Page 60 of Lips of an Angel

I turned my head, bringing our mouths together, and Raleigh didn’t hesitate to give me his tongue. I eagerly sucked on it, delighting at being filled from both ends. Raleigh swallowed every indecent sound coming from me, holding me steady with those strong hands of his. I’d never felt safer than I did at that moment. I may have been the angel, but Raleigh was my savior. Time and time again, he’d never failed to catch me when I fell. There, as our mutual climaxes built, it all became clear.

No one else had ever stood a chance. It was always him. I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding him close. My tongue explored every inch of his mouth. I could have him any time I wanted now, but this night would always be special. I couldn’t believe I’d been so foolish as to think he’d never feel the same way. The man beneath me was my entire life, and he had been since the moment he strolled over to my table.

He shifted again, knocking against my prostate. I broke the kiss to cry out, just for Raleigh to shush me gently with his lips against my neck. “I’ve got you.” The words whispered across my skin and my marks soaked them up, storing them away as a reminder for later.

That was all it took for me to come undone. My climax zipped down my spine, too quickly for me to argue about it. My cock spurted between us, pulsing out my release. My vision whited out, and I came with a cry. The orgasm nearly broke me, but Raleigh held me together. He growled and picked up his pace, assaulting my prostate and drawing out my orgasm. I shook in his arms, and he held me tighter.

“I’ve got you.”

His words echoed through my brain over and over, and I believed them. He did have me.

Raleigh was chasing his own release, and I held on tight. An onslaught of emotions crashed into me, and tears streamed down my cheeks. With his face buried in my neck, he latched onto the sensitive skin and sucked, deepening the bruise there. I welcomed the pain, and the sting when he pulled off.

He licked over the spot to soothe it. “I’m close, Angel.”

“Do it,” I pleaded, tugging hard on his hair. “Claim me. Make me yours.”

That seemed to be the trigger. Raleigh pressed his fingers into my hips, hard enough to leave bruises—I hoped. I wanted to wear his marks on me for the rest of my life. I wanted the whole world to know that I belonged to Raleigh Jenkins.

His cock swelled, then I felt the hot rush of come burst inside me.

I was his.

I’d never been more certain of anything in my life.

Raleigh rode out his orgasm, peppering gentle kisses on my neck and chest, soothing the mark he’d left behind. I never wanted it to fade. I had half a mind to run out immediately and get it tattooed in place, a permanent reminder of who he was to me.

“I love you,” I whispered, emotions threatening to get the better of me.

He loosened his grip, one hand moving to my hair and the other wrapping around my waist. All too soon, he lifted himself off me. The only thing that made it better was feeling his come drip down my inner thighs—another reminder that I belonged to him.

“I love you too,” he said. “Angel, I’m just sorry it took me so long to see it.”

With a gentle smile, I pressed a breathless kiss to his lips. “You saw it precisely when you needed to,” I signed.

Chest heaving, Raleigh held me close until we’d recovered. Only then did he shift to lay us down, taking care not to knock my wings into anything. Funny how quickly he’d adjusted to something I still had trouble dealing with.

I collapsed onto his chest, utterly spent. Even my marks settled and faded back to tattoos. Raleigh massaged my scalp with one hand and the other stroked my feathers. Finally satisfied, it was a simple thing to tuck my wings away. I didn’t have to wrestle them beneath my skin like usual.

The glow in the room dimmed, leaving us in almost complete darkness. In the heat of things I’d knocked the curtains open, letting in some of the light from the Strip. Raleigh peeled locks of dampened hair away from my face, which only stuck to his equally sweaty chest. My cheeks grew wet, and it wasn’t until Raleigh brushed them that I realized I was still crying.

“Hey,” he whispered, tugging me against his body until I could bury my face in the crook of his neck. “Are you okay?”

I nodded against him. “I can’t believe this is real.” My words were barely audible, but I’d spent the better part of two decades not talking. He’d gotten damn good at knowing what I needed to say without actually needing to hear it. “I’ve wanted this for so long.”

It was like once I started, I couldn’t stop. I’d always felt safe with Raleigh, and this time was no different. We should’ve known that my first words would be to him; we’d shared so many firsts before. I lay on his chest, tracing my finger over the slight ridges on his left pec, over his heart—a new tattoo. Slowly, I realized that the swirling lines beneath my finger were letters.

A.C.

My heart skipped a beat. No, surely it couldn’t be. But when I glanced up at him, the bashful smile on his face told me everything I needed to know.

“When?” I asked.

A nervous laugh bubbled out of him. “The moment I realized I was in love with you.”

I groaned and buried myself in his chest again. “Christ, you can’t do things like this to me.”

Raleigh took my hand, his fingers rubbing the mark where my engagement ring had been a few hours ago. “What’s going on with the wedding?” he asked, fear in his tone. Like he still expected me to jump up and run off to get married.

---