Part 4
He was leaning into the filing cabinet. Damn Cordelia Chase and her filing scheme. How was a non-person supposed to find anything when she filed ‘neurotics’ under ‘C’ for ‘cracked’ and ‘murder’ under ‘B’ for ‘bumped off’?
Of course Angel wouldn’t be the one trying to find her file if she was here. Although, he still wanted to ask he why she’d been up all night, he had a feeling his demon was less than cooperative.
Seeing her current state of helpless yawning, he let her sit this day out as long as she stayed within viewable distance of the fang gang. And Wesley and Gunn both didn’t mind keeping an eye on her today. With complete disregard to her usual whining.
Giles had agreed to bring the books over around sundown and he’d even sounded civil to Angel. Angelus was running rampant with his seer. Human and half in control of her body the demon was finally getting to assert himself how he knew best.
Sexually.
And meanwhile, Angel still couldn’t shake the image of Cordelia wrapped around his body, preferably naked. And just because she was sporting a shiny new demon. HIS demon dammit. This kind of sharing should have disgusted him, but he was a vampire.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was causing those soft coppery cheeks to flush with pink and he couldn’t ignore the telltale smell of her arousal while she sat cross-legged and rigid like stone. For Angel, it was strangely erotic that the voice whispering secrets and lurid fantasies was his.
SLAP!
The door to his office hit the wall.
Angel looked up startled at the distressed expression on the watcher’s face, Angel’s arms still buried in the misfiled folders.
Wesley’s shirt was untucked, the worry lines deeper than usual and the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up unevenly to his elbows. He did not look happy or comfortable.
Straightening, Angel raised an eyebrow and pushed the filing drawer shut. “I swear, whatever it is, I didn’t do it.”
“This has to stop.”
“Okay. I’ll bite. Stop what?”
Wesley glared at the vampire’s pun. “We encourage good relations with clients, but if you don’t stop Angelus’ sleazing around in her body with anything on two legs Angel, I’m going to break something; like my head.”
By then Angel was staring at him. “He’s…what?”
“Playing the proverbial office slut Angel!” The grown man broke down into a boyish whine. “Please get her out of the lobby and ball and chain her to your desk if you have to. Please? I’ll work for free! I’ll mix your blood! Please just get him to stop dangling her hopefully under every male walking into the hotel. I’ll do anything.”
Cordelia was flirting with other men. Angelus was making her flirt with other men! As if the woman alone wasn’t enough! The weariness was probably catching up to her, he concluded.
Angel didn’t know what to do, smile or glare.
So he stopped the smile that was threatening to spread across his face because Wesley looked distressed enough already. “Okay Wesley. Would you like me to go now?”
“YES!”
He bit the inside of his cheek to not laugh at the enthusiasm in Wesley’s disheveled form. Without another word he ducked out under his arm.
“Angel?”
Turning at the door Angel looked at him curiously.
“Next time she insists on helping us. Lock her in the stock room.”
“Wouldn’t do much good Wes. She’d link all our paper clips together and make origami of all the paper.”
Wesley looked beaten. “Just get her out of there before she starts to strip.”
Angel chuckled to himself as he walked out of his office and into the hotel lobby.
He turned the corner and spotted the object of his search standing across the hall with a man leaning over her, one hand braced against the wall, while she stood there pleasantly trapped under him, grinning lasciviously.
Instant anger burned in his belly and he narrowed his eyes as she said something that seemed to make the stupidly smitten man snicker. He was going down.
Stalking across the lobby while Gunn talked to the group of little old ladies muttering about pygmies Angel was just in time to catch her wrist as she raised her hand to slide up into the man’s hair. “Excuse me.”
The dark haired man blinked with confusion as the brunette was yanked out from under before he could react. Looking up he stared at the large brooding man dragging the squirming girl up the stairs. “Hey!”
“Let me go you insensitive prick! If you can’t get any doesn’t mean I have to go without!”
Tugging harder on the woman’s wrist Angel dragged her down the corridor and into his room. “Shut up Angelus. As long as you’re in her body, you’re not getting any. So just deal.”
Kicking the door shut Angel pushed Cordelia further into the room before grabbing her shoulders “Cordy? Dammit come on! Don’t lose it on me right now.”
