Leaning up against the banister Angel felt Cordelia’s arms around his waist. Palms scraped up the front of his shirt and then settled down as she pressed into his back, her lush breasts soft and warm snuggling closer. A husky sigh emerged from her throat, a half joking complaint. “Tell me again whose lame idea it was to invite the Scoobies.”
There was no need to go into that. Cordelia simply expressed his own frustration with this temporary invasion of his home. It amazed him how quickly he could get caught up in the need for sex. Making love to Cordy was a revelation. Something he hoped she found half as meaningful.
People in love had sex—as long as there were no gypsy curses involved. There was no need to feel guilty about it. Angel hoped that dragging her off to the bedroom had not been a mistake. It was spontaneous in a way he rarely allowed himself to be, too used to needing to stay in control.
It was Cordy that blew his vaunted self-control. Being with her, inside her, giving her everything he had made him want it and her even more. Their current circumstances interfered with that. He had discovered that he loved her and that made wanting her all the more irresistible. Fear and a need to show her that he cared came out physically instead of with the reassuring words he wanted to say.
Angel caught her hand lifting it up to kiss the center of her palm. Despite liberal use of gently fragranced shower products he could still detect the subtle aroma of their lovemaking. Intoxicating. The more they touched, kissed or made love his scent became imprinted on her skin.
Just her nearness was enough to spark strong emotions of lust and tenderness. With the memory of taking her so fresh in his mind, the open way she urged him on, told him what she liked, and yet lost the ability to form a coherent word near the end of it, Angel found it hard to focus on the activity in the foyer below. Closing her fingers over the kiss he held it against his chest now staring blindly at the tiled pattern on the floor below.
“We’ll survive this Scooby drama somehow,” Cordelia tried to sound encouraging.
Pulling her around to face him, Angel saw that she’d changed into casual clothes, the kind he once would’ve been surprised to know she possessed: jeans softly hugging her curves and simple sweater. A high knot held her hair off her face. Only a few strands escaped to tease her cheeks.
Angel’s mouth twisted wryly as he fought off the urge to kiss her again. “Survival might be an issue if we get caught.” A hand guided her hips as he effectively trapped her between him and the banister.
Getting caught was the last thing on their minds when they’d been kissing earlier. It wasn’t even a glimmer once the bedroom door had closed them off from the rest of the mansion. As soon as they were inside Angel voraciously swiped his lips across hers again wanting to consume her completely.
Claiming their succulent heat one last time, he trailed his fingers down to fondle her breast before rasping thickly, “Take off your panties.”
Flushed with excitement, Cordy paused for a heartbeat before slipping her fingers underneath the hem of her skirt. The little scrap of scarlet material had slid down her thighs in seconds, damp with desire, to encircle shapely ankles. Stepping out of them with one sandaled foot, she’d used the other to kick them away.
No time existed for sweet, passionate lovemaking, but the lusty glint dancing in her hazel eyes told him it didn’t matter. They’d both needed it, wanted it. Cordelia had fumbled with his belt, got distracted by the bulge formed by his erection and rubbed her hand down his length. Brilliant instincts or not, it caused him to buck up against her cupped palm. If she’d touched him much longer that would’ve been it.
Dragging her hand away, he’d brought it to his mouth, bit the fleshy part of her hand just enough to turn it red. It just spurred her on. Faintly, he recalled the frantic way they’d tugged on each other’s clothes. Her blouse unbuttoned. His shirttail hanging out of his pants. It just wasn’t happening fast enough.
Angel whirled her around fast so that her back and buttocks were flush against him. Her hair settled in messy disarray over their shoulders. He nudged it out of the way to scrape his blunt teeth against her throat, and a wet kiss at the juncture of her jaw.
“Bend over,” he’d instructed giving her a little push in that direction. “Put your hands against the corner of the bed.”
Cordelia flashed an eager grin, bent down so her ass was in the air and peeked at him over her shoulder. The skirt of her dress angled up, but still covered everything revealing only the toned muscles of her spread thighs and calves. “Like that? C’mon, Angel, hurry. Now.”
Gravel voiced, “Just like that,” Angel unzipped without taking his eyes off her. Loving the fact that she submitted, but demanded attention almost in the same breath.
With a little flip, he tossed the back of her skirt out of the way. Took a moment to soak in the sight of Cordelia’s golden skin, ran his hands across the warm flesh of her buttocks. Shiny damp with arousal, he didn’t need to touch her to know she was ready, but he did so anyway rubbing two fingers over her wet center giving her clit a couple of gentle whirls.
Trembling, Cordelia let out an unintelligible sound that urged him on. Angel shoved down his pants just to get them out of the way. He fisted his cock stroking moisture across the broad tip before thrusting forward. Tightly surrounded, the tight wet heat was nearly his undoing. Angel stilled, hips thrust forward, buttocks clenched when he was fully sheathed, panting instinctively to gain some semblance of control.
“Oh—ah!” She trembled below him as if the quick entry was almost too much to take. Body taut, need burning in her gaze as she glanced back, Cordelia pleaded, “Don’t stop.”
Hands on her ass, Angel pulled back slowly watching as each inch of his cock came into view, shiny with her wetness. The snug grasp of her body fought to hold him there. She bucked against his hands, but he pulled back until only the tip remained inside her.
