Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 121854 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121854 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Equals. They were equals here, as they’d always been in every other aspect of their lives.
“Shower with me,” he whispered.
16
Already barefoot and a little damp, Illium stepped back to pull off his tunic, popping the wing closures in the process. He had a habit of doing that—Aodhan had quite the collection of buttons from when those had been the preferred closure. These days, Aodhan’s Blue mostly broke zips, and kept the seamstresses in the city busy with his repairs.
His body was too lean, his muscles stark against the lines of him, and his skin a burnished gold that told Aodhan he’d spent countless hours shirtless while he was in China. Unlike Aodhan’s skin, which might take on a golden kiss at best, Illium could tan to this rich dark gold that made him even more startlingly beautiful.
Those blue wings were an intense pop of color against the glory of his skin, his dark hair falling into his eyes as he threw his tunic aside. Shoving the strands back afterward, he stepped straight into the full path of the jets while still wearing his jeans.
“Illium!” Aodhan laughed as the angle of Illium’s body sprayed water onto his face. “Have you forgotten how to take a shower?”
“No, but this shower is for you. Turn around, lean on the wall, and I’ll clean your wings.”
Angel wings were self-cleaning, but on this romantic night, Aodhan was willing to give Illium anything. He moved to brace himself with his forearms against the back wall, while Illium changed the jets so that they coated him in a gentle spray rather than a torrent.
His best friend and lover shifted so that he was still in Aodhan’s peripheral vision…because he knew that while Aodhan could grit his teeth, bear it, he didn’t like having anyone at his back when he was in such a vulnerable state. Then, jeans still on, he reached into a small alcove in the back shower wall to retrieve a tool, and began to detail Aodhan’s wings in a way Aodhan hadn’t even known was possible.
He hadn’t spotted the array of tools until then, either, now realized they were brushes and combs designed to sleek feathers and separate filaments. It was long, painstaking work—and given the sensitivity in an angel’s wings, it was also the most luxuriant thing Aodhan had ever experienced.
It soon became clear this was meant to be done in a bath, so that the recipient could turn pretty much boneless, but Aodhan was willing to stand there as long as it took. The wall was holding most of his weight at this point anyway.
Eyes heavy-lidded ten blissful minutes into it, he said, “Will I regret asking where you learned to do that?”
“Four-thousand-year-old angel decided to use me as a boy toy one summer when I was about a hundred and seventy. She was terrifying and knew all kinds of things and I barely got out with my life.”
“Why don’t I know about her already?”
“I did probably tell you—but I might’ve left out the more, shall we say”—a pointed cough—“interesting parts. She was an experience for innocent young Bluebell. Half the time, I felt as if I was in danger of being eaten alive, but for some reason, I liked it?”
Aodhan’s cheeks creased at the slight shiver-shudder that rippled through Illium’s body. “Is she still awake?”
A shake of Illium’s head that he caught out of the corner of his eye. “I like to think I wore her out. She went into Sleep only a month after that strange and enlightening summer. Or maybe I was her last hurrah.” Illium’s grin was in his voice. “I like that. What shall we do for our last hurrah when we’re old and grouchy and ready for Sleep?”
Aodhan couldn’t imagine a lifetime of such length. “Disgraceful things like gorge dive naked. Set all the proper old angels’ hair on fire.”
“Hah! I told Mother that you came up with our most devious pranks but she refuses to believe me to this day.”
Face aching from smiling and body lazy from the intimate pleasure of having his wings attended to in such exquisite detail, Aodhan dropped all his defenses, stopped thinking, just let his Blue be in charge. He was aware of Illium moving, of the other angel controlling the temperature of the water when the heat became too much for even Aodhan, and he was aware of the candles burning down, but he felt no urgency to be anywhere else or do anything else.
He’d physically and mentally done all he could for Marco and Tanika this day, would start again tomorrow. Tonight was for him and this man who loved him enough to find ways to give him pleasure that no nightmare could touch.
* * *
* * *
Illium was working on the final of Aodhan’s primaries when he realized his lover was all but asleep despite his upright position. He’d pillowed his head on his crossed forearms, and his wings had lost their warrior arch, his shoulders no longer tense in the way of a man ready to move at any minute.