees, making her shiver and squirm with each teasing run of the soft slippery soap. Smoothly he followed the length of her inner thigh, the soap leaving wet trails of white bubbles in his wake until his hand dipped under the water to brush her curls with the tips of his blunt fingers.
Heated chills raced along her skin with a tingling awareness, the closer he got to the apex of her thighs, getting hotter and more insistent when he repeated the slow, torturously sensitising process on her other leg. She gasped again at the sizzling streaks of pleasure from her toes, squirming as the tingles transformed into currents of charged heat, turning her molten with need, as he got closer to her core again. Her nipples already pebble hard, budded tighter and underneath the creamy skin her blood raced with building desire.
Unknowingly she held her breath, watching that powerful hand get closer and closer until her eyes were flickering and heavy lidded with anticipation. Finally his fingers touched her, whisper light and fleeting as they brushed her clitoris, making her gasp at the molten heat he found and the resulting hot lick of flame. Oh my…do that again, she could get the words out.
Greedily Angel drank in the sight of her and nearly groaned at the rush of lust washing through his system. Every inch of her gloriously naked body was a hedonistic display just for him. Despite the heat of the water and the rising steam her rosy nipples were turgid and mutely begging, but he resisted the urge to go there yet. He wanted to take his time. No- needed to take his time and prepare her properly.
He wanted to speak, to reassure; to say all of the usual smoothly practised words that would seduce her mind as well as her body, but he was mute, and couldn’t even if he tried, speak past the blind possessiveness that gripped him. Speak, dammit. Open your lips, talk!
“Lift up” his voice sounded scratchy to his own ears but for his own sanity he needed to move thing along or give into the demon’s urge to just take without mercy. Angel pulled her unresisting out of the water until she was sitting up and lathered up more soap. The silence was thick and around them and yet somehow enervating too, racking up the tension between them.
Carefully he draped her glossy, wet dark hair over the opposite shoulder to rest against one firm breast. Then settled his hands on the curve of her shoulders to massage them with soothing squeezes of his fingers, while his thumbs rotated on the nape of her neck.
Cordelia closed her eyes, trying to calm her racing heart and reduce the hyper sensitivity she felt having his hands on her, exploring her with an impossible thoroughness that she knew was just the beginning.
“Relax, Baby” his voice was deeper and raspier than normal but gentle too. Cordy hadn’t even realised she tensed up and after shooting him a shy, apologetic smile, relaxed her tense shoulders.
“Sorry” she whispered and lifted her head to meet his heated gaze for a moment. Seeing her own fire being reflected back from those almost black orbs caused her breathing to become choppy and heart race with hope.
After a short time the magic of that wonderfully rhythmic massaging had an insidious weakness invading every muscle, making her head drop forward as she slid into a boneless state of relaxation and soft pleasure-filled moans fall from her parted lips.
The damp wet heat of the steam worked with each firm brush of his fingers, soothing and exciting her at the same time. Seducing her into giving herself over to him without any qualms.
“Does that feel good”? Angel asked, his voice a deep-throated purr next to her ear. “Hmm- nice” was all she could manage in reply with the fog fuzzing her brain. Then added, “you’re really good at this”.
“So I should be”, he admitted with a chuckle that tickled her shoulder. “Been a while though”. Cordy was simply enjoying what he was doing too much to pick up on that, but filed it away for later- much later.
Beneath his heavy hands, her neck felt so delicate, the bones fragile and filled with vibrant and precious life. He marvelled at that throbbing life, even while the delicate tracery of veins called to the deepest part of him like a lodestone. Bloodlust rose up to gloss passion with a dark edge, making him tremble with want. It didn’t matter; he couldn’t hurt her.
His thumbs left her nape to trace the muscles alongside her spine, seeking and separating each sleek muscle to stroke firmly with just the right amount of firm control. The rest of his fingers followed too, the long fingers and wide palms almost swallowing the whole width of her back, following in the trail of the soap bubbles sliding down her silky skin.
To Cordy, the touch of Angel’s hands on her body was both soothing and thrilling. The muted strength in them and obvious skill, seductively compelling as conflicting sensations kept her aroused and yet distracted from what this was all leading to. Powerless to resist she relaxed deeper into the waters embrace with every sliding stroke; letting him do as he wanted with nothing more than murmurs of blissful approval.
