As soon as Spike and Drusilla departed, Angel slammed the door shut with a loud bang taking out some of his anger at them on the inanimate object. Ripping off his leather jacket, he slung it down on a nearby chair, not even bothering to fold it, much less hang it up. Turning slowly, just enough to stare over his shoulder at Cordelia, whose bright eyes were fixed on him, he became outwardly calm despite the churning storm inside.
It was difficult enough to focus on Cordelia’s safety when the threat came from outside the mansion walls. Letting down his guard when it came to his progeny was a mistake. Although it appeared no harm was intended, they had definitely crossed a line. Touching Cordelia this way, well-intentioned scheme or not, went against every unspoken rule of their kind.
She was his. The sight of her bound body roused far more than just desire. It tugged at his possessive demonic nature, and his human need to protect the woman he loved from all possible harm.
They probably thought they were doing him a favor, or just playing the kinds of games they were used to back in the day. No doubt Angelus would have gotten a kick out of watching Cordelia squirm against her bindings, her beautiful body his for the taking. He would make her beg for release, using his skill to bring hers to the brink of climax until tears fell, and sobs of pleasure, and terror, filled his ears.
The things Angelus would have done disgusted him, but he was hard anyway, a heavy throb building in his groin at the thought of taking the gift that was offered.
Christ! She was temptation personified. The staccato beat of her heart called to him like a beacon pulling him forward. He stalked across the space between them, moving slow and steady, eyes darkening as his pupils dilated taking her in. Teasing his senses, Angel dragged his tongue across the seam of his lips, anticipating things to come, wanting far more than she could ever imagine.
He crossed behind her out of the line of her sight forcing Cordelia to twist around to try to catch a glimpse of him. Waiting in her blind spot, he shucked off his shoes and socks, puling the shirttail from his pants, plucking the buttons open one by one as he watched the candlelight shimmer across her skin.
A murmur of frustration escaped Cordelia’s throat when he stayed out of view too long. “Angel? A little tied up, here.”
Quite well, he noted, considering the impromptu use of silk ties. A trace of anger laced sounded as he forced out the words, “So I see.” The apology he should be offering went unspoken, his feelings tightening up in his throat like a boa constrictor squeezing the life out of its prey.
Drusilla’s plans were all too apparent, laying the blame solely in her direction, and the reason why Spike was still standing. He had let Dru off far too easily with just a few harsh words and a swat on the ass, when her actions would normally earn her far worse. Thinking about it only pissed him off. Aggression tensed his shoulders, and he tried to shake it off with a slow roll flexing his muscles across the bone, craning his neck side-to-side feeling the tendons stretch.
Angel knew where this was supposed to lead. Every instinct demanded he follow along. Touch. Take. Claim. His hands were clenched at his sides as he fought against the urge to take what was essentially on display. He wanted to grasp those hips, thrust deep, and pound into her in the hard rhythm that made Cordelia convulse around him, and scream his name like he was the center of her universe. When he finally sank his fangs into her throat, it would be at the height of her release, adrenalin-rich blood bursting into his mouth at the same time her sweet honey poured over his cock.
Pressing against his trouser leg like a hungry monster looking to escape, his engorged shaft felt tight, huge, the sensitive foreskin rubbing against the swollen tip each time he moved. Exploding now was not an option requiring a pause to remove the rest of his clothes. Angel uncurled his fingers, grasped the open panels of his shirt and shucked it off, dropping it onto the carpet. The belt buckle jangled as he dealt with it, opening the button of his pants with the flick of his thumb.
Cordelia’s head lifted up a notch at the sounds, and twisted with the fruitless effort to see him as the zipper riffed on its way down. It was excitement rather than fear that tensed her body, fragrant arousal making him grip his thick shaft fisting it hard. A low growl rumbled across his chest as he pumped its length twice anticipating her tightness.
“Angel, honey, use your words. The growly thing is always a turn-on, but I can’t see you and I’m still tied up.”
Her toes curled when he touched her ankle, his fingers shifting over skin and bone and knotted Paisley silk, continuing a slow path up to her hip where he opened up his hand to take hold filling his palm with soft, warm skin, and firm flesh. He ran the other down her spine feeling her bend and arch under his touch seeking more.
