A Vampire and a Gentleman
Angel accepted her teasing challenge with a kiss, and another just for good measure, reaching back to flip the ‘OPEN’ sign on the office door to ‘CLOSED’ before sweeping her up into his arms and heading downstairs.
He noted with an angsty twinge that his declaration had not been returned in kind. Cordelia wanted him, but had not revealed her own feelings in return. It scared him a bit, like he was stuck in the dark and needing her light to guide him through these uncharted waters. He knew it was not going to be that easy. Not with Cordelia Chase. It would take more than words to convince her this was not just lust, and that he truly felt more for her than either of them would ever have imagined.
Love. The idea of it shocked him. Not because he felt it, but because it felt so different than before. Angel knew he would have to be patient despite his need to know the depths of Cordelia’s feelings. Hungry for answers, he would instead have to be content with sating himself in her, proving the strength of his words by making love to her. Leaving no doubt that she belonged to him, and that he was hers.
The demon at his core gloried at the notion of staking claim, but Angel pushed those urges out of his head even as Cordelia’s teeth tugged at his ear and her warm lips followed to ease the sting. Another nip at his neck sent a dart of pleasure straight to his groin. He stopped on the stairs long enough to draw her attention finding her gaze full of wicked intent, a smile playing at her lips, as her hand slipped up spreading out across his cheek.
“Don’t drop me,” she laughed and then kissed him wildly.
The warning was necessary. It took every ounce of concentration and supernatural coordination to avoid a spill down the stairs. Having his arms full of Cordelia prevented him from responding in any way that let him take charge of that kiss. Just a little out of control her tongue slid into his mouth, hot and wet, eager to draw him out. Her soft lips swiped across his, a moan echoing between them, looking for just the right angle. Finding it, and then on a sigh, winding her arms around him, she reeled closer, their lips meshing urgently.
Only the need to breathe made her pull back to urge him to, “Hurry!”
It took enormous determination to keep moving despite knowing that it would be all too easy to press her limber body against the stairwell wall, rip her panties away, unzip, and thrust home. Better with the beat of the music in their ears, he thought, reminded of that night she stumbled home too drunk to realize she was seducing him. That was something to save for another day, when she had her full faculties, and was not likely to confuse him with some celebrity fantasy figure. Now he had a far different idea involving his bed, her favorite sheets, and teaching her the benefits of a little patience, assuming that he could manage that particular feat considering his own arousal.
Angel carried her through the open bedroom door kicking it shut with the heel of his shoe. Her eager laughter turned into a squeal when he tossed her onto the bed, a deliberate effort to put a little distance between them just long enough to get it together. The weight of the ring on his finger carried with it more than just a reminder of his curse. It was his hope for a future together as more than just friends and neighbors, and for something that went far beyond the pleasure they would find in each other’s arms over the next few hours.
Looking at Cordelia sprawled across his bed heightened every possessive instinct. Somewhere not too far from the surface, his inner caveman and demon mutually approved the urge to pounce on the bed using his muscular body to press hers into the mattress, preventing any chance at escape, and ensuring his claim. As tempting as it was to do just that, Angel did not want to frighten her. He felt certain that her level of experience with sex was limited, and though her golden skin flushed a darker shade of pink where her blood pulsed faster, and the gleam in her bright eyes warned him that she was equally capable of pouncing first, it seemed like a good idea to try to take it slow.
“Good luck with that,” he could hear Cordelia saying if he suggested it. Maybe he was crazy for even thinking it was possible. Holding a steady gaze he lifted his chin, held out his hand, and watched an alluring smile curl her lips.
Cordelia flexed up to make a slow crawl across the bed rising up to her knees the last few inches. The height of the bed brought them face-to-face, their bodies aligned and the layers of their clothing doing little to disguise his arousal. A hint of trepidation flashed across her expressive face before the stroke of his hand chased the shadow of doubt away. His thumb traced the curves of her cheek and the swell of her lips before following with one of the softest kisses they had shared, the coolness of his mouth warming as he brushed across hers, adding a tiny dash of tongue, that enticed a sigh from her throat.
