by Frank, Ella
I turned my head, placing my cheek against the cool surface of the piano lid and said, “Viper,” just because I wanted to feel, and hear, his name sliding off my tongue.
Viper pressed his lips against my cheek as he twisted his hand and grazed his fingers against my prostate. My body clenched and a curse left my mouth, and as he pulled his fingers free, Viper licked the spot he’d just kissed and promised, in a voice made for sin, “Gonna make you fly, Angel.”
I closed my eyes and let myself go, trusting the man behind me in a way I never had before. If Viper wanted to see me fly, then I was going to fucking soar, because I knew when I fell back to earth, he’d be right there to catch me.
Twenty-Three
Viper
EVERY TIME I was with Halo was better than the last, and as I looked down at the beautiful man splayed out across the top of his piano, I knew this time would be no different.
In the better part of a year, the angel had somehow gotten under my steel-like armor and penetrated what I thought was an impenetrable heart. But as I glided my hands over the silky-soft skin of his ass to his hips, and my heart pounded as hard as my cock? I knew it to be true, because the sex between us went hand in hand with all of the powerful emotions I had for the angel, and there were a lot.
Lust. Respect. Trust. And the biggest shocker of all—love. But I’d settled into that one faster than I—or anyone—could’ve imagined, and now that I had it, there was no way I was gonna do anything to screw it up. Halo was mine, and I was going to do everything in my power to fucking keep him.
I straightened up to my full height and nestled my covered cock between Halo’s slicked-up cheeks, and when a whimper of pleasure left him, my eyes roamed over the material of his jacket where it was spread taut across his shoulder blades.
With his pants shoved down under his ass to mid-thigh, and his top half still fully dressed, the angel looked tempting as hell. His arms were stretched out on either side of him toward his wings, and his long fingers were digging into the wood as though they’d be able to help him stay grounded—but I had other plans for Halo tonight.
Licking my lips, I used one hand to spread the angel wide, and then I gripped the base of my cock and directed it toward Halo’s entrance. As the head of my dick rubbed over him, Halo rocked back onto me, and as I slowly eased inside, his moan echoed off the walls around us. Christ, he felt good. Tight, hot, like a velvet fist, as I dug my fingers into his hips and tunneled all the way inside.
“Fuck…” Halo said, and turned his head to press his forehead into the wood under him, and yeah, I knew that feeling well. The angel was caught up in the rush, the intensity of the feelings washing over him, and that was exactly where I wanted him as I moved down over him and reached out for his hands.
With our fingers entwined, I closed my eyes and nuzzled the back of his neck, my lips finding the soft skin there, our bodies as intimately fused as humanly possible, up there under the spotlight.
I could feel his body rise and fall with each ragged breath he took, and then I whispered, “I want you to think about this whenever you sit down at your piano and look out across it.” Halo’s body trembled under mine. “I want you to remember how you feel right now, with me deep inside you.”
“Oh God,” Halo said, as I tightened my fingers around his and pressed his palms flat on the lid of the piano. Then I slowly pulled my hips back, dragging my cock free of the hot haven where it had found a home.
Halo cried out, his body objecting to being abandoned with the same violent reaction I was having from leaving, so I reversed course and tunneled back inside. Halo thrust back at the exact same time and met me halfway, and my toes curled in my shoes from the silky-hot feel of him.
Sublime. Fucking. Ecstasy. That was how it felt to be this close to Halo, and it wasn’t only the physical act making me feel that way. It was the joy that had lit his face during dinner. The pleasure that had crossed his expression when he saw the gift I’d spent months having made for him. And the love? It was all the fucking love I felt pouring off him whenever he looked my way, kissed me, or touched me.
It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced in my life, and as the rush of it all swept over me, I pulled our arms in to his sides and hauled him upright until Halo’s back was flush against my front, and I was as deep inside him as I could get.
“Angel…” I growled, and slipped my left arm under his to lay my hand over his heart, then I reached down with my right to wrap it around his cock.
