a chance.” His mouth moved along her exposed neck as he worked her into a panting frenzy. When he felt her reaching for it, he clamped his mouth down where her neck met her shoulder.
It pushed her over the edge, and she screamed her pleasure as she came again, hard.
Her response snapped his control, and before he could stop himself, he was pounding into her, exploding his own release inside her. He slid his other hand up on the wall, his shoulders trembling, his chest heaving as he tried to slow his breathing.
Angel arched back against him like a cat, her head falling back on his shoulder again, and one hand coming up to stroke the side of his neck.
Cole dipped his head, and kissed the mark on her shoulder he’d made. His arm returned to her waist, and he slid out of her.
She moaned, not wanting to loose him.
He grinned, pulling her back down to the bed. “Don’t worry baby. I’m not done with you yet. Not by a long shot.” He rolled her to her back, and came down on top of her, nuzzling her neck. He whispered in her ear everything he wanted her to do to him, promising her everything he was going to do to her.
Her eyes slid closed, and she moaned.
He kept every promise.
Cole jerked awake, breathing hard. It took him a minute to separate the nightmare from reality. He looked at the woman in the bed with him, and he had to shake the cloudy feeling away, and realize where he was.
He slipped her arm from his chest, and got out of bed. He slid into his jeans, and grabbed his pack of cigarettes from the bedside table. He walked to the door, and opened it, staring through the screen door at the rain pouring down. Thunder rumbled in the distance. A cool breeze blew in through the screen, carrying with it a spray of mist that fell on his chest and arms, cooling him off.
He lit a cigarette, his hands shaking. His heart was still pounding. He had lived with death these past few years, and lately the demons of those deaths had infiltrated his sleep and plagued his nightmares. Battling those demons had become a burden he knew he couldn’t escape. He knew he wouldn’t sleep again tonight.
He leaned against the door jam, and breathed in the fresh scent of rain. He only wished it could cleanse his soul, like it cleansed the earth. Sometimes he felt like his sanity was hanging by a thin wire, like he was just waiting for that one thing that was going to come along and make that wire snap.
His gaze drifted back to the bed. Angel lay curled up in the sheets. She had given herself to him with such sweet surrender, soothing the beast in him. He would have liked to take away all the pain she’d suffered. He wanted to protect her, care for her. Keep her.
He shook himself. He couldn’t let her in. He was a shell of a man with a black hole for a soul. He had nothing to give her. He could only cause her misery and heartache. He denied the feelings she was stirring in him, pushing them down. It was easier and safer not to feel anything. She was just another lay, he told himself. What he felt for her was desire, nothing more. Even as he thought it, he knew it was a lie.
He looked out through the screen, and took a hit off his cigarette. The tops of the tall redwoods swayed with the wind. There was a bright flash of lightning in the distance, lighting up the dark sky. Thunder cracked with a boom. He heard the bed creak behind him, but he didn’t turn around.
Angel sat up, and saw Cole standing by the open door. She wrapped the sheet around her, and walked over to him.
He felt her arms slide around his waist, her face press against his back. He closed his eyes, trying to deny to himself how good it felt.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered.
“Nothing,” he responded, shaking himself free of the feeling. He looked out the screen door.
“Is something troubling you?”
He shook his head, taking another hit off his cigarette.
“Cole, please. I know something’s bothering you.”
“A lot of shit bothers me. Some of it comes out in my dreams. Don’t worry about it.” The screen door creaked as he opened it, and tossed his cigarette out into the night. The downpour