Another soft moan emerged as she confessed, “I love it when you touch me. Your hands feel so good. Why do I get the idea…oh, that’s, mmm…you’re not gonna untie me, are you?”
Angel did not answer at first circling his thumbs along the base of her spine, long fingers spreading out to run the gauntlet of her tiny waist and ribs, edging forward to tease her breasts filling his palms with their weight. She writhed against him pressing into his cool touch, heating him up, and making it impossible to deny his needs.
He gave her an answer, “No.” It was one word more than he thought he could manage sending him back to his own possessive thoughts as he slid his hands across her skin.
She felt so familiar now. Angel anticipated his path, having memorized each millimeter of her beautiful body. Touching her was more than just a good feeling; it felt necessary, yet he held back the words afraid of how they might come out. Knowing the depths of his feelings shook him to the core, much less Cordelia, who had only the most superficial knowledge about the possessive nature of vampires.
Humans and their relationships were so different now than during Liam’s time. A woman of Cordelia’s age would be wedded, bedded, and gravid with child, and probably not for the first time. He pictured that scenario for a moment, surprised by the sharp hurt at the loss of it, but not so much to mistake an impossibility for a reason to let her go. Whether she knew it or not they were beyond that now.
Cordelia might believe this was an impromptu massage, his big hands running over her skin, kneading her flesh, but it was more than that. The rhythmic strokes soothed the raging beast within him, muting out the inner voice urging him to take what was offered. Finally, letting him put thoughts to voice. “Tell me you’re mine, Cordy.”
“Duh! Kinda obvious.”
That did not negate his need to hear her acknowledge the fact. “Say it.”
“Mmm, God, yes. All yours.” Her words washed over him like a calming balm despite the fact that he knew her feelings for him. That side of him had nothing to do with feelings and everything to do with possession, and even if it had only been his own progeny here in the room to see and touch what belonged to him, he wanted to hear it.
“Good.”
Smooth skin slid under his palm as she wiggled her ass teasingly. “So whatcha gonna do about it?” He could sense the grin on her face daring him to take her just like this.
Angel loved the way she was always eager for him, wanting him just as desperately. He had planned to let her sleep tonight, just enjoying her closeness skin to skin, surrounded by her warmth. Adrenalin had chased away any trace of sleepiness giving him an excuse to finish what they had started back on the beach.
“Make new plans,” he answered with a smirk tracing his fingers down to her sex. With a gentle thrust he plunged two fingers inside her wet center eliciting a moan of approval.
“Oh, yeah, new plans. What were, oh God, that’s so good, ah, ah, what were the old plans?”
Right now, Angel was so hard he could barely fathom the original idea. “Snuggling,” a deeper octave laced his voice with lust, making even that sweet confession sound sinful.
Unable to thrust back against his hand Cordelia moved in a tight little circle, letting his touch stimulate everything, her inner core tightening around his long, thrusting fingers. “Niiice! Angel snuggles are top notch. Ooh, yes! So is that.”
Cordelia’s legs strained against her bindings as his movements shifted. Plunging deep in a fast pounding rhythm made his hand slap against her sensitive skin. A wild thing, she grunted out sexy little sounds, tossed her hair as her upper body moved desperately seeking a counterpoint to his thrusts. Smooth as silk, and scorching his fingers, she was almost there, about to come undone at his touch.
He wanted more, needed it, and felt the bone and muscle shift, fangs emerging with a hard mix of pleasure and pain. Instantly, his senses sharpened, heightening everything, making the thump of her heartbeat louder, the rush of blood in her veins a siren song, the catch of her breath as he removed his fingers shooting sparks of anticipation along his nerves. The bench at the end of the bed cushioned his knees when Angel shifted up behind her, but a cold concrete floor would not have made a difference to his actions, needing her now.
Grasping her hips, Angel shifted until the hard length of him centered against her, broad tip poised for entry. He could not take it slowly, and did not want to, knowing she was ready for it. Pushing past her body’s natural resistance, he thrust home, spearing into her slick heat until he was buried to the hilt, a primal male satisfaction blooming in his chest at making her take it all.