Halo sucked in a breath and angled his head back to look at me—the exact reason I’d shifted our positions in the first place—and as I lowered my mouth to his, he placed his hand over the one I had on his heart and whispered, “I love you.”
“I fucking love you too.”
I slammed my lips down onto his, and when they parted, I drove my tongue inside his mouth at the same time I drove inside his body. Halo gasped but didn’t pull away.
“Harder, Viper,” he said against my mouth, which was followed by a ragged moan. “I want it harder.”
His eyes flashed at mine, those usually bright eyes all but black as they glittered with his heady arousal, and I nodded, biting at his lip before sucking it into my mouth. Halo fucked forward into our fists, causing my cock to slip free a few inches, and this time when I drove back into him, the force of it had both his hands leaving his body to brace himself against the piano.
Halo shouted out as I let him go to grip his hips, and then he reached down to feverishly milk his cock as I began to pummel into him the exact way he’d begged me to.
The words that fell from Halo’s mouth proved just how far from grace this angel had fallen, and when his shoulders tensed and my name fell from his lips like a prayer, my own climax raced down my spine and exploded right along with him. Our shouts tested the acoustics of the stage in a way that boded well for sexed-up songs with throb-worthy lyrics, and as silence once again descended over us, I reluctantly left his body and shifted down over the beautiful man now sprawled out across his piano.
“You still alive, Angel?” I whispered in his ear.
“Don’t know,” Halo said, and turned his face. “I feel like I’m floating.”
“Oh yeah?”
Halo nodded. “Never wanna leave.”
I brushed his damp hair away from his sweat-slicked skin and licked across the salty surface. “The guys might wonder what you’re doing up here with your pants down if I don’t get you outta here.”
“Mmm,” Halo said, making me chuckle. “Don’t care.”
“Well, I do. No one gets to see you like this…but me.”
I reached up to trace his lips with my finger, and when Halo sucked on it and his heavy eyelids fluttered shut, my heart close to stopped.
The angel was hazardous to my damn health, but somehow I didn’t care, because being with him like this, loving him and having him love me, was my exact idea of heaven, and I never wanted to fucking leave.
Twenty-Four
Halo
“MY PARENTS JUST called, and they’re downstairs.” My voice echoed down the hall, where Viper was still in his bedroom getting ready. Normally, I was the one taking my sweet time, but tonight it was Viper. He’d been at it for two hours already, and I wasn’t sure if he was just hoping to put off meeting my folks for the first time, or if he was simply having a bad hair day.
“Gimme a minute,” Viper called out.
Knowing him, he’d probably need a drink, so with that thought in mind, I headed to the kitchen and took out a glass and a bottle of whiskey. When my parents had asked earlier in the week to have dinner, saying they wanted to meet Viper before the tour started this weekend, the original plan was to meet at their house. But with our last-minute rehearsals running later into the evenings, and wanting to minimize Viper’s panic, I’d asked if they’d be willing to meet us here. Or, more specifically, at the steakhouse on the first floor of Viper’s building, giving him a sort of home field advantage.
I poured a bit of whiskey and then looked up to see Viper walking toward me.
“Oh my God,” I said, my eyes roaming up and down the length of him. His ink-black hair was smoothed off his face, tied back, and he wore a dark, fitted suit—but it was the way he was wearing the suit that had my jaw dropping open. The crisp white shirt was buttoned all the way up, and he wore a silk black tie. My eyes kept going back to that, because a freakin’ tie. Buttons done up. Where the hell had my boyfriend gone, and who was this hot, but seriously proper guy?
At my expression, Viper cocked an eyebrow. “I wanted to look nice.”
“You do know they’ve seen you naked on a magazine cover, right?”
“Maybe we could pretend they haven’t. I’m trying to make a good first impression here.”
“You couldn’t make a bad one no matter what you wear.”
Viper gave me a smug smile. “Is that your way of telling me I look fuckin’ hot?”
