Chapter 18
Diablo
It’s the night before my birthday and I don’t care if anyone sees me, I want to wake up with Elizabeth. When I head up to sleep, I don’t even bother going into my room, I go straight for hers and knock, waiting for her softly spoken, “Who is it?” through the door.
Once I’m in the room, I pull her in for a kiss and let myself moan into her.
“Fuck, princess, you have no idea how much I’m looking forward to tomorrow night.”
She chuckles. “Well I’m looking forward to it as much as I can, considering that you won’t tell me anything about what we’re actually doing.”
“I told you; it’s a surprise.”
I guide her back towards the bed, as her legs hit the mattress I gently push her until she’s sitting on the edge, before dropping to my knees.
She’s wearing tiny pajama shorts and a tank top, her nipples already peaked and drawing my attention to her tits.
I nuzzle between them, loving how they feel around my face.
“Is this a sneak preview of what I can expect?” she asks .
“Mmm,” I groan against her, “this, and so much more.”
“So…” she says, her voice shaking a bit, “there’s something I want to show you.”
I look up at her curiously as she leans back onto the bed to reach for her phone. Opening something, she turns the screen towards me. It’s the message from the clinic telling her that her tests were all negative. I’d received mine a day ago and already shown her.
“Fuck,” I whisper.
“So? Do you want to?”
“Please don’t ask me that,” I groan, “we need to wait until tomorrow.”
“What? Are you serious?”
“I told you, I’ve never had sex without a condom before, I’m not having my first time somewhere we’ve got to be careful and quiet.”
“Ah-ha, does that mean we’re sleeping somewhere else tomorrow?”
I push her down onto the bed and crawl on top of her.
“Damn, I should have known you’d find a way to figure out the surprise.”
“Hey, you said yourself, your girlfriend is smart.”
I growl against her neck as she squirms and giggles; I love how sensitive and ticklish she is.
“Okay,” I say, “you win. First, I’m treating you to an expensive lunch, so be ready to get all dressed up…”
I kiss her softly on the lips.
“Then we’re staying in a luxury hotel that has ocean views…”
I move the kisses onto her jaw.
“A private balcony just for us…”
I kiss lower, onto her neck and throat.
“A huge bed… ”
I trace a line into her cleavage with my tongue.
“A bathtub big enough for two…”
I lift her top with my hands, kissing down her stomach.
“Check-in is at three, and check-out isn’t until twelve the next day, so I have you all to myself for twenty-one hours…”
I keep kissing along her body, pulling her shorts down.
“No interruptions…”
I swipe my tongue on her pussy and she gasps.
“No needing to be quiet…”
I pause over her clit before running my tongue around it.
“Just us.”
“Angel,” she moans.
“Mmm, I love hearing you moan my name, but you need to be quiet, princess,” I say, before returning my mouth to her clit, sucking ever so gently.
“Fuck, please!” she gasps.
I chuckle into her. “Now what did I just say, do you need me to help you be quiet?”
“Yes!”
I continue to taste her, licking her and lavishing her clit with attention between strokes, but I also slide my hand up her body, clamping it over her mouth. She grips my wrist and moans into my hand, the muffled sound making my cock even harder.
Her hips buck against my face, thighs hooked over my shoulders and squeezing me between them.
One hand moves from my wrist as she grabs the back of my head and pulls me into her, grinding her pussy against me while she comes; crying into my hand, her body trembling and shaking, before falling back on the bed.
“Now that,” I say, not even trying to hide the smugness in my voice, “was a sneak preview of tomorrow night. ”
I rest my head against her belly and kiss it as she laughs, loving the way it jiggles beneath me.
“Yeah, sounds good to me,” she says, “I’m in.”
It’s the first time I’ve ever woken up with someone on my birthday.
Elizabeth is still asleep, and I take my time enjoying the view.
Her face is soft, worry-free, her lips gently parted; she lets out these little sighs as she sleeps and it’s the cutest noise I’ve ever heard.
She’s surrounded by a spill of her red hair, it’s all over the pillow and tickling my arm and chest. I gently brush some of it away from her face, but the movement causes her to stir, and she smiles at me sleepily.
“Happy Birthday,” she says, leaning over to give me a quick kiss on the lips before smothering my chest in kisses.