Almost instantly, Cordelia keened sharply as she came spasming around the thick press of his sex inside her. Her name ripped from his throat, course with lust over the insanely good sensation of being fully sheathed inside her. All the way in, holding tight, his head thrown back and eyes clenched shut to ride out the sensation, Angel ground out, “You feel incredible,” salaciously rubbing a hand over her ass as he began to move.
A few slow, steady strokes to prime her exhausted the limits of Angel’s patience. Driving back into her like a piston, he wrapped his hands around her thighs for leverage, making the most of the angle. He fucked her deep and hard, rougher than he intended, as if he needed to thrust everything he was inside her.
Cordelia called out his name, a crack sounding between the syllables, begging for more even if it might be too much. He gave it to her because he had to, hips flying back and forth, her ass pressed against him, the added sounds of sex spurring him on. Suddenly, she was coming again, her orgasm bursting around him, slicking his cock, and making her wetter, hotter.
Like a furnace beneath his touch, he soaked up her heat, felt the blood pulsing as her body throbbed around him. Reaching forward, Angel grabbed a fist full of her long hair that continually teased him with glimpses of her throat, hiding and revealing. The vein in her neck distended to its own inner beat, the tune of her heart racing in her chest.
The hand fisting her hair kept her body taunt, raised off the bed, straining her bonds to their full extent as he brought her closer. Still keeping up his hard rhythm, Angel let go his hold on her hip. Blood rushed back into the blanched spots where his tight grip held her in place, making him wonder if there would be bruises there tomorrow. Opening up his hand he flattened it against her abdomen sliding it upward across the ladder of her ribs to clasp a breast jiggling with the force of his thrusts.
Angel stared down at the smooth skin of her throat craving connection, his fangs aching at the urgency of his need to claim her. Moving closer with the next thrust he banged a little too deep, tugged a little too hard. Cordelia cried out sharply, this time her pleasure laced with a trace of pain, the sound jabbing him out of his lustful haze, and reminding him of his thoughts about Angelus, and the dangers of letting himself get out of control.
Angel released Cordelia so quickly that she collapsed on the bed, both of them groaning as he pulled out, and backed away. He could not get the apology out fast enough feeling like he had betrayed her trust. “Sorry.”
Confused, she seemed uncertain about his reasons. “For stopping?”
“Being too rough.”
The pause that followed lasted only a heartbeat. “Hadn’t noticed. It was hot like that.”
The lusty confession made him moan with the need to pick up right where they left off. Angel did not need to hear that right now despite that he was still rock hard, his cock a rampant bar of flesh jutting sharply from his groin, still shiny with her wetness. Taut with desire, feeling far too needy, he knew he could not take her again that way. Not tonight, at least.
“Please, Angel, I was. . .can we?”
“You’re not usually so tongue-tied about asking for it, Cordy.” He grinned even though he probably should not be encouraging her.
Cordelia let out a little growl of frustration, “No, I’m just tied up. Otherwise, I would so pounce on you right now.”
The image of her pushing him back on the bed, straddling his hips, screwing herself onto his erection, and enthusiastically riding herself into an orgasm short-circuited his brain for a second. Aroused and amused by her words, he told her, “Next time,” promising to let her have her way with him. “You’re very sexy when you pounce.”
“C’mon, give it to me, Angel,” she begged so sweetly it would tempt a saint. “I need you inside me.”
Angel knew she would be sore, and probably bruised in the morning, but he needed her, too. They had both been close to coming when he stopped, and he was certainly feeling the ache in his balls. Although Cordelia had already had multiple orgasms, he knew from experience that she was capable of responding until exhaustion set in. She wanted him, and he was always ready, anticipating her needs, taking her to new heights, and in ways she had never contemplated.
“You’ll have me.” The words came out almost gruffly as he gritted his teeth determinedly reminding himself to change the pace. If this was going to happen tonight, he wanted it to be face to face, making love to her, not while taking her roughly from behind.
Releasing her legs by untying the knots at each bedpost, he slipped her forward onto the bed and gently rolled her onto her back. Cordelia stretched out her usually limber legs, testing the joints that had been forced into one position for some time. “Ooh, I’m kinda stiff.”
