“So,” she said, eager to learn a few things about the Irish angel with the swoon-worthy dimples. “You know that I am with Dante and my friend Vee is with Davin.” She blinked innocently from over the lip of the teacup. “Are you seeing anyone?”
This time, Ronin didn’t blush. He simply shook his head. “Nah. Ain’t got the time for all that nonsense. When I’m not on assignment, I run the security firm. I spend a fair amount of my waking hours working.”
Faith frowned. “Don’t you want someone in your life? I mean, don’t you ever get lonely?” She thought back on her life before Dante swept in like a hurricane and flipped it upside-down. Faith didn’t like what she recalled. She had been sad, pathetic, and alone, with no future to speak of. When she found her other half, her existence turned from bleak to beautiful. She couldn’t understand anyone not wanting to experience that kind of love for themselves.
Ronin looked ridiculous carefully placing the china teacup on an end table. Hands free, he scooted forward and rested his elbows on his knees. It looked like he was considering Faith’s question.
“Mayhap if I had more time, it could be nice to meet a compatible immortal. Not sure I’m the settling type though, if you know what I mean.” Ronin shot her a lecherous grin and waggled his brows. “I’m more of a love ‘em and leave ‘em kind of guy.”
Faith wrinkled her nose. “Ugh. You’re just like someone I know.” Jack and his man slut ways popped into her head.
“So you’re saying he’s a drop dead handsome bastard and a smooth charmer to boot?” He asked, the laughter evident even beneath the deadpan delivery.
“You don’t even want to know.” Actually… An idea flickered and Faith’s brain began to whir to life. Ronin automatically assumed Faith’s friend was a man. Did that mean he liked men? Boredom really wasn’t healthy for Faith’s rather expansive, inventive imagination. “Hmmm. Maybe you two should meet. I bet you’d get along great.” She mimicked Ronin’s lecherous grin, giving it right back to the arrogant immortal.
Okay, so yeah, Ronin and Jack had both been in the parking lot… that day. Faith suppressed the urge to cry. But everyone was too tense for the two males to spare a glance for one another. She didn’t think they so much as exchanged names.
Ronin straightened his posture and scoffed. “I don’t date clients.”
“Good thing he’s not a client.” Except… Nah, it would never work. “You’re right. Now that I think about it, he kind of goes for, umm…” She flicked her gaze up and down Ronin’s very tall, very muscled build. “Uh, he sort of prefers males that are a little, no, a lot smaller than you.” He didn’t contradict her when she most definitely let Ronin know she wanted to set him up with a man. So he was either gay or bi. Perfect.
Ronin shot her a wicked grin and gestured down at himself. “Your friend not enough man to take all this on, eh?”
The thought of Jack backing off any kind of challenge, especially when it came to sex, sent Faith into hysterics. She laughed so hard for so long her stomach began to hurt.
“Oh man. Wait till I tell Jack you said that. His reaction will be priceless.” Jack always zinged everyone with his sharp wit. Getting one over on him would make her day. “I really hope I get a picture of his face.” Faith giggled, still overcome with fits of amusement.
“Well, when you do, tell your friend Jack I said it’s too bad he can’t handle all the sexy.” Ronin comically ran his large hands up and down his body.
Faith snorted and winked. “Don’t worry, you can tell him yourself. It’s only a matter of time before I see him, and don’t forget, I’m not allowed to do anything without you. So the next time Jack swings by, you’ll be right there with me.”
Ronin’s smile fell and he looked so confused Faith almost felt bad for him. Almost.
If she had to be stuck inside, she was damn well going to make her own entertainment, thank you very much. And if she had to do it by yanking Jack’s chain, or making Ronin squirm, that’s exactly what she would do. A little bit of matchmaking never hurt anyone.
This was going to be so much fun.
IT HAD BEEN a little over a month since Hope was violently snatched from Thomas’s arms and his life by a cruel twist of fate. Raguel had been understanding, to a point, but by the third week of mourning his loss, the Archangel put his foot down and ordered Thomas back to work. He moved through the days like a robot, getting done what needed to be done without any emotion or feeling. Hope’s death left him a hollowed out shell of a saint, an exterior capable of walking, talking, and eating, but not much more. Emotions were too painful to deal with, so he blocked them out. All of them.
