Inked by an Angel

by Allen, Shauna

  She smiled as hope blossomed to sheer joy inside of her. “Took you long enough.”

  “Yeah, well—”

  She didn’t let him get in another word. She pulled his face down and pressed her lips to his.

  His hot hands cruised along the flesh of her torso as he slid up her tank top, breaking the kiss long enough to yank it over her head before sealing her lips with his again. He moved his hands down her back, the rough pads of his fingers counting each of her ribs with painstaking care. Then back up, he traveled the length of her spine with the tips of his fingers as his tongue dipped to tangle with hers and she tasted the subtle remnants of red wine.

  He eased her to sit back on the edge of the bed then gently nudged her to lay back, the crisp cotton sheets cool against her heated skin. He leaned down and nuzzled his lips to her stomach, his breath bringing fine bumps to her flesh as his hands eased up her inner thighs.

  He murmured nonsensical love words to her that she couldn’t make out over the whirlwind of sensation whipping through her system as he worshiped every bit of exposed flesh on her body.

  His hands, hotter than fire, settled on her hipbones. She glanced at his face as he studied her like a piece of fine china. “So, so pretty,” he whispered. His searing gaze met hers, his intentions crystal clear. Yet he remained still, his vibrating energy tethered, as if he were waiting for her permission.

  Silently, she raised her hips, allowing him to slide her shorts and panties down her legs. His soft intake of breath when she was fully exposed to him was enough to fill her heart to bursting with love for this perfect man. It was nearly too much. She closed her eyes to the threatening tears as he traced his fingertip from the arch of her foot, all the way up the line of her leg, across her belly, her chest, until he got to the pulse bounding in her throat. There, he placed his lips.

  Her eyes fluttered open. He worked his way around to her ear, bringing a cry to her lips, which he swallowed with a scorching kiss. He kissed her until she was hot enough to combust. And he still had his clothes on. Somebody was way overdressed.

  She pushed him back and reached for his shirt. “Please,” she begged. She’d waited long enough to see the artwork on his body already. She yanked at the edge of his T-shirt trying to get it off.

  “Allow me,” he said, his voice rough with obvious need.

  He stepped away from her and turned down the lights, so only the soft light of the moon filtered in through the blinds. She wanted to cry out in frustration that she couldn’t see him in the dark, but she supposed there was plenty of time for that. Besides, there was plenty of light to make out the important stuff and for that she was more than grateful.

  As he kicked off his shoes and socks and unbuttoned his jeans, her mouth started to water. He turned away and pulled his wallet from his back pocket to put it on the dresser. There was a shroud of blackness all round him and only the right half of his body was visible in the mirror with the beams of the moon shining on him like a spotlight just for her.

  She wanted to swoon when he finally reached for his shirt and yanked it over his head. Instead, she forced her eyes to open wider and tried to take him in.

  He looked up and caught her eye in the mirror. The moonlight hit his skin and it was magic. He was so much more beautiful than she had ever imagined.

  On the right side of his chest and shoulder was a massive dragon of emerald green and royal blue that wrapped around his upper arm and all the way around to his back. It breathed multi-colored fire and rippled with ferocity.

  It was the sexiest thing she had ever seen.

  Her eyes roamed down to his ribcage. Japanese lettering was lined up in neat rows of text like the verses of a poem down his side.

  “You like what you see?” he asked, his voice husky as her gaze traveled further down to the open zipper that revealed his Happy V.

  “It’s perfect.” She patted the bed. “Now come here. I’ve waited for you long enough.”

  He started to turn, but paused. “Wait. Damn it.” He thumbed through his wallet.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I think I forgot to bring protection.” He glanced at her apologetically. “But I had no idea this would happen.” He turned back to keep searching.

  Relief and love flooded through her. “Jed, get your butt in this bed right now before I drag you over. I’m on the pill and I have condoms if you want to use extra protection.” She rolled over to rifle through her nightstand.

  In the space of a heartbeat, he had shucked his jeans and made a baseball slide into the bed, landing nearly on top of her. The skin-to-skin contact was intensely hot and wildly erotic. She tried to turn to him, but he kept her pinned with her backside to his belly.

  “I should’ve known I could trust you to be prepared, Muffet,” he whispered in her ear as he reached around and cupped her breast.

  She tipped her head back and relaxed into his kisses as he ministered to her neck and the line of her throat and shoulder. He slid his bottom arm underneath her so he could use one hand to tease and play with her breasts as he trailed his other fingers along her belly and hips.

  When he dipped between her thighs, close, but not quite to where she wanted him, she couldn’t help herself and she arched back and pressed her bottom against him.

  He moaned in her ear. “Easy, baby.”

  She brought a hand around and gripped his hip. Her head turned as her lips sought his, and their tongues intertwined. His hand continued it’s teasing play at her breasts, alternately squeezing and giving rolling twists of her nipples, making her squirm.

  His other hand inched further up her thigh, still teasing her. “Please,” she begged.

  They both groaned when his fingers finally touched her. Lightly and with the hint of a tease at first, but then he offered what she craved. He whispered sweet nothings to her as he drove her closer to the edge.