Angel climbed up on the bed next to her, stroking her face softly, as he joked, “So am I,” drawing a soft laugh in response as he reminded her of an awkward conversation in the library.
“Dork.”
Smirking, he leaned in to brush his lips teasingly against hers, the smile still on his face until he kissed her again, this time with tender reverence as if worshipping the shape of her mouth, the warmth of her lips. A little mewl sounded from Cordelia in anticipation of more, but he deliberately took it soft and slow making her melt into his kisses, building her arousal up again. He also hoped to keep his inner demon under control.
Teasing the soft inner curve of her lower lip with the tip of his tongue made her open up to him, their kisses getting hotter, wilder. Angel pinned her thighs with one of his as he held her steady trapping his rigid shaft against her hip, a spark flashing behind his eyes at the sensation. He lifted away from their kiss, waited long enough for Cordelia to open her eyes. “You’re so beautiful like this.”
Even though it should be no surprise, she gasped at the way he said it, and Angel knew he probably sounded like a desperate man barely in control. Cordelia kept her response light by reminding him that her wrists were still bound to the headboard. “Tied up, you mean?”
Angel had not forgotten. Nor could he deny that it was still a turn-on, but right now it seemed like a good idea. Having her hands on him always drove him wild. Cordelia was most definitely a tactile lover, and what she lacked in experience, she more than made up for in enthusiasm.
Golden skin was flushed with pink undertones, her full lips swollen from their kisses, and eyes bright with lust. Cupping one firm breast, he thumbed her sensitive nipple, already pulled into a tight little peak. She arched toward his touch, and moaned his name.
“Aroused, naked, in my arms,” Angel clarified his thoughts as he dropped a kiss on her lips before taking his kisses on tour. The tempting line of her throat was the only area he avoided feeling certain that pressing his lips to her pulse point might be too much to handle, much less running his tongue over the cord of her neck, catching it between his blunt teeth, or sucking just hard enough to leave a hickey.
Everything else was fair game starting with the line of her collarbone so close to the warm allure of her throat, as he pressed soft kisses and little nibbles along her flesh, with his hands scouting out new locations ahead. Skimming his palm across the breast already in his grasp, he fondled it gently, bending his head to suckle at its dusky peak. He gave equal attention to is twin before his path of nibbles and caresses continued down to her toned belly with its soft curves nuzzling the pink scar there and dipping his tongue into the concave slit of her navel.
Angel slid between her legs opening her wide to his heated gaze. She smelled so good, fragrant with arousal and juicy with come. Licking his lips in anticipation of tasting her, he craved it almost as much as her blood because it was intimate, solely hers, and she belonged to him.
As always, Cordelia openly enjoyed every lick, caress, and thrust of his tongue as he ate her out. Wild with lust, she begged to be set free of her bonds so used to touching any part of him she could reach, playing with her breasts, or stroking herself whenever they made love this way.
Cordelia’s ability to talk her way through anything never ceased to amaze him, and he always enjoyed the litany of praise mixed with her lusty little demands. “Oh, God, yes! Yesssss! Uhh, you’re killing me. Don’t stop. Yeah, Angel, do that again. Mmm! Ooh, right there.”
He stayed between her thighs until her body was tuned up to a fever pitch, hips writhing and practically riding his tongue as it lashed across her clit and into her wet center. After he made her come twice, and swallowed every drop of nectar her body released, Angel hoped it would be enough to appease the urge to take her blood. The rushing pulse from her femoral arteries, positioned so close to his ears, reminded him that the impetus to taste her was far more primal.
Rising up onto his spread knees, Angel eased her legs down to drape over his thighs giving Cordelia a moment’s respite as he watched a satisfied smirk spread across her lips. “Geez, that was fun.” Her eyes were a little glassy, tiredness starting to take hold again, but her gaze dropped down between them to note, “You’re still hard. Guess I’m all kinds of selfish tonight.”
Thinking back to their romantic dinner, stroll on the beach, and the spectacular blowjob she had given him before the night went to hell, Angel had no cause for complaint, but he would not lie about wanting more. “You must be tired, sore. I’ll try to be as gentle as I can, but need to be inside you.”
