When the door was opened, Adalyn ran, jumping into his arms and wrapping herself around him.

Angel caught her and held her to him. “What are you doing here, sweetness?”

“I got you a present.” She placed a kiss on his lips before she jumped back down and took his hand, leading him upstairs.

She was a bit nervous to show him, hoping she hadn’t overstepped. God, please let him love it.

Angel stopped suddenly once he had reached the top of the stairs.

“D-do you like it?”

Walking up to the queen-sized canopy bed, Angel moved the black curtains that draped over the rods. Then he turned his head to look at her before he held out an inked hand. “Come here.”

She walked over to him, placing her hand in his.

When he continued to stare down at her for several moments, she felt the need to explain herself, quickly rambling out of nervousness, “I thought it might help you sleep. When you close the curtai—”

Angel captured her lips with his, giving her a kiss she would never forget.

Slightly dazed, she smiled up at him. “So, you do like it?”

“That depends, sweetness.”

Before she could finish asking “On what?” she found herself quickly turned, the top of her meeting the soft mattress as she was bent over the bed.

Sliding her thick hair away from her face, he bent over, covering her body with his, to whisper in her ear, “On how you look on it.”

Her eyes practically rolled to the back of her head, feeling the heat begin to burn inside her from his words. She didn’t think he moved fast enough when he quickly pulled down the top of her jeans and released his hard cock to tease her opening. Adalyn wiggled her ass back, making him shove his shaft deep inside her.

Forced to scream into the sheets by the position he held her locked in, she got louder and louder with each pounding into her.

The place where he took her was always so beautiful … but this time when he took her to between Heaven and Hell, it felt different. More special somehow.

Moaning out her sweet release, she didn’t think spending an eternity like this was so bad.

I love you, Angel, Adalyn said in her head, too frightened to say it out loud in case he had changed his mind on forever.

* * *

Adalyn reached up in the darkness to run her fingertip over the four dotted diamonds under his eye. “You haven’t told me yet if this tattoo has a meaning.”

“Each dot represents a Luciano brother.” Angel started to trace a diamond on her back with a tatted finger, starting with the top. “The top one is for my oldest brother, Dominic. The two on the sides are me and Matthias. And the bottom one is for my youngest brother, Cassius.”

Laying her head on his chest, she snuggled into him. “Do you have any sisters?”

He went quiet for a few minutes, thinking about his words carefully. “Yes.”

“Do you not want to talk about it?” she asked politely.

“Not yet, but soon, sweetness,” Angel promised.

She placed a kiss on his chest, able to accept that. “Okay.”

Smiling into the small, dark space they shared under the canopy, he wasn’t sure what he had done to deserve a girl like her. Maybe it was the suffering he had gone through. If that was the case, it was worth it.

Angel leaned down, breathing in her thick brown hair that smelled of cherries. He hadn’t realized she smelled of cherries until he had come back to her after two months. The second she had run into his arms, he had smelled that sweet cherry scent, making him wonder how the hell he had missed that in the times he had spent with her.

He supposed it had to do with Bella. She had clouded his vision of Adalyn. The second he had told her goodbye, though, he had finally been able to see Adalyn for the beautiful, caring, and fiercely loyal woman she was. She had told him several times now that he made her dreams come true, yet she had sent his nightmares away. Forever.

A vision of a new book slowly opening appeared in his mind. It was time he started a new beginning.

“Adalyn …” He placed a long, inked finger under her chin, making her look up at him. “I love you.”