Listening to the rhythm of her heart, the blood pulsing through her veins, Angel pulled back just a fraction. Her eyes were closed; dark lashes brushing her cheeks, with the pleasure of the kiss still painted across her beautiful face. The delicious scent of her mixed the everyday temptation of Cordelia’s personal fragrances with the more intoxicating allure of arousal.
When she opened her eyes to stare deeply into his Angel knew that his plan to go slowly was likely to crash and burn. The temptations she presented without even knowing it tugged at his control, pushing buttons that she was instinctively capable of finding despite layers of personal barriers. Wanting to convince Cordelia they could aim for something real that had nothing to do with rebounds or playing it safe, he had thought slow seduction might be a key strategy, but this feeling between them was too powerful to be contained or controlled demanding their mutual surrender.
Cordelia’s hands planted on his shoulders, plucking at his collar with nervous excitement. “Are we really doing this?” she asked with a sense of wonder. The rhetorical question did not really require an answer, but Angel had to respond, “Oh, yeah,” confirming it for himself, yet hardly recognizing his voice as it thickened with passion.
He reached up releasing the tortoise shell clip that bound her hair into its stylish knot and watched the silken waves cascade across her shoulders. Filling his hands with it, he threaded his fingers through its mass imagining how it would look spread out across his pillows and Cordelia’s bare skin. Every new revelation ramped his desire up another notch.
Kissing her again, this time with a quick, rousing press of his lips to hers, Angel simultaneously stroked one big hand down her spine, his fingers spreading across the firm curve of her ass, teasing her with a gentle squeeze. It gave her license to touch him, too. Her hands left trails of heat everywhere they touched moving across surfaces covered by clothing. He wanted those hands on his skin, touching him, stimulating, stroking his cock.
With a gruff growl, he grabbed her hands and moved them up the center of his chest, her fingertips bumping on buttons along the way. “Undress me,” he challenged echoing words she had once spoken to him the night before he had gone to Sunnydale.
Cordelia needed no further instruction, eagerly diving into the task, though adrenalin made her fingers tremble. Unbuttoning his shirt was not so simple, the buttons somehow evading capture or refusing to be pushed through their small buttonholes. “Maybe I should just bite them off,” she let out a laugh despite her frustration.
Hearing her say that word sent a jolt of lust directly south. Angel ripped open his shirt sending buttons popping in all directions. “Bite me. Let me feel your teeth.” Her tongue dragged across her upper lip as she stared at the swath of torso revealed through the ripped open shirt.
Both hands curled into the soft fabric of his shirt as she opened it to her hungry gaze. Kisses played alternating turns with nibbles as Cordelia sought out sensitive spots to tease him with her teeth and hands. He wrenched his shirt off letting it drop to the ground.
Wrapping her up in his arms Angel sent them both tumbling down onto the bed rolling onto his back and letting her claim higher ground. She reached down to kiss him while he deftly unbuttoned her blouse, slipping it down her shoulders, and revealing the lace-trimmed black silk bra cupping her breasts. He moaned at the sexy sight bringing his hands up to curve around both soft mounds, reminding himself of their weight as they filled his palms.
Cordelia wiggled into a seated position around his waist, tossed her hair back over her shoulders, and stripped off her blouse, letting it fly across the room as she tossed it away. It landed on a lampshade turning the light a rosy hue. “This could be fun,” she said probably talking about the position, while Angel was busy enjoying her enticing breasts. She ran her hands down Angel’s arms and up to cover his hands as he played with her breasts, strumming his thumbs across her curves and the sensitive nipples that jutted up against the silky barrier. “Mmm, I like it when you touch me. Want me to lose the bra, too?”
Speechless, Angel plumped her right breast and sucked the thin silk and turgid nipple into his mouth all at once. He felt her arch into him, hearing the strangled little sound of pleasure emerging from her throat that made his cock twitch for similar attention. Loving that sound, he wanted more of it. She clutched his shoulders, kneading the muscles with her fingertips, her rounded fingernails lightly pressing into his skin unintentionally teasing. He moaned into her cleavage as he lifted her breasts into a tighter vee against his mouth, slowly rubbing both cheeks against her soft curves.
