12. Kissing makes us official right?
Nevaeh
I never thought I would love driving around in a car this much. I’ve always been a horse girl, but aimlessly driving around a sparkling city with thundering clouds following us has been captivating.
Rolling down the window, I relish the way the cool air damped with tiny droplets of rain feels on my face.
With every corner we turn, Angel tells me another story of Seiji causing havoc in the human realm. The time Hazel stabbed someone who Grace had to patch up—after profusely apologizing for her friend’s wild behavior, of course.
I watch the sparkle in Angel’s eyes or how his goofy grin never leaves his lips as he tells me those stories. Angel clearly finds damage control amusing if none of these incidents made him even remotely angry.
I wonder if he has this same smile on his face when he talks about me to others.
I’m busy carving his essence into memory when he slows down at the drive-through of my favorite fast-food joint, and my heart soars at the gesture.
When Angel rattles off my order without asking, I have to bite my tongue before I do something stupid... like jump across the console and smash my lips to his.
I think I just might.
I’m tearing open the heavy bag the moment it's dropped into my lap. The delicious smell of french fries floods the car.
I’m stumped when I see Angel has ordered at least two days' worth of snacks. I still have trouble eating large proportions of meals, but almost everything I eat these days stays inside, and Angel calls it progress.
“Woah… sugar daddy?”
I’ve been learning the latest lingo and references from Seiji, so now I can talk street too.
Angel throws his head back and his carefree laughter rattles the car. He barely manages to park the car between two white lines because of how hard he is laughing.
“Shut up, you fool.” He chuckles, turning the car off. Thunder and wind flapping against the car become more evident as soon as the engine is shut.
“Just Daddy, then?” I wiggle my eyebrows at my pretty Angel, and it earns me more of that husky laugh I love being responsible for.
Flicking my nose playfully, he says, “Keep it PG-13, sweetheart.”
Sobering up, Angel turns to face me, giving me the perfect view of his face. I just want to squish his cheeks and eat him up.
Lately, I’ve been embracing what Seiji likes to call ‘my inner whore’, and it wants me to glue myself to Angel at all times.
Taking the bag from me, Anxo starts feeding both of us. I’ve gotten better with forks, spoons, and even chopsticks with Seiji’s help, but still Angel insists on feeding me himself.
Not that I mind being the center of his attention.
Or his world .
Reaching into the small compartment before me, Angel takes out a pack of sour candies, dropping them in my lap. Judging by his triumphant grin he knows he has successfully discovered my recent obsession.
“I think I’m going to ugly cry.”
I’m genuinely holding back tears as I pout at him. Something as simple as a bag of sour candies and fries, and I’m close to tearing up. I blame Angel for being so good to me and overcompensating for all the years I had nothing by giving me everything now.
“That’s impossible. You’re never ugly.” He leans forward to kiss my forehead.
“Even when I eat like nobody has fed me in years?” Fiddling with his fingers, I lean my head sideways.
“Especially not then.”
Another kiss on the tip of my nose.
I’m definitely going to ugly cry now.
We settle in comfortable silence with him feeding me. I have a feeling Angel wants to ask me something but for some reason, he’s hesitating.
“So, I have a question.” Here we go. I wait for him to continue, but his nerves pick up again. “Promise you won’t get mad.” Holding out his pinkie finger, Angel refuses to talk until I loop mine around his and make a promise.
“I can’t get mad at you, Angel. I’ve tried.”
“What—When?”
“That day when you took my sweatshirt.”
“First of all, my sweatshirt. And second, I was washing it for you .”
“Tomato-potato.”
“That’s not how you use it.” Shaking his head, he snickers, and I sit back and enjoy the heartwarming view that is him.
My mate.
When we conclude that I genuinely can’t stay mad at his adorable face, he finally blurts out.
“Did you ever think Harvey was your mate?”
“Nope.”
He blinks at my immediate response. “That sure?”
Swallowing my last piece of fry, I wipe the non-existent oil from my fingers with a tissue.
“Harvey was my best friend when I was two and will be when I’m 222. From the first day Papa told us about mates, we knew we weren’t that for each other. And it was perfect this way. Having mates other than each other meant more people in our lonely 2-person circle.”
“So, you wanted a mate, right? You were waiting for me, too?”
I nod. “Ask Harvey when we find him. I was the girl waving around her papa’s scythe which was twice my size to scare boys away because they weren’t my mate.”
“Keep talking and I'll marry you right here.”
I snort out loud, but before Angel can say he's joking, heavy rain suddenly claps against the car’s roof.
I’m instantly captivated by the ferocity of it. It’s the first time I’ve seen rain in a decade. Every time I watched it on screen in the last month, I longed to experience the feel of it on my skin.
Thinking about rain and movies, a thought strikes me.
“Hey!” My sudden enthusiasm jolts him from the unexpected attack on his ears.
“Sorry, Angel. But do you know how to dance—the slow dance thing they do on TV? You know when they hold each other, and slowly sway, and sometimes spin too, like—”
“I’m aware, sweetheart. I had to take classes when I was younger,” he admits rather bashfully.
I don’t see what's there to be embarrassed about.
“That sounds amazing!”
“It was torture, baby. I was constantly teased about it. But no matter what I said my mother didn’t let me quit.”
Why wouldn’t his mother let him quit? Who pushes their kid to do something they’re not comfortable doing? I want to ask more about his blood family, but Angel has cunningly managed to stray us from that topic for weeks.