She’s always embarrassed about morning breath, but I don’t care, I just want her to kiss me.
“Thanks, beautiful.”
“You sleep well?”
“Always do with you.”
I capture her lips with a proper kiss this time, not letting her get away.
“Good,” she chuckles, “because you won’t be getting much sleep tonight.”
“Mmm, check-in can’t come soon enough.”
“Speaking of, I’ll give you your present now, it sounds like we’ll be too distracted later.”
“You got me a present?” I ask.
I never get birthday presents from anyone; I’ve always told the club and Donovan not to bother, there’s nothing I need.
She reaches over the side of the bed, rummaging in the drawers; and I’m not mad about the view, those tiny little shorts reminding me of last night.
When she rolls back, a small box is placed on my chest.
“For real?” I ask.
“Don’t be so shocked, I know what I’m getting for my birthday, and I have to say, you set the bar incredibly high with the painting.”
“Yeah, but I hope you didn’t spend too much money on me,” I say, knowing how much she earns and what’s going on with her financially.
“I only spent what I could afford, I promise. Now will you open it already? I’m nervous about whether you’ll like it, and the suspense is killing me.”
I remove the lid; inside sits a black metal dog-tag, looped on a silver chain.
“It’s actually a locket,” she says, “open it.”
I lift it out of the box, the weight feeling nice in my hands, and I use my thumb nail on the small lip to open it. Inside is the photo I took of us a few weeks ago, my favorite photo, the one I always stare at on my phone. I don’t know what to say… it’s perfect.
“You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to,” she says, “I mean, you could keep it next to your bed, or it’s small enough to fit in your wallet.”
“No way, I love it, I’m never taking it off.”
I lift the chain over my head, the dog-tag sitting on my chest.
“You do?” she asks, her voice full of nerves.
How could she think I wouldn’t love this?
“Yes, of course I do,” I pull her into a kiss, rolling her onto her back as I hold myself over her. “I love it,” and I don’t even hesitate before the next words leave my mouth… “I love you, Elizabeth. ”
Elizabeth
Time seems to stop, but his words continue echoing in my head.
“You love me?” I whisper.
“Yeah,” he says, “I love you, Elizabeth. And you don’t—”
“I love you too,” I say.
Fuck. I’ve never said ‘I love you’ to anyone romantically before, but I didn’t even hesitate. He exhales in relief, resting his head on my chest.
“I was about to say that you don’t need to say it back, but fuck, I’m so happy you did.”
I start giggling. I don’t know why… maybe it’s because if someone had told me two months ago that I’d be lying in bed with him on his birthday, telling him I loved him after he said it to me, I’d be telling them to get their head checked, that no way in a million years would that happen.
“What’s so funny?” he asks.
“Two months ago, this would’ve seemed impossible, but now it just feels right. I love you, Angel.”
He kisses me, pouring everything he’s feeling into it, and I return it with my own intensity. It feels so right, but there’s a small part of me that knows things just went to a whole other level with us, and how much farther I have to fall if things don’t work out…
The restaurant he takes me to is fancier than I was expecting, honestly, I didn’t think this would be his type of place. He asked me to wear the green dress I wore to the gallery, he just doesn’t know I’ve added a lacy surprise underneath… but that’s for later.
This is the nicest dress I own; but I still feel under-dressed compared to the other patrons. There are glimpses of diamonds and expensive watches everywhere, on top of tailor-made suits and high-end designer dresses, even though it’s only lunch service.
We reach the ma?tre d’s desk, and he looks us both up and down, his expression unimpressed.
“We’ve got a reservation,” Angel says.
“And the name, Sir?”
The ma?tre d’ talks with an air of boredom, clearly assuming that we don’t in fact have a reservation, he’s already made up his mind that we don’t belong here.
“Angel Sharpe.”
The ma?tre d’ scans his tablet, his eyes widen slightly, and he stands a little bit taller.
“Right this way, Sir, please follow me.”
Angel’s hand is on my back as we follow him to our booth, it’s the best table in the place for sure, and I realize he probably requested it specifically. I wonder if he also put down a sizable deposit and that’s why the ma?tre d’ quickly became more accommodating.
I carefully slide into the booth, from here I can see everything; there are eyes on us as well, watching as we get settled.