Cordelia caught her lower lip between her teeth as he licked her there, his wet tongue teasing slowly along the contour of skin and lace, while his thumbs stroked her curves. Looking up just in time to see a determined flash of lust in her eyes, he watched as she impatiently reached behind her back to unfasten her bra shrugging it from her shoulders. He slipped it down her arms, lecherously grinning at the way her breasts bounced free of their confinement.
A wicked glint flashed in her eyes. “Like me?” she asked daringly cupping herself and tweaking her swollen nipples.
He muttered something incoherent and wrapped his hand over hers sucking and laving, nipping and teasing her bare breasts. Cordelia arched toward the pleasurable sensations, her head thrown back, hair a wild river down her back as she offered herself up to his skilful mouth. Although Angel wanted to play with those tempting new toys a while longer, he could not ignore other needs stirring him to action. Rock hard, his cock strained against the zipper of his pants aching for contact and the tight heat of her body. Taking hold of her hips, he moved her down from his waist to his groin settling her over his against his aching erection.
Cordelia let out a little gasp, shifting her hips around to find a more comfortable spot, then reacting to the way it felt when she rubbed against him. Without restricting her movements, his hands ran up and down her taut thighs as they tightened, and up under the short skirt rucked up to her waist, fondling her rounded buttocks. He thrust upward as she skimmed across his bulging erection noting her heat and the wetness dampening her panties. The contact played havoc with his control, but it was the sight of the pink tip of her tongue dragging across her lips that spurred him to action.
Catching her jaw, Angel pulled her down for an inflammatory kiss that left her writhing against him. Breaking away just a fraction of an inch, he stared intently into her eyes. “Do you trust me?”
Her hips stilled allowing Cordelia to focus on his words, thinking not really a priority at the moment. “Angel, of course I…”
With a strong snap of his wrist, he ripped her silky panties away, and in a continuous smooth movement rolled back to his supine position carrying her with him. Cordelia let out a shriek of surprise, blinked, finding herself in an upright position with her legs widely splayed across his chest, knees propped on the pillow on either side of Angel’s head. He glanced up long enough to enjoy the mix of anticipation, wide-eyed wonder and terror in her eyes, and then returned his ardent gaze to the trimmed patch of curls covering her mons.
Angel effortlessly raised her to his mouth opening up to lick the soft pink folds. Her scent had been distracting, but the taste of her creamy arousal was the second best thing to blood and his enjoyment was quite obvious as his hungry mouth ate her out. His tongue traced her sex, licking, lapping, dipping, circling and flicking across her heated flesh in a tireless wave of pleasure.
He soaked up every sensation and response. Cordelia held onto the bedrail like a vice. Head thrown back, eyes scrunched closed, mouth gaping into an O of pleasure, she thrust her pelvis rhythmically as he lapped at her. He gave the tight little nub of her clitoris a twirl with his tongue and propped her higher on her knees spreading her wide to thrust a finger deep into her drenched core. Both of them moaned at the contact. Feeling her tight heat surrounding him made his cock throb.
Half-formed words hitched on Cordelia’s lips, incoherent gibberish with an intent that was all too clear. Angel knew she wanted more. Without missing a beat, he added a second finger to his gentle thrusts and speeding up the tempo. From this angle, he could see everything, and he wanted to taste and touch it all, eager to find what set her off the most.
The roar of her femoral pulse sounded in his ear stirring up other physical needs he had to ignore. Angel turned to the source of the intoxicating sound and nipped softly at her leg. Instinctively, Cordelia reached down to him, her fingers spreading through his hair. Instead of pulling away when he moved back to suck and tug at her clit with his lips and tongue, she clutched the back of his head to hold him there.