Thomas wasn’t stupid. He caught the looks his coworkers exchanged when they thought he wasn’t looking. Felt their oppressive concern every time he entered a room. He just didn’t care. Caring was an emotion, so that too, was gone.
“That’s it. I can’t take it anymore.” Thomas heard a book slam shut and a pen bounce off the table, but didn’t flinch or act as if he noticed. The legs of a chair scraped across the floor and footsteps circled the table in his direction. He braced for what he knew to be coming. In truth, he was surprised it took this long for one of them to snap.
“Hey!” Thomas flailed when strong hands gripped the back of his chair and yanked it away from the table. “I’m busy, so if you don’t mind.” He spoke forward, refusing to look at Dom who seethed as he towered behind Thomas.
“I absolutely do mind! I mind very fucking much,” he roared. Dominic shifted into Thomas’s line of sight, so Thomas fixed his face into the passive expression he mastered over the last few weeks and gave the ADA a bland stare.
“Yes?” Thomas kept his voice flat and lifeless.
“This!” Dominic snarled. He gestured wildly, hands waving at Thomas. “You. You’re not this… this thing. I know you. You’re not fooling me or anyone else in your life.” The saint was all but shouting.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Thomas replied. The fury in Dom’s eyes intimidated the hell out of him, but Thomas didn’t let it show. “Now, about this case…” Dismissing Dom, he turned back toward the stack of papers.
“Fuck the case!” Dominic’s hands fisted the lapels of Thomas’s jacket and a sharp tug hauled him to his feet. Noses almost touching, Dom growled, his gray-green eyes blazing.
“Let me go,” Thomas said angrily, pissed that a tiny bit of emotion bled into his words. Dammit. Dom was making him lose control.
Didn’t he understand if Thomas felt anger, he’d have to feel the agony of losing Hope? That once the dam broke, he’d never be able to push the overwhelming sense of loss back inside?
“No.” Dom gave Thomas a hard shake and his head snapped back and forth.
“Don’t do that again,” Thomas warned. Thirty-six days of repressed pain and anger threatened to boil over and if it did, he couldn’t be responsible for what happened.
The corner of Dom’s mouth twitched and Thomas knew the bastard had him figured out. Dom wanted him to lose it. He wanted him to let it all out. When Dominic gave Thomas a hard shove, sending him sprawling to the floor, he got his fucking wish. Thomas snapped.
“You son of a Hellhound’s bitch mother.”
Thomas climbed to his feet, chest heaving and fists clenched tight. Letting out a roar so animalistic he didn’t recognize his own voice, Thomas charged. Dominic was prepared for the attack, but by the bloody Fates, Thomas was more determined. Dom swung his right arm and Thomas ducked, following up by landing a fist in Dom’s solar plexus. Dominic doubled over as his diaphragm spasmed and the air rushed from his lungs. Thomas wasn’t a fighter by any stretch of the imagination, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know how. With his opponent incapacitated, he struck a blow to Dom’s temple and the saint collapsed to his knees.
“Fuck, Thomas,” Dom groaned. He shook his head and staggered back to his feet, fists in front of his face once more. Thomas raised his brows in surprise and Dominic sneered. “If th
is is what it takes to bring you back, I’ll gladly take whatever you dish out.”
Dom’s words chipped at some of the rage churning inside. He looked into his friend’s eyes and knew Dom was telling the truth. In order to make him feel something, he wouldn’t stop until Thomas beat him unconscious, and no matter how much he was hurting, he couldn’t go that far.
Thomas’s shoulders sagged and he dropped into his chair. Without warning, the protective walls he built to encapsulate the aching hole left by Hope’s death, cracked open and Thomas began to cry. Violent, racking sobs tore from his throat and his whole body shook with each one. Dominic was saying something, though he didn’t know what. Thomas was too consumed by grief.
“I miss her so fucking much.”
“I know,” Dom whispered. He patted Thomas’s back and gave his shoulder a squeeze. “I know.”
