Chapter 22
ANGEL
I sat up, immediately missing Raleigh’s arms around me. My neck was hot where his mouth had been, his mark practically searing itself into my skin. Yet somehow, it wasn’t enough. I wanted more— needed more. I needed to feel Raleigh in every part of me, wrapped around me and consuming me until I didn’t know anything else.
Only him.
In my haste, my wings knocked things about left and right, decorations crashing to the wall. I was pretty sure glass broke somewhere in the room, but Raleigh only laughed. “You haven’t learned how to manage these things in fifteen years?” he teased, fingers combing through my feathers again. I shivered. For years, I’d cursed this part of me. The wings had been nothing but a nuisance, something to deal with because I had no choice. But with Raleigh’s fingers caressing their edges, exploring every inch of them like he was committing them to memory, I never wanted to feel anything else.
Heat built behind my eyes at the intimacy of the act. I squeezed them shut, willing the tears away.
Raleigh steadied me by my waist as I settled over his lap, the tips of his fingers brushing where my wings met my back. My marks stirred, content with the attention. But if Raleigh kept going, he would break me completely.
I placed my hands over his, stilling them. “Please,” I begged. I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed him.
A chuckle reverberated through the room, vibrating my chest. Anticipation built in my belly. Raleigh retrieved a bottle of lube from the fallen nightstand, but when he went back for a condom, I stopped him. “I’m clear.”
The foil square went back into the drawer, and Raleigh slammed it shut. The click and snap of the lube echoed in the quiet space. Only our labored breathing provided any background noise. He tossed the bottle aside, and he didn’t need to instruct me to rise onto my knees—my body already knew what to do.
Raleigh’s cool, slick palm gave my cock one slow stroke before his fingers dipped between my legs. The excitement of feeling him bare was enough to have me trembling in his grip.
“Raleigh,” I sighed, finally feeling his lubed-up fingers slip between my cheeks. My throat fucking hurt, but I couldn’t stop chanting his name like a prayer. I rocked my hips, and he slid two fingers into me.
“Damn, Angel.”
I sank down, taking his fingers right down to the rings on his knuckles. Swiveling my hips, I urged him toward my sweet spot. The sound he pulled from me when he got there rattled the windows. At least, it seemed that way. He spread and scissored his fingers inside me until I couldn’t take it anymore. Sweat beaded along my hairline and dripped down my face. My cock leaked so profusely that I started to wonder if it was normal, but Raleigh’s was doing the same thing, his piercing glistening wetly in the soft light. I licked my lips, desperate to have him in my mouth again. I wouldn’t stop until I had his cock pulsing down my throat.
“Not this time, darling,” he chuckled, tapping my prostate again. I fell forward, bracing myself on his chest—the perfect position to tweak his nipple piercings with my thumbs. “ Fuck . I need to have you.”
I signed, “Then what are you waiting for?” I panted, lungs burning. My retort morphed into an impatient snarl when he pulled his fingers free. He worked a hand between us to slick up his cock and then I was moving, the piercing at the end of his dick teasing my impatient hole.
“Ready?” he asked, supporting me with hands on my hips.
God, he had no idea how long I’d been waiting for this: to be with him without any limitations, without anything looming over us. I could only nod.
Raleigh pushed through and I gasped, welcoming the burn. I didn’t stop until there was nothing left to take, and Raleigh held me in place while I adjusted to his size. His thumbs stroked my hips, pulling goosebumps to the surface. My powers had never been so sated. They were so content that if it weren’t for my wings or the glow in the room, I wouldn’t have known they were there. I took a few deep, shaky breaths. My hands slid down Raleigh’s chest until our fingers twisted together. His hands smoothed the sides of my torso, large enough for his thumb to brush my belly piercing, kicking up a fresh trail of goosebumps. They went higher, until he rolled my nipples between his fingers. “Christ, Angel. You feel amazing.”
Then we were shifting. Raleigh sat up, leaning back against the headboard. The movement shifted his cock inside me, pegging my prostate. Before the sensation could kick in, his mouth was on my nipple, sucking on the hardened nub and twisting my jewelry with his tongue.
I was done waiting for his permission. I lifted onto my knees, quickly dropping back down and pulling a groan from deep in Raleigh’s chest. My fingers threaded through his hair, holding his mouth in place and muffling the noises coming from him. My hips picked up speed, and Raleigh’s hands tightened on them, pulling me onto his cock with each thrust. His piercings intensified the sensations, the Prince Albert hitting the perfect spot every time I bottomed out.
My head dropped onto his shoulder, hands digging into his biceps. The sounds coming from me became more erotic, more strained as I rocketed toward my climax. Raleigh held me close, secure in his arms. My wings rested happily around us, feathers cool against our oversensitive skin.
He groaned, nuzzling against my cheek. “Kiss me, darling.”
I wasn’t going to argue with that.
I turned my head, bringing our mouths together, and Raleigh didn’t hesitate to give me his tongue. I eagerly sucked on it, delighting at being filled from both ends. Raleigh swallowed every indecent sound coming from me, holding me steady with those strong hands of his. I’d never felt safer than I did at that moment. I may have been the angel, but Raleigh was my savior. Time and time again, he’d never failed to catch me when I fell. There, as our mutual climaxes built, it all became clear.
No one else had ever stood a chance. It was always him. I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding him close. My tongue explored every inch of his mouth. I could have him any time I wanted now, but this night would always be special. I couldn’t believe I’d been so foolish as to think he’d never feel the same way. The man beneath me was my entire life, and he had been since the moment he strolled over to my table.
