Sinful

by Jenica Saren

  Sinful

  Deadly Omen Book Two

  Jenica Saren

  Sinful Copyright © 2018 by Jenica Saren. All Rights Reserved.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover designed by Eerilyfair Designs

  Contents

  1. Ria

  2. Ria

  3. Rafe

  4. Ria

  5. Ria

  6. Ria

  7. Ria

  8. Ria

  9. Ria

  10. Drea

  11. Ria

  12. Ria

  13. Beck

  14. Ria

  15. Ria

  16. Ria

  17. Ria

  18. Ria

  19. Gray

  20. Ria

  21. Ria

  22. Ria

  Ghosted: Chapter 1 - Kismet

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Other Books by Jenica Saren

  1 Ria

  It had been nearly two weeks since I'd been kidnapped by a raving, psychotic preacher, found out it wasn't actually a preacher but a weird shadow monster, fought it, killed it like a bona fide badass, and effectively lost my fucking mind.

  Despite the number of times I had assured my best friend and six roommates that I was fine, I wasn't. I was confused. I was lost. I felt like my own senses could no longer be trusted. I knew I had handled the whole Seven Deadly Sins thing really well, but after that night in the church, I wasn’t sure that I could trust in anything I knew or saw.

  That fun little tidbit was further augmented by the fact that my inner self had also lost her damn mind, which was also my mind, so that made it like our collective mind. She was acting weird and being a lot more talkative than usual, to the point that I had to fight to ignore her.

  Most of what she said was nonsense, and some of it was contradictive, like there were two people inside of her. Which, I totally got. That was something I could absolutely vibe with. But it was unlike her. And it was making me unlike me.

  Not that any of that made a lick of sense.

  And to top it all off, all of the guys seemed to be putting a large amount of distance between us, probably thinking that I was still in shock. Hell, maybe I was. I had no way of knowing what shock looked like since being a doctor was never one of my interests.

  Things could have turned out so different if it had been.

  But whether I was in shock or not, I didn’t like the space, the detachment. I mean, sure, we still played our games and had our pizza nights, and even went out to karaoke night where we practically had to handcuff a drunk Drea to her chair to keep her from jumping onstage.

  Still, it wasn’t the same. Maybe the truth was that I only felt this way because I thought that what had developed between Gatlin and I was something more than the old one and done. Maybe I thought I was special, that he fell for me, too. Hopeless romantic and all.

  But I also had to kick myself for being just as heartbroken over Eliam’s distance – I definitely knew better when it came to everyone’s favourite prideful asshat. I really had thought after everything we went through in that church that maybe we had developed a new stage in our relationship, not that there was one to begin with.

  A girl could still dream.

  “Earth to blondie,” Rafe fake shouted from the other end of the table.

  I lifted my gaze from my untouched bowl of fresh fruit. And lifted one eyebrow at the tan, tattooed Sin of Greed. “Can I help you?” I asked sardonically.

  He rolled his eyes at me as though I was exasperating him. “Yes, you can pay attention to me.”

  “You get enough attention. Your ego is bigger than that old oak outside,” I quipped, suddenly feeling the need to be a little snarky. That time of the month was coming up, so maybe that explained it.

  Nope, that was just me.

  Rafe narrowed his eyes on me while Beck snickered to his right. “Fine, then I guess you don’t want to know what we’re doing for my birthday,” He replied with feigned disinterest.

  Oh hell no.

  “I will not give you the stripper hook up. We’ve talked about this. I’m not a party operator,” I reminded him while wagging my fork at his face. This wasn’t the first time I’d had to both remind him of the topic and wield a utensil as a threat against his smug, immortal face.

  Leaning back in his chair, he rolled his eyes at me, as though I was the exasperating one in this scenario. “I don’t need strippers. Drea is throwing the party and I’m not supposed to know,” he begins his explanation. “But you… She’d tell you everything, maybe even let you help.” The way he said it made me think that he wanted me to give him the low down so that he could micromanage.

  I had a better idea.

  I plastered on the biggest, cheesiest, fakest grin that could possibly fit within the constraints of my face and could have sworn that his beautifully tan face lost a bit of its colour. “Gotcha, I’ll go see what my girl needs from me,” I said with a wink.

  Popping a grape from my bowl into my mouth, I rose from my chair and deposited my bowl in front of Beck, who immediately started shovelling the fruit into his pie hole. That Sin metabolism must have been pretty fantastic, if the way Gluttony managed to inhale everything while maintaining perfect abs was anything to judge by.

  As I started walking away, I heard the distinct sound of a chair scuffing against the tile flooring. I grinned to myself as I waited for what I knew was coming next.

  "Ria, don't do it," Rafe whined. "Whatever you're planning, don't do it."

  Looking over my shoulder, I spotted poor Greed standing awkwardly about four feet behind me, hands tucked behind his back and eyes cast downward.

