“I want you, too, Angel, but I’m just not ready for that yet.”

“I know.” He struggled to sound calm. “We won’t go there, I promise.”

Gently, he let his fingers work their magic until he could feel her trembling and heard her moan. He kissed her, sinking his tongue deep in her mouth. Her squirming and soft pants were almost more than he could take. He kept on until she was trembling all over, until she could take no more, until… it happened.

She moaned louder pushing his hand away. He felt her heart pounding and he kissed her just off the side of her mouth, allowing her to catch her breath. His own heart threatened to pound right through his chest.

“Oh, Angel.”

His name had never sounded so good to him. Kissing her one last time, he laid back in his seat. He was so close to exploding himself that he knew if he kept touching her he would. He put his hand over his chest and took a deep breath.

“Man,” he said, breathlessly. “Now I know why so many old geezers have heart attacks during sex. My heart’s going crazy and I didn’t even finish.”

Sarah turned on her side to face him. “I wanna return the favor – "

“Sarah, don’t,” he said quickly. “That’s not why I said it. I was just tripping out on my heartbeat. I know you’re not ready, and I respect that. But if we talk about what might happen someday, I’m gonna mess my pants. I’m serious.”

She smiled at him playfully. “Well, we wouldn’t want that.” She put her hand over the hard bulge in his pants. I may not be ready for some things, but there are ways I can return the favor without going there, and… I want to.”

His eyes grew wide, and his entire body stiffened, as she reached for the top button on his jeans. He let his head fall back and closed his eyes, feeling her pull his zipper down. Control yourself. He’d been handed this favor before, and had always managed to hang in there for a while. But this was totally different, this was Sarah. He was afraid he’d be a goner as soon as he felt her hand on it.

“Sarah,” he whispered, hoarsely.

“Hmm?”

He felt her hand slide in his underwear and nearly lost it right there. “I’m not gonna last long, babe.” He was almost in a panic. “The tissue is in the glove compartment.”

She reached for the tissue with her free hand while she worked him with the other. In the next second, he was done. He squeezed his eyes, the intensity was more than he’d ever felt. It seemed to go on forever; all the while her soft hand still caressed him. He pleaded with her to stop, he couldn’t take anymore.

When he finally opened his eyes he saw her sit up and smile at him. She was beautiful, her dark hair was tousled, and her green eyes glimmered. God have mercy. He’d died and gone to heaven.

CHAPTER 9

Sarah cradled the phone on her shoulder, as she made her bed. This time she’d been the one who woke Sydney early in the morning.

After the night she’d had, she’d hardly been able to sleep. So many things invaded her mind, some blaring more than others. She had to talk to someone about it. It was times like these she missed her mom more than ever. She would’ve been able to tell her even this. That’s how close she was to her. Thank goodness she had Syd.

Angel and his mom were driving out to Los Angeles tonight to have dinner with his oldest brother Sal. He wanted Sarah to come but she couldn’t, she was booked both nights this weekend babysitting. They weren’t leaving until late in the afternoon and of course Angel still wanted to see her today so he was picking her up in an hour.

Sarah hadn’t mentioned anything about Dana wearing his jersey last night. She’d been so busy watching Angel play, she might not have even noticed if Valerie hadn’t pointed it out. But she refused to let Dana ruin the night for her, and even Valerie had insisted she not let Dana get to her.

“He’s totally into you,” she'd said. “He could give a rat’s ass about her and she knows it. She is so desperate it’s pathetic. Don’t go arguing with him because of her, it’s what she wants.”

Sarah knew Dana would’ve been showing up at the party, and she wasn’t sure if she’d still be wearing Angel’s jersey. She hadn’t wanted to stick around and give her the pleasure of making them uncomfortable. So, she was glad when Angel was so willing to make an early exit.

What had happened in his car hadn’t been totally on impulse. She'd watched Dana parade around in Angel’s jersey seductively during the game. Even saw Angel eye her as she did a dance caressing the jersey. A small part of her wanted to show Angel she had just as much to offer. It was something she’d been giving some thought to for weeks. With Angel being so ardent, she knew it was just a matter of time.

Though she'd never actually done anything like that before, she'd read about it plenty of times. And Valerie had filled her in as well. Surprisingly, it wasn't so bad, and it was over a lot faster than she had expected. Now, the morning after, she had mixed feelings. But she wasn't sure if she regretted it, yet.

Today would be different. She and Angel had to talk. She’d put up with Dana’s antics for weeks now and wasn’t sure how much longer she could deal with her crap. The only plans they had were to hang out for a few hours, and she was gonna take advantage of it. She was nervous though. The last thing she wanted was to seem insecure. But she was. Every time she’d seen Dana around Angel, it had burned her up, but she’d let it go. She didn’t feel she’d had the right to demand anything from Angel yet.