“You think I can’t keep up?”
“I’m a vampire, Cordy,” he reminded her unnecessarily as he reached up to loosen the silk ties biding her wrists. “You can’t out fuck me.”
“That sounds like a challenge. Cheerleader here. Okay, so recently ex-cheerleader, but still pretty good at bending into those pretzel-like positions you seem to enjoy.” Cordelia was still mouthing off at him when he shifted his hips and thrust inside her. “Oh! No fair! I wasn’t ready.”
Angel deliberately started to move, pumping his hips in a slow, almost cautious pace. He loved her enthusiasm, but needed to stay in control. Moving close, he positioned himself just above her, his weight balanced on his elbows leaving them skin to skin, with her breasts crushed against his chest and his body banging and rubbing deliciously against hers every time they moved.
The moment she touched him, he knew he was in trouble. Free of her bindings, Cordelia smoothed her hands over his face, leaning forward to initiate a kiss. There was nothing sweet or teasing about it. She was going straight for sexy and seductive taking her little challenge scenario quite seriously. Lost in the taste of her mouth, the pace of his thrusts quickened, he forgot all about his promise to be gentle when her fingernails curled into his shoulders, and her legs wrapped high around his back.
Christ! She felt incredible in all the right places, in all the right ways. Perfection. Fitting him like a glove, and not just now when her inner muscles squeezed him tight, but the way she tucked into his heart made him want a life more than just an existence. It was a heavy thought during a passionate moment, when Cordelia was moaning lustily in his ear. A wave of possessiveness swept through him at the notion that Nicolau Cibran and the other followers of Amolon might take her from him.
He reared back away from her throat the moment he lost his hold on his human features and felt his ridges and fangs emerge, but he could not stop like he did before. Cordelia’s expression contained only a triumphant glint in her eyes as if she was claiming points for her competition. Cheerleader 1 : Vampire 0.
“What big fangs you have,” she cooed playfully while cupping a hand around his nape, leveraging up to press her lips against his throat.
Trusting him a little too much, swayed by the fact that this wasn’t the first time he had vamped out during sex, Cordelia’s teasing words, lips, and wandering hands made it too hard to ignore the need building inside him. Angel pressed her into the mattress before she could protest, shifting her left leg so that her knee hooked over his shoulder, and rapidly pinned her wrists to the bed on either side of her head.
The new position lodged him deeper, drawing out a gasp from Cordelia, who suddenly realized it was Game Over. Angel could see the proverbial light bulb flash on. He was desperate to finish before he did something one or both of them would regret. Claiming her now before they had time to discuss it, before she had a clue what it would mean, was a mistake, but it was one he might have no choice in making.
Angel hammered into her, barely keeping it together enough to recognize the hint of uncertainty in her eyes as she stared up at him. He wanted to know her thoughts, if this scared her more than he imagined it might, but words took too much effort. All he could do was offer a kiss of reassurance.
Cordelia kissed him back until she arched hard against him as another orgasm crashed over her. The movement caused his fangs to collide with her bottom lip dotting it with a few drops of blood. He licked the blood away, his eyes shuttering closed at the taste of it lingering on his tongue. Like lightning streaking through him, he was instantly set off, rearing back like a lion with a silent roar, shooting jism with each short, deep stroke.
When the haze cleared, Angel’s mouth was pressed against Cordelia’s neck, her pulse racing as he primed it with his tongue, licking up the length of it. He was still inside her, unwilling to move, afraid that he lacked the control to leave her body without making his mark on her throat.
A catchy breath sounded in his ear as she stilled beneath him. Cordelia waited no more than a pause before cutting right to it. “You want to bite me, don’t you?”
Assessing her tone, Angel hoped it was more curiosity than fear, matter-of-factness not a precursor to one of her patented ear-spitting shrieks. Mostly, he did not want her to look at him like he was a monster for needing that uniquely vampiric bond. It took focus, a concentrated effort to shift his features back from vampire to human form.
