“Something like that.”
“Strong energies burn me. Well, they feel like they burn. I didn’t mean to offend.”
“I understand.” Having a gift wasn’t easy. Feelings could be intensified and under certain circumstances, painful. He didn’t want to hurt her. She was the only florist who wasn’t terrified of him, and willing to help. “Keep the change.”
The girl picked the chip up and ran her fingers over the corner. “This is twice what you owe me.”
“After what I’ve been through to get these, I’d pay you that and double. Thank you.”
“Remember to tell her you’re sorry,” the girl called out as he shifted.
Chapter Eight
Bang. Bang. Bang.
“I’m coming. Damn.” Jocelyn pulled the toothbrush from her mouth. “One minute!” She began to scrub her teeth again.
Bang. Nate’s impatience could drive a sane person crazy. Why didn’t he take his key?
Bang!
“I said—one minute.” She dropped her toothbrush in the sink and stomped out of the bathroom to the door. Twisting the lock, she whipped it open. “You can be the biggest pain in the ass.”
Jocelyn tipped her head back. “Uh oh.” One look and she knew he owned the coat. Only one reaper would fit in the leather duster she’d been sleeping in. “Gabriel.”
He shoved flowers into her hands and he smiled. Jocelyn’s heart stuttered. She staggered back a step, clutching the blooms to her chest. “I have five more days.”
“Jocelyn.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
She blinked. “You’re sorry?”
“Yes.”
He’s apologizing? Heat rushed to her scalp and Jocelyn ground down on her teeth. How dare he steal everything and expect to come back here with flowers and an apology? Not happening! She released the bouquet and it fell at her feet with all the respect of a discarded tissue. “You’re sorry? You stole my vision and my virginity. Sorry? I don’t think so.” She pointed to her pupils. “Look what you’ve done.”
“You can see, and I didn’t steal your virginity. You offered willingly.” He narrowed his eyes and locked on to hers, not really looking into them, but at them. “I can see the color. They’re blue. They’re as beautiful as I remembered. How did this happen?”
See? He called this seeing? “As if you wouldn’t know.” She softened her voice and stepped closer. Yes, this reaper had a weakness. His problem. Jocelyn slid her hands up his chest and smiled. “Come closer.”
Gabriel leaned down.
She grabbed a firm hold of his shoulders and rammed her knee up and forward, driving the bony cap into his soft man-parts.
He expelled a harsh grunt and his mouth fell open. Gabriel dropped to his knees. A gurgle bubbled from his throat. He tipped his head back and looked at her in shock. “Jocelyn?”
“Night, lover-boy.” Jocelyn took a step back and planted her foot in the center of his chest. She kicked out with all her strength, sending him sprawling onto the deck. One last look and she slammed the door.
“They’re as beautiful as I remembered?” Her sneakers crunched down on something and drew her attention to his gift, the cellophane-covered flowers. Biting her lip, she snatched them off the floor and opened the door again, tossing them out. “Keep your crappy flowers.” She fastened all three locks as fast as her fingers could move, and sucked in a deep breath. “I don’t want them,” she whispered.
Jocelyn stared at the locks and curled her hands into fists to keep them from shaking. “What the hell did I do?” Maybe that had been a little harsh. It might have been a bad idea, too. Gabriel easily made two of her. He had immense psychic abilities and a license to use them. “Yeah, that was a great idea, Jocelyn.” Oh God, what had she been thinking? Maybe she should apologize? Jocelyn reached for the door and yanked her hand away. “No. I’m not going to play his game.” She tiptoed over to the curtain and brushed the edge back, peeking out. Gone? She craned her neck farther and pulled the fabric open wider.
“What game would that be, Jocelyn?”
Her eyes popped. Shit.
Arms shot around her like iron bands, lifting her off her feet. She thrashed her head side to side, kicked, screamed, and tried to bite him. How’d he recover so fast?
“Put me down you overgrown, bogeyman.”
Gabriel snorted. “Do you really think I’m that stupid? I come with flowers and you send my nuts into orbit. It’s a good thing I have accelerated healing. That kind of shit could land a man in the hospital. What the hell is your problem?”
