Independence: #2 Angel (34 page)

He pulled the neatly folded blankets from the bottom of the bed as he climbed in beside her. Colin urged her back against him and cuddled her close, holding her tight.

“And what was this wild goal you have, sir?”

He brushed the damp hair from her neck, his lips trailing down her throat. “To have you relaxed and so satisfied that when I ask you to move in with me, you weakly agree.”

Colin had felt the air catch in her chest. He hadn’t expected this first attempt to be easy. Her independence had been had won, and she was still fighting the battle with her relatives. But he’d planted the idea that it was a step he was wanting to take next.

“You believe we’re at that point?”

“I believe we are. Is there someone else you’d want in your life, Angel?”

Her sigh was soft as she carefully moved, turning to face him beneath the blankets that fell to her waist. His mind wandered just a little when she pressed her body against his, the pert little nipples raking over his chest and one of her legs lifted over his hip.

“I never thought I would allow anyone this close to me, Colin,” she admitted, the quiet between them peaceful, despite his question. “I’m not sorry for that. Not even a tiny bit. I should be…” She raised her hand, one finger out and on his lips when he opened his mouth. “I should be, Colin. My relatives are dangerous. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you and it was because of them. And it isn’t that I don’t have faith in your ability to handle yourself. It’s simply that I don’t trust them. So does that make me selfish?”

“Selfish?” Colin felt himself falling into those gorgeous dark eyes.

“Because I want every minute of any time I can have with you,” she told him honestly. “I like knowing we’ll see each other after work. I…I like what you’re wanting to take on…I don’t know if I understand me in it yet…but I know it’s important to me to please you when we play,” she smiled and lifted her gaze from the mouth that had opened and slowly sucked her finger inside. But his eyes smiled at her in a way that made her laugh. “And I like this…just us…talking and laughing and I…I know I can talk to you about absolutely anything in the world, and it’s alright.”

“Absolutely anything in the world,” he assured her confidently.

“Which means I have to ask an important question,” she pulled her finger free and let it trail along his jaw.

“I’m listening.”

“It’s the thing I’ve learned about negotiating,” she said with a sigh.

“You’re killing me here, Angel. What’s the condition to your moving in with me?” He knew he’d never been good at patience in some things and this was definitely one of them.

“We need to go out and buy a Christmas tree tomorrow. But not a dead one,” she added hastily, watching her request register in his mind. “I’d like to get a medium one with the root ball and plant it in your backyard after Christmas. Our first Christmas together. I have some ornaments…angels…and other…”

Colin decided he’d lost his control at the moment. He lifted his hand and speared five fingers into her hair. He pulled her mouth to his in a long, deep kiss. Her only requirement of him was a Christmas tree!

He rolled to his back, his hands adjusting her until she was spread over him, her elbows beside his head, her fingers as caught in his hair as his were, in hers.

Angel raised her head, reluctantly, and stared into his eyes. He liked the glow around her from the candles but he especially liked the sparkle in her eyes.

“Wow…” she inhaled slowly. “You must really like Christmas trees,” she teased, her grin, her body and her words all finding a comfortable home inside him.

“Not so much…at least not in the past. But I have a feeling I’m going to start loving the season a lot more than I used to,” he admitted, his hands loosening enough to allow her to slide to the side. He watched as she pulled herself to her kneeling position at his side, the blankets just covering her thighs.

“You don’t have ornaments or decorations?”

He almost wished he hadn’t said anything. There was a sadness in her eyes that said she already knew the answer.

“I wasn’t so keen on the holiday for a long time. I have vague memories of it with my mother…I was pretty little then,” he scooted back on the bed, leaning his shoulders on the heavy headboard. She reached over and took the hand closest to her. She had small hands. At least, he adjusted, compared to him, she had small hands as they lay flat against one another.

“I remember them all. I was lucky Gran took photos and kept them in an album.”

“When I left Montrose, I never went back. I’m sure whatever my mother had, he destroyed,” he closed his fingers around hers. A lifeline when he thought about his childhood. “She died between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It wasn’t much of anything for me for a few years. Even my first few years with Andrea and Barbara…they tried. But I realized I didn’t believe what was happening. I kept expecting them to either kick me out for doing something wrong or turn into Montrose.”

“Colin…it’s alright. You don’t have to talk about it.” Angel felt her eyes welling for the little boy she pictured in her mind. “I bet they took lots of pictures of you. She seemed very proud of you.”

“I’m just glad I wasn’t such a hardened street kid at the time that I…I might have really done something stupid and missed out on a second chance,” he admitted softly, his hand leaving hers to wipe at her cheek. “I’ve never talked about that time much, Angel. I know what I felt helped me understand part of where you were, mentally.”

“I’m glad, Colin. Really glad,” she offered up a watery smile.

“Anyway…it was a couple years before I felt safe enough, I guess. I was working summers for friends of theirs, doing odd jobs around some businesses or homes and earning money that summer that I socked away for Christmas presents. I think I’d finally realized I wasn’t only safe, I wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.” He dropped his hand on her thigh and stroked gently. “I usually spend the day with them, so I never bothered with anything at my own house. I kept telling myself I’d get around to it.”

“Are you sure it’s alright? Really, it’s not a…” she giggled. “A hard limit. I’d still move in with you just ‘cause I like you.”

“Just ‘cause of that, huh?” He bounced back at her with a hoot of laughter.

“Well…I really like you.”

“Then I guess we go shopping later today,” he answered with a glance at the clock on the wall by the door.

“I know some very nice places to find ornaments and I know a live tree farm. I’ll buy you lunch,” she promised, hastily backing up when he sat upright, the blankets falling to his lap.

