26. Ciel

26

CIEL

I didn’t bother attempting to drag Ryan into the bedroom. The sofa would do perfectly well today, and I faced no complaints from the man I straddled beneath me.

He still smelled of fir needles and fresh air from his walk earlier in the day, and I could taste the sweetness and slight tang of strawberry wine with each kiss. It was decadent, tantalizing, and necessary all at once.

I was perhaps too rough with my kisses, but Ryan didn’t complain. He didn’t complain when the threads on his shirt gave a little as I tore it off of him. He didn’t complain when a feather fell from my wing onto his chest and he picked it up, clutching it to his nose as he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath of the clean, sweet scent from Heaven that still lingered on it.

“I want more,” he breathed, chest rising and falling with the rhythm of someone perfectly relaxed.

“And I will give you more, my love,” I promised him.

And I did.

He moaned into my lips as I pressed myself against him, grinding hard enough to elicit another moan before backing off and forcing him to beg me again. Ryan, predictable as he was, did exactly as I expected, and this time, I didn’t hold back.

I could have gone on for hours teasing and torturing him, but this was not the night for that. We would have plenty of nights together in the future for endless time spent in games, but tonight was meant to confirm our love; to seal our commitment toward one another.

I held out as long as I could, but finally, I conceded and, with a shudder of my wings, fell back onto the sofa, struggling to catch my breath almost as feverishly as Ryan.

“I can’t believe I ever thought I could live without this,” Ryan told me breathlessly, his eyes hazy and his hair falling over his forehead in limp, sweaty strands.

“People will do strange things in the clutches of fear,” I told him, slipping off of the sofa so that I could kneel beside him. “Angels too, as it turns out.”

I combed my fingers through his hair, the other hand resting gently on his chest. His breath slowly regulated and his eyelids drooped. It was too late to do anything else, and though I could not feel the exhaustion of human sleep, I needed some time to rest in peace and quiet.

“Do you need to go back to your apartment tonight?” I asked, pulling Ryan away from sleep for just a few seconds longer.

“What? Oh, no, my parents will be fine on their own. I think I told them I might not be back until late.”

I glanced up at the clock on the wall behind the sofa. “Exactly how late?” I murmured.

Ryan didn’t answer me. He was asleep. It didn’t matter anymore, and I left him along on the sofa, returning only once to drape a blanket over his body.

I would have spent the night watching him if it weren’t creepy, but I was neither vampiric nor demonic, so I left the living room and fell back into the warm clutches of my own bed, staring up at the ceiling for the better part of the night.

He was back — forever, this time. And he was mine to love and hold and cherish. I couldn’t have prayed for a better ending what I thought would be a tragedy.

In the morning, when he finally stirred beneath the blanket, legs tucked up tightly just to fit on the sofa, I had to check that it was really him to be sure that it all had indeed been real.

“Good morning,” he mumbled, smiling sleepily.

I smiled back, draping the blanket over his shoulders again. “Good morning. Would you like some breakfast before you leave?”

“Breakfast? What kind?” he raised an eyebrow and I knew that somehow, I’d won the lottery with this man.

“Whatever kind you would like.” I pulled on the tie of my robe and let it snake down to the floor. “How does this look?”

Ryan grinned. “I’ll take it.”

There was no looking back now, no regretting what could have happened if things had gone differently. This was my life, and as I sank my teeth into the smooth, soft skin of Ryan’s neck, knowing full well it would leave a visible mark, I understood why I’d been placed here on Earth permanently. If I could go back in time, I could now say with utter confidence that I wouldn’t change a thing — except, perhaps, meeting Ryan a little earlier so I could have just a few more long, happy years by his side.