“Actually,” I said, as I rounded the island toward him, glass in hand, “you do look pretty good, but like an ‘uptight English professor’ kind of good.”
“What?” Genuine surprise lit his features. “I thought this is what you wear to meet parents. English professors wear cardigans and shit.”
“Don’t even think about buying one of those. Drink this.” I gave him the glass and then reached up to undo his tie. When it came loose, I tossed it on the ground and then began to unbutton his shirt.
“You’re supposed to be taking me downstairs to meet your parents, not ripping my clothes off,” Viper said, tilting his lips up in amusement but not doing a thing to stop me. “I knew you thought the suit was hot.”
“Hot, maybe, but it’s not you. I’m trying to find my boyfriend under all these clothes.” I unbuttoned the suit jacket and stepped back to admire the view. Better. Much better. “I just want them to meet the real you, because the real you is pretty damn incredible.”
Viper’s eyes heated, and he threw back his drink in one gulp. Then he reached for me, cupping the back of my neck and bringing me in for a kiss that tasted like fire, whiskey, and desire.
“Mmm,” I said against his mouth. “There he is.”
“So does this mean I shouldn’t try to watch my fuckin’ mouth too?”
I laughed, breaking away from him so I could take hold of his hand. “Aren’t you worried what the Cheryl Olsen will say?”
“Shit,” he said, prompting more laughter from me as I punched the button for the elevator.
“I love that my mom freaks you out.”
“She doesn’t freak me out,” he said, fidgeting with the collar of his jacket. When we stepped onto the elevator, I gave him a look, and he rolled his eyes. “Maybe I want to impress her. Fuck off.”
I grinned watching Viper’s reflection in the gleaming gold doors as we traveled down to the first floor. I saw him go to fidget again and physically stop himself by shoving his free hand in his pocket. It was cute as hell that he thought so highly of my parents, my mom in particular, that he was nervous, because it wasn’t a side of himself he ever showed.
Before we came to a stop, I turned to face him. “Don’t worry, okay? They’re gonna love you.”
“They’re gonna think I corrupted you,” he muttered. “Forced you to join a rock band, sing filthy songs, and stay chained to my bed.”
“Well…I mean, you did.” I grinned as Viper opened his mouth like he was going to protest, and then I leaned in and gave him a quick kiss just as the elevator doors opened. With a squeeze of his hand, I said, “Showtime.”
We headed down the private hallway that led to the front lobby, and as soon as we were through the security door, Viper’s hand tightened on mine ever so slightly. I followed his gaze to where my parents sat on a plush silver couch speaking to a nearby couple, and then looked at Viper. His face was nothing but a perfect picture of cool and calm, though the grip he had on my hand said he was feeling otherwise. A small smile curved my lips, and then I squeezed his fingers and headed in my parents’ direction.
They had both dressed up for the occasion too, my father in a blue pinstriped suit and my mom in a silk blouse and cream wide-leg chiffon pants and heels. As we came to a stop beside them, they looked up, wide smiles spreading across their faces.
“Halo,” my mom said, getting to her feet, but then she seemed to remember she’d been in mid-conversation with the couple across from them and quickly excused herself before turning back to greet us. She drew me in for a hug and leaned up to kiss me on the cheek, no doubt leaving a mark from the soft pink lipstick she wore, and then she turned her attention to the man beside me. The one whose hand I was still holding.
“Viper. It’s wonderful to finally meet you,” she said, ignoring Viper’s outstretched hand to wrap her arms around him. “Our son’s told us so much about you, I feel like I already know you.”
Viper’s wide eyes met mine, his body frozen in shock, and it was a few seconds before he recovered and tentatively hugged my mom back. I could almost see what he was thinking: Holy shit, Cheryl Olsen’s hugging me. What the fuck do I do?
I bit back a laugh and shrugged before turning back to face my dad.
“Son,” he said, bear-hugging the shit out of me, which I returned with just as much force. It seemed to be a sort of competition now, who could hug each other tighter.
“Dad. Thanks for coming.”
