Gabriel woke up, his arm wrapped around something warm. Silky hair tickled his nose, and that lower part of his anatomy that always sprang to life unbidden, particularly in the early morning was pressed in between two mounds of firm, soft flesh.

He should get up and put his clothes on, get into a cold shower — not necessarily in that order. Before he could escape, Nyalla snuggled closer, the friction of her rear end nearly undoing him.

So much for his legendary control. Although his control had vanished pretty much the moment he’d met her. Evidently a fry pan to the head knocks some sense into an angel, because for once in his long life, it seemed the pieces were starting to snap into place. And the human he was right now was so much more vibrant than the frightened, lonely angel hiding behind rigid rules of self-restraint and abstinence. His vibration pattern might be horribly degraded, but he didn’t feel like a lesser being. He didn’t feel like he’d fallen from grace. He felt free. He felt as if he were holding something beautiful in his arms and watching it bloom.

But blooms must die. She’ll not live long, and then what will you do? He remembered the agony of that angel from Micha’s choir, and wondered if in sixty years he’d be begging for one of his siblings to kill him.

In the meantime, his best friend was snuggled up against him. This was the woman he wanted to spend every moment of every day with, the woman he wanted to share of himself, to protect and hold tight. The woman he wanted to make love to. If she was an angel, he would have joined with her, but she was a human and that type of bond was beyond them as beings of the flesh.

She was human. And right now, so was he.

It would be easy to have sex with her and blame his actions on his, hopefully temporary, humanity, but Gabriel was nothing if not honest. He wanted her. More than this protuberance between his legs wanted her, he wanted her. He wanted to join with her in the only way they could, to have a physical act affirm his love for her.

Nyalla’s hair smelled like sun, sand, and sea. Her body was warm and soft. The covers were bunched up at the end of the bed, showing him that she had a tiny scrap of fabric around her hips that did nothing to hide that gorgeous, tanned skin of her rear. Her tank top had ridden up past her waist, exposing the underside of one of her small, round breasts. Gabriel buried his face in her hair. She sighed, shifting and moving his hand from her waist to her breast.

Everything between his legs tightened. It actually hurt, but instead of pulling away, he absently stroked her nipple with his thumb. Torture. Didn’t this sort of thing strengthen an angel? Wasn’t it noble to face extreme temptation and walk away?

Although he had no intention of walking away.

Nyalla made a soft sound and turned in his arms, her dark blue eyes staring right into his. That sensitive, throbbing part of his body was now wedged between her thighs, his hand, still on her breast.

“Sorry. It’s that boner happening again,” he said, not sorry at all and not making any effort to move.

The blue in her eyes darkened, like the sea at midnight. “Don’t be sorry.” One of her legs curled up around his thigh, sliding him along rough lace and soft folds that were hot and wet. Then she leaned forward and kissed him.

His hips jerked forward, and once again he nearly lost himself at the feel of her. Her lips were soft, her mouth warm and sweet. Her tongue darted out, touching his briefly then withdrawing. He chased it, deepening the kiss and rolling onto his back. She followed him, straddling him. Then she raised her hips, bringing him right to her entrance and pulled her lips from his.

“Are you sure about this? You’re a virgin.” she breathed, her eyes dark, her lips full and pink.

“Yes. Yes, I’m sure, and yes I’m a virgin. So I don’t know what to do. I mean, I know what to do. I get the mechanics of it. I just don’t know how to make it not be like Snip spraying spooge all over the inside of a bathroom.”

She laughed, then pushed herself upright, scooting down his boxer shorts, then doing the same with her underwear. Then she pulled the tank top over her head, tossed it to the floor and crawled on top of him. “Oh, trust me, you could never be like Snip spraying spooge on the bathroom walls. Although I’m sure it will be quicker than either of us would like. Which is why we need to do it again, after a reasonable rest time. And then maybe again after that.”

“We might not get anything else done today. Should we clear our schedules?”

She bent down to nuzzle his neck. “Absolutely. Just go with it, Gabe. Do whatever feels good. And if you change your mind, just let me know and we’ll stop.”

He caught his breath, closing his eyes as her teeth nipped the side of his neck. “I won’t change my mind. I’ve made my decision. I want this. I truly do.”

Nyalla bit down harder, this time on his shoulder and lowered herself around him. Gabriel ground his teeth, desperate to hold off.

“Good,” she murmured against him. “I’m not having sex with someone only to have him be a complete douche and blame me for seducing him. No way. Never again.”

For a brief second he wondered at her words. What could she mean? Was she referring to some horrible human male she’d once been with or could she possibly mean she’d had sex with an angel before? Gabriel felt a stab of white-hot anger, thinking of his brother Raphael. Had he? He’d certainly had opportunity hanging around the Iblis’ house with that stupid dating service they were offering.

Then as quickly as the thought came, it vanished, washed away by the feel of her, tight, warm, and wet around him. He reached down to cup her rear, guiding her up and down for a few quick strokes, struggling to keep control as he felt her stretch around him.

“Is this okay?” he whispered. “I could be bigger. Would you prefer wider or longer?” Wait, no he couldn’t. He was human now, and lacked the ability to change the size and shape of his body.

