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Part VIII

Christmas Eve

Angel glanced around, inspecting the room one more time. The richly decorated Christmas tree stood in one corner, the white lights twinkling brightly. Gifts in cheerfully colored packages were neatly stacked around the bottom. A large wreath hung on the wall near the deep green velvet curtains that shielded the patio doors. Pine boughs intertwined with ivory and gold ribbon were draped across the mantle along with brightly gleaming ornaments and two red velvet stockings. Candles burned on the mantle and the coffee table, as well as along the sideboard. A fire blazed in the fireplace, warming the hearth and giving the room a lively brightness. There was a cheerful warmth that had not been felt here before.

Mistletoe hung from the ceiling in several places by red ribbon and several freshly cut sprigs lay on the table near the couch. The delicate sounds of instrumental Christmas music played softly in the background.

The transformation that he had wanted had taken place. It was just as he had seen it in his dream of Christmas present.

The last two days had been beyond his expectations. When they had returned from their Christmas tree outing last night, he had been unwilling to wait any longer. He had ushered his lover into their bedroom and had made love to her slowly, leisurely, drawing out their pleasure to a nearly painful height before they plunged over the edge. It was what he had wanted to from the first moment he had seen her all those years ago. <Their bedroom.> He said the words again in his mind. He liked the sound of them.

Wearing only his white shirt, Buffy had decorated the tree while Angel sat on the couch and watched, content with her nearness. Every so often he would beckon her over for a kiss or she would join him on her own, her own happiness bubbling over.

She had left a few hours ago to do some last minute shopping and pick up a few more of her things from home. Now he only had to wait for her to return. Whistling happily, he headed toward the bedroom.

Buffy smiled as she opened the door. She heard the music playing from outside and it filled her with happiness, swelling and bubbling over. This was just as she had seen with Kendra; how things were meant to be.

She sat the bags with her purchases next to the couch. She could hear the sounds of water running and knew instantly where her vampire lover was. Grinning, she kicked off her shoes and tossed her jacket on the couch, and made to join him.

The apparitions of Kendra and Doyle appeared in the room shortly after Buffy's exit. They glanced at the feminine jacket draped across the back of the couch next to the black one that Angel wore. A pair of dainty high-heeled sandals was casually strewn on the floor next to a purse and a couple of shopping bags. The sounds of soft familiar laughter coming from the bedroom could occasionally be heard over the music. They looked at each other and smiled as they faded out of sight. Their job was done.

With a playful smile, Angel led Buffy to stand by the Christmas tree. He'd been thinking of this all day.

<Sure. More like you've wanted to see her beautiful - and naked - golden skin all day.> The demon stirred, aroused by Buffy's presence.

She was beautiful in her red dress, her shoulders bare except for the tiny straps, her golden skin bathed in the twinkling lights. Her eyes sparkled with happiness. Once more, he felt his heart twist as he thought of how long he had denied himself, how, without intervention, they would have continued to live their lives apart.

<Get her out of the dress. I want to see the glow of the lights on her skin.>

"I have something for you. Something I'd like for you to wear tonight."

With a groan, the demon mumbled. <You're a putz, you know that?>

Buffy smiled slowly, intrigued, her mind immediately filled with thoughts of sexy lingerie and naughty games. "What?" Her voice was playful, willing to do anything to please him knowing that she'd be paid back in full and then some with the delicious pleasure he offered her so easily.

"This." Angel retrieved the ring from his pocket. He'd removed it from the box, wanting to give it to her just as he had once before.

"Oh. Angel. Oh." Buffy's eyes welled with tears as she took in the object in his hand. "Is it-?"

"Yes." He didn't need to elaborate. He knew she was asking if it had been the same ring.

"You found it? And kept it?" Buffy took it from him, turning it over in her palm. She sniffed and smiled up at him.

"Yes. Of course." Angel studied her anxiously, waiting for her response. "Put it on."

