AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh good, thank you Adam!” Lexie beamed at him before her eyes focused over his shoulder. “Andrew, no! The strings are supposed to be long!”
Adam turned around to see Andrew, scissors in hand, about to cut the strings of the hearts Lexie had given him to decorate the bar with.
“They’re hitting me in the head.”
“They’re supposed to look like they’re floating around your head, you ding dong.”
“I’m not hanging them so I get smacked in the face every time I turn around.”
“Come on,” Adam said, taking Angel by the elbow and turning her around. She looked cute in a squashy purple jacket, matching earmuffs over her ears and a pair of jeans which looked like they’d been broken-in to the point of comfortable perfection. It was so unlike the outfits he’d seen her wear to the clubs, but it fit her personality in a completely different way. Soft. Warm. Touchable. “You brought fabric?”
She gave him a little smile that could best be described as nervous as they walked back out into the February chill. “Yeah, Lexie said she wanted some fabric to hang from the doorways.”
Adam sighed. “Of course she did. Where’d you get fabric from?”
“I do a lot of sewing and I have a bunch of reds and pinks I thought might work. Since we’re hanging it, I figured I can always wash it and make it into something later.”
“That’s nice of you. You’re making a corset for her too, right?”
“I help where I can. And I like Lexie.”
“Oh wow...” Adam was struck a little speechless when Angel’s trunk popped open and he got a good look at her idea of suitable fabrics for doorway hangings. He’d been expecting pretty utilitarian pinks and reds, the kind of bright colors he associated with elementary school Valentine’s Day parties and which Lexie was currently decorating the club with.
Instead, the trunk was filled with swathes of deep burgundy, dusky rose, and other hues he didn’t have names for. They looked rich and inviting. In fact, they kind of reminded him of the decorations in the Arabian Fantasy private room on the second floor of Stronghold. He had a vision of entertaining Angel in that room, with her in one of the many harem girl outfits available, and suddenly he felt all too hot inside his skin, no matter the temperature of the air around him.
“Think she’ll like them?” Angel asked.
“I think Patrick will, which is more to the point. Where did you get all these? You can’t tell me you have all this fabric laying around the house.”
“Oh, I tend to pick up fabric all the time when I see it on sale, even if I don’t have something in mind for it yet. I know I’ll use it eventually. Here.”
Automatically Adam held out his arms to accept the bundle of variegated reds and pinks she thrust at him. Soft, velvety, silky... a myriad of sensations rubbed across his bare hands, which he buried in the fabric.
Bossy little thing when she wasn’t in a scene, he thought with some amusement. She hadn’t hesitated before loading him down with fabric.
“You didn’t already have plans for tonight?” he asked as she held a much smaller bundle of fabric than his in one arm while closing her trunk. “Lexie said she asked you kind of last minute.”
Angel gave him a look, as if wondering whether or not the question was somehow loaded. It wasn’t, he was grasping at straws on how to talk with a woman whom he’d already been intimate with but that he wanted to get to know on a different level. “No. Originally, I was planning to hang out and do a bit of reading, but I can do it later.”
“What are you reading?”
“I’m re-reading Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series.”
“That’s the dragon-riders one, right?”
The blink of surprise he got in return made him grin at her.
“Yeah, have you read it?”
“I tried to a long time ago, when I was still in high school. I couldn’t get into it.”
“Oh, you should try it again! It’s so good, it’s one of my favorites,” Angel said, her entire face brightening and the small hint of wariness she’d been looking at him with lifting completely. “The newer ones, by her son, aren’t as good as the originals, but I still like some of them, and hers are fantastic.”
“That’s kind of how I feel about the Dune series.”
“I love Dune!” Now she was looking at him with something like disbelieving awe. He grinned. Hers was pretty much the usual reaction when someone found out his reading preferences.
“What, didn’t think I’d be a sci-fi book nerd?”