A drawn out, “Yes,” hissed through her gritted teeth as he thrust back hard. “Do that again. You feel so good.”
The words broke what little control he had. Angel pounded into her from behind, his hips working back and forth. Nothing better in this moment, tight and hot, the quick-slow drag of cock and cunt made silence impossible. The wet slap of skin on skin accompanied their orchestral grunts and Cordy’s noisy orgasm. He would have laughed at her efforts to muffle the sound if he had not been so close to coming.
Making her lose her ability to mouth off at him might be a useful skill. One not likely to be available when he needed it. He’d definitely settle for this. Watching Cordy go up in sparks with him inside her was worth any trade off.
Angel reached around her hip, pressed his fingers down through the downy curls to stroke her at the same fast pace. She came again, less intensely, but it was enough to set him off. He lost his perfect rhythm. Letting go her clit he grasped her hips with both hands and rode her until he exploded, jerking hard inside her.
They collapsed onto the bed in a heap of sweaty skin and tangled limbs. Panting for breath, his body echoed hers. Their clothes were caught in wrinkled gathers between them except where they were joined together, reluctant to move. Conscious of his weight bearing down on her, Angel had withdrawn his sex, not bothering to hide the groan of pleasure at the sensation.
Twisting around side by side they kissed softly, slowly in contrast to the fast pace they had set. If they had been alone in the house without anything else to distract them Angel knew this would have been just a prelude to the rest of the evening. If he had his wish they’d still be curled up in bed. Instead, he had tasted the soft moan she made against his tongue while they kissed and then reluctantly left her to rest while he went to clean up.
Cordelia had let him go, a sultry smile on her face. Not wanting to make anyone suspicious, Angel decided he should step out of the room while Cordelia changed clothes. That assumed their visitors had not heard anything or guessed what they had been doing.
From the looks of things, they had not. Everyone downstairs seemed to be occupied by their task of unloading the cars. They seemed to have brought enough supplies and food to last for weeks. Angel hoped this was not going to take that long, but from Giles’ descriptions of the prophecy and the timeline it revealed, he knew that it might be some time before this was over.
“Whose lame idea was it to invite the Scoobies, again?” Cordelia emerged from the bedroom having changed into casual clothes, her hair now tied up in a high knot. His senses were already awake and keyed in to her slightest touch. The casual way she wound her arms around his waist and leaned into his back left him feeling strangely happy.
Angel covered one hand clasping their fingers. “It’s necessary.”
There was no need to remind Cordelia of the reasons. Whether they liked it or not the mansion was going to become their base of operations until they’d settled this business about the prophecy. It was not a perfect plan, but better than nothing.
The decimated wing of the mansion, charred from the fire, was partially open to the outside. Rubble blocked most of it, but anyone searching the perimeter could find their way in. It smelled of mold and other growing things that had cropped up inside it. Only the thick doors and a grand corridor separating out the two wings had saved this part of the house from going up in flames.
“I know,” she conceded with a sigh. “That doesn’t mean it sucks any less.”
Putting up with houseguests was unpalatable enough for Angel without adding on the complication of ex-lovers into the mix. He knew Buffy well enough to believe that she would focus on the job and do what needed to be done to keep Cordelia safe and find the demon responsible for killing Bev. But he was not naive enough to think she would let it go so easily especially when it came time to talk about sleeping arrangements.
Buffy was not the only one he was expecting protestations from, but Angel was at the stage where he did not give a damn about their opinions. He did not want Cordy to be embarrassed about being with him, but he was not about to let anyone interfere with it either. There was only one place in the mansion he wanted her to stay, partly to ease his mind about her safety when they slept, but mainly for the admittedly selfish reason of wanting the woman he loved in his bed.
Still, he put that aside to offer her the option of a place of her own. “We should talk about room assignments,” Angel cautiously brought up the subject to which he got a soft groan in return. “There’s no need for anyone to use sleeping bags again.”
After a lengthy pause Cordelia shook with laughter forcing him to shift around to see her ear to ear grin. “Let’s put Giles in with Xander.”
“And you say that I’m evil,” Angel raised a brow and tried to decide if she was being serious. “The mansion has plenty of room for everyone to have their own place.”
“Spoilsport!”
The light dancing in her eyes drew him in like a beacon. He clasped her waist pulling her closer with a hard little tug. Bending his head, Angel captured her lips, kissed the hell out of her mouth until she pulled away panting for air. “Where will you sleep?”
Cordelia stared at him as if he had asked a trick question. She glanced back toward the master bedroom before sending him an angled look. Propping her hands on her hips, “I could bunk with Buffy,” she shrugged casually. “We could always compare notes.”
Good thing he knew hell was not going to freeze over anytime soon. He let Cordelia’s suggestion pass with a brief smirk. Not wanting her to misunderstand his offer, Angel clarified, “I want you with me—if you won’t be uncomfortable about the others being around.”
“Let’s review what just happened,” she snorted softly obviously amused by his effort to be chivalrous about her reputation. “As much as I think I’m going to like quickies, the idea of groping in dark corners just seems so Junior Year. I don’t care what they think, Angel. If we’re together, we’re together.”
