Page 4 of By An Angel's Grace

I chuckled and slipped the ribbon holding everything together free of its bow. I had a feeling I knew what was inside. I mean, the lavender satin of the ribbon was kind of a dead giveaway, and I was hoping against hope that I was right.

I couldn’t help but give a little triumphant jump while at the same time suppressing the victorious yelp that was struggling to crawl up my throat. I held in my hands the beautiful lavender silk dress edged in hand-sewn-on amethyst crystals. While it was something Tabbris had seen me in before, I couldn’t help but feel giddy about wearing it for him during a time he wasn’t wounded and the whole world was on the brink of collapse.

I loved this dress – how it fit, how it felt, and how it made me look. I quickly looked around for a place to hang it while I showered so the steam could release the wrinkles as Gabriel’s note suggested. Although the joke was on her, I actually already knew that trick.

I settled for pulling off one of the bathrobes hanging on the back of the door and abandoning it by laying it across the white, country-looking, porcelain pedestal sink. I used the satin hangar to hang the dress in its place and turned on the shower over the claw-foot tub in the corner. The pipes shuddered and groaned about having to do their duty, but the water that poured out was clean and clear and started to gently steam after a few seconds.

I stripped down efficiently and stepped in, pulling the curtain closed around me and let the heat work its magic on my road-weary muscles.

I shampooed my long, dark hair and the stuff provided smelled so nice, I took the time to condition it as well. It was with a little reluctance that I shut off the tap and got out. I wrapped my hair in one of the smaller towels and my body in one of the bath sheets. I dried off thoroughly before shrugging into the terrycloth bathrobe provided by the place we were staying.

I found a hairdryer, cord neatly coiled around the handle, tucked into a distressed, country-looking cabinet beside the sink. I found an outlet and plugged it in, pointing it at the mirror on the wall above the sink to clear the steam before unwrapping my hair to give it the same treatment. I brushed it out and realized just how much it’d grown out. Before it’d hung to the middle of my back. I hadn’t noticed when it’d gotten to my waist, but I liked it and whatever was in that conditioner was something of a miracle worker because it shone with health and there wasn’t a split end in sight.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” I murmured at the mirror. “Okay, girl, best get to Tab’s hair before it completely dries out and you have to make him get it wet again.”

A light tap fell at the door and Tab called out, “Adelaide, who are you talking to?”

“Myself,” I called out. “Guess I just got used to it. I’ll be right out.”

I heard the light rustle of cloth as Tab moved away from the door, and I gave an appreciative look to the dress hanging straight and perfect on the back of the door, as if it’d been pressed and not just steamed. There wasn’t a wrinkle to it, and I thought to myself that it must be some minor miracle Gabriel had worked on it. Leave it to him to waste divine power on making a fashion statement, although it was better than unleashing one of her plagues for fun. He got way too much of a kick out of that. Almost as much of a kick as he did gender-bending just to screw with people. Gabriel definitely brought a whole new meaning to ‘gender fluidity.’

I slipped out of the bathroom after making sure my robe was tied securely and found Tab moving a kitchen chair onto a flat sheet that had been spread onto the carpet. He stopped and straightened, a concerned frown marring his gorgeous features. He was model perfect – sharp cheekbones, the slight, dark shadow of a day’s growth sweeping down to a strong jaw and sensual lips. His skin was lightly tanned, and it lent a healthy glow to what would otherwise be a complexion too pale without it.

Dark black hair, so dark as to have blue highlights like a raven’s wing, hung over his forehead and nearly into his soft gray eyes. I loved his eyes. The gray muted, an almost silver-like thick morning mist… except when they whirled that dangerous, frightening blue. I hadn’t seen that in a while, and I was okay with that.

Tab was taller than me by a head, and I had drifted close enough that I had to crane my neck back to look at him fully. He touched the side of my neck gently with his fingertips, his thumb grazing along my jaw as he took his time drinking me in with his eyes.

I swallowed hard, the moment tenuous, and I chickened out hardcore, opening my mouth and dispelling the magic of it.

“You know if we keep going like this, we’re never going to make dinner,” I murmured, voice strained with the war going on between my heart and head. I wanted with all my heart for Tab to kiss me, to close the gap between us and place his warm lips against mine… However, I knew that Gabriel had gone to some trouble to arrange an evening for us and I didn’t want to disappoint him. He was, after all, Tab’s best friend and had even made room to call me his friend too. That was no small thing when it came to any angel.

“I suppose you’re right, we wouldn’t want to disappoint,” Tab said, smiling.

“Sit down?” I asked and Tab nodded slowly, taking a reluctant step back and taking a seat on the kitchen chair. I swept the damp towel from my long hair and put it around him like a cape to protect his clothes before drifting over to the bedside table to pick up the kit. I unzipped it and selected a comb and a proper pair of shears.

I took my time, carefully combing his hair, sweeping it back from his face before I set to work. I was a bit rusty at it, but I managed to do right by him. It was definitely a marked improvement from the shaggy mop he’d had going on before. I walked around to the front of him but before I could clip the errant piece of hair I was after, he caught my wrist. I stopped, and he captured my gaze with his.

Apparently, the magic moment from earlier hadn’t completely gone, because it came back with a roaring vengeance. Tab drew me down into his lap and I folded like a puppet who’d suddenly had her strings cut. His arms went around my waist and he settled me into his lap and before I could draw breath, we were kissing.

The scissors clattered along the back of the chair and the comb thumped to the floor as my nerveless fingers let them go. I buried my fingers in the luxurious softness of the hair at the back of his head and clung to him as his tongue passed between my lips and swept the inside of my mouth, enthusiastically met with my own.

I moaned, a breathy thing, into his mouth and my eyes slipped shut, but not before I caught the many splendorous lights of whatever mysticism angels did to travel through time and space.

“Did you do that?” I whispered against his lips; my forehead pressed against his.

“Of course he didn’t, I did,” a familiar voice said off to my left.

“Way to be a total cockblocker, Gabriel,” I said, breathing slowly through my nose while I tried to get a handle on my stomach.

When I opened my eyes, it was to realize that I was dressed in the lavender silk gown, my hair dry and perfectly styled. I could feel makeup on my face, but only because I was so unused to wearing any. I met Tab’s gaze and smiled. I could tell by his expression that he was speechless and it warmed me, because the thing robbing him of speech was me.

Of course, I was likewise taken aback. Tab’s hair was dry and perfect, too. His outfit completed by a black-on-black striped tie and black suit jacket. He reached up and brushed a thumb along my cheek, silver and onyx cufflinks gleaming at his wrists. He looked sharp and so beautiful that it made my heart ache.

“Isn’t all of this some sort of waste when it comes to your divine power?” I asked, but I couldn’t take my eyes from Tab’s to even look and see where we were.

Gabriel chuckled. “Worried I’m going to get into trouble?”

“A little,” I said honestly.

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