Gasping for words she could not seem to form, Cordelia suddenly let out a sharp cry, her body no longer in her control as she came, contracting around his fingers as she tensed and writhed with pleasure. He caught her hot orgasm on his tongue determined to consume each drop of her nectar. Delicious all the more for knowing that he did that to her.
His licks slowed to gentle sweeps of his velvet tongue, and he removed his fingers from her tight sheath to run them across his lips tasting her sweet essence and then sucking them deeply into his mouth as her eyes finally opened to stare down at him. Her mouth curled into a sensual smile, “For such a stoic guy, you have a talented tongue.”
Angel laughed, and then smiled smugly, as he helped her move down to the bed. Lying next to her on his side, he stroked his hand along her thigh, knee to hip, his thumb rubbing along her hip. Her skirt was still a tangled ring around her waist. He unzipped it and slid it away leaving her completely nude.
Mapping out her curves, he flattened his hand across the plane of her belly, skimming upwardly across her ribs to close over one of those tempting breasts plumping the soft mound briefly, and stroking across the duskiness of her areola and its erect little nipple before cupping her neck, and closing the distance between them.
His thumb strummed to the pulse at her throat as he kissed her slowly, with a sensual exploration of her mouth, teasing her with his tongue and providing a taste of her own honeyed essence. He felt her shift closer, her body moving into his, her arms sweeping around him. One hand clutched at his nape, her fingers threading through his hair, and the other sweeping along his spine signaling her impatience. Moving his hand again, this time in reverse, he hooked her knee over his hip bringing her into close contact with his groin.
“Ohhh, yeah, Angel,” she moaned into his mouth. “Please. I want it.”
Rest time was over and her body eager for more. Angel was more than ready to give it to her, although one last barrier remained. He had already shucked off his shoes and socks, and yanked off his belt, all without her even noticing they were gone. The pants he had left on, unzipped, his engorged cock untouched, and now throbbing with the need to be sheathed in that tight channel of slick flesh between her thighs.
Cordelia reached between them fumbling with the button and letting out a deep grunt of triumph when it popped open. Roving lower, she cupped him through his pants. Angel thrust into her hand, wanting her to tighten up her grip, yet knowing it to be a bad idea. He might have supernatural staying power, but this was Cordelia and so all bets were off. He wanted her too badly to predict his ability to hold off. Pulling her hand away from its arousing exploration of the family jewels, he wrested it and then its twin to the mattress on either side of her head. She flashed him an irritated look for spoiling her fun.
“Enough of that. If you’re trying to make me come, I suggest you wait until I’m inside you,” he growled softly, nipping at her neck and jaw teasingly, as he settled his body between her thighs.
Letting her go allowed her to grasp his face with both hands and raise herself up far enough to reach his lips. It was a quick, but passionate kiss that Angel wanted to sink into, but Cordelia pulled just far enough away to say, “Do it now. I want you now.”
Within a couple of seconds, he flicked the zipper down, shoved his pants and boxers out of the way, and taking his rampant erection into a firm grip showed her what she was asking for. Angel’s gaze dropped away from hers to watch as he rubbed the blunt tip up and down her pink slit and pushed into her slowly to let her accommodate to his girth. Despite her cunt being slick with dewy arousal, it took a concentrated effort to fully penetrate her. He thought he might go crazy if he did not start thrusting, but the way she clutched at his shoulders felt a little desperate, her breathing coming in hard pants that rubbed her breasts against his chest, and her eyes reflecting just a hint of panic.
Angel lowered himself down onto his elbows, covering her face and neck in butterfly kisses, whispering words of reassurance in her ears. Her soft hands moved across his broad shoulders, no longer holding on for dear life, but exploring him the way he had earlier traced her curves. Sliding under his arms, hers curved around his back. Fingers following the track of his spine found their way down to his buttocks, where he was nestled between her thighs, clenched tight as he held himself deep inside her.
Cordelia bit her lower lip, closing her eyes, as she rocked her hips into him. A string of expletives sounded off in his head as her body fisted his cock, the sensation an exquisite agony, nearly causing him to lose all control.
