Page 68 of Hopelessly Teavoted
Kelley had picked up Milo a few hours earlier, and devil damn him if he wasn’t enamored with that adorable little dude, with his wispy baby hair, his enthusiastic cuddling, and his deep dimples. He’d always loved babies.
Someday, he wanted to be just like his parents.
As much as they had embarrassed him for his entire life, and as long as he had tried to become normal , and carve out a path for himself elsewhere, this was where he belonged.
He wanted the world with Vickie. She made everything a little brighter, even when work was stressful or, on occasion, when parents yelled at him.
He wanted the touch of her hand to reassure him that she was there, sealed upon his heart.
That even though he was a witch, and she was a ray of sunshine who happened to be gifted like a death goddess, their magics knew that they were meant for each other, his might and her fire, each warming the other and winding into something beautiful.
He wanted to have her by his side and in the house and under him and on top of him and with him always.
He wanted her to be blissfully happy and to do what she wanted, and to be with him, and have so much love that they wanted other people to share it with too.
Even if it didn’t go perfectly, and even if one day their kids found their sex dungeon, or if they died too early.
He wanted to take a chance on loss with her, because to live without knowing what it was like to have that exhilarating feeling of home, of oneness, that he had with Vickie, well, he knew all too well that it was merely half a life.
No, Azrael would cherish every second of the time they had together, and pray to the stars that it lasted a long, long time.
He would dance with her in the moonlit conservatory and bicker with her in the foyer and share meals at that dining room table as a family.
He would take her to the silk sheets of his four-poster bed and make love to her every night the way he’d always wanted to, and then some.
He’d reach for her in the morning unafraid, without pretending that he was anything less than completely in love with her.
He’d fight off a thousand Halloween curses, and solve a thousand mysteries, just to say her name.
What bliss.
He would keep giving Victoria Elaine Starnberger his heart, because, after all, she’d already held it long before he’d written her that letter nine years ago. His heart would always beat for her anyway.
So he stood outside the house, exhausted from babysitting but unwilling to wait even a second longer before seeing her face and reminding himself that she existed, real in the flesh, overwhelming and extraordinary and all that he had ever wanted.
He could see her freckles through the windshield, and the shiny lengths of her polished black fingernails as she pulled the little yellow bug up to the driveway behind the hearse.
If anyone could commit completely to a costume, it was Vickie.
By the time she parked, Azrael was halfway down the drive to her, and they ran to each other, the way they always did after a long day of work, unwilling to walk slowly to bridge the gap of the day’s distance that stretched each morning and closed each night.
“Victoria,” he whispered into her hair, breathing in lavender and strawberries and contentment as her arms wound around his neck and he dug his fingers into the fishnet bodysuit in the space between her top and the shorts. “What do you call an animal that steals all the soap from your bath?”
“I don’t know. What?”
“A robber duck.”
She laughed, groaning a little. “You’re absolutely hopeless. It’s lucky you’re also hot as hell.”
“Mmm,” he said. “I’m lucky to be with you.” He pulled back for a moment, drinking her in. “You’ve nailed that particular look, but I know you love this music video. Let me put you in a bathtub of diamonds with nothing but red lipstick on.”
She giggled against his neck, and warm licks of magic shot through him, the familiar way his body always recognized her.
“You know just what to say to a girl, Az. But a bubble bath might be more comfortable than a diamond bath.”
He grinned. “Why not just try one? I can’t steal diamonds without violating a dozen Witchery Council codes, but I’m sure we at least have a chest full of imitation gemstones somewhere in the basement that I could borrow. I think the house wants you to use that new tub it got you.”
“Well,” she drawled, running her lips along his neck until he shivered. “The house wants what it wants, right?”
“It does, Vick, and it’s such a good house. I wouldn’t want to let it down.”
“No,” she mused, slipping an arm around him, and walking toward the door, which screeched at her gently. “But I still vote bubbles over baubles.” She patted the knocker, and it sighed a little, relenting and swinging open. “I always liked this haunted door.”
“It’s just fussy,” he said. “But it means well.” The door still made him jumpy, but like everything else in the house, it recognized Vickie and loved her.
Maybe he had never missed his chance at all. Maybe chances were like his magic, always waiting, buzzing, under his skin, until he got his life together and let them in.
He pulled her in, pressing a kiss on the top of her head as the door shut gently behind them and they stood in the hallway.
Tracing a thumb along her jaw and pulling her in, he slipped his other hand around her waist and kissed her, dipping her low into the sort of extravagant gesture that the house hadn’t seen since his parents died.
The blinds shuddered, and the lights dimmed for them, casting everything in a warm, romantic glow.
“Vickie,” he whispered. “I love you, sweetheart.”
“I love you, too, Az,” she said, pulling his face down to hers, and the world around them faded, though he could tell that the runner of the rug was tugging them gently toward the stairs.
“Thank you, house,” Az murmured, scooping his hands underneath Vickie and lifting her so she could wind her legs around him. His strides were faster than she could have gone in those boots up the stairs and down the hall to the bedroom that had conveniently grown into a space perfect for them both.
Vickie smiled up at Azrael, and he finally understood.
Their bodies sang to each other. Two strands of enchantment, beating, stretching, like an invisible string that had spanned a distance between them that had been thousands of miles and misunderstandings long.
With all the love in his heart and the power in his veins, he leaned down and kissed her.
Again.
The End