Page 64 of Hopelessly Teavoted
Vickie smiled at him wickedly, and for a moment he couldn’t understand what it was that had her looking so pleased with herself.
Until she traced her fingers along the hem of her shirt, pulling it off over her head, and then sliding her sweatpantsdown to her knees and wriggling a little, stepping out of them to reveal the fancy underthings he now suspected she favored. The unexpected lack of clothing, paired with a lavender see-through bra and the neon pink lace thong against her smooth, freckled skin, made Az’s heart throb. Among other things.
He could get used to that sort of a predilection.
“Magic me into something elegant enough to dance with you in a suit of armor.” Her face was earnest, green eyes wide in a challenge.
“It would be my pleasure. Just don’t move for a second.”
Vickie paused, one arm holding the elbow of the other, skin prickling in the air.
Az flicked his fingers, and Vickie was wearing a long-sleeved, high-necked, pink floral-patterned gown he remembered from the costumes in the attic, complete with gloves and boots. It was fitted, but it covered her securely enough to help prevent actually burning for her.
“Is this your mother’s?”
He shook his head. “No. I don’t know whose it was, but Persephone Hart would never have been caught dead in anything so festive.”
She smiled, picking up the heavy, finely stitched fabric.
“I look like an extra in a Jane Austen movie. And I can’t walk in these shoes.”
“Yeah, but an attractive extra. At least as attractive as any rendition of Darcy moving through the misty moors, and that’s saying something.” He snapped his fingers, and the shoes were gone, replaced with her worn green Chucks. “I was really, really into him in that moment. My very own pansexual awakening.”
“I remember.” She bit her lip. “I think we left off in an unfair advantage for me,” she whispered. “I showed you mine…”
“My lady.” Az gave a mock bow and pulled his shirt over his head. “Your wish is my command.”
“Fuck me, Azrael. I thought I felt them in the Packard, but fuck, when did those abs happen?”
“It was a long lockdown, and I was bored and lonely. We need to work on thisfuck meexpression,” he said, shifting his weight to prevent his blood from going straight south.
“Never,” she said solemnly. “Now take off your pants, and let’s dance.”
“You’re missing a step there,” he said wryly, pulling off his pants and tossing them at her. He stood in front of her in his boxers for a minute longer than he needed to, not mentioning that he would magic light sweatpants and a shirt on under the suit of armor because, frankly, it was not comfortable to wear a suit of armor naked. If she wanted him to strip, he’d do it, gladly, old rumors from high school and all.
A few snaps later, and he was suited up, peering at her through the visor. Holding out a hand.
Vickie stepped into his arms, sliding one around his metal waist and shivering.
“Cold?”
“No,” she said. “I’m just glad you’re willing to do all this, Az. It’s— It means a lot.”
He took her gloved hand in his and pressed it against the breastplate of the armor.
“I would do more for you without batting an eye, Victoria.”
Quietly, she pulled him closer, and he wrapped her waist with his other arm.
“Sometimes I pretend that everything that could go right did, instead of the opposite. I pretend that it has just been me and you, since we were kids.” He was glad for the armor to hide whatever emotional tornado wrecked his face as he admitted that one.
“I think things like that too,” she said, pressing a hand against the metal. “Sometimes.”
It was a little more clunky than he’d imagined dancing with her to be, because, of course, in his dreams he wore a different sort of suit. But the smile on her face, stretching from ear to ear, and the laughter gently nudging him into a whimsical happiness, made it worth it. A thousand times over, he woulddo things strangely if it meant being with her. He hoped he wasn’t about to ruin it with honesty.
“Vickie, about what Priscilla and Evelyn figured out,” he said.
She tensed in his arms at the words. “What?”