Buffy smiled at him again, slipping the ring on her finger, the heart pointing toward her. She noticed that he still wore his. She reached for his hand and kissed it.

His arms closed around her and he pulled her close, his lips closing on hers. Buffy sank into to him easily, her lips parting and offering her mouth, which he claimed without hesitation.

<Better…But you're still a putz... What kind of corny line is that? "I've got something for you to wear tonight?" > The demon muttered, <Unless we're talking leather corsets and spiked heels as matching accesories...>

Any further thoughts flew out of Buffy's head, her senses tumbling. His arms shifted. One hand splayed across her back just above her derriere, his other hand swept up to her hair.

Angel loved it when she wore her hair up, but it beckoned him with wicked temptation to see it spill across her shoulders. Gently he removed the decorative clip, his fingers searching through the soft mass for more pins. They tinkled as they hit the hearth, Angel carelessly dropping them behind her.

"Did I ever tell you that your hair fascinates me?" His hand at her back still holding her securely against him, Angel ran his fingers through her hair again as it fell free, dropping below her shoulders.

<Again with the romance… you already got the girl, moron. She wants it, just fuck her.>

"No." Buffy studied his face, thinking that everything about him fascinated her. How had she ever thought she would live without him?

His fingers continued to comb through the long tresses, his eyes watching as he lifting the soft tresses and let them drift back down to her shoulders. "So soft, so rich, so golden. It's my sunshine."

Angelus made a strangled choking noise, expressing his disgust with Angel's tender sentiments.

Mesmerized by his husky whisper, the possessiveness in his tone, Buffy didn't answer. There was no need to. Those words told her everything.

Angel continued to play with the silken mass of her hair until he gathered it into his hand and tugged her head back farther. He stared down into her face. "And your eyes…"

Buffy blinked, swaying closer and pressing her chest more firmly against him.

<Yeah, yeah, great eyes. Move it along already... Tits… let's get to those next…>

"When I look into your eyes, I can see what you feel. And I feel it too. It's like I fall in and I get lost in them. In you." His gaze lowered and he looked at her lips.

Buffy licked her lips, wanting him to kiss her.

"Your lips." Unable to resist, he kissed her then, a swift and teasing kiss, leaving them both wanting more. He smiled then, "You know why I love those…"

<Yeah, especially with my cock between them… > This time Angelus chortled, amused at his own wit. As usual, Angel ignored him. He was unwilling to let the demon intrude on this moment.

His lips traced a path along her jaw to her ear.

Buffy shivered.

"Everything about you." The words caressed her ear, his voice soft. "Fascinating. Beautiful. Mine."

The demon within snarled, <Mine!>.

Buffy's eyes closed as he planted a soft kiss on the sensitive skin just below her ear. His lips then moved lower, sliding along her throat to the mark on her neck. He laved it as Buffy released a soft whimpering sigh and swayed into him. Her legs weakened and she clutched at his shoulders to steady herself.

Angel released her hair and returned his lips to hers. Her hunger surged and he matched it, kissing her deeply. His tongue probed her mouth, wrapping around hers in an erotic caress. Again and again he kissed her, inciting her desire as he claimed her as his own.

Distracted by his potent kisses, Buffy had no idea that his hand on her back had been busy with the zipper on her dress until his hands reached up and he pushed the straps off her shoulders. Lifting her hands from his shoulders, he lowered them to her sides. Her dress pooled at her feet as he pushed it down, leaving her clad in her tiny lace bra and panties and shoes.

The straps of her bra went too, as he reached behind her to unhook it.

Before she could take a breath, Angel's hands had closed over her rosy-tipped breasts.

She opened her eyes, watching as his hands cupped and caressed her bare flesh. Her eyes lifted to his face. She could see desire engraved on his features, raw passion burning in his chocolate and gold-flecked eyes. As she stared at him, she was once again struck with his overwhelming physical beauty. He was like a classic Greek sculpture, refined and elegant; perfect.