Colin liked the laughter in her eyes and the teasing in her voice. She frowned slightly and he waited. He knew her mind traveled in a lot of directions at once sometimes.

“You moved most of my clothing already, didn’t you?”

“I moved it and arranged things in the bureau and closet for you,” he agreed. “Even the small collection of shoes and boots.”

“Hmm…then I have only a car load and to clean out the kitchen. I’ll do that after Christmas,” she said with a nod, a momentary doubt crossing her features. “Colin, are you sure…I know you can’t be positive…I know that…maybe…maybe that’s why it feels right to me, because I’ve never lived with anyone before. Or maybe it’s why I’m only a little nervous…I’m not sure anymore.”

“I’m fairly certain if things come up between us, we can talk it through. We’re not a couple young kids,” he took the hands she had clasped on her thighs between both of his. “I know I’m happier with you then I’ve been in a long time. Even Andrea noticed it.”

“Oh…do you think…will they like me?” She shook her head. “Not like
me
…I mean like me for you?”

Colin laughed. “I knew what you meant and I think they probably already do. Andrea and Barbara have no secrets between one another. Which means the instant she was alone, she was on the phone talking to Barbara about you. She’d already had a basic check done so she could argue his statement about your stability. But seeing you and speaking with you…” he opened the palms he hand in his hands and kissed each center. “Seeing me around you…and believe me, I worked to keep any personal connection from showing. But she knew.”

“Oh…good…then…” she dragged her tongue around her lips, smiling when he looked into her eyes. “Then maybe we should go home.”

“That, my sweet Angel, is a brilliant idea.”

It continued to amaze and amuse him as they scrambled for clothing. Laughing and groping one another through the process. When he stumbled pulling on one of his boots and landed on top of her, braced on his hands to avoid squashing her, she continued to grope and stroke along his cock.

“We will never leave this room if you don’t stop…”

“Are you ordering me to stop?” She tossed back impertinently, wiggling and pushing her hips against him suggestively.

“You know what happens to disobedient subs,” he growled, shifting to fall to the side and grab up his boot again.

“Hmm…I don’t, actually,” she sat up and leaned into him. “Not to your sub, at least.”

“I’ll make a point of providing you with that answer before the weekend is over,” he assured her, Dom mode slipping easily back into place when he saw the hint of fire and anticipation in her eyes. He stood up and took her hands, pulling her easily to her feet. He left her standing there and did a quick walk around, collecting his things before joining her. Outside the room, he flipped the sign that indicated the room was ready to be cleaned.

“Let’s go home, Angel.”

Chapter Thirty

Angel was mostly awake when she shoved her keys toward the lock of the shop. She’d disengaged the alarm and stepped gratefully into the warmth of her kitchen. She had her ovens on timers and the coffee makers were just about to kick on. She left her jacket and purse in her office and went around flipping light switches and giving the customer area a general going over.

But most of her thoughts were on the previous evening and the partially finished basement of the house. Colin had shown her where the steps were and ordered her below to wait for him.

He’d used that tone that had immediately sent her body into high, sensual alert. Or maybe it was the way the blue in his eyes darkened seconds before he turned and went in the other direction without saying another word.

During their first official living together day, they’d shopped and laughed and had lunch in a sweet little café in the mountains to the east of Seattle. Holiday decorations were everywhere. Houses, shops and transportation lit up the cold, grey day. Several bags now sat waiting for them to open and decorate the tree they’d agreed on. Colin even had a spot already selected at the edge of the back yard for the blue spruce when the season ended.

She thought they’d decorate that night, but he had other ideas for the evening.

A shiver raced through her at the memory. She could still feel the multi-strand flogger that he wielded along her thighs, ass and back. And each one he used, amped up the sensations. Of course, it hadn’t helped when he introduced her to a small anal vibrator. To prepare her, he whispered as he played with her until she thought she’d explode from his touch.

When he’d managed to coax a strong orgasm from her for the third time, they’d come together and she melted against him. She now knew what her friends found so intoxicating about the sensations. For that time, that wildly erotic time, there was absolutely nothing in her mind but Colin and what he was doing to her.

She’d felt a little selfish until he’d plunged inside her. How could she not realize that his arousal was every bit as sharp as her own? That thought rocketed her over the edge and she cried out his name, the final release draining everything from her in one long, shuddering climax.

She woke an hour later tucked safely in his bed, his arms still around her and his breathing soft as it sifted over her head. But the instant she moved, he whispered to her and she knew he’d been lying there awake, waiting. It was, after all, one of the things he did best.

Angel jerked herself back to the present or she’d have to start keeping panties in her desk drawer. Dark eyes crossed before she flipped the open sign over and headed to the back. She’d heard two of her employees come in, grateful she’d given them their own keys for early mornings.

She had the front showcase filled to brimming with thick slices of cake, cookies, pastries and a couple dozen carefully wrapped sandwiches, each one labeled to clearly explain what was in them. Freshly brewed coffee scents permeated the large rooms and the smile that tipped her lips when the bell over the door began chiming was brighter than it had ever been before.

It was eleven when she was elbow deep in flour and two kinds of sugar when Lyla called to her from the front. Dusting off her hands on the apron she wore, Angel walked through the large open archway, her feet slowing in their steps and her eyes widening.

“Oh, my god,” she whispered, blinking away the sudden rush of heated moisture.

“They are amazing,” Lyla winked over at Carrie who had stopped cleaning tables to watch.

Angel held her hand out for the small crème colored envelope, opening it enough to peek inside at the scrawled signature and brief note.

“To my Angel on the coming weeks of our first Christmas. Thank you for trusting me. Colin.”