He released his hold on her wrists, one hand sliding up to stroke the line of her jaw as he met her direct gaze, searching for a sign that his response might be too much for her to handle. She filled the silence when his introspection sparked impatience by answering her own question. “Duh! Of course you do. Kinda expected that.”
Relief bloomed hot in his chest as he realized Cordelia was not going to reject the idea completely. His lips swept across hers in a fervid kiss as he poured some of his need into it, channeling his passion, and love for her. She moaned into his mouth as she kissed him back, her arms wrapping around him the moment he shifted his hold so that her leg was draped around his waist rather than over his shoulder, but maintaining their intimate connection unwilling to break free of her warmth just yet.
He traced her face with his fingertips, tucking wild strands of hair away from her eyes and mouth, and more subconsciously than not, away from the slope of her neck. “Yes, I want it, Cordy. So much more than that. I want to claim you.”
Uncertain, but trusting, she pointed out her perspective on the matter, “I’m feeling kind of claimed already.” Shifting her hips beneath the weight of his caused his resting cock to stir again. He groaned, warning her not to start something she might be too tired to finish.
“Didn’t we just have that argument? Challenge me again, and I will so prove you wrong, even if you did win the last round.”
A little distracted as he dotted butterfly kisses across her throat, he asked, “How did I win?”
“I came first. Next time, you are so gonna lose it.”
That was precisely what he could not do, not until Cordelia fully understood what she was encouraging when she nibbled at his earlobe and arched her throat in his direction. “C’mon, Angel, do it. Make it fast. Do it now.”
He fought off the urge to change again, the vampire within blinking on and off his face even before he put a little distance between his mouth and her neck. Voice gruff with restrained urgency, Angel admitted, “I want this, Cordy. More than you can possibly know.”
“Then do it.” He felt a frisson of natural trepidation shiver along her skin even as she brazenly encouraged him to take what he wanted.
Angel shook his head, clenched his eyes closed for a moment when his body responded to both her fear and her permission. “No. Not until you understand what it means. You’ll be mine, Cordelia. Forever. There are consequences.”
“I like being yours.” A brilliant smile lit up her face as she gazed up at him with love in her eyes. Its sparkle dimmed a moment later as questions popped up one by one. “Wait, what do you mean by forever? As in for eternity, forever, or the end of my shorter than expected soon to be sacrificed life? What consequences? Are there some kind of creepy side effects? Angel, I—I don’t want to be a vampire.”
Angel growled, not wanting to get into it, finding it difficult enough to stave off the urge to claim first and pretend to be apologetic about it later. He could not. . .would not. . . do that to her, loving her too much to take away the one choice she might have in an already cloudy future. Anger laced his words, inwardly self-directed at his hesitancy in broaching the subject long before it felt like a necessity, but outwardly frustrated with the questions launched in his direction.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Cordy. I’m not planning to turn you into a vampire,” he snapped furiously only to regret his tone, especially when the impetus to take her again became too much to ignore. Moving with long, gentle strokes, he reminded roughly, “I love you.”
Cordelia caught her lower lip between her teeth, her hands sliding down his back to grab his ass as she arched into his slow thrusts. “Mmm, I love you, too. Don’t you dare try to avoid the subject, and don’t ever call me ridiculous because I don’t know your stupid vampire rules.”
She moaned into his mouth when he kissed her again, her hips shifting, her swollen sex grinding against him. “They’re not stupid. That’s just how it is. If you want to be mine, you need to know what you’re getting into.”
“I thought I did,” her soft words betrayed her confusion. The rasp of his thickness inside her became too much. “Oh, geez, Angel, please! You’re driving me crazy. C’mon, Angel, fuck me. Give it to me. You know how I want it.”
Angel banged into her hard, once, making her toes curl, and drawing out a lusty mewl of pleasure. Resuming his determinedly slow pace, he flexed his body against hers creating delicious friction everywhere they touched. Somewhere during the midst of their equally slow, wet kisses, he ordered, “Talk to one of the Watchers tomorrow.”
A little snort and ‘Pfft!’ followed telling him what she thought of the idea. “Just say what you mean. You tell me.” He gave her no answer, letting her sighs and grunts of pleasure fill his ears.