Warm water washed over her back, chasing away the soap before his hands smoothed over the curve of her waist, and she knew even before her breasts tingled in frantic anticipation of pleasure; that he was leaving the relative innocence of her back for her almost innocent front.
She didn’t have long to consider it before the silky slide of his hands travelled up her ribcage with an excruciating slowness that nevertheless had her arching back on her hands to thrust up her breasts, as if trying to speed him up by enticing him with their full weight. Finally his fingers rested under both breasts with one strong arm supporting her back. She felt his lips brush her ear. Then he stopped moving and she bit back a moan of disappointment.
“What do you want”? His voice rumbled next to her ear, thick with promise and a hint of amusement. Rattled with lust she forced open her eyes and fixed him with a heated look out of passion-glazed eyes. “Touch me,” she whispered, daring to demand.
“Here”? He rubbed the soft undersides, then cupped their full weight. Cordelia did moan this time. His hands were warm after the water and the friction, and impossibly evocative. She’d been fondled before on dates and all it’d felt like was grabbing hands. Not like this, God, he was so gentle and knew exactly what pleasure points to manipulate.
“Oh God- don’t stop. That feels…gooood”.
His thumbs came up to run over the turgid velvety tip, circling and massaging them while he continued to cup her. She watched his hands as they stroked and caressed her, increasing the potent effect as arrows of pleasure streaked down to her loins.
Cordelia lifted her head and her hands came up to cover his, stroking his fingers as they moved over her flesh. Her heated gaze wandered over his handsome face, down his straight nose to his full, sensually curved lips. They beckoned to her and helpless to resist her own urge to just grab him and kiss him, she closed the small distance and slanted her greedy lips over his. Catching him in a stormy kiss.
Even as she got lost in the kiss she drowned in his eyes. The dark pools of a fallen Angel with eyes like windows to his unique and ancient soul. Love me, the words tripped to the edge of her tongue. Only at the last minute did she pull them back. To distract herself and numb the tiny dart of pain she deepened the kiss.
One of his hands left to cup the back of her neck under the weight of her hair. She felt the flex and bunch of muscle behind her back and then nothing but the kiss as he took over. Angel languidly invaded her mouth with a firm mastery that stole the breath from her body. His tongue sliding into her like thick honey, plumbing her depths and effortlessly swallowing her whimpers and moans of pleasure.
The whole time he was drugging her mind with kisses, his free hand kneaded and moulded her breasts. The sensitive fingers plucking and stroking her nipples, making them harder as blood rushed giddily toward them. Caught by her own passion, Cordelia moaned and writhed on the smooth floor of the bath as she willingly tumbled deeper into desire.
He fisted his hand in her hair and gently tipped her back to latch onto one of those blood red nipples, with the breast firmly grasped by one large hand. Suckling it deep into his mouth he swirled his tongue around the puckered tip. Then lathing and nipping with a reckless abandon he deliberately drove her wild with carnal need. Her hands let go of their frantic grip of the baths edge to mangle into his hair, thrusting through the thick strands to roughly caress his scalp.
Hardly aware of it, Cordelia slid further down the bath, an invitation Angel speedily accepted. His hand travelled back down to her belly, stopping to massage her there before dipping under the water and finding her silky smooth centre.
Cordelia gasped and squirmed heatedly under his hand, causing waves of water to rise up to lap against them both, while her hands clenched tighter in his hair. His fingers slid between her soft folds to explore the length, smoothly rubbing the delicate skin, skimming the edges and then circling the slick entrance of her sex.
Angel dipped his finger gently inside her tight entrance, making her buck hard and close her thighs around his wrist as a new piercing sensation shot from her loins. Gasping and eyes wide with tension she found him watching her with an intensity that made her tremble. Still holding her gaze he slid back up and found the tiny bud of nerves he’d caressed so briefly before.
He circled her clitoris with tender care, playing her body like a master musician and raising her passion degree by torturous degree. Soon her thighs dropped open and hips undulated against his hand, seeking more as pleasure swept her up.
Cordelia shivered as her body heated in contrast to the cooling water. Angel felt it and reluctantly lifted his dark head from her succulent breasts. His hand gently caressed her labia, rasping between the fold for one last time before he withdrew his hand and rested it back on her belly, rubbing soothing circles on the skin as he waited for her to come back from the edge.