“You. You’re my problem. I can’t see anything anymore, and I wake up with bloody thighs and fractured pieces of memory to remind me of what happened. You sucked my energy and expect me to be happy?”
“Wait. You can see. I don’t understand. You were blind. You don’t like being able to see?”
“No, Gabriel. I wasn’t blind. I saw things differently and you took that from me. Whatever you did took who I was, who I’ve always been, and I want it back. Damn you. I want it back.” Jocelyn kicked into his shin with the heel of her sneaker.
“Enough,” Gabriel roared and limped to the bed, his arms loaded with a hundred and ten pounds of pissed-off redhead, and she was about to show him why that was a bad thing. He tossed her to the mattress and threw his body over her, pinning her down. Hands clutched her shoulders and rolled her over, so they were face to face. Jocelyn tried to raise her knee again.
“No you don’t.” He knocked it aside, ending up between her thighs. She swung her fist and Gabriel caught it and snagged her other wrist, wrenching both arms over her head and holding them there. He stared into her eyes, his chest rising and falling in time with hers. “I said I’m sorry.”
“Fuck off.” She snapped her teeth and he lifted his face away.
“Real ladylike.”
Jocelyn raised a brow. “What? Do I look like the kind of girl that serves tea and finger sandwiches?”
First, his features twisted in shock, like he couldn’t believe what she’d said, and then the corner of his mouth twitched. “With or without the crust?”
“What?”
His mouth bloomed into a smile.
“You eat finger sandwiches?” she asked. That smile. That had to be what got her into trouble in the first place. If she could remember…. Jocelyn squirmed, feeling the temperature climb several digits. Something about her anger sent other emotions into overload. Lust zoomed through her blood on high voltage.
“No. But I can think of other things I’d like to taste.” Back was the serious face. His eyes dilated. He leaned in and sniffed her hair. After his sanitizer comment, she’d twisted Nate’s arm and got him to splurge on a vanilla-scented shampoo, not really knowing why she’d bothered. Stupid. Silly. Frivolous. Gabriel should be the last person she wanted to attract. His heart thudded against her breast, sending a jolt through her body with each beat.
“Taste?” Jocelyn squeaked.
“You smell good enough to eat. Would you like me to tell you where—or show you?”
“Oh. I, uh…. Show?” He wasn’t insinuating he wanted to munch her down there? Was he? Her eyes popped wide. “Oh. You mean…my girly bits?”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.”
“No, no, no… I didn’t mean….” She wiggled under him, her face flushing, certainly turning the color of her hair, if not darker.
Gabriel sniffed again and pressed his lips against her ear. “You’ve been wearing my coat.”
“Have not.” Deny, deny, deny. Knowledge was power. He didn’t need any more of that. The heat of his body penetrated her clothing, seeped into her skin, raced through her blood, sending molten liquid between her thighs.
“Liar.”
“No.” A hard bulge pressed against the juncture of her thighs and it took all her self-control not to react. She focused, doing her best to keep her face blank and her hips still. “Why would I do a silly thing like that?” Becaus
e you want to get naked.
But she wasn’t the only one who wanted to get naked. Even with his—injury, he seemed quite excited about the situation. Forgetting sex with a reaper had been a bad idea the first time. She dove in for a repeat and rolled her pelvis against his, pushing closer. More heat, more jolts, and her belly fluttered.
“My scent is all over you. You were wearing it.”
“The thermostat in the room broke. I was cold.”
“Maybe you like the way I smell.” Gabriel’s lips grazed her jaw. “Do you like the way I smell?”
No sense in denying it. He had her. “Yes.” She loved the way he smelled, so much she used his coat as a blanket. It felt natural. Right.
He lowered his mouth and kissed her softly. Jocelyn melded into him, barely able to catch her breath. Soft lips brushed along her jaw to her ear, sending goose bumps exploding across her skin. “Do you like the way I taste?”
“Yes.” Oh God, yes. How could she not? He tasted like sin and heaven, her past and future. One kiss had never been enough. From the moment he’d first kissed her, she’d craved him.
