by Tara West
At that moment, when my brain had been robbed of all coherent thought, one word popped into my brain: heaven. His kiss was pure heaven.
I released his collar, roaming the length of his body, which surely had to have been carved from granite. I didn’t care if I was pushing boundaries. This was a dream after all. Then I settled on that exquisitely large and stiff protrusion between his thighs, and I froze.
Holy shit, he was harder than a rod of steel, and as his leg ground out a torturous rhythm between my thighs, I realized I was wetter than spring in Seattle.
This was not a dream. This was real, and I had just fondled the boner of the freaking Grim Reaper.
My hands flew to my mouth as I retreated, nearly tripping over my dead body for the second time. “Omigod!”
My gaze shot to his crotch. I couldn’t help it. I had to look. Sure enough, that nice bulge looked a bit bulgier, straining against his zipper and begging for some breathing room.
Grim coughed into his fist and then turned his back, which was weird, because I didn’t think spirits needed to cough. Then again, I didn’t think spirits could get hard-ons, either.
Imagine my disappointment when he turned around and his triple-quarter-pound of beefy bulge had shrunk to a mere cheeseburger.
“Okay, Ash. Here’s the deal,” he said as he stared somewhere beyond my shoulder.
Great. I’d just had the best kiss of my existence, and now the guy couldn’t even look at me.
“I’ve got orders for you to go all the way to the top.” He gave me two thumbs-up. “The Penthouse is the sweetest place in all eternity. I don’t know what you did to please The Big Guy, but I can tell you living up there sure beats the life you’ve got here. Anything you want is yours. You just have to snap your fingers.”
I was trying my best to absorb everything he was telling me, really I was, but my lips had just been locked with that damn sensual mouth of his. Too bad his marble features betrayed not even the slightest hint of passion, and as my lust started to cool, reality quickly set in.
Holy moly! Had he just said I was going to heaven?
“The Penthouse sounds a lot like heaven,” I said on an exhale, searching his gaze for any sign of the spark I’d seen moments before.
“That’s what the ascended usually call it,” he said in the most annoyingly indifferent tone imaginable. “You can label it whatever you want.”
Okay, fine. Play it off as if the kiss and your massive boner never happened. Two can play at this game.
I cocked a brow while crossing my arms, giving him my best diva stare. “The ascended?”
“Angels.” He waved me toward the door. “Are you ready to get your wings? Your Grandma Rosie is waiting.”
Kiss and stiffy forgotten, my jaw fell open, and I let out a girly squee that could rival a cheerleader on crack. “Grandma Rosie? She was the best grandma in the world!”
“Well let’s go meet her. I bet she’s preparing your welcome home party right now.” He flashed a dimpled grin, one that stretched his jaw and showed two pearly white rows of beautiful teeth. Honestly, this guy was too gorgeous to be The Grim. Those childhood fairytales had gotten him all wrong.
In fact, he was so darned cute, I almost wanted to follow him. Almost. I turned, pointing down at my vacuous eyes. “So I’m just supposed to leave my body here? What’s going to happen to me?”
“Ash.” He heaved a groan before jerking open the door. “You’re no longer tethered to your weak mortal body. You have ascended.”
His knuckles whitened as he clutched the handle, and I wondered how he was able to open the door when he was supposedly an apparition. Just one of the many questions about my weird afterlife I hoped to get answered. In the meantime, I didn’t feel right leaving my body like that.
“My corpse is going to rot if nobody finds me. My mom lives all the way in Portland. It will be days, maybe even weeks.”
“It doesn’t matter, does it?” he chuckled.
Okay, sexiness aside, what a jerk! The guy actually has the nerve to laugh at my corpse?
“Of course it matters.” I hated the whine that slipped into my voice, but I was determined to hold my ground. My poor, poor mom. If the shock from my death didn’t kill her, then the depression would. Not trying to sound like an entitled princess, but I was literally her whole world. I mean, I might not have been as successful as my sister, but I was half the bitch she was. “My mom will be devastated,” I said on a sob as visions of her crying at my funeral swam through my mind.
“Only for a short while.”
He said this with a causal air, as if he was deciding between a latte or a cappuccino. I wanted to slap him.
“That’s not true.” I turned up my chin, giving him my best haughty expression. “Mom loves me.”
He shook his head, as any trace of humor in his eyes had been doused like water to flame. “The human lifespan is short when compared to an eternity in the afterworld.”
Ugh! The guy was impossible. Did he not realize the tornado of emotions swirling around in my head right now? I’d been killed and passionately kissed within the span of an hour, and now I was supposed to abandon the body I’d been living in for the past twenty-nine years and follow a total stranger (disregard the fact that I’d just been intimate with him) up to a place he was calling The Penthouse? This was all too weird. Too, too weird.