Nyalla pulled back her head to look at him, her gorgeous lips twitching up into a smile. “You’re joking. Any bigger and you’d need to find a spot to bury my body.”

That wasn’t exactly true, although the size he’d manifested as the wand broke did seem to fill her to capacity. She rose and sank again, shifting her pelvis against his. Gabriel groaned, closing his eyes. The feel of her around this particular body part was causing his thoughts to sputter and short-circuit in his brain.

“Stop it,” she commanded breathlessly. “Stop thinking. Stop talking — unless it’s dirty talk. You can totally dirty talk to me. That’s actually very sexy. I’d like that.”

Dirty talk? Chastise her on the bacteria growing on those dishes in the sink? Scold her for leaving the toothpaste uncapped? Okay, if that’s what turned her on, that’s what he’d do. “Your clothing drawer is sadly disorganized. Crumpled underwear amid unmatched socks is a sign of a jumbled lifestyle and a mental state that is far from center, you filthy woman, you.”

She laughed. It rang from her with more purity than a church bell. “I’m a filthy, disordered girl, Gabe. Holy Goddess on high, show me the way. Teach me the path to righteousness.” Her head fell back, eyes closed. “Yes, that. That. That.”

He lost himself in the feel of her, his one hand at her hip and the other reaching between her legs to touch her, to feel where they joined, to press and stroke every wet, warm inch. She increased the speed of her rhythm and he did likewise, feeling himself swell inside her. It was torture. He was hanging on by a thread, but there was no way in Aaru he was going to let go until she did.

Then she gasped, her back arching upward as she sucked in a long breath. Her whole body shuddered, a keening sound coming from deep within her throat. The muscles that surrounded him clenched and released in a rhythm primal as the staccato beat of a drum. And he followed. White blinded him, every thought blasting into gibberish. Each muscle tensed, the body-part in action tightened and swelled further to the level of erotic pain. A groan burst from him with a breath of air, and he released. Tension fell from him, words and worry escaped him, the lofty vibration he’d been struggling his whole life to maintain took another nose-dive, and everything clicked into place.

Peace. Heaven. Everything combining into a perfect balance. Her arms gave way and she fell onto him, her breasts pressed to his chest, her hair tickling his sides. He slid free from her warmth and the sensation shot through him. Breathe. Breathe. By all of creation, how did humans perform this activity on a regular basis and survive? It was the most exhilarating thing he’d ever experienced in all of his four billion years.

And it did exactly what joining did, only on a physical basis. Two paths, one destination. One glorious destination.

“You okay?”

It was a little embarrassing to have a human female sexual partner ask a powerful angel if he was okay after coitus. “More than okay.” He tried to make that sound manly and firm. He must have succeeded, because the light in those deep blue eyes flared once again. Nyalla squirmed against him, a slow smile communicating her intent.

“Another?” A soft hand reached down and stroked along his length. He was still somewhat hard, but the touch was too much for flesh still sensitive from the rapid fire of neurons. Gabriel bit back a wince, allowing himself to push past the overstimulation into thoughts of what could happen again…soon. Twenty? No, maybe ten minutes tops. It was a shame that he was not still an angel or he could easily re-direct the neural pathways and rebound at an inhuman pace. He wondered for a brief moment again if she’d meant that there had been an angel in her past, and how quickly he’d been able to recover. Something hot and fierce shot through him at the thought. He might have lost his wings, but in his heart he was still an archangel — an archangel that would be bested by no one.

He felt himself begin to stir in her hand, the overstimulated near-pain feeling becoming waves of pleasure once again. Just a little more time. “Yes, another,” he told her, reaching a hand down along her waist. “But first tell me what you like best, what you want me to do.”

* * *

Nyalla stared down at Gabe, watching his chest rise and lower with each breath, fighting the urge to trace her fingers along the muscles of his abdomen. In her opinion what Gabriel might lack in experience he more than made up for in exuberance. And caring. Never had she had a lover so absolutely focused on her, so intent on making sure she had everything she wanted. Men started out that way, but once things got going, the guys she’d been with tended to become rather selfish. It was still fun, but not the rock-your-world experience she’d just had. What a happy surprise that the angel she’d always been told was a boring, stick-up-the-rear jerk was so amazing in every way.

Someone put her first. He might be a bit weird when it came to the organization of her sock drawer, but when the everything hit the fan, she got the feeling that he’d always made sure she was protected. Joy tingled through her, and she could no longer resist putting a hand against the warm skin just below his sternum. His eyes opened, a swirl of green and bluish gray.

“Go back to sleep,” she whispered, placing a kiss on his forehead. “I just had to touch you.”

He smiled, and she felt lost in the curve of his lips. The sheer power of him pressed against her, even though he was now a human. She knew that Gabriel rarely smiled, that his intense, scowling expression had become a kind of calling-card for who he was. A smile. Light and pure, his eyes shifting into a bright shade of aqua with flecks of silver.

“Put your head on my shoulder,” he told her. “Rest your arm across my torso. Then I will sleep again.”