How was he ever supposed to be normal again? Thomas didn’t think he ever would. Even his energy felt different since Hope died. Since that bizarre episode in the Trinity library, actually. Usually, it was easy to ignore the presence of the swirling green sphere that was his life-essence. After centuries of practice, it was second nature. But after the day it went haywire, Thomas’s core flickered and sparked nearly around the clock. Had he been his usual self, the constant activity would have driven him insane, as distracting as it was. In his new, unplugged and zoned-out state, Thomas welcomed the diversion. It gave him something to focus on other than the crushing sense of loss.
As if it had been eavesdropping on his thoughts, the green sphere awakened, and a bolt of energy shot from its center. Thomas jerked in his seat and put a hand to his chest.
“Thomas?” The worry in Dom’s voice showcased Thomas’s disconnect from reality. He heard the fear and heard the words, but it sounded as if Dom was far away and speaking to someone else, even though he was sitting next to him.
“I…” Several bolts blew outward simultaneously, stealing Thomas’s ability to talk. Or breathe. Or do anything except fall off the chair and curl into a ball on the floor. Streaks of green sizzled and popped, crackling down his arms and legs to surround and fill every viable space in his body.
“Thomas! C’mon, look at me.” He vaguely noted Justice as well as a few others in the conference room. Another jolt hit and he closed his eyes and ground his teeth to keep from screaming. Then, the same as at the Trinity, the episode abruptly ended.
Or so he thought.
“Shit, you okay?” Justice grabbed hold of Thomas’s wrists and pulled him to his feet, twisting them around to deposit him in a chair.
“I don’t know.” Thomas felt… off. The uptick in energy hadn’t fully subsided. Tiny sparks continued to flicker in various places, only this time, there was no pain. As each green spark blazed, a rush of pleasure pushed out of the bolt of light. He couldn’t hold back a loud moan when a particularly strong pulse hit.
“Umm, Thomas?” He glanced at Dom who looked seriously uncomfortable. A quick assessment of the room let Thomas know that everyone else had either left or been told to leave. “Why does it sound like you’re… you know?” Dom’s face was crimson and the guy looked super awkward.
“Don’t know.” Thomas panted as yet another wave crashed over him. He threw his head back and shouted in ecstasy. When that wave finished he said, “Don’t know why. It feels good. So good. What’s happening?”
Dominic tried to answer but before he could, he yelped and leapt about four feet in the air.
“Dom? What the—” The words died on Thomas’s tongue and his eyes just about bulged out of his head at the vision that came into view.
I’ve finally gone mad. In truth, I have lost my very mind.
He rubbed his eyes because he must needs be dreaming.
Mayhap I hit my head during one of my episodes and this is a dream.
Heart pounding, he glanced at Dominic only to note a similar, awed expression on his stoic coworker’s face.
Dominic can see Hope? That meant… This isn’t a dream.
Thomas’s breath hitched and the cloud of despair he’d grown so accustomed to, that it had become part of his daily life, lifted. He shuddered as he choked out a single word, thick with emotion. “H-hope?”
The second her name left his lips, another storm of electricity whipped up from his life-force, this one even more powerful than the last. The flood of crackling energy brought with it another wave of ecstasy, potent and like nothing he’d experienced. White-knuckling the chair, Thomas rode out the pleasure, his entire body quaking. His fingers wrapped so tight around the armrests, they broke off in his hands.
This wasn’t possible, yet he couldn’t deny she was here. A few feet away, looking like an angel sent from above, stood his Hope, and by the Fates, she was stunning. His memory didn’t do her justice. Long strawberry blonde hair hung down the curve of her back, the sides tucked sweetly behind her ears. Skin so pale and delicious he could still it taste in his dreams was luminous, literally glowing. Those tawny brown eyes he remembered gazing into as they made love shimmered with life and joy.
“You’re here,” he whispered.
Hope’s response was short, but perfect in its simplicity. “Yes.”
“I don’t know what’s going on but I’m just going to, um, go.” Thomas ignored Dom as the male backed out of the conference room. The ADA’s discomfort wasn’t nearly enough to get Thomas to tear his eyes from the beautiful vision dressed in slim fitting gray pants and a silky white blouse. His fingers itched to touch every inch of her to prove she was indeed real.
“Thomas.”
