Page 6

An Angel (Not)

L iam scowled for the first time in weeks when it began to drizzle while he was still on the highway on the 17 th . Rather than making the drive last night, he’d decided to get up relatively early on this brisk Saturday and leave then. He had hoped to make it home a little before noon. That would still be the case, but he still frowned as the first patter of a pitiful but long-lasting sprinkle forced him to turn on his wipers.

He supposed he should count his blessings—it was just rain, not a flurry of snow. Winter still had February in its clutches, but Liam’s hopes rested with March. He’d be out of the country when April struck, yet there were still some things he wanted to indulge in stateside before then. Outdoor activities, including one that had been promised at the end of last year. He needed it to be marginally warm for him to get the opportunity.

After letting the rain burden his thoughts for a few minutes, he forced himself to unshoulder his annoyance. Today’s opportunities could survive a bit of dismal rain. He doubted he’d spend much of this chilly Saturday experiencing the outdoors, anyhow.

The experiences Liam had in mind were far warmer, far more intimate. Regardless of the rain, the long drive, or the semi-truck that veered in front of him and forced him to slam his brakes, today, February 17 th , had every chance to become the best day of the year.

So far.

After escaping the highway, Liam didn’t beeline it home. Instead, mingling with the busy midday traffic, he battled toward a local shopping center. Given that Valentine’s Day was three days behind them, he didn’t need to fight to seize one of the six parking spots in front of Chocolate Bliss. Further benefits were found within the cozy store, as just about every remaining box shaped like a heart and coated in shiny plastic was on sale.

Liam spent half of what he would have last weekend when he selected three boxes to bring home. Yet, midway through checkout, his eyes drifted back to the shelves, where a memory of Christmas Eve also dwelled. A lonely heart-shaped box of assorted chocolates languished in solitude—the rest of its siblings had all found a home before it could. The crimson covering gleamed in the light, showing no signs of damage to the packaging, and a white sash draped across it like it was a beauty contestant.

So, a few minutes later, as Liam returned to his car, he carried a stack of four boxes of chocolate, not three. It might not be the ridiculously expensive brand that Avril had gotten everyone last year, but it was still pretty nice chocolate. He just hoped that everyone’s palettes hadn’t become too used to the finest stuff on the market.

Three of those chocolate gifts would find themselves impatiently waiting for tomorrow, lingering in his house until he could bring them to their recipients. Only the fourth—a mix of milk and white chocolate; he knew Tess’s preferences—would get to present itself to its intended recipient today.

When Liam made it into his neighborhood, a flood of memories lifted the corners of his mouth. Nothing short of a hurricane could have dampened his mood now. He descended the hill into the neighborhood, eyeing the length of sidewalk—now visible—where he and Anna had engaged in a brief snowball fight. Afterward, he’d trudged back through the snow to Tess’s waiting arms. Today he got to make that trip a little quicker.

As soon as he laid eyes on the house beside his, his smile expanded into an overjoyed grin. He’d seen it only a week ago, yet it felt like an eternity since he’d last visited. The meager rain shower threw a sepia tone over it, but it was still enough to make his excitement nearly unbearable.

Pulling into his empty driveway, Liam texted Tess that he’d made it home. After that, he hurried four boxes of chocolate indoors, then separated Tess’s from the rest in his kitchen. His phone buzzed with a message that Tess was waiting for him, so he gleefully tossed himself back into the chilly rain.

Keeping the chocolate’s packaging safe under his jacket, he forced himself to walk from his front door to the one next to it. Even though he knew the door would be unlocked for him, he nonetheless rang the doorbell. It allowed the rain to dampen his head and shoulders for a few seconds more, but he didn’t mind. When it opened, every trouble or complaint in his mind vanished into the void.

His first taste of the woman he loved was a smile containing equal parts amusement and bemusement. Eyes of endlessly deep blue, obtained from the depths of the ocean just moments before the sunlight could no longer penetrate any deeper, took him in, held him captive. They had since he’d first seen them years ago. Now, however, they didn’t just shine with kindness and sincerity.

“Hello, Liam,” Tess said, displaying a luscious smile. “Would you like to come in?”

“Yes,” he responded, then strode into the actual home he’d been living in when he came back to town for the past month and a half.

Once he was inside, Tess swung her door closed. Their gazes reconnected briefly, but then Tess dropped her attention to the pronounced outline of a massive heart sticking out beneath his thin jacket. A fine eyebrow elevated itself above its sibling.

Before Liam could reveal his belated Valentine’s Day gift, he needed to reset his mind. It was how it always was. It was as if he turned into a long-forgotten backup phone every time he made it back to Tess. Battery drained, he needed to be plugged into the wall before he could work as intended. Even if it’d only been a few days since he’d last seen her in the flesh, he still went through the same ritual.

First, he admired her.

She was a pair of feathery wings, a glowing halo, and a golden harp away from being able to claim she was an angel. Even at the height of winter, when sunlight was challenging to find, her skin glowed healthily. She had hair that was slightly brighter still, a light brunette that now flirted with gold due to some recent highlights that she’d gotten at the start of the month near the wavy ends, which were finally beginning to extend beyond her shoulders. What would she look like after a week of beachgoing in April? Victoria wasn’t the only one who he was impatiently waiting to see in a bikini.