“It’s time to move on, baby”. She barely heard him, too caught up in the storm of arousal he’d evoked. Angel smiled a strained smile and ignoring his own raging need, lifted her out of the water onto her feet. Holding her hips tight as she swayed from the effects of the passionate haze.
Still unsteady, Cordelia whimpered at the loss of those tormenting touches, then gave a startled gasp when she felt the smooth intrusion between her legs. Needing something to grab onto she latched back onto his hair as he kneeled beside the bath. He didn’t even notice, too busy watching intently as the soap furrowed between the damp dripping curls to coat her sex with more of those white bubbles.
“Open your legs”. He demanded hoarsely and mindlessly she did and whimpered as the cool soap slid along her cleft to nudge the tight entrance of her bottom. She whimpered again and opened her mouth to speak- to demand he stop, but they got lost in a wail of pleasure as his finger speared experimentally into her virginal channel.
Angel had already dropped the soap but was intent on new torment. Water, cupped in his large hands washed away all of the suds, before smoothing round the cheeks of her bottom, exploring the luscious curves and dipping inside the cleft to pull them slightly apart while his fingers delved deeper in her wet heat.
“No” she managed to gasp out, then her knees almost buckled at the sensation of one finger piercing her from behind, pushing her hips forward to his waiting mouth.
“Yes” he argued in deep growl and then set his mouth to her. His tongue darted out to lathe her clitoris with the flat of his tongue, while his finger carried on thrusting shallowly in and out of her slick, drenched core.
“Put a knee on the bath edge” Angel demanded, grasping one and pulling it up- opening her wider for that intimate intrusion.
Undone by the sheer eroticism of it, Cordelia’s head tipped back while tight little moans of pleasure fell from her parted lips. “I can’t stand it” she gasped and held onto him tighter as her legs trembled under the lash of sparking currents of pleasure. Her skin felt like it was on fire. She felt as if she were on fire.
“Oh god, oh god, help me” pleas mingled with the whimpers when another finger joined the first, kneading the virgin territory and drawing out the seeping juice of her helpless arousal. Then as if he was trying to overload her with sensation, she felt a tiny sting of pain as a finger pushed inside her other entrance, only a little, but enough to make her feel as if she’d totally invaded- cored from every angle. Fiery licks of dark edged pleasure threatened to shatter her apart and her cries became incoherent as the tension reached its peak and started to unravel inside her.
Angel felt the quivering in her passage as the delicate inner walls started to clamp down with increasing, clutching power on his invading fingers while her liquid arousal drenched his fingers, seeping out to slick his hand and her inner thighs. Knowing she was close, his tongue whipped along the tight bundle of nerves that was flushed bright red as the blood pumped in ecstasy, going faster and faster as her hips writhed and undulated in a frenzied rhythm within the tight bands of his arms.
Her hands clutched at him with desperate strength and if he hadn’t holding her so tightly she would have collapsed as the orgasm flooded her body, ripping away every sense of self except for those spiralling contractions. She screamed and finally her knees buckled as a myriad of coloured lights exploded behind her tightly closed eyelids.
She felt a falling sensation then the movement of air as she was lifted up and out of the bath. Instinct alone had her wrapping her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his hips, clinging dazedly, still struggling to overcome the aftermath of an orgasm like none she’d ever given herself.
Angel dropped her on the bed, immediately following her down to kiss her senseless all over again. His mouth was devouring this time, as if now she’d come, a switch inside him had been flicked. Gentleness was gone, replaced with a barely restrained ferocity that she could sense, like some could tell when a storm is coming, Cordelia could feel the vibrant hunger humming in the powerful body braced over her naked one.
She ran her hands over his wide shoulders and down the steely muscles of his biceps, trying to sooth him by touch, not knowing she was out of time. Within seconds he was gone and hard hands gripped her hips to drag her down the bed until her legs dangled completely over the side. Before Cordelia could guess what he planned, her knees where spread wide and she felt Angel’s voracious mouth on her still swollen centre; nipping dangerously at the soft flesh and making her gasp in mingled arousal and swift alarm.