I can imagine what they’re thinking… Who are these people with the best table in the restaurant, the man who isn’t wearing a suit and instead sporting neck and hand tattoos, and the woman in the green dress, not a hint of jewelry and her hair wild.
Angel appears calm and collected, as though he hasn’t even noticed the looks and the glances; he seems almost at home here, but maybe that’s just the confidence he carries everywhere with him.
I could use some of that… I take his hand on the table and gently give it a squeeze, hoping it gives me some.
“This is amazing,” I say, “I do feel a bit under-dressed though.”
“No way,” he says, leaning towards me, “you’re the most beautiful woman in this place.”
“Why thank you… Mr. Sharpe.”
He groans. “No, please don’t call me that.”
“Yeah, it didn’t sound right as soon as I said it,” I laugh, “honestly, I always assumed you used Gálvez, like Donovan.”
“They both switched back to Mom’s maiden name after the divorce, but it was easier for me to keep Frank’s, hardly ever use it anyway. I don’t like hearing you say anything connected to him though.”
“Then I promise not to use it again… Sir.”
“Now that I like,” he chuckles and pulls me into a kiss.
I’m guessing it’s not the type of kiss that patrons in this place are used to seeing, it definitely isn’t proper… but fuck it, I snake my arms around his neck and return it with equal passion.
We’re interrupted by the gentle clearing of a throat, pausing our kiss but not moving away from each other, I glance up to see a server looking at us.
“The wine list, Sir,” they say, presenting the menu to Angel.
“Thanks,” he says, looking down at the extensive list of wines in front of him. “Shit,” he mutters under his breath, and I realize he has no idea what to order.
“I really like the 2020 Casa Castillo Las Gravas,” I say, placing one hand on his arm and using the other to point it out on the list. “Would you mind if we ordered that? ”
“Not at all, ladies’ choice,” he says to the server as he hands the list back.
“Very well, Sir,” the server says, before leaving.
“Thanks for rescuing me,” he says, “I didn’t know they’d have so many types of wine.”
“That’s okay, honestly they’re not going to stock shit wine so any bottle would have been good, I do genuinely like the one I picked though.”
“Good,” he smiles.
The server quickly returns and presents the bottle to Angel, who just stares back.
“May I?” I ask the server, to which they pour a small amount into my glass.
I take a sip and pretend to mull it over, before nodding. The server pours a glass for each of us before leaving once again.
Angel laughs. “What the fuck was that?”
“It’s a thing,” I say, “you approve the wine before they pour it. It’s bullshit, everyone’s just thinking ‘yup, that’s wine’ but they pretend to know what they’re talking about and nod along.”
“That’s so fucking stupid.”
“I know. So why did you bring me here?” I ask gently, “You know I’m happy with a bucket of seafood dumped on some newspaper in front of me.”
He looks down at his hands. “I wanted to take you someplace nice; most of our time together has been spent in your tiny-ass apartment, or the clubhouse, I wanted you to have the best.”
I lean in to give him a gentle kiss on the lips. “Thank you.”
Again, we’re interrupted by another clearing of a throat .
“Are you ready to order food, Sir?” the server asks, the calm look on their face only faltering slightly at Angel’s disgruntled expression.
“I was going to order us both the steak, it’s their specialty,” he says to me, “unless you’d rather something else?”
“Steak sounds perfect,” I say.
“We’ll take two steaks then, please.”
“And how would you like your steak cooked?”
“Rare,” we both say at the same time, before chuckling.
“Of course,” the server nods before leaving.
“If they interrupt us one more time, they’re not getting a tip,” Angel grumbles, leaning in for another kiss.
“Hey, look around.” I stop him and gesture to the restaurant. “They’re clearly not used to seeing patrons in love.”
He scans the restaurant; most of the couples are quiet, distant, some even look bored.
“Shit, you’re right, look at them all…” Turning back to me he leans in, his voice dropping low, “we’re definitely the only ones in love.”
I giggle and it makes me feel like an idiot. I am not this girl. Giggling at being in love with her boyfriend, making jokes about how much more in love we are than the other couples, sitting in a restaurant grinning at each other like idiots. Fuck. Who am I kidding? I’m totally this girl now…