Stunningly beautiful, she was still full-figured and unraveling in her voluptuousness. That was doubly true as his gaze dropped lower. She had an attractively thin waist and flat stomach, which she’d developed to dizzying allure last year—and he silently thanked Victoria very, very much for having invited Tess to become her workout partner. Below that, she had the shapeliest butt that Liam had ever looked at, caressed, or spanked. God, he’d spanked it!

Beyond her physical perfection, she had the sincerity, kindness, and compassion required of an angel, and she’d been capable of fixing his troubles with just a smile since pretty much the day they’d met. Indeed, the day she’d taken up residence next door still felt reminiscent of an angel’s descent from the heavens. The memory of that day was permanently etched into his soul.

Most of his memories of her suffused him with warmth. The older ones filled him with precious joy. The new ones did too, though they were tinged with far more eroticism than he would have ever imagined three months ago.

He knew far more about Tess’s curvaceous body than he’d ever dreamed he might. She wore a pair of black leggings—she knew how much he loved seeing her in them—and a simple loose shirt today, which made it plain that she didn’t intend to leave her house. That was just fine. Wherever she was, that was where he wanted to be. He admired her. For several long seconds. Until Tess folded her arms beneath her breasts and re-raised her eyebrow.

Second, he worked the moisture back into his mouth. Third, he cleared his throat. Finally, he rediscovered his voice.

“Happy Valentine’s Day… plus three,” he said, removing and revealing the box of chocolates beneath his jacket.

There’d hardly been any doubt as to what was beneath, but Tess beamed at him all the same. His heart soared into his throat. She teased him when he called her an angel, but he couldn’t help it. She was just… divine.

And sinful, too. If there was a reason behind her falling to Earth, it had to be related to how insatiable she could become. And though Valentine’s Day might be in the rearview mirror, the typical activities of the day stared him right in the face.

“Thank you,” Tess said, accepting the box with one hand. The other climbed to his cheek, where it emblazoned his face with warmth. Leaning in, eyes glowing with affection, Tess kissed him.

He needed to go through his resetting process all over again.

Once their lips parted, Tess pushed a few errant strands of hair behind her ear. She hadn’t stopped smiling since he’d arrived and appeared in no hurry to stop now. After she nodded over her shoulder, Liam silently followed—his eyes were far too glued to the shapely outline of her butt for him to make conversation—her into her living room.

He blinked, finding an oddity capable—somehow—of disconnecting his attention from Tess’s glorious backside.

“Are we fine dining at one in the afternoon?” he asked, nodding toward a curious object sitting on her coffee table. A large silver dome, like the kind that servants removed before serving their aristocratic masters at dinner, announced its presence loudly as they entered the room.

“Oh, there’s no food underneath that,” Tess said, smiling over her shoulder.

“Where’d you even get it?”

“If you ask, Avril will succeed,” Tess answered as she sat on her couch. She placed the chocolates beside the platter but otherwise didn’t disturb it.

Someone has a flair for the dramatic today, Liam thought, joining her on the couch. Yet, he was certainly curious about whatever was hidden beneath. If it wasn’t food, then what? He’d only got her chocolates, so in terms of pageantry, he’d already been outdone.

“We have all day together,” Tess began, to which Liam happily nodded.

Yes, they did. He’d be away most of tomorrow, splitting time with Avril and Anna. Knowing the way the former’s mind worked, there’d probably end up being some overlap. Hopefully, he and Anna would come out relatively unscathed.

But for today, he had nowhere else to go. Today, even if it were three days too late, he would experience a romantic holiday with the woman he’d desired for as long as he’d known her. It was enough to make a man insane with glee. Indeed, Liam felt himself struggling not to vibrate with anticipation.

“Once I knew you were coming home around this time, I decided to set up a few things. After all, we can’t spend the whole day in my bed—”

“Well, we possibly could,” Liam interjected.

Smiling, Tess leaned over and kissed him again. He felt breathless by the time her warm, soft lips pulled back.

“We’ve got all day for you to up your count,” Tess purred, which immediately caused Liam to inhale excitedly. Tess rubbed his cheek with her thumb, then bit her lower lip. “I’m sure you’ll make good progress on that goal you so boldly stated last year.”

Heart racing, he wordlessly nodded.

“Before that, though, I had some preamble in mind.” Tess’s eyes glittered as she reached toward the circular ring mounted atop the silver dome. “There’ll be a late lunch, dinner later, some movies, and so on. But before any of that, I figured we could share your chocolates over a game.”

Finally, she removed the silver dome. As she set it aside on the ground, Liam squinted at the object on the coffee table. Everything was already set up, but that wasn’t what he reacted to. Really, it was just what was sitting in front of him.

“You want to play chess?” he asked, staring at the wooden pieces set up into opposing armies on their side of the board. They looked vastly higher quality—walnut, though he didn’t know it—than any chess set he’d ever seen. The pieces, especially, he’d find were much heavier than he was used to dealing with.