I threw my hands in the air. “So I’m just supposed to walk out of my apartment and follow you to heaven?”
“Yes.”
I eyed him through slits. “How will we get there?”
“The elevator.”
“Of course.” I rolled my eyes and slapped my forehead. “Why didn’t I think of that? Silly me forgot to check to see if my apartment complex stretched all the way to heaven before I signed the lease.”
“Ash, I’ve got to get to that heart attack patient. You think you’ve got it bad? This guy just died in the middle of sex. The prostitute is hysterical, and he’s been assigned to the second floor.”
“The second floor?”
“Nearly the bottom level of purgatory, and only a few floors away from the fiery pit of doom.”
I gasped. “So there’s really a hell?”
“You’re never going there, so don’t worry about it. Come on, Ash,” he pleaded, and damn him, that dimpled smile was back. “Your afterlife is going to be a whole lot better than the life you’re leaving behind. I promise.”
He held up a hand like a boy scout taking an oath, but this was no boy scout. This was the freaking Grim Reaper. All of the stories I’d heard about him had been pretty horrific. Now I was supposed to trust this guy? Then again, what other options did I have? It’s not like I could have crawled back into my damaged body and woken myself up.
I leaned into him, jabbing a finger in his chest. “You’d better be a man of your word.”
He placed a hand over his heart. “Ma’am, my word is my honor.”
“Stop calling me ma’am,” I growled as I stomped past him and out the bathroom door.
Much to my dissatisfaction, Grim’s heavy footsteps trailed behind me. I was almost to my front door when a loud knock stopped me in my tracks.
“Omigod!” I spun around, searching Grim’s unreadable eyes for help. “That must be Roger. What do I do?”
“He can’t see you.” He walked up to me and held out his hand. “Come on.”
I hesitantly slipped my hand in his, surprised at the energy that zinged into my palm and nearly made my knees buckle. Dear God, how did this guy do that to me? But before I could think about how he turned my blood to molten liquid, Grim was pulling me through the wall and out into the hallway.
Holy crap! I just floated through a wall!
And that’s when I saw him, my blind date, all five-foot-seven and two hundred pounds of him.
Five ten and one hundred and eighty-pounds, my ass!
It looked like I’d dodged one bullet and got struck by another. Story of my life, or in this c
ase, my afterlife.
About Tara West
I write books about dragons, witches, and handsome heroes while eating chocolate, lots and lots of chocolate. I’m willing to share her dragons, witches and heroes. Keep your hands off my chocolate.
My young adult and new adult romances have been bestsellers. A former high school English teacher, I am now a full-time writer and graphic artist. I enjoy spending time with my family, interacting with my street team, and fishing the Texas coast.
Please come hang out with me on my Facebook page
My website: www.tarawest.com
Or send fan (not hate) mail to [email protected]
For more Tara West books, check out my Amazon page
BOOKS BY TARA WEST
From the Something More Series
Say When
Say Yes
Say Forever
Say Please
From the Whispers Series
Sophie’s Secret
Don’t Tell Mother
Krysta’s Curse
Visions of the Witch
Sophie’s Secret Crush
Witch Blood
From Keepers of the Stones
Witch Flame, Prelude
Curse of the Ice Dragon, Book One
Spirit of the Sea Witch, Book Two (releasing 2015)
From Eternally Yours
Divine and Dateless (releasing June 2014)
Damned and Dateless (releasing fall 2014)
ALSO CHECK OUT THESE EXTRAORDINARY AUTHORS & BOOKS:
Alivia Anders ~ Illumine
Cambria Hebert ~ Recalled
Angela Orlowski Peart ~ Forged by Greed
Julia Crane ~ Freak of Nature
J.A. Huss ~ Tragic
Cameo Renae ~ Hidden Wings
A.J. Bennett ~ Now or Never
T.G. Ayer ~ Skin Deep
Lizzy Ford ~ Zoey Rogue
Ella James ~ Selling Scarlett
Heidi McLaughlin ~ Forever Your Girl
Melissa Andrea ~ The Edge of Darkness
Kelly Walker ~ No One’s Angel
Komal Kant ~ Falling for Hadie
Melissa Pearl ~ Golden Blood
Alexia Purdy ~ Ever Shade (A Dark Faerie Tale #1)
L.P. Dover ~ Love’s Second Chance
Sarah M. Ross ~ Inhale, Exhale
Brina Courtney ~ Reveal
Amber Garza ~ Falling to Pieces
Anna Cruise ~ Maverick
Rebecca Ethington ~ Kiss of Fire