  Then he no longer whispered sweet nothings. Instead, he picked up the friction, stroking her harder and faster while telling her all the dirty things he wanted to do to her. Had been wanting to do to her.

  “It’s okay, baby,” he whispered in her ear, his hot breath caressing her skin. “Let go. You’re safe with me. You’re always safe with me.”

  And she was gone. Free. She shattered into a million pulsating nerve endings like she’d never done before.

  He held her as she fluttered back down to earth like an autumn leaf, brushing kisses to her shoulder.

  She took their intertwined hands and kissed his knuckles. “I love you.”

  He didn’t miss a beat. “I love you, too.”

  She smiled in the semi-darkness. “Just checking.”

  She knew he was smiling, too. “I know.”

  She flipped to face him and their bellies stuck together with the sheen of their perspiration. She felt his erection still going strong. “What are we going to do about that?” She glanced down.

  He trailed his fingers down her spine and cupped her bottom. “I don’t know. Got any suggestions?”

  She kissed him. “A few.” She caressed the dragon on his shoulder. She liked. A lot.

  He reached between them and caressed her body from her breasts to her thighs. Then he replaced his fingers with his mouth and started all over again. By the time his lips were settled on her hipbones, and lower, she was panting his name.

  He shifted and poised himself above her. He met her eyes.

  In that split-second, she realized how different her life could’ve been without him and an overwhelming sadness threatened to consume her.

  She squeezed her eyes shut as a blinding white light shot through her brain. When she opened them again, nothing was as it should be. Or was it? She shook her head to try and clear the cobwebs and remember what had happened, because for the life of her, she could not f
igure out how her stable, predictable world had altered so terribly off-kilter. She pondered this as she stared up through heavy, blurred eyes at the beautiful man with sweat pouring down his face, as he threw back his freshly shaven head in a warrior’s moan and thrust into her body.

  “Oh, God,” she heard herself cry out in a voice too deep and sensual to be her own.

  Her eyes rolled back into her head and she enjoyed the ride. She moved her hands and they tangled into the mess of her hair. Sex kitten’s hair, she realized.

  “Open your eyes,” he gritted out in a deep, gruff voice that rolled over her skin like butter.

  She obeyed and focused solely on him. He was watching her as if he was waiting for something.

  He speared her with a particularly deep and thick thrust. “Does that feel good?”

  She nodded, too stunned to answer.

  He did it again and she moaned her thanks.

  Something about him drew her in. But he was so not her type. And yet, as his body continued the magic, he was apparently so her type after all.

  He reached down and hiked her knee up to his shoulder to allow the deepest penetration possible and she nearly broke. She raked him with her fingernails as she cried out. “Holy—”

  “I know, baby.” He quieted her with his lips.

  He rocked his hips. He thrust. He shook her world.

  She choked in air, her lips at his neck where she tasted the salt on his skin.

  He thrust again. And again.

  He pulled back and pushed up onto his hands so he could gaze down into her face. Something about all of this tugged at her memory—her heart. But what?

  Her heavy-lidded eyes slid down his chest. Just as she was about to succumb to what he was doing to her, and within her, her blurry vision cleared enough for her to focus and she saw it.

  There, on his smooth left pec, her face, in black and white repose, stared back, her name boldly inked below.

  Her eyes flew back to his as everything settled back into place.

  He searched her face. Something in the way his eyes blazed begged for understanding. “The Angel made me do it.”

  Kyle glanced at the clock as Jed slept soundly next to her, his big arm a steel band around her waist. 3:08. She was going to miss her flight. She rolled over and tried to study the tattoo of her face on his chest. It was crazy, like looking in a mirror.

  He moaned and shifted in his sleep. She glanced up. He was still out like a light. She traced the image of her own nose and lips. Her name on his skin.

  Because, you see, in order for me to put something like that on my body again, I decided it would have to be tantamount to a promise between me and God that it was forever.

  Like sealed in blood?

  Like soulmates.

  So, you’d be declaring your undying love or proposing marriage or something?

  Something like that. But more like giving away my heart and soul.

  She couldn’t believe any of this. His love was enough. But he had promised so much more.

  His hands moved to caress her side and rest on the swell of her hip. She looked up. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “You didn’t.” He pulled her closer and squinted to look at the clock on the nightstand. “Ah, baby, I’m so sorry. You’re not gonna make that flight, are you?”

  She shrugged. “It’s all right.”

  “No, it’s not. Rome was important to you.” He kissed her forehead. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise. I’ll pay the difference for whatever it costs to get you there on a different flight and to change your plans, okay?”

  And she thought she couldn’t love him any more. “I’ve got you. That’s more important to me right now. I’ll get there someday.”

  He tapped her nose. “Well, if you’re not dead set on going by yourself, I could take you on our honeymoon.”

  She pulled back a fraction, her brows furrowed. Did he just say what she thought he said? “Honeymoon?”

  “Well, yeah. Are you saying you’d rather go alone?”

  She fought off his arm and sat up, drawing the sheet around her breasts. “Uh, you lost me back at ‘honeymoon.’”