"Beautiful." Angel murmured, his thoughts in tune with her own as his hands closed possessively over her breasts. "No other word will do you justice."

<What about fuckable? Succulent. Delectable. Delicious?> With a determined sigh, Angel concentrated on pushing any further thoughts of his demon away. He wanted no interruptions to this moment.

When he bent his head, Buffy's eyes closed again and she struggled to breathe knowing what was coming. When his lips reached her breasts, she let out a soft moan and returned her hands to his arms.

He kissed the soft mounds of her breasts, avoiding the peaked nipples until she was nearly delirious with want. When his lips closed around her taut peak, she gasped. When she felt the first pulling pressure of his mouth suckling her, Buffy whimpered and her knees buckled. She collapsed against him, clutching at his shoulders.

With lips, teeth and tongue, Angel worshipped her. His touch was exquisite torture as she arched back in his arms, offering herself to him, entreating him for more. Wave after wave of delicious pleasure washed over her as he feasted on her, craving her with a hunger that had not yet been assuaged, a hunger that had steadily built the years they had been apart.

When Buffy cried out in climax, Angel released a low guttural growl that rang with masculine satisfaction. He lifted his head for a moment to look at her face, her eyes closed, her features relaxed in release. He then lowered his head again to repeat his torture.

His lips traced across her flesh again, his tongue drawing circles around her now tightly swollen nipples before drawing them back into this mouth. His every touch, his every caress was invested with meaning, with the love he felt for her. Both were aware of the significance of tonight, even as their passion swirled around them in a vortex, leaving them at the eye of the storm.

He knew that the woman in his arms was special, that was never in doubt. There had been only one other time in Angel's life when he had felt anything close to what he was feeling this night. And that night had resulted in the loss of his soul. He could still scarcely believe that they had been given this second chance, and he was more than grateful.

Planting one last kiss in the valley between her breasts, Angel lifted his head. He steadied her, his hands sliding along her back to her hips. His fingertips slid along the lace edge of her tiny panties, tracing the edges along her waist, then around to cup the firm globes of her behind.

"You're perfectly sized." Angel's hands slid up along the strong muscles in her back, tracing her spine only to sweep down again. "So petite, yet so strong." His hands once more squeezed her bottom. "I'm three times the size of you."

Buffy clenched her legs, his words sending a spike of heat along her spine through her stomach to culminate between her thighs. His size in contrast to her was like an aphrodisiac. "Don't exaggerate."

His hands spanned waist, his long fingers nearly meeting. Possessive lust flared within him again, glowing in his eyes. "My tiny golden goddess."

His husky whispers stoked the fires of her desire higher. Buffy moaned his name softly, taking a shaky breath while her hands restlessly moved on his shoulders. Sliding one into the short hairs on his nape, she pulled his head down for a kiss. She was no longer interested in verbal communication.

She set the pace this time, her kisses greedy and demanding. He sucked gently on her tongue when she explored his mouth, delighting in the cinnamon and spice taste that was always Angel. Several long and heated kisses later, Buffy broke off to catch her breath.

With her eyes closed and her lips wetly swollen, and her luscious curves in his hands, Angel could not resist taking yet another taste of her lips. His senses seemed starved for her, urgently needy and wanted more. Taking her lips again, he pulled her closer deepening the kiss as he drew her hard against him. His hand roved over her, caressing, kneading, learning anew all of her feminine curves, delighting in the feel of her firmness, her softness.

There was no word to adequately encompass his obsession with her.

"Don't move." Angel sank to his knees in front of her, his hands sliding along her hips and down her legs. His gaze moved over her, taking in her perfectly formed, firm and tanned legs. When he pressed an opened mouth kiss to her stomach, he heard her suck in her breath and he smiled.

With gentle kisses he caressed her abdomen, stopping to lave at the tiny indentation of her navel for several moments. Buffy's hands rested on his shoulders, her fingers at turns gripping the broad muscles.

