Feet propped up on her coffee table, Jacob rested with one arm behind his head, the other draped over the delicious abs beneath his T-shirt, his eyes closed. Her mouth went dry. Every word she’d rehearsed vanished from the tip of her tongue. All too easily, she saw herself coaxing those green eyes open by straddling his hips, following the “V” carved into his abs to its apex. Would their second time together eclipse the first? She took another step forward, avoiding the creaking floorboard she’d asked her landlord to fix the moment she moved into her home.
She froze. Odd. She’d never really considered this place home, but now, with him relaxed across the couch, it didn’t take much to convince her it could be. Small lines developed at the top of his nose then disappeared. What did a man like him dream about? Monsters? The past? Maybe her?
She tiptoed toward the couch, careful not to wake him. Sliding one leg over the arm of the couch, she sat, reaching a single hand toward him. The lines smoothed under the pad of her thumb and something inside released. How long had she yearned to do that for him?
The dark gray of the couch accentuated the brown in his hair and she couldn’t help but run her fingertips through the strands. Soft, just as she remembered. There’d only been one time she’d experienced it, but she’d never forget the excruciating pleasure he’d worked with his mouth. Ever. Searing desire flushed the blood from her face and she wrenched her hand back. The momentum unbalanced her and she slid off the arm of the couch onto the floor.
His eyes shot open. Not the way she’d envisioned, but the intensity he focused on her sent a wave of pleasure across her skin all the same. The warning cleared from his gaze and a small twist of his mouth turned his lip upward as he sat forward. “Did you just fall off the couch?”
“Uh…”
Speaking of couches. Her furniture had been set right, the front door replaced, the house impeccably normal aside from the slightly different color on her drywall and cabinets. Where the bullets had ripped her life apart, smooth paint covered the surrounding wall. Someone had tried to cover their tracks, had even taken the bullets.
“I was just wondering who did all this.” That was partly true. She stood up, determined not to let his undivided attention get to her. “Place looks better than when I moved in.”
“If there’s one thing both sides agree about, it’s secrecy. The less mortals know of the Afterlife, the better. For everyone.”
Even her?
“All of this just seems so unreal.” The aftereffects of the injection sang in her blood along with the tingle spreading through her bones. It intensified, like the vibrations of a church bell, the longer he stared at her. It could’ve just been him, the way he made her heart race and slow at the same time. How he pinned her to the spot with just one look, she had no idea. “After everything that’s happened; my memories, the injections, seeing my father like he hasn’t aged a day past thirty… it’s hard to remember none of this existed to me until a few days ago.”
She rounded the coffee table and took a seat on the other end of the couch, far from him. Had to keep a clear head. Her body had other ideas. The strange tingling spread up from her bones across her skin. Or was that her hair dripping onto her shirt? “So what’s the plan?”
Raising the remote, he turned the TV off then angled his upper body toward her. The same vibrant green eyes from her memories tugged at her as he studied her. Could he sense something in her had changed? “You’re the only one who can find the Seal of Solomon, but the second we walk out that door, we’re going to be on the Deceiver’s radar. So when we make our move, we have to do it fast and we need to be sure.”
“How am I supposed to find it?”
“You were conceived in the union between the Deceiver and another demon, a warrior valued above everyone else in his kingdom. He chose her for her strength, bravery, and loyalty. What he didn’t tell her when she gave birth to you, however, is she’d fulfilled her purpose and he had no need for her after providing an heir.”
Her throat constricted ever so slightly. “He killed her?”
“Sacrificed her in order to forge the Seal.”
“But rings are made of—”
“Metal, yes. The Seal isn’t an ordinary ring. It’s made of blood.”
She took a deep breath, not letting herself consider how a ring could be made from liquid alone. “So when you said only I can find it, you mean because my blood makes up the ring, too. You think somehow I can recognize it?”
“That’s what I’m hoping.”
“And what will this recognition feel like?” She remembered the tingling she’d experienced in the shower, the one lingering under her skin even now. She picked at a thread poking up from the couch cushion.
“You’ll know it when you feel it. When you’re close enough.” His gaze intensified, that penetrating stare heating her insides. “How are you?”
A scoff rushed past her lips. She rubbed her face, pressed her fingertips into her eyes. Lightning struck behind her closed eyelids. How was she? She was a demon made human. Her father, the Devil, wanted her to destroy the world. She’d slept with a fallen angel, had a weird prickling like some kind of warning, and had the hots for a man because she’d been in love with him in a previous life. “Whenever someone asked me that before…all this, I usually just said ‘good.’ Now, I don’t know what to say.”
“That’s understandable. Your body’s been through a lot because of the injections. You’ve been through a lot.” His hand landed on hers, froze her attempt to distract herself with the stray piece of thread.
Tension built in her shoulders as the hum within her body called to him. Not even a deep breath slowed the erratic pulse pounding at the base of her throat. The shower had done her good, but failed to quench her body’s hunger for him. She slid her hand out from under his.
He leaned back into the couch, cleared his throat. “Have—Have you remembered anything else? Anymore memories?”
“Of us?”
“Of anything.”