Dimly she heard the sound of a zipper; then forgot everything but the devouring lips and darting tongue at her centre. Free of his clothes Angel fisted his sex, holding the aching shaft in a hard clasp he squeezed, trying to subdue the savage need tearing at his guts and feeding the hell-beast that rode him hard now.
Outside: Darla watched from the shadows, her beautiful face pinched and waxy in the moonlight. She saw her childe carry the human bitch, attached to him like a limpet to the bed; dropping them both on it to crawl over her like she was a feast and he starving.
Her fists clenched with rage, and a pressure built to screaming levels in her head, eyes like ice raked the pair on the bed. The woman arching up into his mouth; hips undulating in pleasure and seeking more as her hands clenched with fierce abandon on the sheets twisting in her hands. He wasn’t even hurting her, a cold smile froze Darla’s painted lips. Of course not- not his precious pet!
I know him – I own him! She wanted to rail and scream at them. He’s vicious- he should be! It’s what he was born to be. A dry sob scratched her throat and disgust had her turning away before she gave herself away.
Panting hard, trying to draw in air to centre himself, Angel groaned when desire only twisted stronger and darker inside him. Shit, it wasn’t working and he knew nothing would, except sinking inside her and racing for release. He’d left it almost too late. His self-control was stretched to a thin thread that could snap anytime. The demon was threatening to slip its leash. Rearing up he hooked his hands under her arms, pulling her with him back onto the bed. He could hear the frantic beat of her heart and it only made him harder, and hungrier.
“My turn now” he growled into her startled face and captured her lips again, deliberately making her taste her own arousal on him, needing her to feel it again. He braced himself on one arm and then levered up to pull her thighs over his, until his shaft nudged her slick centre. Under his burning gaze her sex pulsed with life and pure wanton temptation. He trembled, strung out with tension, and the struggle not to just plunge inside and fuck her brains out.
He positioned the broad head of his cock against the sweet female flesh he’d been paying homage to less then a minute ago, while above them, her chest rose and fell sharply with rapid pants from parted lips.
“I’m sorry I can’t wait I have to do this now” his voice throbbed with a plea for understanding over the harsh growling tone and understanding what it meant, she ran her hands over his face, gently closing his eyes and reaching up, sweetly kissed him.
“Go for it” she told him huskily, “I’m stronger than I look” and smiled. It should have soothed the beast- only it did the opposite. The hunger escalated as emotion rose up to match the frenzied passion driving him. I want you so much, it echoed in his head but the words failed him.
Angel shackled her hands and pinned them painlessly over her head, Cordy eyed him enquiring and numbly he shook his head, his face taut and fierce with eyes like flaming coals.
“Have to- need it”. He couldn’t explain, didn’t want to. The demon had to be appeased somehow. It was always this way when he made love, only apparently even more so with Cordy. Restraint helped, as if the action somehow relieved the demons need for a victim, even if death wasn’t the goal.
Angel flexed his hips, pushing through the dewy folds to pierce her tight passage and swallowed her cry with his mouth. God, she was so tight. Tremors raced over his body, locking his muscles tight as he used the last vestige of his humanity not to just plunge in to the hilt. His teeth clenched trying to lock a growl behind them and freed one hand to hook under her bottom and lift her up to him.
“I’m sorry, baby” his voice grated through teeth clenched tight enough to crack. He hated hurting her but couldn’t stop as he rocked his hips back and forth, flexing rhythmically and pumping deeper inside her. The walls of her channel quivered around the hard invasion of his shaft, squeezing him, fisting the sensitive tip with wet heat, drawing moans of pleasure up from his chest to vibrate through him like a deep throated purr.
Cordelia writhed inside the cage of his body, pinned under his weight and a single shackling hand. She arched up trying to escape that hot scrape inside her, powerless not to feel the every inch of him stretching her wider than she’d believed possible. Her nipples brushed against his chest and their bellies rubbed together as he pulled her back down, forcing her to take him, and positioning her for every inward thrust, until finally he broke through the barrier of her virginity and sank straight to her very core.
The cords in her throat stretched as Cordelia bowed her neck, twisting to one side, as face pale, she waited for the stinging pain to recede; while her heels dug into the bed hard enough to shoot her backwards. Which she would have if it weren’t for the powerful arm still holding her captive and keeping them anchored tightly together. Her harsh rasping breath played over his face as he hung over her, trying to keep it together.