The lusty haze in the seer’s eyes cleared slightly as she groaned softly in his eyes. “Shit! He did it again didn’t he?”
Angel sighed with guilt. “I’m so sorry about this.”
Shaking her head, Cordelia touched her head slightly. “It’s not your fault. I’m just really tired and he just never shuts up and the guy wasn’t bad looking or anything…”
“Cordy…”
“Right. Right. I got it.” She huffed softly. “He’s sulking. I’m okay.” With a soft sigh and without any warning, she wrapped her arms around his chest, her face buried in his black shirt and she finally let out a shuddering breath.
Cordelia finally let the tension seep out of her body and she let him hold her weight. She really didn’t have to do this alone. Not today.
A yawn caught her off guard and she muffled it into his chest. “Sorry.”
His mouth rested on her hair and he held her with a smile. “You should take a nap. I’ll stay with you so you don’t seduce some unwitting man into my bed.”
“God, did that ever sound wrong.” She chuckled softly before pulling away to look up into his face.
Unable to help the tug in his treacherous muscles Angel let his hand slide down her jaw softly and for the first time in two days her mouth stretched into her widest and most beautiful smile.
How the hell could anyone resist this woman? Ignoring the sudden need to inhale her scent Angel picked a safer route.
“Question.”
She raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“Where’d you file ‘demon’?”
Her smile quirked into a smirk. “Under ‘B’.”
He blinked. “’B’ for?”
“Boogieman.”
He couldn’t help but laugh and gave her another squeeze in his arms before letting her go. God he loved this woman. Doyle had hit the nail on it proverbial head when he said she was the humanizing factor in his life.
The one thing that didn’t make him feel like an animal.
“So you’ll watch over me?”
“To protect my seer’s honor. I see little ways out of it. Need a change of clothes?”
She stifled another yawn. “I don’t think I could bother. Just point me to the pillows. I’ll make this quick.”
Angel pulled back the covers on the bed and before he had turned the beside lamp off Cordelia had snuggled into them, her boots falling beside his bed on the carpet. One foot peeked out of the covers; the toenails screaming a wanton red and he shook his head.
Angelus shared his soul’s affinity with colors. Was it just wrong that her toes were making him want to fall to his knees and suck on each one slowly? Probably, he concluded with a frown. Where the hell was his brain lately.
Sans demon he was supposed to be a little less sex obsessed and to think of Cordelia this way. It was wrong.
He braved another look at her. With her hair framing his pillow he noticed she slept on the other side of the bed he usually slept on. The idea unconsciously popping into his head. This time his nagging demon didn’t tell him why, but Angel had a pretty good idea.
Dragging a chair next to her he let his chin fall on one propped up fist as he watched her. One hand curled under her cheek, her eyelashes resting against her cheeks, the steady rise and fall of her chest soothed him in a way he hadn’t expected.
He always figured it was the demon just being obnoxious and horny, but this was different.
And for the first time in two years Angel pulled out his sketchpad and kohl from the bedside table.
***
“What is it with women and this need for sappy love stories?”
Cordelia settled back against the pillows next to her vampire, the remote in her hand as they watched the titles appear for Cordelia’s favorite movie. “Very few of us live them anymore.”
His head twisted around almost horrified by her claim. “Are you suggesting that romance is dead?”
“You’ve lived a few hundred lives. Don’t you think?” Snuggling into the plush pillow she settled back to enjoy the ‘new cow’ theory as Ashley Judd pranced around the screen.
“Men still buy silly candies and flowers for their woman. Hell even I have on some occasion!”
“When they were not doused in human blood.”
“Okay but there was definitely candy and candlelight.”
She couldn’t help smirk at him. “When was the last time you brought me Candy?”
The frown deepened in his brow, the contours of his nose contorting slightly. He was sure he lavished her with goodies. He was a gentleman! Okay maybe Liam wasn’t that much of a damned gentleman but he was dammit. He’d brought her candy.
On some occasion. Racking his brain he counted off events that had transpired and couldn’t recall sweeteners on his list. Dammit. He hated behind proved wrong.
By a woman no less. “It’s not my damned fault you’re always on a diet.”