With reverence, his hands roamed up and down her graceful limbs, his palms flat as he explored each curve and muscle. When he gripped the edges of her lace panties and drew them down, Buffy quivered slightly in anticipation.

With one hand on his shoulder, Buffy stepped out of the panties and kicked aside the dress that had been pooled at her feet. Her hands slid into his hair as Angel leaned in to nuzzle her taut belly.

"Angel."

<Don't suppose I could get you to get her to say my name like that?>

The word was a husky, aching whisper, a soft, nearly desperate plea. Buffy could hardly believe it had come from her. She was warm, flushed. Every nerve was heightened in anticipation as she felt his every touch keenly. Desire hummed in the air, heated with passion.

Buffy stood naked in front of him, aware perhaps for the first time of the power of her body to capture him, to enthrall this most powerful man, this god of pleasure, kneeling in front of her. It was a heady sensation. And it felt so … right. *They* felt right.

She shifted on her feet as his hair brushed across her stomach, his hands on her thighs both soothing and exciting. Just then Angel bit the soft flesh of her stomach, just above the curls on her mound. She shuddered and gripped his hair tighter.

Shifting one hand around to cup her bottom while the other slid up her thigh between her legs, Angel brushed the wetness between her thighs as his fingers neared the apex.

Buffy waited anxiously for that first touch on the core of her pleasure, her nerves tensing. When his fingers finally brushed her swollen labia, she nearly cried out. The gentle stroking, the subtle probing threatened to bring her to her knees.

When Angel shifted lower, Buffy let out an incoherent exclamation.

"Easy." He steadied her with one hand, then lifted her leg to drape over his shoulder. "I want to taste you." Her fingers tugged on his hair, her hand clenching his skull as she felt the wet sweeping lick of his tongue on her sex.

Buffy whimpered and moaned as he explored her with his tongue, laving with long, slow licks before dipping between her wetly swollen nether lips to taste the honey flowing profusely between her legs. Unhurriedly, he lapped at the dewy wetness as she sank her fingers more tightly into the thick dark waves of his hair. Finding her clitoris next, he swirled his tongue around the swollen nub before sucking it softly. He knew exactly how to touch her, and where, licking, nibbling, and sucking delicately to provoke the intense, stabbing desire. Her heart was racing, her breath coming in soft pants, every nerve taut as he pushed her toward their paradise.

Although her wits had fled, she was acutely aware of her senses. She could feel the warm of the fire at her back, the air in front of her, like Angel, cool. She was excruciatingly aware of his every touch of his lips, his teeth, his tongue on her body as he continued to urge her sensitized nerves to even greater heights of pleasure. Sliding first one, then two fingers inside her, Buffy mewled softly as he continued to suck her clit. Angel felt the convulsions begin just seconds before she exploded, crying out his name. The sound echoed through the room.

<That way's good too.>

When he continued licking softly at her dewy wetness, Buffy attempted to pull away, the sensations too intense.

"Let me, sweetheart. You're so damp, so delicious…." Whispering softly, Angel refused to release his hold on her and Buffy relented, trusting him to prolong their pleasure. She quivered and mumbled incoherently as he continued his deft manipulations of her flesh. Licking and sucking with expertise acquired through years of experience, Angel brought her to orgasm twice more before finally releasing his hold on her.

Surging to his feet in a burst of raw power, Angel closed his hands around her thighs and lifted her, filling her with the solid hard length of him in the next instant. He adjusted her slightly for better leverage then thrust deep. Buffy sighed in pleasure, sheathing him, holding him to her with strong arms.

She felt his hands grip her thighs, his fingers flexing as his chest strained against hers. Locking her legs around his hips, she wound her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer. Sliding her hands into his hair, she tugged his lips to hers.