The shocking intrusion of that long, thick length had sent shock waves throughout her body, causing her muscles to clamp down on him in distress. Struggling uselessly to eject him, all the while fisting and clutching his sex with mind-blowing tenacity. Powerless to stop it, his control snapped and he started to come. It was too much;, he’d stretched himself too far and with a few deep thrusts that reverberated throughout a still struggling Cordy he came, bucking into her hard.
Cordelia came back to her senses to find him still and unmoving except for a fine trembling that coursed through him and into her. The dull roaring in her ears faded and she could hear the groans pushing up and out of him, low in pitch yet compelling. Her hands twitched in his grasp.
He shook his head and pleaded, thickly, “Don’t move”. He was still semi erect and just as sensitive as a minute ago.
Oh, shit; he squeezed his eyes shut and gasped when she raised her legs and wrapped them around his hips, settling him deeper in the cradle of her hips. The heavy slide of satiation didn’t arrive – hardly surprising considering. But at least the demon was controllable now. Angel released her hands and raised himself to look down into her clear eyed face.
“That hurt” she accused with a definite pout pushing at her kiss swollen lips, while caramel and honey coloured eyes watched him warily from under frowning brows. Angel stifled another groan at the enticing picture she made and kissed that sulky mouth.
“I know, I’m sorry” he offered uselessly, his handsome face sombre in the moonlight. Cordelia gazed at him for a moment longer, seeing the sorrow in those dark eyes.
“Does that mean if I ask you to, you’ll leave me be”? She asked in a low, hopeful voice. She could feel him, thick and hard inside her. After what she’d just been put through getting it in there, she didn’t fancy anymore of it, thanks!
Angel did groan then and pressed his forehead to hers. She looked up to see his eyes were squeezed shut, with long dark lashes, like crescent moons dark against his skin. If she didn’t know better she’d think he was praying or something.
“Is that a no”?
“God, Cordelia don’t ask me that. Please, just don’t okay? I can make it good for you. I promise- trust me”. His voice was hoarse with pleading and ripe with promise, echoed by his eyes as he lifted back up to kiss her; not giving her a chance to refuse him, desperate to convince her. He couldn’t let it finish like this, she’d never trust him again if he did and he wouldn’t blame her.
He didn’t ravish her lips or try and dominate her into submission. He didn’t want concession from her; he wanted willing and honest passion. He brushed his lips back and forth over hers, nudging and massaging the soft rosy flesh, waiting for her to invite him in. Wanting to be comforted after the disappointment of finding sex so abysmal she let him kiss her, and before she knew it she was seeking more of those exquisitely enticing brushes.
Angel deepened the kiss, dipping his tongue inside her mouth, smoothing over hers and coaxing it to join his in a slow mating dance of breathy moans, smooth slides, and swirling feather light touches that drew her slowly but surely back into the whirlpool she’d been hurled from. Each tiny response racked up his own arousal again and it took everything he had to simply stay still, nestled inside her tight body and not thrust.
But he did it; when it came to her, it seemed he had reserves of willpower he’d not realised he possessed. It was Cordelia herself who moved under him first, gasping with a mixture of wonderment and relief when the sensation that rocked her was entirely pleasurable. She did it again, purring when the same heated bliss rippled out from her sex, then laughed when he grunted with his own helpless pleasure.
That laugh did him in. It was fun filled and excited and did things to his insides he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt. He rolled over onto his back and damn his goddamn demon, it could go choke on its own poison for a while. Cordelia yelped with surprise at finding herself on top while her demon lover lay underneath her with a wicked look on his handsome face.
Chocolate brown eyes, positively dancing with carnal promise dared her to turn him down. “You looked like you were enjoying yourself”, Angel offered in explanation- tongue very definitely in cheek. “Do your worst, Baby. I’m all yours. Just be gentle with me okay”.
The feeling of being centre stage wasn’t new to Cordelia Chase. It was like riding a bike, never forgotten, and Cordy thrilled to the unspoken challenge. “So you’re all mine- huh”? Her hips started to twist and she watched his lips turn up in tight, sensually charged smile that tightened her lust to new levels. They both felt the hot rush of liquid sex that flooded her sex and his.
