Page 76 of Angel

“This is so nice,” Paige cooed, going to the double doors and opening them. A swift wind swept into the room and she quickly closed the doors.

Smiling, I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her. “It’s damned cold out there.”

“Yeah it is.” She shivered a bit in my arms.

I pushed some hair away from the back of her neck, breathing in a mix of her sweet shampoo and floral perfume as I grazed over her skin. “How are you feeling?”

“Good.” She tensed slightly in my arms, and slowly turned around to face me. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before about how I’ve been feeling. I didn’t want you to worry.”

“I can understand that, but you need to take care of yourself.”

Her lips twisted and she looked away. “Okay.”

“Hey,” I softly said, pulling her to me and putting my face within inches of hers. “I love you, all right? I want to make sure you’re happy.”

She nodded. “Do you think…”

“What?”

“Do you think Lia doesn’t like me?”

“Huh?”

With a sigh, she pulled away and walked for her suitcase. Flipping it open, she pulled out pajamas and a toiletry bag. “She kept staring at me.”

I started to smirk, but quickly corrected my face before Paige saw it. “Why would she not like you?”

“Exactly. I don’t know. It just doesn’t make sense.”

“Paige.” I walked over to where she knelt on the floor zipping her suitcase back up. “You were probably imagining it.”

She visibly bristled.

I quickly back tracked. “Not that you’re...” I gritted my teeth, lost for words.

Shit, was basically all I could think.

Paige stood up. “It’s okay. You’re right. I probably am. I’m just tired and maybe a little stressed out from the holidays.” She ran her palm over my arm.

“Was that weird for you, talking about Christmas before?”

She thought about it. “No. It’s the best Christmas Idoremember. The ones when we were sixteen and seventeen were pretty awful, since we lived with our aunt. She wasn’t exactly a cheerful person.”

I planted my hands on her hips and pulled her to me. “Well you’re here now.”

“Yes,” she softly mused, looking up at me through thick black lashes. “Yes I am.”

I took her chin in my hand and brought her lips to my mouth. She seemed to be crumbling down to the ground, all of her weight coming forward pressed into mine.

My arms looped around her, pulling her even tighter to me. Warmth swelled up in my core, seeming to come right up out of the ground. Parts of me awoke, the ones I kept at bay all day long, all through family dinner.

There, finally, locked away in our room I could let loose.

I twisted Paige’s sweater in my hands, pulling it slowly over her shoulders, over her head. Our kiss broke, but only for a second.

The sweater done with, I worked on her shirt, her pants, her bra, and finally, her underwear. She stood naked before me, an ivory goddess, something akin to a Grecian statue.

A deep frenzy overtook me, the kind I only feel every once in a while. I pushed her down onto the bed.