“What if I asked you to dance with me? You can say no if you don’t want to. I don’t want it to bring back bad memories.” I want to dance with him in the rain. I love it when it happens in the movies, but I don’t want to pressure him either.
“What better time to show off my skills.” I squeeze his fingers entangled in mine and wait to make sure he’s doing this because he wants to and not because I asked.
I leap out of my seat when I don’t find a hint of discomfort or uncertainty. I’m so excited to feel the rain and have my first dance with him. I quickly get out, and to my delight, I’m immediately drenched.
Angry black clouds with purple lightning shadow the sky above me. Our only source of light is the near-empty store behind us and the headlight of Angels’ car.
Spinning in a circle, I spread my hands beside me to feel the pouring water on my palms.
My trance breaks when two strong arms wrap around my waist and pull me against a wet chest. Glancing back at the breathtaking man behind me, I love the way his carefree smile makes him look younger and wilder.
The warm yellow light from the car lands on half of his face, giving him an angelic glow, with raindrops falling down his chin.
My Angel .
“Lean on me, sweetheart.”
Turning around, Angel guides my arms around his neck and sways us until we are moving to his rhythm.
Taking a step back, he holds our twisted fingers above my head and spins me, and I erupt in a fit of giggles at the feeling. Angel keeps spinning me until I’m dizzy and laughing like a child before crushing me to his chest.
His fingers trace my arms and neck before spreading over my cheeks. Angel tilts my face closer to him, our noses brushing against each other, and his lips a thread away from mine. My breath hitches at our proximity, and my hold on his neck tightens.
“I really want to kiss you, sweetheart. May I?” He murmurs against my lips.
If I wasn’t melting before, I sure am now.
His chest is pressed against mine as his thumb wipes the water droplets from my lower lip. His gentle touch is too much and not enough at the same time.
“Please do.”
Everyone talks about the fireworks that come with being with the right person and how two people who are made for each other feel electric in each other’ s presence... but when Angel's soft lips meet mine, all I feel is calm.
This is what— who, I’ve been craving my whole life.
Standing in an empty parking lot, drenched to the bone with lightning booming above us, all I feel is Angel’s hands on my body and his soft lips moving against mine.
I feel at peace. To think how long I’ve been craving this peace and Angel had it waiting for me all along. All my prayers in which I begged Fates for mercy are finally answered because they sent me to Anxo.
My Angel. My peace .
Cupping my face, he pulls me closer to deepen the kiss, and I have to stretch on my toes to meet him. Curling my fingers in his wet hair, I gasp when Angel unexpectedly bites my lower lip.
My gasp allows him to slide his hot tongue into my mouth, teasing and tasting me feverishly. A rush of desire runs down my spine and I can’t stop a moan from escaping that he captures before the world can hear it.
When Angel pulls back, I whine in protest.
“More please.”
His gruff chuckle is cut short when I grab his face and smash our lips together again. Fisting his hair, I tug him closer, his addictive taste making it impossible to stay away.
Angel traces the shape of my jaw with a feather-light touch that makes me shiver. When his palm wraps around my throat like a necklace and squeezes the sides, I lose the last thread of my control. Arching my back, I moan when his other hand finds my lower back to press me tighter against his chiseled abdomen.
When I lean back to breathe, Angel doesn't like the idea, and with an impatient groan, his head follows me, attacking my lips passionately.
Every stroke of his tongue, every nibble on my lips, every squeeze on my neck spreads another wave of desire from my head to my toes.
We stay like that for a long time, kissing like it’s our last day and drowning in our newfound intimacy. I memorize his every touch, every sound, every trace of his fingers, and where they linger the most.
Angel reluctantly moves away, but not before pecking my lips three more times. His forehead drops on mine as we pant heavily, trying to catch our breath. My heart is thumping in my head, and when I open my eyes, my heart skips a beat entirely seeing his eyes glow.
A ring of gold dances around his emerald orbs, resembling the sun, trying to peek around the ashy clouds to steal glances at the majestic rain. When I go to point it out, the glow dims until only his mesmerizing green remains.
This proves no matter how much I try to shove my Divine in a corner, it will always find a way to connect to Angel... its other half.
“I’ve wanted to do that for so long,” Angel rasps softly, as if afraid to break the delicacy of the moment.
“I’ve been waiting, too.”
Angel grins devilishly with those perfect rosy lips, brushing a strand of my hair back with the same hand that was wrapped around my throat a minute ago. The flickering thought has me turning bright red, but fortunately, I’m already red in the face.
“Come on, let’s get you home before you catch a cold—and before you mention being a superior species and recovering faster, I don’t want to see you sick at all.”
How did he know I was going to play the Divine card?
Gently dragging me to the passenger side, Angel opens the door, but I don't get in. I don’t want to get in the car and go back to how it was. I want more than what we had before. I don’t want to move on from this. From us .
A kiss on my nose softens me and Angel grips my chin to make me look at him instead of his shoes.
“Nothing will change if you get in, baby. I promise to kiss you all day, every day, for the rest of my life.” He kisses me again and takes his sweet time to prove this doesn’t end here.
Taking his warm face between my cold palms, I return his kiss with equal fervor and softness before letting him usher me into the car.
Our goofy smiles stay in place the entire ride back to the hotel, as we keep glancing at each other and giggling like teenagers. Angel doesn’t move his hand from my thigh, and I lace my fingers with his so he can’t even if he wants to.
I used to think that after all I’ve lost, it’s easier for me to start over and expect the worst, but after tonight, I know if I ever lose Angel... I won’t survive.