The girl chuckled softly, the sound like morning bells on a sunny day and for a second he just watched the animated mirth on her face. The squeezing shut of her eyes and the expanse of her smile seemed to chase away shadows all around the room.
“Give it up already. We’re watching this movie.”
“Cordyyyyy! It’s booooring!” If bribery didn’t do it. Maybe whining would. Hey what can I tell you; I’m a vampire.
With a sigh and sacrificing the lovely images of Hugh Jackman in her head, Cordelia turned her head to look at her vampire’s face and groaned. “Oh god not the puppy eyes.”
SCORE! But he was always the kind to push a little more.
Her groan melted into a cry of frustrating. “Stop with the lip! GAH!” Reaching out she grabbed his chin and glared at him. “You are such a melodrama queen. What do you wanna watch instead?”
The leer that was returned was accompanied by him reaching out and grabbing the remote from her. Before she could protest or grab it back he had pointed it to the screen and was grinning like a madman. “PORN!”
Cordelia stared at the childlike glee in his handsome face and her breath stilled in her chest. “Porn! You and me! Watch PORN! NOWAY! You have wandering hands!” She shook her head and tried to grab for the remote.
What she should have done was run.
His mouth spread into a wicked smirk before his arm hooked around her narrow waist and pulled her, toppling over him. The startled girl went sprawling against his chest and stared up into his eyes with growing panic as he purred softly. “I thought you liked my wandering hands Cordelia.”
She gulped at the predatory glint in his usual chocolate brown eyes. And the sounds from the TV filtered through her fast spinning out of control brain. “Oh god!” When his grip tightened she shrieked softly and squirmed against him.
“LEGGO!” She twisted and he took the opportunity to allow her enough room until her back was against him, her legs kicking above his and her ass settled comfortably between his thighs. “Let go! I’ll hurt you! I can wield a mean PENCIL!”
He couldn’t hold the chuckle as the scent of her fear and the distinct musk of her arousal tainted the air and he couldn’t help dart his tongue out and slide it across her jaw teasingly. “Oh no. I tremble in my stylishly unaffordable boots.”
Her eyes snapped open and when the scene on the TV caught her eye. She slammed her eyes shut with a squeal. “Eyow! I don’t even LIKE porn! I am so NOT looking at this! Unhand me!”
Then her entire body stilled. Oh god. Sensory overload. With eyes closed and her body humming with his proximity, he pulled the last brick in her wall as his mouth brushed the rim of her ear right before his husky voice came.
“Oh but I’m looking baby. The things I could do with you tied under my body the way she is right now.” The involuntary shudder made her draw in a spurt of breath as he held her to him firmly, his arms wrapped around her waist from behind.
One of her hands loosened away from her arm which she had been trying to pry to reach back and cover the mouth whispering naughty images. When his tongue slid out and flicked softly against her palm, she jerked her hand away as if stung, an electric current zipping down her spine and pooling in her gut.
Oh dear lord he licked me. “Shhhhhhh! Don’t tell me!”
She felt more than saw the slow smile stretch across his beautiful mouth, her fingers itching to go back and touch the soft contours there. “Then how about I do it to you?” The suggestion was whispered into her ear and his free hand slid down her stomach slowly over the fabric of her soft cotton shirt.
Eyes snapping open, she instinctively caught his hand; her fingers threading into his with familiarity. “Tell me! Yes telling me is good.”
With her body in an erotic screaming frenzy, her eyes darted between the television and his hand gripping hers as he slowly raised both their hands above her head and her fingers slid against the side of his neck as his mouth caught her earlobe. “Hold on baby.”
With a panting gulp of breath, her fingers curled into the hair at the nape of neck as he pulled her other hands to join the first. Linking her hands around his neck and shoulders he felt her body uncurl between his, her legs stretching finally to relax onto the mattress.
“That’s it Cordelia. Just relax. Let me touch you, let my body teach you to make love with your yours until your can’t take anymore,” he purred softly into the shell of her ear and the answering shiver supplemented the soft moan building in her throat.
He ran his hand slowly back down from her hands to the soft skin on the inside of her wrist, across the bone of her elbow and down the firm muscle in her forearm before dipping below her shoulder and along the side of breasts. “Hear the woman’s cries ? You’ll be screaming louder when I’m done with you.”