  Giving him my most innocent smile and puppy dog eyes, I feigned confusion. "I'm sure I have no idea what you could be talking about, Rafe," I said as I turned around and cocked my head to the side. "I thought you wanted the four-one-one on your surprise party? I'm just helping out my roomie."

  Apparently, my fake cluelessness was less than convincing, because Rafe just growled in frustration and wiped a hand over his face, as though I were exhausting. Well, I mean, I totally was, but in a much sexier way that was totally underappreciated in the presence of all these Neanderthals.

  That was actually something I should ask them at a later date; maybe they were Neanderthals at some point, since they were on earth since basically the dawn of time. Maybe they rode dinosaurs, too.

  I would just bet that high-strung Eliam would be over the moon and flattered into his grave with that one.

  With Rafe sufficiently distracted and my mind effectively running away without me, I decided it was high time that I got the fuck out of there before Rafe used his witchy woo-woo, Sin magic crap on me. Whatever that was.

  I rushed into the foyer and slipped on my black, leather boots, grabbed my keys, and took off into the driveway before Rafe came running out after me. I'd already learned the hard way that those guys were way faster than me, even with my own mildly impressive stamina.

  Outside, I grumbled in frustration at the sprinkles of rain that dared threaten my good hair day. If I could make it back inside and get my umbrella before...

  Rafe came skidding around the corner, his socks sliding across the laminate floor and sending him flying past the open doorway, crashing to th
e ground and into what sounded like that pretty shelf with the snakes on it. I loved that shelf.

  Knowing it was now or never, I covered my head with my arms, protecting my hair against the offending water as best as I could without any actual coverage, and bolted for my car. I was parked maybe about fifteen feet in front of the porch steps, so it's not like I had to go far, but the mad dash felt like an eternity.

  As quick as I could, I pulled open the driver's side door and threw myself inside, ending up splayed across the driver's and passenger side seats in my haste. I tried to pull the door closed with my foot out of sheer laziness, but that quickly became a luxury I couldn't afford as I saw Rafe racing down the steps toward my car.

  Oh no.

  Oh no, oh no.

  Bolting upright, I leaned over and slammed the door closed mere nanoseconds before he reached it. When I saw him grab for the door handle, I panicked and raced to hit the lock button, but my hand slipped and also hit the windshield wipers.

  As if time were moving in slow motion, I watched his chocolate-brown eyes widen in shock only moments before the water from my windshield was being splashed in his face.

  It seemed as though minutes or hours ticked by as we just sat there staring at one another, neither one of us seeming to know what to do in the situation. On the one hand, I hadn't meant to do that. On the other hand, he totally deserved it for scaring the shit out of me with his imposing Sin stuff.

  On a whole other weird third hand, he was starting to look like he wanted to do more than just scare me.

  "Rafe..." I said in a warning tone. "Whatever you're planning, don't do it."

  I was very well aware that I had mimicked his earlier sentiment, and I was also very aware of the irony of it. Almost two weeks of mostly avoiding me and right then was when one of them decided to get up close and personal.

  Guess it was just my lucky day.

  Before I had time to think of an escape route, before I could blink, Rafe was gone. The space where he had stood was suddenly empty and I found myself wondering if I had imagined the whole thing. Maybe my overactive imagination was finally sick of the lack of attention and was punishing me for it.

  I pressed my face up against the glass and peeked around, even looking down as far as could to the side of the car to make sure he hadn't just ducked with the intention of popping up like the demented jack-in-the-box toy he was.

  Not seeing him anywhere, I leaned back into the seat and closed my eyes, breathing in a deep sigh of relief.

  "Boo," Rafe whispered in my ear. The sound and proximity caused me to scream, jump up a metaphorical ten feet in the air, and hit my head on the roof of my car, which brought on a whole slew of colourful curses that I was sure I didn't even know before that moment.

  "Fucking crap in a chapel!" I screeched. I whirled to my right to find the asshole himself grinning a stupid, cheeky, sexy grin.

  Wait, no.

  Not sexy.

  I was angry and scared. Livid, even. Sexy was not the correct adjective at the moment. Not that my hormones knew that.

  Folding my arms over my chest defensively, I glared at Rafe in what I could only hope was an utterly terrifying way. "What the fucking hell, Rafe?" I snapped. "You couldn't have, I don't know, breathed or something?"

  The lazy grin that stole over his face both had my hackles rising and my jeans dampening. Well, that was new. When did that start happening? With Rafe?

  There was no denying that the tall, tanned Sin of greed was sexy as hell. He was all long limbs, swirling tattoos and piercings, dark locks, and chocolate-coloured eyes. Any woman in the world would have to be nuts to not be attracted to the insanely hot skater boy thing he had going on.

  "But what fun would that have been, hm?" He volleyed, sounding as easygoing and rebellious as ever. "I wouldn't have gotten to see or hear you shriek like a little girl if I hadn't."

  The bastard had the nerve to wink at me. Wink! And I had to pretend that it didn't totally throw my ovaries for a loop and cause me to internally shiver in pleasure.