“I’ve long since disabused myself of the notion that I’ll win if we play a card game,” Tess said lightly. “So, the logical next step would be board games. You do know how to play, don’t you?”

“Yes,” he grunted.

“Good. Then it should be easy for us to keep track of everything while other things go on.”

Tess’s emphasis caused his ears to perk up, and he tapped his fingers on his thighs. “Other things?”

“You don’t really think we’d just play a board game, do you? How boring do you think I am?”

“I think you’re the exact opposite of boring,” he hastily said.

Tess smiled. “Right answer.” Kissing him again, Tess pushed into him. This one lasted long enough for Liam to guide one of his hands up to Tess’s left breast. Massaging it through the shirt, he confirmed that no bra was beneath. It was more fuel for a bonfire already set to burn for the entire day.

“So, what other things will we do while playing?” Liam asked, realizing he needed to grab a glass of water before they started. Already, his throat felt parched.

“Feed each other chocolate, for one,” Tess said. “Whenever a pawn is taken off the board, the person who lost it has to feed the other player a piece of chocolate.”

“What about when the other pieces are taken off the board?”

“When both bishops are taken off the board, that player takes off everything above their waist,” Tess said, eyes glinting lustfully—or maybe that was just the reflection of his eyes that he was seeing. “When both knights are removed, everything below comes off. For the rooks, queen, and king, some different activities will occur. So, this game doesn’t end when a king is checkmated. Keep that in mind. We’re going until one side is completely wiped out, barring a few pawns, perhaps.”

Liam’s tongue pressed into the gap between his cheek and his bottom left row of teeth as he examined the chessboard. He’d played, though he’d never been all that into the game. Cards were his area of expertise, as Tess had noted. Here, even without him being certain about how good she was, he felt like he might be in a bit of trouble.

Of course, if that trouble offered him a chance to rip Tess’s shirt off—much less the activities she kept purposefully secretive— it was worth the risk. Hell, was it really a risk in the first place? If he did end up with all his clothes off, he doubted Tess would be able to tease him for too long. After all, he knew her secret. She wasn’t truly an angel. She simply couldn’t be. She loved the feeling of his cock as it pumped deep inside of her far too much for that to be the case.

Having forgotten his need for refreshments, Liam cracked his knuckles. “Let’s play.”

Barely a minute later, Tess tore open her box of chocolates. It came with eighteen truffles, nine white and nine brown, so two more than could feasibly be consumed in a single round of chess. He wasn’t a massive fan of white chocolate, so he was glad that, as the white player, Tess hadn’t placed any color-coordinated rules on their unique game.

After dispensing the wrapping, she passed the box over to him. Wearing a smile, Tess watched as he removed the lid, then selected the first chocolate of the afternoon that he would feed her. It wouldn’t be the last, as Tess had struck hard and fast, with barely any hesitation behind her moves. That was probably a bad sign for his chances.

Lifting a milk chocolate truffle from the golden foil under it, he held it between his thumb and forefinger. Tess leaned toward him, smiling victoriously before opening her mouth.

Finding it difficult to grumble about this turn of events, Liam fed one of the most beautiful women alive a piece of chocolate. Gently inserting it into her mouth, he laid it on her tongue. As soon as that occurred, Tess’s sensuous lips gathered together—with his fingers still in her mouth.

Liam’s arm shook as she began to suck on chocolate and fingers alike. She allowed him a moment of bliss, but only a moment. Withdrawing her mouth after that moment ended, his damp fingers, pads slightly marked with chocolate, escaped the warm confines of her mouth. A third mental reset followed, during which Tess overtly suckled on the chocolate sphere rolling around on her tongue.

The focus on their game—it was his turn—vanished. Liam swallowed the lump in his throat, staring as he was stared at. His and Tess’s eyes connected for some twenty seconds, with neither willing nor able to break it. Only once her throat quivered, once the chocolate that had melted within the warmth of her mouth flowed down her throat, did Tess nod at the board.

“It’s your go.”

She stopped him from moving his next piece. Her hand caught his wrist—the same hand that had a bit of chocolate smeared on the ends of his thumb and forefinger—before he could stain her chess pieces. They were wooden, not plastic, so he assumed they were expensive. That was probably another reason to be worried. He also should have known better than to reach for the pieces with his fingertips still wet and chocolatey. He’d never have done such a thing with a deck of cards. Pretzels, grapes, hard candy—those were the only snacks he’d consider when playing cards.

Yet, before he could apologize for his near faux pas, Tess stole his ability to speak. Instead of letting go of his wrist, she tugged it over. Back to her lips, but without any chocolate to deliver. Not much, at least.

Liam’s cock throbbed as Tess sucked on his fingers. Her eyes reclaimed his full focus, unblinking and charged with carnal electricity. Trembling as she slathered warmth and wetness across his fingers, Liam swallowed audibly. Smiling at him with her eyes, the gorgeous woman he loved didn’t stop suckling on his fingers until he nearly came undone.

With that, he finally knew with total certainty that Tess couldn’t be an angel. Still, he’d probably keep calling her one. It seemed to turn her on.