Her entire frame was taut with tension as his hands slide around the curve of her hip, the other arm still firmly holding her pinned back against his chest. “What is he doing to her?”
“Hmmm? You’ll find out.” He slid his hand over the belt of her skirt and shifted his hips until his hand met the firm curve of her ass encased in black leather. “Did I mention how much I like it when you wear skirts?”
Her lower lip caught between her teeth, her thighs squeezing together in a last attempt to keep him out as she fidgeted slightly in his lap. “Why?”
The smirk across her ear was a testimony to his expertise when it came to Cordelia Chase. With a precision only brought about due to centuries of practice he deftly slipped his knee between hers, spreading her legs apart without missing a beat.
“Because of this baby.” His hand glided under the hem of her skirt easily from behind.
She couldn’t help the shorting of her breath, her chest tightening with the knowledge that he could unwind her this easily. The ease with which he had parted her thighs almost catching her off guard. “No don’t…”
The chuckle was almost sinful as the pinpricks of pleasure bursting across every inch of her skin where he touched her. “Why? Because you’re not wearing any panties my love?”
She froze, going deathly still as the realization came, her body unconsciously pressing back against his as she tried to evade his hand unsuccessfully. “I…um….laundry day,” she mumbled, her cheeks coloring with embarrassment.
“Cordy’s not wearing panties…” The amused purr was followed by his fingers dipping further between her legs to slide across the dampened trimmed curls there. “And Cordy’s wet and very turned on.” The husky chuckle was wicked and taunting but it only strung her tighter as she tried to fight the need to press back into his questing fingers.
When two fingers slipped past the soft folds of her labia she arched against him like a cat in heat, one leg sliding up, her foot resting on the mattress to give him more room. “You …you evil, wicked man!”
He chuckled softly, the hand around her stomach sliding beneath her shirt. “Oh you just pick new and improved ways to insult me don’t you?” A soft cry caught in her throat as he ran two fingers across the slick nub of her clitoris. “See what that man is doing to his woman? Sliding his fingers in like that? Think you can handle it baby?
The ragged moan was torn from her lips, her fingers tightening in his hair and shoulder. “Oh god!”
His tongue dipped into her ear and her brain disconnected from her body as she undulated there helplessly caught and surrounded by his body. “My naughty little kitten… not wearing panties on a working day.” The laugh was laced with wicked humor and immodest intent. “I should punish you.”
“Punish?” With body purring with pleasure like a harp string, taut and stretched to its limit. She could barely form words. “Oh god….I had little choice….”
“Oh Hazel…” The lusty growl in her ear was too recognizable. The depth almost snapping her right out of his arms as she twisted her head and stared up into the gold tinge of Angelus’ eyes.
“Angelus!”
His mouth twisted into a leer. “I might be good if you say you’re sorry.” And then his thumb was stroking slow circles around her clit and her protests were melting into throaty moans. “Are you sorry Hazel?”
And she was whimpering softly, her body arching like a bow against him and she was screaming. “Sorry! Oh god Angelus! I’m sorry!”
***
Angel looked up sharply at the groan. He’d been so busy putting the finishing touching to the contours of her face that he hadn’t noticed the soft shift in air and the heady scent escalating to a maddening aroma of pure Cordelia Chase.
Then the old breath in his lungs was thrust out of him as he saw her arch in his bed, one of her hands disappearing under the edge of his sheets and his slow brain put two and two together.
When the depth of her moans shook him to his bones he jumped to his feet, hurriedly putting his pad and kohl on the table as he rushed to her side, unable to form coherent thought at the picture she presented, his own body reacting to the sounds emanating from his best friend caught in an obviously erotic dream.
Caught between his need to see what she was seeing in her dream and rather who, he didn’t know if he should wake her or help her reach the peak she obviously wanted. And while he stood there battling his hormones and his guilty conscious, Cordelia’s back arched liked a bow, her eyes flew open as she sprang up in bed, her hands catching the sheet in fists and she cried out,
“Sorry! Oh god Angelus! I’m sorry!”
And Angel stood there at the edge of the bed staring down at her like a damned fool while she panted, her eyes wild and dazed as she stared back.