He captured her mouth again. The energy increased, pulsing through her body. Jocelyn shifted her hips. Gabriel’s knee came up, spreading her thighs farther. He rocked his erection against her. Hard. Hot. There. Oh yes! Liquid heat flowed through, a tsunami of desire that grew stronger the longer their bodies pressed together. Her stomach flipped.
“Do you like the way I feel?” His lips moved down her jaw, along her throat, nipping at the pulse in her neck. He ground his cock against her, rubbing her through her jeans. Jocelyn creamed in response.
“I think so,” she said. Feelings of pleasure rolled through her memories. Yes. Yes. Yes. God help her, she did.
“Should I remind you?” His voice buzzed against her throat and cranked the need higher.
Jocelyn closed her eyes and felt his mouth move across her skin. His lips touched her collarbone and slid lower to her birthmark. She whimpered.
“Should I?” he asked again in a gruff, sexed-up voice that sent her stomach through a series of flaming cartwheels.
“Yes.”
He took her mouth, nibbling her lower lip, coaxing her to give more.
Jocelyn sighed as everything came back. Staring into his eyes, she remembered.
He growled and kissed her, increasing his demand slowly, with such gentleness her world slipped off kilter. Her heart went with it. She opened to him, enjoying the way the heat danced between them. His tongue, tasting of spice and heat, slid between her lips.
She’d never imagined she’d be alone with him again. She knew what could happen, had seen and experienced it, but all her sanity and anger fled with that one kiss. She wanted him inside her, touching her, stroking her, like he did before. Oh God, she remembered. Each time he pushed in. Each time he retreated. His lips on her breasts, his hands on her skin, and the way his energy wrapped her. Yes. “I remember.”
“Good. Let me give you more to think about.” Gabriel released her wrists and pushed her shirt up, sliding one hand under her bra, stroking her nipple. Pleasure raced through her from the point of contact. His other hand worked at the button on her jeans, tugging the zipper down. His fingers brushed the crotch of her panties, near her clit. She gasped and pushed up into his hand, aching for his touch.
“Please.”
“I’m taking this slow. I won’t hurt you again. I won’t lose control.”
“You didn’t mean to hurt me, did you?” She studied his face. Pain, sorrow, regret, and he didn’t try to hide any of it. His loss of control before had…tortured him.
“No, and it won’t happen again. I tried to stay away. I didn’t want a repeat.”
He rose to his knees, grabbed the waist of her jeans, and yanked them down her hips, tossing them over the bed and to the floor.
“I thought we were taking it slow?”
“Yes, after I get you naked.” He grinned and her heart jumped. His eyes drifted over her legs and stopped on the granny panties. Sensible—white. Jocelyn’s face exploded with heat and she itched to crawl under the bed. His gaze traveled from where they covered her belly button, down to the baggy fabric bunched around her hips and the elastic around the legs. Leave it to Nick to find the most unsexy, albeit comfortable, pair of underpants on the planet. The corner of Gabriel’s mouth twitched again and she blushed a shade darker than magenta.
“What are those?” He raised a brow and snapped the waistband.
“Do you like them?” Jocelyn ran her finger under the fabric on the side. “Hot, huh?”
Gabriel ripped them off in one tug. “Now I really like them.”
“Hey, you big ape. Those were new.”
“Now they’re not.” He lowered himself beside her. He lay on his side and propped his head up with his arm. His fingers slid along her thigh, skimming across her skin with the lightest touch. He reached for her bra and she slapped his hand.
“Don’t even think about it.”
Gabriel grinned and went for the bra again, rolling on top of her and pinning her down. His hands wiggled under her back. Jocelyn shrieked and bucked up.
“Take it easy on my lingerie. I can’t go around without it.” She laughed and squirmed against his hold as he popped the clasp open.
“Now that sounds like the best idea yet.” He lowered his mouth, brushing her lips. His fingers crept inside the gap left by the open bra and caressed her nipple. “Easier to get you naked.”
He reached down, undid his pants, and pulled his cock free. He nudged her thighs apart and pressed against her. “The hunger’s all over your face.” Gabriel rubbed the head up and down between her folds. Every time it hit her clit, she rocked against him and whimpered.