“No. Guess your smell is helping after all.”
His laugh electrified every part of her. After everything she’d put him through, he still found a way to smile. Sitting back on the couch, she studied her small living room. Her sparse furniture had once belonged to the man back in the alley. She didn’t have the heart to sell it along with his apartment when he’d died, but now the couches, the coffee table, all felt wrong. “You know, the first time I had one of the memories, I thought I was crazy. Isabel was standing in the hallway and I just kept getting this bad feeling the closer I got to letting her in. I was halfway to answering the door and whoosh,”—she threw up her hands—“it was like I was someone else completely.”
“What was it like?”
“I felt powerful. Brave. Secure. I hadn’t felt that way in a long time, even more so since my father died. Until—” Rio. She leaned her head back against the couch and closed her eyes. Heat flooded her face and neck. The quick flashes of that night swept across her mind like a warm wind, uplifting her, calming her. A deep kiss. Searing touches. The excitement of finding a lead. She could drown in the memories. If only they’d ended in happily ever after.
“Until…?”
She opened her eyes, gave him her best smile. Forced. “Doesn’t matter. I guess he didn’t actually die of a heart attack a couple of weeks ago, did he?”
“Unfortunately, no. There’s no way to kill him, that I know of.”
“What was the point? Why pull me from the ocean? Why wait ten years to start all of this and make me believe he died?” Why put her through this? Nothing made sense.
He looked away from her. “Did you love your father?”
“I—I guess.” She hugged herself around the middle, brought her knees into her chest. “I didn’t really know him. Ten years isn’t that long when you can’t remember most of your life.”
“But he took care of you, fed you, gave you an education, and sheltered you?”
“Yes, he helped me
start my business. Made sure I had the money to do it and sent me to business classes.” What she wouldn’t give to be that naïve again, when her father had just been her father and not the lord of all evil. She’d become attached to the Devil himself and hadn’t even realized it. What else had escaped her notice? “It was all a lie, though. He never really cared about me. Every second I’ve spent with him over the last ten years has been a lie. Every word. Every comfort. Who does that to their own child?”
“Love comes in many forms.” He shifted forward, his elbows on his knees. The tendon running from the base of his neck to his shoulder tightened. His hands fisted. “By gaining your trust, your dependence, he formed a bond with you and you with him. You had feelings for him and he used those feelings against you. Just like I did.”
Her heart vaulted into her throat. Not the same. She dropped her feet to the floor and scooted across the couch. Warmth seeped from his clothing and she did everything she could not to bury herself in his side. “You can’t possibly be comparing yourself to him. What he did to me is unforgivable. Nothing in this life will ever make that right. And you…you’re you.”
What the hell did that mean?
“You care about me, even after everything I’ve put you through, and I can’t thank you enough for that.” She slid one hand up his spine. Ridges and valleys of muscle pressed back against her fingertips, the same highs and lows she’d savored in Rio.
He swung his chin toward her, watched her. Liquid heat intensified the gold around his irises and a responding burn flared low in her abdomen. Urging her. Warning her. His attention slid to her lips, like he wanted to kiss her, and she felt like she’d let him.
Before she could stop to think, she covered his mouth with hers. It had been instinct, completely selfish, but the second their lips connected, she sagged into him. His kiss grew more possessive, left her reeling. Her hands shook like she’d been lost in the throes of the churning ocean all over again, but she couldn’t stop.
She needed him closer, under her skin. She pressed against him with everything she had, and he responded in kind, wrapped his arms around her waist as though he couldn’t live without her. The silkiness of his tongue explored her mouth, grazed her teeth, swiped across her bottom lip, and the burn expanded until she thought she’d explode. Only his cinnamon scent kept her grounded, surrounded her until all she could breathe was him. Sweet sensation overcame her as she angled him back onto the couch.
She wanted more. More of him. All of him.
He gripped her shoulders and broke away. Sat up.
“Wait.” His mesmerizing green gaze met hers once again. Time stopped and the world disappeared. Those eyes made her want to be better, to choose him over the insanity of the last three days, over the rejection, and for once, she’d let herself fall into them. His chest expanded with a deep breath then collapsed. “I don’t think—”
“Stop thinking so much. Just feel. Stay in the moment.” She slid her hands under his T-shirt, smoothed over the hard ridges across his abdomen, and the earth shifted beneath her. “Let me show you how much I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”
It wasn’t a promise, but maybe a start to something greater.
His lips parted. A soft exhale caressed the exposed skin on her neck and jaw. “Then I’m at your command.”
She kissed him again. Urgent. Desperate. The control she had over him made her heart soar, and chased the darkness to the back of her mind. Where her senses had gone blind from burning inside, he let her see, and despite the possibility of loving the man beneath her through glimpses of memories, in this moment she needed him all the same. Whether she liked it or not, her body responded to his and she couldn’t ignore their connection any longer. Wouldn’t. His strength took her breath away and she never wanted it to end. With him in her arms, nothing mattered but him. His massive warrior body vibrated with restrained desperation, but he didn’t rush the kiss.