He shifted again, knocking against my prostate. I broke the kiss to cry out, just for Raleigh to shush me gently with his lips against my neck. “I’ve got you.” The words whispered across my skin and my marks soaked them up, storing them away as a reminder for later.
That was all it took for me to come undone. My climax zipped down my spine, too quickly for me to argue about it. My cock spurted between us, pulsing out my release. My vision whited out, and I came with a cry. The orgasm nearly broke me, but Raleigh held me together. He growled and picked up his pace, assaulting my prostate and drawing out my orgasm. I shook in his arms, and he held me tighter.
“ I’ve got you .”
His words echoed through my brain over and over, and I believed them. He did have me.
Raleigh was chasing his own release, and I held on tight. An onslaught of emotions crashed into me, and tears streamed down my cheeks. With his face buried in my neck, he latched onto the sensitive skin and sucked, deepening the bruise there. I welcomed the pain, and the sting when he pulled off.
He licked over the spot to soothe it. “I’m close, Angel.”
“Do it,” I pleaded, tugging hard on his hair. “Claim me. Make me yours.”
That seemed to be the trigger. Raleigh pressed his fingers into my hips, hard enough to leave bruises—I hoped. I wanted to wear his marks on me for the rest of my life. I wanted the whole world to know that I belonged to Raleigh Jenkins.
His cock swelled, then I felt the hot rush of come burst inside me.
I was his.
I’d never been more certain of anything in my life.
Raleigh rode out his orgasm, peppering gentle kisses on my neck and chest, soothing the mark he’d left behind. I never wanted it to fade. I had half a mind to run out immediately and get it tattooed in place, a permanent reminder of who he was to me.
“I love you,” I whispered, emotions threatening to get the better of me.
He loosened his grip, one hand moving to my hair and the other wrapping around my waist. All too soon, he lifted himself off me. The only thing that made it better was feeling his come drip down my inner thighs—another reminder that I belonged to him.
“I love you too,” he said. “Angel, I’m just sorry it took me so long to see it.”
With a gentle smile, I pressed a breathless kiss to his lips. “You saw it precisely when you needed to,” I signed.
Chest heaving, Raleigh held me close until we’d recovered. Only then did he shift to lay us down, taking care not to knock my wings into anything. Funny how quickly he’d adjusted to something I still had trouble dealing with.
I collapsed onto his chest, utterly spent. Even my marks settled and faded back to tattoos. Raleigh massaged my scalp with one hand and the other stroked my feathers. Finally satisfied, it was a simple thing to tuck my wings away. I didn’t have to wrestle them beneath my skin like usual.
The glow in the room dimmed, leaving us in almost complete darkness. In the heat of things I’d knocked the curtains open, letting in some of the light from the Strip. Raleigh peeled locks of dampened hair away from my face, which only stuck to his equally sweaty chest. My cheeks grew wet, and it wasn’t until Raleigh brushed them that I realized I was still crying.
“Hey,” he whispered, tugging me against his body until I could bury my face in the crook of his neck. “Are you okay?”
I nodded against him. “I can’t believe this is real.” My words were barely audible, but I’d spent the better part of two decades not talking. He’d gotten damn good at knowing what I needed to say without actually needing to hear it. “I’ve wanted this for so long.”
It was like once I started, I couldn’t stop. I’d always felt safe with Raleigh, and this time was no different. We should’ve known that my first words would be to him; we’d shared so many firsts before. I lay on his chest, tracing my finger over the slight ridges on his left pec, over his heart—a new tattoo. Slowly, I realized that the swirling lines beneath my finger were letters.
A.C.
My heart skipped a beat. No, surely it couldn’t be. But when I glanced up at him, the bashful smile on his face told me everything I needed to know.
“When?” I asked.
A nervous laugh bubbled out of him. “The moment I realized I was in love with you.”
I groaned and buried myself in his chest again. “Christ, you can’t do things like this to me.”
Raleigh took my hand, his fingers rubbing the mark where my engagement ring had been a few hours ago. “What’s going on with the wedding?” he asked, fear in his tone. Like he still expected me to jump up and run off to get married.
I was never leaving him again.
“Not happening,” I signed. “I want to help with canceling everything.” I looked away. “Seems only right.”
Raleigh fell quiet, a suspicious kind of quiet that had my Spidey sense tingling. I looked up to see him toying with his tongue ring, the metal bar clinking against his teeth as he mulled something over. I squeezed his hand to get his attention, and his mouth curled into that classic Raleigh grin.
“What if you didn’t?” he asked.
My brow furrowed. “What?” My heart raced, though, and my mouth went dry. He couldn’t possibly mean…
“I’m saying,” he took my hand and brought it to his mouth, brushing light kisses over my fingertips, “that everything’s already in place. Your parents are flying out, we’re already closing the bar down for the day. You’re in love.”
“I am.”
“And I love you. It already took me nearly twenty years to get my head out of my ass. I don’t want to waste another minute.”
My eyes welled up again, and I swallowed down the lump in my throat, banishing the pain because damn it, I needed to say this out loud. “Raleigh Jenkins, are you asking me to marry you?”
“In…” He paused and glanced at his phone, “… less than seventy-two hours. If you’ll have me.”
I pretended to mull it over, tugging my hand out of his grip to outline his tattoo again. My heart swelled, so quickly that I felt my chest would burst. My fingers tickled over the letters until Raleigh squirmed, pinning my hand in place.
“Come on, darling. Put me out of my misery.”
Resting my chin on his sternum, I peered up at him through my lashes. “Looks like you’ll have to add a ‘J’ to that tattoo.”