“Like that, do you”? Angel asked her, his voice a deep growl. His large hands settled low on her thighs, running up and down but not interfering, teaching her the rhythm by touch alone. Cordelia braced herself with both hands on his rock hard chest and rose up, luxuriating now in the slow slick scrape of his thickness inside her. She lowered herself again- slowly and they both moaned at the heated reward.
“I think I like it a lot- maybe too much” she teased, breathlessly. She might be a novice but she knew what she liked.
Instinct with a little Angelic assistance guided her. She rode him slow, then fast, then shallow then… so deep their eyes closed as the pleasure became too much and their vision danced with a landscape of rising passion. Her cries and pants rose higher as the tension spiralled, while his got lower and every bit as incoherent. Measured rhythm vanished as Cordelia began to lose every sense but the dark suckling bliss pulling her down, down and down.
Her hips rocked back and forth, aided by hard hands firmly grasping her hips, driving her mad as her own body’s juices drenched her clitoris, making it wet and slick as it thrust over and over his hard pelvis. Rubbing and caressing the hard, pulsing little nub until her back arched back in the throes of an orgasm that was only just beginning.
Angel felt the quivering, fisting sensation of her passage bearing down on him, milking him for every drop of pleasure her body could take from him. She came in a flood of electric sensation that threatened to drain the life out of her, but she held on to as tight as she could and just before the storm took over she leaned back over his face and looked him straight in the eye.
“I love you”. The words weren’t torn from her in the heat of passion, but freely given. Then the tidal wave of her release took her down and she gave herself over to it. Everything seemed to go still for Angel, like a moment frozen in time. Then speeded back up as his back bowed under the weight of his release. He buried his head in her chest and choked on the words he wanted to say but couldn’t- not then.
A new desperation drove him and he whipped them over still holding onto her as if they were really riding a storm out and pounded into her with powerful flexing hips, driving himself into her hot wet centre to pour out his desperate needy emotions. Almost crying with the need to voice them, as the orgasm drained him of everything but the knowledge that he was loved.
He collapsed on top of her, his face pressed to her beating heart, shuddering with aftershocks and trembling with exhaustion; they both were. Cordelia brushed her fingers through his sweat soaked hair, smiling wryly at the hint of a curl he’d probably hated as a youth.
“Cordy” his voice shook too, and she knew it wasn’t with exertion.
“Shush, it’s Okay. I didn’t tell you to make you feel bad. It’s nice to feel that. Really feel it. Maybe all those sappy poets weren’t such a bunch of lame ass losers after all”. She joked lightly and kissed the top of his head.
She was only half serious, she knew he loved her; could feel it deep in her bones. Had done for a long time, even before she’d been willing to admit she felt the same.
He let it go, let her sooth him and apart from rising up to rest on his elbows stayed locked with her, telling himself there was plenty of time. After she’d gotten sick, he’d realised he was in love with her. As dumb as that was it was inescapable and gut wrenching. She deserved more than a splintered creature – nothing but a demon with a soul.
Even knowing that, he couldn’t let her go. God, he needed her so much; had done for a long time. The fear he’d felt at losing control of himself paled in comparison to the fear he’d felt at the thought of losing her. He couldn’t lose her. She’d become his centre; simply hearing her heart beating next to his made his own dead one feel a spark of life.
He knew he could make this good for her, bind her to him with the bonds of the flesh, and she need never know how much his demon craved more. Inside, the demon howled, turning into an echo in his mind when he pushed it back down- away from her.
***
WILLOW
She was hungry and the good thing about living with vampires is midnight snacks are not just the norm but totally expected. Diary open on the table, Willow munched on a jam sandwich and scribbled away.
“Willow for god’s sake. Leave the sodding diary and bring the munchies through will you” called Spike irritably from the living room. Willow gulped and tossed the doorway a guilty look. The box of weetabix on the table nudged her conscience.
“Coming” she called out and searched for somewhere to hide her diary until she could come back for it. Spike took every opportunity to snatch it off her and read bits out-loud, much to her everlasting mortification.
Finally settling on the fridge, she tucked it in beside the milk, reasoning he’d never look for it there.
***
ETA Dammit I knew I’d bloody well forget. Just so ya know since this is outside of canon I’m not going with the happiness clause. That happened to a none existent slayer