Straightening, she slipped her fingers beneath her own shirt and carried it over her head. The cool air hit her skin, left goose bumps in its wake, just as his gaze did whenever he studied her. In another movement, she’d peeled her bra away, exposing herself once again to the man responsible for the urges rushing through her body. No matter how many times she’d tried forgetting about that night in Rio, or chastised herself for surrendering to him completely, her head refused to catch up with the undeniable molecular-level attraction between them.
He studied her like a curator admiring a priceless piece of art. He brushed his fingertips over her stomach, callouses scraping her skin, making her tremble with heated pleasure. The reaction focused his attention on her chest and he pulled her forward. Covering her left breast with his mouth, he swept his tongue across her nipple, bringing it to a peak. Electric sensations jolted through her veins, awakening the most sensitive parts she was convinced she’d lost over the last ten years. Only he’d been able to do that. Jacob, her angel. Did she have the same effect on him? The heat between her legs exploded and she arched harder against his erection.
He growled low in his throat. Every slide of her fingers, every swipe of her tongue, he reacted as though she’d set him on fire. He rocked forward and planted her on her back. Microfiber tantalized her skin from behind while he tormented her front.
A soft moan escaped her lips, urged him lower, where she needed him the most. She threw her head back as his tongue made a hot trail up her throat, and she closed her eyes. Memories of precious moments such as this lingered in the front of her mind. They’d been so happy before her banishment, in love.
Mates.
Could she have that again? Be loved? Be whole? She’d belonged to him in every way he belonged to her, and longing for that time, for that comfort, nearly overcame her. Forcing her eyes open, she pulled his shirt over his head and unfastened the button of his jeans. Every nerve ending in her body craved his touch and she reared up, shoved his jeans off. His erection reached for her, so perfect, so demanding, and she wanted nothing more than to give into those demands. She melded her skin against his. Connected to him from head to toe, she inhaled his spicy scent. “Make me whole again. Make me remember what we had.”
The gold around the edges of his irises brightened.
Centered in his attention, she felt the world disappear. She’d worked to uncover anything she could about her life before her accident, but finding the man she belonged with hadn’t been a priority. Until now.
He raised his upper body off the couch, and she squeezed her thighs a bit tighter around his waist, unwilling to let him move an inch as he rubbed against her most sensitive spot. With only a layer of denim separating them, longing burst through her whole body. “Get these off of me.”
“My pleasure.” He crushed her breasts against him and dug his thumb under the waistband of her jeans. He worked to get them off and, in a movement only an immortal could accomplish, dropped her pants beside his. Her living room blurred in a rush as he swung her onto her back. Skin against skin, he probed at her entrance, seducing a gasp from her lips. For what felt like minutes, he teased the desire roaring through her without making a move, but she couldn’t wait any longer. Not when she had what she needed.
“Please. I need to feel you inside me.” She wrapped her legs around his back, urging him forward as desire overwhelmed her. “I need you.”
His weight vanished.
Over six feet of naked muscle and sinew strode behind the couch and out of sight. For a long, strained breath she listened for his return. Nothing. “What are you doing?”
Footsteps padded against the hardwood until, finally, he came back into view.
“Because I chose to fall, every second I’m with you, I’m reverting back to my mortality. We need protection.” He ripped the foil open, discarded the wrapping on the coffee table, and covered his length with a condom. Gripping himself in the most erotic vision of her life, he pressed one knee against her thigh, spreading her open.
How had she forgotten the
risks?
He answered that unspoken question as he complied with her desperation, sliding into her. He filled her like she’d never experienced. Well, not since Rio. Overwhelming every sense she owned, he took control of her, rocked back and thrust forward. His warmth sank into her bones, emanated from inside her core. The stress of the last few days vanished and left only him. Them.
The presence in her head stayed locked where he’d helped her confine it, clearing her mind, expanding her heart. His movements increased in speed, marking her, claiming her, and she gave him everything she had left. Her body reveled in him, in his movements, in his love. She gripped his shoulders, fingernails digging in. Biting into his skin, she marked him as her own. Nothing would separate them again. Not even her. His resulting hiss only intensified the strong beat of her heart as his salty taste coated her tongue, stung her lips. She couldn’t let him go, couldn’t experience the pain of his loss again.
He thrust, retreated, thrust again. With every motion, he embedded deeper. The small amount of pain mixed with pleasure set her insides on fire, stirred her cells into a frenzy. Strong arms held her in place, as if he wasn’t willing to ever let her go either. She tensed around him, trying to hold onto this perfect moment a little longer, but the pleasure building in her core was so intense, she couldn’t contain it. If she’d been honest with herself, she’d missed him since Rio, every inch of his body, every moan, every look.
Too soon the pleasure spread down her legs and up into her arms. She tightened her hold on him and contracted her lower abdominals. That single movement sent her overboard. The orgasm exploded over her, took her to new heights of pleasure. She lost all control.
With one more thrust, he shut his eyes tight. His jaw strained, and he shouted his release. Collapsing against her, he fought for breath, and in that moment, two worlds separated by her decision to leave him became one. He completed her, filled her.
Her Fallen Protector Page 12