Withdrawing a few inches, he thrust forward and back with a measured pace. Gently, at first, as he watched the arousal in her brown eyes turn dark with lust. Enjoying the way she arched into him when he bent down to take her breast into his mouth, laving the dark rose tip, before flicking it back and forth with his tongue.
The soft slide of her hand at his nape turned desperate as he picked up the tempo, her taut body shifting to keep up. Angel dragged his mouth along one collarbone following it up to the tempting cord of her neck, kissing her pulse point before claiming her mouth, their lips clinging as he maintained his relentless rhythm of possession. Moving instinctively, Cordelia responded to the urgency of his thrusts, her words streaming against his mouth, begging him not to stop.
The first flickers of her orgasm seemed to catch her by surprise. Considering that she had fainted the last time he made her come, Angel was unprepared for the wild tigress in his arms. She clung to his shoulders, digging in her nails as if to pin him against her, her legs clamping higher around his back caging him in as she made a final frantic climb to reach the peak.
Angel gritted his teeth and persevered, so close to it himself, but not ready to let it come to an end just yet. He felt her tremor uncontrollably, rhythmic spasms tightening and releasing around his rigid cock, making his eyes slam shut, the impetus to stay connected driving him onward.
Reaching beneath her Angel swung her into an upright position, her thighs open across his more powerful ones. With his knees spread, he raised up enough to gain leverage, encouraging Cordelia to hold on for the ride as he speared into her wet core. He slid his palms down the smooth skin of her back moving down to cup her buttocks in his hands, playfully squeezing, as he flexed his hips in a pace and rhythm that had her practically chanting his name as her body bounced in counter-movements to the thrilling force of his thrusts.
“God, Angel, so good…so good….yes, An-gel, An-gel…oh yeah, yeah…An-gel, yes, yes.” Cordelia head was thrown back so that the long waves of her hair teased his hands, her beautiful face flushed hot with a lusty expression, the rosy color brightening her skin.
Only his supernatural strength held them steady as he pistoned into her, allowing him the distraction of drifting his dark gaze along her exposed throat and down to the delicious bounce of her breasts. Dangerously, he shifted his balanced grip by moving one hand to free up the other. Running his fingertips down the length of her throat and sternum, he splayed his hand across one tempting mound, letting it move freely against him during a couple of thrusts, and feeling the tease of her erect nipple brush against his palm.
Cupping her, he flicked his tongue across the dusky tip, and then sucked it into his mouth just long enough to get a reaction. He released her breast and let his wandering fingers travel down to her waist, where he thumbed across the white scar on her abdomen. Cordelia caught his hand, her fingers threading through his, whisking his touch to its intended target. A couple of talented rubs in the right spot and she came again.
This time her body’s hot squeeze sent him over the edge too. One smooth thrust drove him home as he impaled his cock deep inside her, and then made short hard thrusts repeatedly, grunting out his male aggression. His big hands held her safe, prevented her from falling back when her orgasm left her replete of energy and languidly clinging to his shoulders.
A soft moan left her throat as Angel withdrew to reposition her on the bed. He was still half hard and not even close to being sated. Looking at her stretched out across his bed only fed his appetite for more. As Cordelia lay watching him with a wicked little smile playing at the corners of her lips, he made a slow exploration of her body, letting hands and mouth wander randomly across curves and planes. A kiss to her inner knee, the curve of her hip, a slide of his hand across her flat belly, and letting his tongue rim the concave dip before moving on.
When his attention moved to her breasts, Cordelia’s soft hands moved up his arms, and over his broad shoulders to stroke the back of his neck. She arched toward his nuzzling cheeks, and the gentle use of his fingers to caress her sensitive peaks. Her nipples puckered under his palms as he kissed his way higher. He left no reflection in the depths of her gaze, her eyes dark with renewed arousal.
Slow, deep kisses dragged him back into her arms, his body weighing her down, and the soft contours pressing into his flesh turning him hard as steel. Angel savored her mouth, exploring its shape, and the soft suction of her lips. The trust engendered as she opened up to the quick dart of his tongue, or as he slid inside her pliant mouth meshing their lips for seconds longer. A sharp little moan left her throat at the loss of his lips when Angel lifted away.