Jocelyn brought her legs up, hooked him around the waist, and pulled him closer. “Please.”
“Not yet.” He moved away, breaking her hold, and slid down her body, his face stopping inches from where his cock had been.
“You were only kidding about the tasting bit?” Jocelyn backed away.
Gabriel grabbed her hips and yanked her pussy to within snacking distance. “No.” His words rippled through her. Gabriel lowered his head and proceeded to prove he meant it. His tongue slid along the crease in her pussy, licking, probing. Jocelyn bucked up and Gabriel caught her, holding her against his mouth. He sucked her clit and swirled the tip of his tongue around the sensitive bud.
“Oh!” Jocelyn cried and lifted off the bed. The lights in the room popped and crackled as he continued, stroking her, intensifying with each touch. His tongue slid inside and Jocelyn cried out again and fisted the sheets. She thrashed her head side to side.
“I can’t take this.”
A digit joined his tongue, fucking her while he licked the juice from her cunt. The pad of his index finger stroked deep inside her. “Relax and let go.”
“Damn.” The tension increased. Jocelyn’s thighs clenched down on the sides of his face, as though against her will. Mind and body had lost sync and she whirled in the chaos, not knowing if she’d traveled to another plane, or what he did made her think she had. Every nerve in her body had ignited and the fuse grew shorter with every second. Relax? Hell, she was going to explode. “Please.”
“Come for me,” he said, and sucked her clit between his lips.
Blast off. “My God!” Jocelyn arched up and the orgasm exploded inside her as her pussy clenched. He continued to lick harder, with more pressure, as he finger-fucked her. Jocelyn whimpered, cried, and thrashed, riding the energy rolling through her. Slowly, she came down, catching her breath. She opened her eyes as the throb became a pulse. Gabriel held her gaze for a second and then grinned.
“You’ve fractured me.”
“Not yet.” He grazed his teeth over her clit and slipped a second digit inside her, twisting them around, coating them with cream and sliding deeper, stroking her core. His other hand came down on the front of her pelvis, adding pressure, connecting every nerve inside her, ze
roing in on one spot, stroking the already hypersensitive muscles.
He blew on her clit and she contracted around his fingers, squeezing him tight. Jocelyn grabbed the blankets, yanking on them, resisting the climax that threatened, wanting more, needing more, but resisting as instinct let it build. The more he pushed, the tighter she wound, and the harder she fought him.
“Don’t resist.”
“I can’t…. Oh God. Please.” She arched into him. “Please, please, please.”
“Come again.”
“No!” She lived her life by her rules. He didn’t get to tell her when she could come. Her body, her mind. “You can’t tell me….”
“Now.”
“No.” Yes. Control snapped. Jocelyn’s body locked and a fireball rolled through her. His hand retracted and he slid up her body. His cock pressed at her saturated entrance and glided in, stopping halfway. Jocelyn pushed up, desperate to drive him deeper. Energy whirled through the air, sight unseen, but she felt it as the vortex brushed her aura, twisting with his.
“More,” Jocelyn moaned.
Gabriel remained still, letting her contract around him, whimper and buck, frantic for more. “Do you feel it? The energy?”
“Please don’t stop.”
“I have to. I don’t think I can control myself. Your aura is tugging on me.”
Jocelyn clawed at his ass. “Please.”
“No,” Gabriel growled and grabbed her wrists, pulling them over her head. A light bulb near the bed exploded.
“Don’t stop.” Jocelyn bucked under him.
Gabriel’s eyes darkened and he lowered his mouth to hers. Their souls locked and he began to move. Jocelyn felt a tug on her energy with each thrust, like a cord drawing tight. Colored lights burst before her eyes and saturated her vision. The oranges and blues of his aura danced before her. Her pink electrified with its touch.
“Harder,” she begged. “More. I see color.”
Gabriel moved faster. He released her wrists and grabbed her ankles, throwing her legs over his shoulders, driving in deeper. The draw increased and she screamed. The lights snapped off, yet the room glowed as it burst into supernova, colors swirling so fast the world around them spun.
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