015: Freckles and Kisses

The soft light of the morning pressed gently on Danny's eyelids. He squeezed them shut, trying to block the inevitable of waking up. He turned his head slightly and his face was greeted with a sweet-smelling dark red hair.

Danny's eyes opened a little as a smile crept across his face. His fingers found their way to her soft arms and traced invisible lines up and down her sleeping form.

He watched her sleep for a long time, not ready to wake his sleeping beauty. Her arms were exposed under his comforter. It always gave his a warm, tingling sensation to see Angela in his bed. The fact that two things so different—Angela and his bed—could coexist in such beautiful grace gave him shivers. It almost seemed like she was out of place when he watched her sleep in his bed, as if he could never have possibly done anything to deserve her to be this close to him and to share something so personal as a bed.

His fingers danced lightly on her arms and he tilted his head to the side as his fingers traced over several freckles on her arms. It was odd and slightly exhilarating that every time he was with Angela, he seemed to notice something different about her. This time it was the fact that her arms were dotted with freckles.

Some red heads' arms were just covered in freckles and others' were more evenly distributed. But Angela's were different. There were just a few every now and then. Three on her left hand. Four on her other hand. He counted twenty-seven freckles on her right arm. She had a larger freckle just at the beginning of her hairline at the crest of her head, and five on her neck. She even had a tiny freckle on the tip of the cartilage of her left ear.

Danny made a vow to himself that one night he would count every freckle on her body. For no particular reason. Just because it gave him so much pleasure to know how many freckles she had (forty-six was all he had counted so far), how many scars she had (one on her knee from falling off her bike when she was young, two from a knife wound just above her left wrist, and one below her ankle from shaving), what her favorite flower was (white tulips), her favorite Disney movie (The Lion King), and even where she kept her secret stash of chocolate (in one of the five canisters that held coffee, sugar, and salt—Angela still thought that Danny didn't know about this stash).

He didn't know why it made him so happy. It just did.

And the thought kind of scared him.

When had he opened himself up to her so much? Why was he able to trust her so much? What was it about her that made him not just smile but to feel all warm? For heaven's sake, he was Danny Taylor. The lone ranger. The one who kept himself guarded. Danny Taylor didn't let anyone into his armor.

And yet one woman—the one woman who he thought that he had despised—had managed to crack his seemingly unbreakable exterior. How had she done that? Without him even realizing it?

There's gotta be some reason, Danny thought to himself as he absentmindedly stroked Angela's bare side. Something really subtle…

The thought made Danny furrow his brow in concentration. Why had he opened up to her?

Come on, Danny, this can't be that hard to figure out, he thought as he lay back against his pillows.

But the harder he thought, the more confused he became. What was so different about Angela? Why was she so different than the others?

Well… she's smart… and funny… and gorgeous…

Yes, said a little voice in the back of his head. But so were the others.

Ok, Danny thought, arguing inside his head with the voice. She… makes me feel special.

Why? asked the voice.

Because. Because of the way she kisses me. I love the way she kisses me. And I love the way she feels in my arms. I love the way she hugs me. I love the way she smiles. I love her laugh. I love her eyes. I love how she tells me when I'm being stupid.

Come to any conclusions? asked the voice, taunting him slightly.

I… I love everything about her.

Now take out the words "everything about."

The thought hit Danny very suddenly and very hard, even though the simplicity of the sentence was almost laughable.

I love her.

See, said the voice. Told you. It's not that hard to figure out. You love her. That's why you let her in. That's why she's different. Because you love her.

Danny lay there for awhile as he let this new revelation wash over him. Of course he knew he cared deeply about Angela. That was a given. But the power of the word "love"… He hadn't really given a thought to it.

And now that he thought about it… it was absolutely true. He didn't just adore her. He didn't just care about her. He didn't just ache for her. He loved her. He was in love with Angela. Danny Taylor, the lone ranger, was in love with Angela Harper, the mysterious angel.

Deep in his thoughts, Danny hardly felt the soft, warm form shift next to him.

Angela rolled over gently to face him. She yawned widely and stretched her freckled arms above her head and pushed them against the headboard.

"Good morning," she smiled as she raised her torso up to kiss him. She pulled back with a suppressed giggle, and touched her fingers to his chin. "You need to shave."

"Morning yourself, sleepy head," he grinned back. "You think I need to shave?"

Angela fell back into pillows and nodded, smiling as she bit her lip.

"Why's that? Hmm? Is it scratchy? Does it tickle when I kiss you? Hmm?" He had a big smile on his face and Angela had a sneaking suspicion of what he was going to do next.

"You wouldn't—"

"Wouldn't what?"

"Wouldn't—"

"Do this?"

Danny lunged on top of her and began to kiss her neck roughly and playfully as Angela laughed hysterically underneath him. Her hands pushed against his bare chest to try to push him off of her, but he was far too strong for her. His morning stubble rubbed roughly against the soft skin on her neck and face and squirmed and laughed under him.

"Danny! Danny, get off!" Angela laughed loudly.

"Not yet!" he smiled as he took her earlobe into his mouth and tugged on it gently.

Her fingers that had been pushing against his chest almost involuntarily made like claws and scratched his skin as his tongue traced the curves of her ear. Her hips arched slightly against his between the sheets and she exhaled deeply into his neck.

"Still want me to get off?" Danny asked her as he pulled back and watched her with a surprised smile on her face.

"Maybe not…" she grinned slyly as her hand snaked up to his neck and pulled him back down for another kiss.

Their tongues danced merrily as they sunk into another lazy, loving Saturday.

A/N: Hello, loves! New chapter! Hope you liked it! Fluff love.

Thanksgiving is this week so you know what that means! No school! Thank God! Especially because my semester project was due today, and I got sick over the weekend trying to do it. Yeah, it sucked.

But that also means that I won't be able to update on Friday because I'm going to be out of town for the holidays. I know, I know. Tear, tear. But I'll be home hopefully on Saturday, so I will definitely update then!

Leave reviews! Thanks for reading!

-Laura

EDIT: What the hell. I just realized that today is MONDAY… and I still updated… I think something is really wrong with me… but whatever. This will make up for the fact that I won't be updating until Saturday.

Wow, I'm a spaz…