Turning her over, he continued his path of exploration, sweeping her hair aside to nibble along the curve of her shoulder. He massaged his way up and down her spine from the nape of her neck to the upper curve of her ass making Cordelia moan into the pillow and plea for more of his sensual touch. Straddling her thighs aligned him perfectly to rove those kneading fingers and roughened hands along her back, but it also let his erection find a natural grove, which kept his gaze engrossed as his hard length slid back and forth along the crease between her firm buttocks.
Lewd thoughts chewed at his raw senses sparking ideas better left for the future. He wanted so much from this woman, and only a part of that involved claiming her body. What he needed was her love, unfettered by the fear of losing him to the curse. He could not force her feelings no matter how much he wanted to hear her admit that what she felt for him went beyond friendship and lust.
Angel lay down on his right side, pulling her back against him, and cradling her head against his shoulder. She trembled in anticipation as his hand curled around her thigh lifting it so that she was splayed wide for him. One easy thrust was all it took to bottom out inside her wet center. They both moaned at the contact. He slid his hand down the silky length of her torso, fingers spreading through the curls covering her sex.
His hips slapped lazily against her buttocks dragging his cock in long sweeps nearly to the tip before pressing deep again. The salaciously slow pace was almost as painful as it was pleasurable as he held off his natural urge to move faster.
Coasting his fingers into the wet crevasse where they were joined, Angel knew precisely how to stroke her, how to stimulate them both. Her pulse pounded in his ear as he softly circled her flesh making her hips dance against his in countermovements. The rhythmic sound, and the visible flutter against her throat, was so damn tempting. He wanted to bite her. That single thought suddenly had his fangs emerging and his body vibrating with need beyond his control.
The image in his head was so detailed he could almost taste her blood as he licked at the mark of his claim. He really wanted that, but not here, and not now when things were so tentative between them, and when her biggest fear was letting Angelus free. He was not Angelus. Not soulless. He was a vampire, apparently one with needs.
The flickering acknowledgement was enough to renew his control, his fangs fading with the return of his human form. Angel already knew that any relationship with Cordelia Chase was going to have its complications and no doubt its challenges too.
“Come for me, kitten,” Angel swirled his fingers over her clitoris and with a loud moan of his name she peaked almost instantly, although afterward she snarled, “Don’t call me kitten.” Her cresting pleasure set him off too, the flex of his hips faster, his release a shout of ecstasy.
Afterward, Cordelia turned toward him blanketing him with her body propping herself up on his chest with one arm, chin in her hand, while tracing patterns across his chest with one finger of the other. His hands rested on her hips, fingers splayed out across her buttocks, just holding her there. “I suppose it would be okay if you had a pet name for me,” she conceded. “I do call you Broody, after all.”
“I’m not feeling very broody at the moment,” Angel admitted. He knew the dangers in forgetting about his past even for a moment, but felt secure enough in the power of the ring to say, “You make me happier than I deserve to be.”
“Not bad for an annoying pain in the ass.”
“You’re not going to let that drop any time soon, are you?”
“Nope.”
Though his dead heart could not beat, it was full of feeling, his chest actually achy with emotion. “I love you, Cordelia.”
Beaming at him with one of her brilliant smiles, Cordelia traced a heart on his chest and dropped down to press a kiss into its center before bouncing back to her previous position. She palmed his face, saying simply, “I love you too, Angel.”
Epilogue: What’s Mine is Yours…Or is It?
Cordelia wandered down from the parking garage entrance through to the living room space they had converted to a training room. It had been her idea to open up the connecting door and turn their apartments into one larger shared space. It was not yet fully decorated, but she was working on it little by little.
As expected, Angel was going through his usual martial arts workout. Hanging back to watch was only partly due to the fact that seeing him flicked some switch inside her that immediately made her thoughts turn to sex. It still surprised her…that instant reaction. Maybe someday she could look at him wearing his white tank tucked into low-slung sweats and just see a sweaty guy instead of a sexy manpire, but not today.
