“Bedtime!” she declared with a decisive finality, gathering the folders and jumping to her feet. “We have a long day tomorrow, partner, and your furry ass better be ready.”
Rolling his eyes, he stood as well and towered over her petite frame. “Oh, my ass will be ready. And furry.” He hesitated, then moved a step closer. “I think I should sleep with you tonight. To keep you safe.” Throwing his palms up in a placating gesture, he added, “As the dog! My furry ass will protect you.”
Biting back the retort she was about to deliver, no doubt with painful precision, Chuck laughed. “I don’t want you to be in dog form.”
“But Chuck, I need to be close in case—”
“I didn’t say no,” she interrupted. “I said not in dog form. I agree you need to be on alert. But I’d rather you sleep as a human. I think it’s more comfortable for you.”
He shrugged in agreement as if her words hadn’t lit his skin on fire and sent lava boiling through his veins.
Turning towards her room to begin her nightly bedtime rituals, she glanced over her shoulder. “But wear pants this time, would you?”
Booming laughter followed her as he watched her trot off to her bedroom. Glancing around, Malachi scooped up Reena from where she’d fallen asleep and carried her to Chuck’s room. Softly depositing her in her fur-lined bed, he hurried to his own room, where he got ready faster than he ever had before. Securing the lounge pants around his waist, he nervously sauntered back to Chuck’s room.
He found her already ensconced beneath her large, fluffy comforter, her bedside lamp providing the only light in the room. Clearing his throat andrunning a hand nervously through his hair, he gestured at his pajama pants, raising an eyebrow. Silently seeking her approval.
A slight nod was followed by her eyes roving his upper torso, taking in each sculpted plane of his chest. She seemed to catch herself staring, drinking him in, and quickly flipped the blanket down on his side. “Come on then,” she called softly.
Timidly, he approached the bed and knelt lightly on the edge before sliding under the sheet with her. He kept firmly to his side and lay there, staring at the ceiling. “Um… night, Chuck,” he whispered, keenly aware of the awkward tension between them.
“G’night, Mal,” came her sleepy reply before the lamp snicked off and the room was plunged into darkness. Some rustling and shifting around resulted in Chuck lying on her side, facing Malachi. After a few agonizing moments, she sighed and scooted closer. Gingerly, she wrapped her arm around his waist. “Is this okay?”
In response, he reached over and hooked his arm around her middle, then pulled her even closer, wedging her against his side. He kept his smile soft and even as she made a happy little humming noise in her throat before laying her head on his chest and snuggling down.
The scent of her lavender face cream, mixed with the mint of her toothpaste, and the woodsy spicy scent that was just her, clouded his nostrils, drowning him in his favorite smell. Her. Kelly.
Blissfully, Malachi drifted off into a restful sleep.
You Know That's Not Real Bacon
Morning dawned, and Malachi stretched, finally feeling fully rested for a change. A happy warmth suffused his limbs as he registered that Chuck was wrapped tightly around him like a barbed-wire tattoo. The peaked in high school dude-bro jock they’d confronted in the park probably had one on each arm. Idly, he wondered how Spike was doing. Chuck snored slightly, and a grin curved his cheeks so hard they almost hurt. He couldn’t believe he was here, in her bed this way. She knew who and what he was and still accepted him. Cared for him.
Breathing in her scent, trapping it in his lungs like a core memory, he gently shifted towards her a little more before pulling her in tighter. Her happy mumble had him aching for her. Groaning, his grip clenched around her as his lower body throbbed in response. “Fuck,” he hissed through his teeth.
Loathe to wake her but not trusting himself if she pressed any harder against him, he nudged her. “Chuck,” he called, shaking her gently.
She mumbled sleepily and snuggled in harder.
“Chuck,” he moaned. “Please wake up!” he begged.
“Hmm?” she breathed and blinked at him blearily.
Blowing out a shaky breath, he squeezed her tighter for a moment, then told her, “Chuck, it’s not that I don’t absolutely love the feeling of your body pressed against mine, but I only have so much control. I’m a demon for Lucifer’s sake. Half sex-demon. So, unless you take back what you said about taking it slow, you need to unwrap yourself from me before I let my base nature go.”
A low chuckle slipped from her throat. “Is that so? And what would you do?” she teased.
With a growl building in the base of his throat, Malachi hooked his calf around her thigh and flipped them. Her body was now wedged firmly beneath him. Her lips formed a small, surprised o and her breath hitched as she tried in vain to get it under control.
“Well, to start,” he murmured, “I would trail my fingers over every inch of your skin until you felt like you were going to erupt into flames.” He drew his fingers over her ribs in the lightest caress, feathering just under her breasts. A small smirk lifted his lips as she moaned and arched beneath him.
Leaning down, his warm breath brushed the edge of her ear, and his tongue traced the shell of the delicate pink flesh. “I would let my dark powers spill over your curves, stroking every bit of you until you cried for relief, begged me to let you fall, to release you from my shadow pull.” A small tendril of shadow wrapped around her thigh, squeezing gently to demonstrate. His lips moved to hers and stopped millimeters apart, sharing her breath. “Then I would introduce my tongue to every tiny part of you until you scream and pour your release into my mouth. And believe me when I say I will taste… every… inch… of you. Just to start off, of course.” By now, his voice was low and husky. Her breathing was jagged and needy.
Without warning, he released her and sat up. Running his fingers through his wavy locks, he shrugged nonchalantly. “But since we’re taking things slow, I won’t do any of that. Until you tell me to.” Standing, he ran a hand over his stomach, chuckling as she swallowed hard in shock. “Dibs on first shower!” he called over his shoulder as he sauntered to the bathroom.
“Damn demon,” came her muffled reply as she buried herself under the blanket.
At the station, Chuck’s eyes darted nervously around, staring at everyone, jumping at every voice. She seemed to be searching for some sign of who would carry an angel-killing blade on their person.