Buffy tasted herself on his lips as he kissed her, further adding to her desire. Their bodies moved in harmony, a similar evocative rhythm, slow and steady. He lifted her and she slid sensuously down. She clung to him as they repeated the motions, rotating her hips with a small rolling motion.

It occurred to her that she was naked and writhing in his arms while he was still fully clothed; he had only unzipped his pants. Her every movement made her more aware of her sensitive skin against his clothing, the soft cashmere of his sweater tickling the rigid peaks of her breasts, the rough twill of his pants chafing against her thighs.

Angel reveled in the heat of her body, her tight channel surrounding him with each thrust and withdrawal. He watched her through half-closed eyes, marveling at the sexy sight of her slow movements, her breasts bouncing slightly with each thrust, her nipples hard and jutting toward him, almost begging to be touched. He slowed her each time she attempted to increase their speed, attempting to draw out each precious moment.

Buffy closed her eyes in concentration as she undulated against him, clenching her vaginal muscles to tease him with each thrust, grinding her pelvic bone hard against him. Tracing his face with her lips, she licked a path along his jaw, pressing kisses to the cool skin of his throat.

Without thought, Angel returned the pleasure, nipping at her throat, laving at his mark on her neck. She whimpered and rocked harder against him when he murmured seductive love words in her ear, his voice deep and velvety, promising her unimaginable delights.

She deliberately tightened around him again, this time eliciting a low groan from him. She smiled and sank deeper, reflexively tightening even more. She bit him, taking the skin of his throat between her blunted teeth.

Angel sucked in an unneeded breath then his lips returned to hers, hot and demanding. His control was now gone. The vortex of passion closed around them, the flames roared.

Passion took them, lifting them on a swell of pure need until ultimately they shattered with a release was so profound, neither of them was aware that they sank to the floor. The only reality that their senses permitted was the knowledge that they were together. As one. Finally.

<God! I love her…I mean - that was good.>

Sprawled on his back on the sofa, where he had carried her when he had recovered his own senses, Buffy lay slumped on Angel's chest, basking in the afterglow.

"Hmm… You're amazing." Buffy murmured softly, her fingers tracing a pattern along his chest. She had insisted he remove his sweater when they collapsed on the couch, wanting to feel his skin next to hers.

Angel, his eyes closed, hugged her close and kissed the top of her head. "Mmm… it's all you."

Buffy smiled, looking at the claddagh ring on her hand. It was nice to have it back.

She snuggled closer, looking at their Christmas tree. She had everything she wanted now. Frowning, she wondered if it would last. It never did for her before. A moment of fear, of doubt crept into her mind.

Angel felt it, he could sense her slightest change in mood. His eyes drifted open as his hand continued stroking her back. "What's wrong?"

"Hum? Oh, nothing." Buffy attempted to downplay her earlier fear.

"Buffy." Angel insisted. They had hidden their feelings from each other too often.

"I'm just afraid that this… us… it won't last. It'll be taken away from us. That you'll change your mind. It's a Buffy life remember? Good things don't always happen." She shifted, looking up at his face.

"Sweetheart, this is meant to be. Listen to me. Every day for the rest of your life I want to wake up next to you. I want to feel you fall asleep in my arms. I want to feel the softness of your hair against me, I want to bury my face in it and feel your breath on my cheek. I want to make love to you in the morning, sliding into your warm body while you're still drowsy with sleep." <And if I could, I would want to hold you in sunlight, when you're pregnant with my child.> His thoughts were unspoken, too painful for him to give voice too. He regretted what he couldn't give her, what he felt he was selfishly taking away.

"That's beautiful." Buffy sniffed slightly, inching up to kiss him. Their kiss was sweet, filled with a wealth of love. She sighed when she broke off, snuggling happily back into this chest her fears soothed for the moment. It would work this time. They would make it.

A moment passed, then Angel asked quietly. "Sweetheart, marry me?"

"Oh. Angel. Yes." Nearly squealing with delight, Buffy threw her arms around his neck and hugged him close.

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