His eyes dropped to those full lips as they uttered his name, the sound so beautiful his heart swelled. The need to kiss that perfect mouth overwhelmed him to the point Thomas couldn’t stop himself. He rose from the ruined chair as the core of green energy within him spun and swirled, twisting into a tornado of crackling power.
“Hope.”
He inhaled through his nose and the scent of sweet lavender assaulted him, bringing with it the memories of every moment spent with Hope in his arms—every touch, every kiss, every shout of passion and word whispered in a tender moment. The crackling of his energy along with the presence of someone he loved with all of his being, sent Thomas’s body up in flames, the heat of which left a permanent brand on his very soul.
One long stride and Thomas was close enough to cup the sides of Hope’s face. Without wasting another moment, he brought his mouth down on hers. Hope responded immediately, sliding her hands around his neck whilst parting her lips to allow his tongue to taste and explore the sweetness of her mouth. She moaned and he deepened the kiss, every sensation new yet all too familiar. Thomas’s energy sizzled and snapped, sparking and flowing through him and into Hope, instead of just around her like it used to. He didn’t know what it meant, or whether he must needs worry, but right then, Thomas couldn’t be bothered to care.
He had Hope back and that was all that mattered.
Breathless, Thomas reluctantly broke apart but remained close, running his hands from Hope’s face down her back. Hope’s breath caressed his lips and he knew this was real, she was real, and somehow alive. He was so grateful, his vision blurred and he felt the warm trickle of moisture down his cheeks.
Eyes filled with sorrow, Hope reached up and lightly skimmed her fingertips down Thomas’s unshaven face.
“Oh, Thomas.” Her chin trembled and her eyes glistened with unshed tears as she touched his beard. The one that grew from his lack of giving a shit about shaving or anything else since Hope died. “You look awful.”
That comment was so perfectly Hope, he couldn’t help but laugh despite the tears on his cheeks. Hope’s mouth pulled into a smile and just like that, the serious nature of the moment turned light.
“Tell me everything,” he said whilst rubbing his thumbs in circles on her lower back.
Hope lowered her arms to his waist and lay a cheek against Thomas’s chest. “I missed you so much.” He heard her inhale and knew sh
e was taking in his scent, just as he did hers. Wanting more, he buried his nose in her thick hair and tightened his hold on her small frame. Never would he let go. Not again. Not ever.
“Let’s go home. I’ll explain everything there,” she murmured into his wrinkled and probably not very clean dress shirt.
“Home?” Thomas wasn’t sure where she meant. Garrett still lived in their shared apartment, but that wasn’t Thomas’s home, and technically not hers anymore either.
Hope glanced up, resting her chin over his heart. “Your home.”
No way was that going to be enough for Thomas, not after knowing what it felt like to lose her, so he corrected her response. “Our home.”
Hope’s wide smile was as good as a yes in his book. Unable to stop grinning, Thomas stepped back and took her hand. “Then let’s go.”
THOMAS MOVED toward the door then stopped abruptly. Hope felt him stiffen, his hand tensing in hers.
“Thomas? What’s wrong?”
He spun to meet her gaze and Hope gasped. It was going to take a while to get used to all the new sensations. Her vision was so sharp she could see every single fleck of color in Thomas’s blue eyes, bits of gold and sky blue scattered throughout his irises. With the enhanced sense of smell, scents she hadn’t noticed when human were now intense. Thomas was positively mouthwatering, his scent similar to peppermint, though not overpowering. Just enough to drive her crazy.
“I didn’t drive to work today.” Thomas watched as if waiting for Hope to react poorly to the news.
“Um, okay. No problem.” He gave her a wary look and the pieces clicked into place. “Oh, you dematerialized. That’s okay.” Hope hooked her arm through his and stared up at him. “Let’s go.”
He sputtered. “Y-you know?”
Hope gave her love a smile. “Yes. I’ll tell you when we get to your place. Now, bring us home.” At the word home Thomas’s pupils dilated and he licked his lips. She’d bet he didn’t even realize what he did. Hope dug her fingernails into her palms to keep from pouncing on him in a courthouse conference room.
Hope For More (Trinity Book 3) Page 30