  Trying to appear outwardly cool and unmoved, I said, "Rafe. Out. Now." I punctuated each word with the idle tapping of my fingers on my upper arms.

  I realized my mistake too late and instantly regretted it.

  Rafe's lazy grin grew into something much more threatening, like a tiger watching a gazelle walk by unwittingly.

  "Rafe, no. I-I said get out," I stammered, losing my composed footing.

  Turning in his seat so that he was resting on his right shoulder, the grin didn't move. But his hand did. "Oh, did you? I can't seem to remember..." He pretended to drift off, but I wasn't buying it. I knew what that hand was intended for.

  "You sure seem to remember that I'm ticklish," I snapped, scooting back until my spine was pressed against the door. "And here I've been calling Beck the dick all this time."

  An amused sort of astonishment passed over his dark features. "Are you passing the mantle, then?" He queried.

  My brows knit together as I tried to figure out what he meant. I opened my mouth to tell him that since I wasn't the current reigning dick, I couldn't pass the mantle, but before I could get a word out, his hand shot forward and I all but leapt into the back seat, jabbing myself in the stomach with the headrest as I went.

  I scurried up into a sitting position, ready to fight or flight, or something like that.

  Rafe was peeking around his seat, staring at me with bemusement. "I forgot how quick you can move," he chuckled.

  "Come back, I promise I won't do it," he coaxed. If he hadn't been smirking like he had a plan, I probably would have caved.

  As it was, I scooted forward a little bit, daring to take maybe an eighth of a chance. I blamed my overexcited ovaries.

  Before I had a chance to really get my thoughts together, Rafe was pouncing at me. My body tried to shriek, but all that came out was a gust of air as the breath was knocked out of me and the full weight of Rafe's insanely tall frame launched into me.

  "Rafe!" I objected.

  He sat up as he straddled me and raised his hands, poised for his attack. "Vengeance is mine!" He yelled in a battle cry sort of way.

  Doing the only thing my weak as fuck brain could think of, I raised my hands and pressed them against his abs, stunning both of us for a moment.

  "Ria..." His voice held a note of warning to it, but it sounded more like a cautionary tone.

  I couldn't tell what came over me. I had intended to just maybe push him back or something, but I found myself in a very compromising, yet promising, position. My hands gained a mind of their own, tracing the dips and rises of the toned muscles that hid behind his wet t-shirt.

  How I had wound up in this position, doing this thing, feeling this way, I wasn't sure. What I was sure of, was that neither of us was complaining.

  Rafe sat still as stone as my fingers mindlessly traced over his body, moving up his chest and following the lines of his collarbone to his shoulders and back again. He shivered slightly above me and I froze.

  "Oh god," I croaked, my voice hoarse. "You're soaking wet. In October. You're probably freezing!"

  I moved to sit up straighter so that I could turn the heater in his direction, but he placed one hand firmly on my chest and pressed me back down.

  When my gaze flicked to his, I saw only need, only desire there. It was like topaz flames danced behind the dark and intense depths of his eyes. Neither one of us seemed to even dare to speak, to break the silent connection that had suddenly formed between the two of us.

  He moved his hand to the side of my face and I leaned into it, turning to kiss the palm of his hand, though I had no idea why. I also had no desire to really understand it. The only desire I felt at that very moment, was the desire to get as close as I could, to touch him again, to pull him to me and -

  Grabbing the back of my neck, Rafe pulled me to him and pressed his lips to mine, the act setting my nerves on fire and sending little electric shocks all the way to the soles of my feet,
causing my toes to curl in my boots.

  When my lips parted automatically beneath his, I sucked in a short gasp, loving the way his breath felt against my lips, the heat of it nearly caused me to tremble with need. All I wanted, all I needed, was to be closer, to feel the curves and ridges of him against me.

  I felt his hand graze my side, lightly tickling me but mostly making me arch myself into him, pressing my breasts against him as I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled myself even closer.

  The heat of desire was sinking and pooling low in my belly and I almost felt like I might explode if I didn't get what I needed, if I didn't get as close as two people could. Reaching between us, I slid my hand over him, revelling in the feeling of his hardness beneath his jeans.

  Gasping, I pulled away by a fraction of an inch and stared up at him, my mind swirling with curiosity, need, and confusion. The latter was overruled by the quick, barely perceivable nod that he returned to me, letting me know that it was okay.

  In just a few short seconds, the clasp was history and the length of him sprang forth, free from constraints.

  Using the back of the seat as leverage, Rafe pushed himself up, creating a space of distance between us as he gazed at me curiously. "Are you...?" He trailed off uncertainly. It was both extremely sexy and very endearing to hear him sound so unsure.

  I nodded rapidly. "Yes," I answered quickly, maybe too quickly. "I need..."

  Staring back at him, my resolve hardened a little more. "I need... You," I told him simply.

  We stayed like that for a few more seconds, one appraising the other, before our lips were once again clashing.