“Wouldn’t miss it. Who knows when we’ll see you again.” He clapped me on the back, and his green eyes shimmered faintly. There seemed to be more he wanted to say, but he looked at Viper instead, where he was smiling down at my mom as she said something too low for me to hear.
“Dad, I’d like you to meet Viper,” I said, gesturing toward my boyfriend. Boyfriend. It still felt so strange. “Viper, my dad.”
“It’s good to meet you, sir,” Viper said, shaking the hand my dad proffered.
But if there was one thing I knew about my dad, it was that he preferred hugs over handshakes.
“You can call me Larry,” Dad said, before yanking Viper forward into a hug, clapping him on the back. “Happy to meet you too.”
Over Dad’s shoulder, Viper’s eyes grew even wider than they had with my mom, as if he couldn’t understand why he’d be so readily embraced by my family when he’d “corrupted their son,” in Viper’s words. But I’d known they’d love him. Every time we spoke, they’d ask me a million questions about him, about how the two of us were getting along, if people were “being nice to us.” They’d never questioned our relationship once I told them about Viper and me, and that freely given acceptance—even without having met Viper—had me feeling even more grateful for my parents. They didn’t care that he was a man, only that I was happy.
“I’m starving. You guys hungry?” Dad said as we headed for the restaurant. “I put our names down when we got here, so a table should be ready soon.”
But as we came to a stop in front of the hostess stand, she caught sight of Viper and immediately reached for four menus. “Good evening, Viper. Halo. If you’ll follow me, your table is ready.”
Dad’s eyebrows shot up, and I grinned and shrugged as we followed the hostess to Viper’s usual table, a booth in the back where the lighting was a bit dimmer and the table more secluded. Since we’d been together, I found that was his usual style, always grabbing the most private table he could, though that didn’t do much to cover the fact that we had to walk through the restaurant to get there in some cases, including now.
Throughout the room, eyes traveled over Viper, who walked with an air of confidence—even if you didn’t know who he was, you knew he was someone. Then the gazes would travel to me, and if they hadn’t put two and two together already, they usually did when they saw me with him. I didn’t know if they recognized me from the band because they knew who Viper was and assumed, or if it was from the music videos we’d shot, or from photos in the tabloids and magazines, but it was clear as day in their eyes when recognition hit.
; “Thank you,” Viper said as we all took our seats, me and Viper across from my folks.
“The usual to drink?” the hostess asked Viper.
“Not tonight. I think we’ll have a bottle of the Ganevat ‘Marguerite’ Côtes du Jura 2012, if that works for everyone?” Viper glanced around the table, and he must’ve chosen well, because surprise lit my parents’ faces.
“That would be wonderful,” Mom said, smiling warmly at Viper, who gave me a squeeze of thanks beneath the table. I might’ve mentioned my parents’ penchant for a good Chardonnay when we were planning this evening, and though neither of us were big on white wine, I knew how important it was to Viper to make a good impression. But my man didn’t have to try—he already had them in the palm of his hand.
Twenty-Five
Viper
I ORDERED A few appetizers for the table, along with the wine, and as the hostess left to pass on our order and we began to peruse the menus, Larry said, “I think you boys caught the attention of everyone in this place.”
“We come here a lot,” I said, attempting to downplay the curious stares Halo and I received whenever we went out in public.
“No, I don’t think that’s it. More like they’re all wondering if they can come talk to you.” Larry’s lips quirked. “You don’t have to play modest. We know what big superstars you two are.”
“Daaad.” Halo groaned.
“What? We’re proud of you, son.”
“I appreciate that, but can you not use the word ‘superstar’? That makes me feel like a douchebag.”
“Oh, sweetie.” Cheryl reached across the table and covered Halo’s hand with hers. “You could never be a douchebag.”
I chuckled, watching the dynamics of Halo and his parents’ relationship playing out in front of me. He’d always told me they were a tight-knit group, the four of them, including Imogen, but you could really feel it, like a tangible thing.