  He scratched his belly, drawing her attention momentarily to the Japanese text on his ribs. “Why?”

  Was he that dense? “Is this a proposal, Jed?”

  “I thought we were past all that.” He yanked the sheet away, so they were both as naked as the day they were born, and moved to his knees facing her. “I’m sorry, baby. I guess I’ve jumped a few steps ahead of you.” He took her hand. “I just thought after everything we talked about and experienced tonight it was a given. You’re it, Kyle. Take my heart and soul—they’re yours. I’m ready now.” He leaned over and kissed her. “Marry me. Please.”

  She studied his gorgeous blue eyes. The love in them was surreal. “Of course I’ll marry you.” Was there ever a doubt?

  He pulled her into his arms and made love to her again, this time as the gentle sounds of a summer storm tapped at the windows.

  Later, lulled by the steady hiss of the rain and the warmth of the naked man at her back, Kyle felt herself drifting off to sleep. As her drowsy brain began to wander into the land of dreams and imaginings, a thought occurred to her.

  She squeezed Jed’s hand. “Babe?”

  “Hmmm?” He mumbled, his face buried in her neck.

  God, she loved him. “I just remembered something you said. About your tattoo.” He shifted and pulled her closer. “You said The Angel made you do it? Michael talked you into it?”

  He kissed the dip of her shoulder. “Nah. It wasn’t like that. I asked him to do it.”

  She turned over and faced him. “But you said—”

  His sleepy eyes opened and he pinned her with the blue gaze she adored. “I know. The Angel did make me do it. My angel.” He caressed the hair back from her face. “You’re my angel, baby. I think you always were.”

  Angelic Commandments

  An Angel shall have no other God before the Father.

  An Angel shall never reveal their angelic visage or mission to a human unless commanded, ordained or, in exceptional cases, Heavenly possession by the Father.

  An Angel shall never bear false witness against another Angel.

  An Angel shall never have romantic or intimate relations with a human.

  An Angel shall never question nor impugn the will of the Father and shall always fulfill their mission to the best of their God-given ability.

  Who says Time heals all wounds? That’s Love’s job.

  And now, our Cupid Michael’s gotta earn his wings. Again.

  Please turn the page for a preview of Noble’s story:

  The Halo Effect:

  Book II of the Cupid Chronicles

  Coming from Soul Mate Publishing May 2013

  Crash! Noble bolted up in bed at the resounding clang of metal hitting concrete. The ear-splitting rah-bah-bah drone of hardcore death metal music made his head pound. He glanced at the digital clock on his nightstand. Shit. He’d only managed to snag a couple hours sleep.

  He padded to the window and cracked the mini-blinds. He reared back when the sun pierced his tired eyes and let the blinds snap shut with a curse.

  He was about to give up and slide back in bed with a pillow over his head when the hideous grating noise started again followed by a screeching sound, then the obnoxious wailing music cranked up infinitely louder. His new neighbor wasn’t usually this noisy. Cute, yes. Loud, no.

  With a tired sigh, he squinted his eyes to prepare for the sunny onslaught and tipped the blinds open again to figure out what in the hell all the racket was about. How could one tiny woman make so much friggin’ noise? He wouldn’t be so tired if his bos
s and best friend, Jed, hadn’t left him babysitting the business while he went away on his honeymoon. All those extra shifts kept him up too damn late.

  He scanned the tidy, postage-stamp-sized yard next door. She’d already planted some pink flowery things. That probably explained the sweet scent on the breeze when he came home at night, but there was no sign of her right now. He had no idea what her name was or her story. Only that she was little and cute and had a killer ass.

  Wait. A movement caught his eye from inside the open garage. But it wasn’t Sweet Cheeks, as he’d come to think of her. A lanky figure dressed in a black hoodie snuck inside and disappeared almost as quickly as Noble caught sight of him. His heart began to beat double-time as he wrestled with what to do. Call the cops? Go make sure she was all right?

  “Damn it.”

  He let the blinds slap closed again and threw on the same jeans and T-shirt he had discarded just a couple of hours earlier. Barefooted, he ran down the hallway, ducked out the front door and raced across the yard.

  Quietly, he pressed himself against the brick of her exterior wall, which was already warming with the sun’s rays. His eyes darted around, searching for any sign of his neighbor, but he didn’t see anything. The music was unbelievably deafening now and his eardrums rattled with each beat of the bass drum.

  How could she not hear this? Was she already hurt? Had she turned the shit on and this guy was using it as his cover to get in and . . . His heart rate picked up speed as he thought of the possibilities.

  He peered around the corner into the garage and caught sight of the guy in the hoodie and black jeans tinkering with something in the corner of the room near the door to her house. A protectiveness surged through him and he knew he had only moments to keep this hoodlum from getting inside.

  Never taking his eyes off the back of the guy’s head, he inched his way inside the garage and along the wall. The pungent mixture of gasoline, degreaser, and fertilizer combined with the punch of adrenaline that pumped fast and furious through his veins, forming a potent cocktail. The bass drum now beat so loud it thrummed in his chest as he got almost close enough to grab the hoodie. Just two more steps. One more.