Hanging back to watch his skin glistening as his muscles flexed with controlled movements, she just wanted to try out a few new naughty ideas. Too bad for her that sexy fun was not going likely to be had any time soon once she told Angel the news. This was not going to go well, she predicted with a little shudder.
Finishing his set, Angel crossed the room to greet her. He cupped her neck, his thumb stroking her jawline as if sensing her rising tension. “You’ve been gone all afternoon. I missed you.”
One of these days she would have to teach him that couples did things other than have wild, passionate sex in their bedroom, or the kitchen, or the office, or a number of other places that basically equated to spending time at home or work. It was not exactly his favorite subject, but Cordelia did have other things going on in her life that required some attention.
Honestly, she answered, “I missed you, too,” because it was difficult not to think about him when they were apart even for a few hours. The sentiment was nice, but it would not be enough to distract him from what she needed to say, so Cordelia decided to just charge forward. “A funny thing happened on the way to my audition, which I so would have knocked out of the park…if I had gotten there on time.”
The weekend play had been a personal triumph despite the reviews, and Cordelia had perservered when told the director would not pursue a longer run. Today, she had planned to jump back into the game by auditioning for a commercial.
Angel pulled back a couple of inches, crossing his arms as his eyes narrowed suspiciously. Warily asking, “You were late. What funny thing?”
Drawing in a deep breath, she released it slowly. “First, well—ah…I should probably tell you that I borrowed something of yours.”
He appeared to relax and pointed out this was hardly the first time Cordelia had confiscated his belongings for her own use, either temporarily or on a more permanent basis. Rattling off a list of items, he pointed out that his continued irritation at her tendency to take without asking verged on the inane. “Cordy, we’re living together,” he chuckled trying to see what she held behind her back, obviously imagining it to be some broken priceless treasure. “I don’t care if you borrow my stuff.”
Wow! Angel was taking this far better than expected.
Cordelia flung her arms around him planning to kiss him, but losing her hold on the key ring that jangled on its way to the floor. The sound was unmistakable causing Angel to pull away and stare at the damning evidence.
Angel’s head snapped back up, his question almost a whisper of terror. “You borrowed my car?”
“Uh, yeah. What happened to the whole what’s mine is yours to borrow speech?” It wasn’t like she was driving without a license. Sheesh! Talk about overkill. Still, this was the reaction she had been betting on.
“You took the Plymouth.” The statement made it sound like he owned more than one car.
Hooboy! Cordelia nodded, and pressed a soothing hand against his chest. Explaining in sound bites, she tried to make him see her point of view. “Audition. In a hurry. No time for public transportation.”
Obviously, there was more to it than that, but Angel had already leapt ahead to imagining worse case scenarios. He gulped deeply so that his Adam’s apple bobbed. “What funny thing?”
“Maybe that was a poor choice of words,” she admitted with a little cringe. Fender-bender was probably much more appropriate. “Y’know, the Plymouth doesn’t exactly corner like my Corvette.”
“Cor-de-lia,” he growled out his frustration in monosyllabic tones. He snatched up the keys, pausing on his run toward the garage to warn her that there was more to come, “Don’t move.”
The itty-bitty dent in the silver bumper was tiny, miniscule. It barely registered to the human eye. Of course, it probably looked like a gigantic crater to him. Sensing one of their frequent little spats coming on, where Angel usually tried to complain about the most ridiculous things, like her desperate need to leave work early for that one hour Manolo Blahnik shoe sale, Cordelia decided that she was not going to stand there and wait for Angel to come back and lecture her about what and what not to borrow without his express permission.
By the time Angel got back from the garage and his detailed inspection of his precious convertible, she would be showering away the frustrations of her flubbed audition. And if a certain vampire happened to stalk after her while she was in there, all naked and sudsy, Cordelia felt pretty good about the odds that they would not be arguing about the cost of car repair.