Lifting his head away from her breast, where his hand curled possessively, and its nipple stood up wet and rosy from the attention of his mouth, Angel knew he was too biased on the subject of claiming her to provide any reasoned explanation, certainly not at the moment, when he filled her up, and was too close emotionally to let her say no. All he could manage was the raw truth, “You’re mine, Cordy, and I am never going to let you go.”
The intensity of his words kept her silent for a time, except for the increasingly frequent ecstatic little sounds she made, her mouth hot against the cool shell of his ear. Pulling her even closer into his arms, he cupped the back of her head, tempted to wind her hair around his hand, but forcing himself to be gentle. He covered her pliant mouth in a fiery kiss, then slipped his tongue between her lips commanding entry that was easily given.
A desire to finish coiled through him, her acquiescence tightening his balls, and bringing a rapid end to his slow, even pace, sending him crashing into her in short, hard bursts. She was so tight, so hot clutching him, her inner muscles resisting his withdrawal again and again, making his sex swell, as he watched her quiver beneath him, arousal pulsing through her. Reaching between them, he drew his thumb across her distended clitoris rubbing it with just the right amount of pressure to make her spiraling need reach a sudden pinnacle.
Angel shouted out her name as he penetrated deep and maintained full contact with her body despite his crushing weight, and reckless rhythm. She spasmed around him at the same time he exploded into her. They moved frenetically together, each caught up by the intense pleasure spiraling between them until finally collapsing in a heap of tangled limbs.
“That was so awesome,” she muttered seemingly more to herself than to him, but Angel silently echoed her sentiments.
Bracing himself on his forearms, he raised up just enough to take his full weight off her body without breaking contact. He shuddered hard with another jolt of lust when she peppered his shoulder, neck and jaw with kisses, licking along his salty skin, and playing a game she knew had to be dangerous.
“Mmm, I guess that was a tie.” She brought her mouth to his lips again, and he let her control their kiss because he needed to find a way to let go.
“What tie?” Angel asked as he gently pulled out of her body stretching her sensitive flesh one last time and making them both moan in response to it.
Cordelia soothed her hands down his back making him scoot closer again. She gave him a saucy reminded, “Y’know, my little challenge. Me being able to keep up with you.”
There had been no specific plan to go all night, Angel inwardly defended his decision to give in to the urge to climax when the hot clench of her orgasm sparked his own, but that certainly did not mean he could not have gone longer if he wanted. “I’m pretty sure we came at the same time,” he growled lightly, refusing to allow the suggestion that he had lost that particular competition.
“Like I said, it’s a tie. We both won. Go team.”
The sparkle was back in her smile making him feel like tonight had not been a complete disaster. He could read her feelings in her eyes, as she openly gazed deep into his, all of the love and lust, satisfaction and need in his own heart brimming from her like a reflection. There were questions, too, a shred of uncertainty. Maybe he felt that, too. Wanting her, and needing to claim her did not feel like mutually exclusive things, but he needed to prepare himself for the possibility that Cordelia would not want to expose herself to the increasingly obsessive needs of a vampire. Especially because, he acknowledged the fact selfishly, that he might not be her top priority with everything else that was going on in her life.
Stroking the pad of his thumb across her bottom lip, noting it was still swollen from his accidental puncture marks, Angel growled at the sight. “Does it hurt?”
“Only when you’re not kissing me,” she teased.
Angel took care of that swiftly enough, keeping his caresses soft, worshipping her mouth with his, and stealing her breath away. Whispering, “I love you,” across her lips when he let her up for air.
Clasping his face, Cordelia returned his kisses, pausing only to remind him, “Pretty sure we covered the I love yous earlier.” Her soft, plush kisses felt tender rather than teasing despite the snark.
“Well, I like saying it.”
“I like hearing it, too.”
Shifting over to lie next to her on his side, Angel stroked a hand possessively down the length of her torso stretching his fingers out to span the space between her hips then trailing up past her breasts to tilt her chin in his direction. “Cordelia, I want you to talk to the Watchers. This is important. I’m not asking.”
Normally that would be a setup for getting his ass handed to him, at least verbally, but she readily agreed. “Sure, I’ll talk to them. Someone has to explain what happened to their ties.”
