Chapter Ten

“You gave up awful easy.”

Angel recognized the voice. She wished she didn’t. She wished she could forget the past week of her life. Up to and including Kel. It had been exactly seven days since he’d walked out on her. Seven long days. “Easy,” she murmured, shaking her head. Angel didn’t even understand the meaning of the word anymore.

She turned her head and stared at Ness—no, Nessa. Toronto called her Nessa. “You know, most people don’t come to up to somebody sitting by a grave. It’s generally recognized as private time.”

The girl turned her head and studied the headstone. “Kel’s father, I would guess. You were close.”

Angel’s mouth twisted in a bitter smile. “After Kel disappeared, his parents were pretty much the only family I had. His mom died a few years later…Jake died last month.”

“I’m sorry.” She said it softly, but sincerely. Nessa tucked her hair back behind her ears. All the silver rings were gone now. She didn’t have a single pair of earrings on. No makeup either. A pair of baggy jeans, an even baggier T-shirt. Her eyes cut towards Angel and there was a blatant challenge in them. “You did give up too easy.”

Shaking her head, Angel said, “I can’t make him take something he doesn’t want.”

“But he does want it. He wants you. He’s just afraid. Terrified. He fears he would hurt you. Or perhaps he fears what will happen when years go by, he never ages, but you do. It’s a hard thing to live a long, empty life knowing the one you love is naught but dust.” A haunted look entered her eyes and she added in a husky voice, “Believe me. I know.”

It faded as quickly as it had come, replaced by a caustic tone. “But he’s young and even if he wasn’t, people often don’t see the obvious until it’s pointed out. He isn’t what he once was…but neither are you. Not entirely.”

The weird look in Nessa’s eyes had Angel shifting uncomfortably. “Twelve years will change a person.”

Nessa replied, “One second will change a person. One heartbeat. One moment. That, too, is something I know very well.” She hunkered down in front of Angel and reached out, touched the spot on Angel’s neck where Kel had bitten her.

It had healed completely. Not one sign remained. All she had left to remember that one night were her memories…and a busted window she still hadn’t replaced. Boards had been nailed over it, but she just didn’t care enough to worry about messing with having somebody repair it.

But when Nessa touched her neck, it burned. Throbbed. Almost like it had that night.

“People do change, girl. Some of us more than others. Some of us change in ways we don’t even realize.”

Angel batted the girl’s hand away. “Oh, believe me. I get the fact that he’s changed. I get the fact that I’ve changed.”

Nessa smirked. “Child, you haven’t got any idea on just how much you’ve changed—and how very little you haven’t.”

“Tell me something, does Kel know anybody that doesn’t speak in cryptic riddles?”

The smirk on Nessa’s face bloomed into an all-out grin. “Well, short, bossy, blonde brats need to have their fun somehow.”

Angel cocked a brow. “Nice to know you can recognize your faults.”

“Hmmm. Well, I’ve had a lot of years to learn that skill.”

Angel frowned. “You don’t look old enough to drink.”

The other woman chuckled and shook her head. “And still you can’t see it…things are too often more than they appear, Angel. Including me.” She sighed and slid Angel a sad smile. “I look like a juvenile delinquent. But that doesn’t even touch what I am.”

Curiosity got the best of her. “Exactly what are you? Toronto said you were a friend.” Angel touched her throat, remembered how just one touch from this girl had taken away her physical pain. Remembered how Nessa had touched Toronto and Kel and the men’s injuries had faded away like fog under the sun. “Some kind of… I dunno, witch or something?”

“Witch.” Nessa’s eyes closed and she smiled. “Aye. Or something? Aye, that, too.” She shoved to her feet then and jammed her hands deep into the baggy pockets of her jeans. “Everybody makes choices, Angel. Some aren’t the wisest. Some aren’t the right ones. But usually, if you act on what is in the heart, you’ll come out okay.” She gave Angel an enigmatic smile and then murmured, “Tell me…what is in your heart?”

Then, as Angel sat there trying to find an answer, the girl disappeared.

Into thin air.

 

 

What is in your heart?

It wasn’t a simple question, and Angel discovered through the rest of the night, it didn’t even have just one answer.

She had love in her heart.

She had anger.

She had misery.

She had confusion.

She had doubt.

She had questions.

But above all else, there was love. No matter what Kel said, she did love him. And she didn’t love some imaginary man or a boy who had long since grown up. She loved Kel. Twelve years apart, but too much of her had recognized him. So many dreams about him that weren’t really dreams, but subconscious echoes of the life he lived. Echoes that showed just how much he hadn’t changed.

In the end, the love won out. But the anger was a close second.

Decision made, she lay down on the couch and grabbed an hour-long nap. She hadn’t been able to sleep in her bed since the night Kel had left and she wouldn’t be surprised if she never slept in it again. It seemed like his scent surrounded her and laying down on the bed seemed to make phantom hands course over her flesh.

Washing the sheets didn’t help.

Burning the damn mattress probably wouldn’t help either.

She had one chance to exorcize her ghosts. One chance. And it wasn’t a good chance, either.

But Angel wasn’t too concerned with odds. If she didn’t at least make the attempt, she’d have the rest of her life to regret it. She’d make the attempt. And if she failed, then she failed and she would find a way to get on with her life.

Despite what that seriously strange guy, Toronto, had told Kel, Angel wasn’t going to let this end her life. If Kel didn’t want her, fine. One thing he’d been right about was that she’d never let herself get over him. Somewhere deep inside, maybe part of her had known he was still alive, and she’d just been waiting.

She wasn’t going to wait any more.

If he turned her away, that was it. She may never be able to keep from loving him, but she’d sure as hell stop sighing and crying over a man she wouldn’t ever have.

Angel would find a way to get on with her life and it wouldn’t be an empty one.

She loved Kel. But she had her pride and she had a heart full of anger—and one question to ask.

She didn’t bother to take anything more than a change of clothes and some toiletries thrown into a duffle bag. She wasn’t exactly sure where she was going but if by some slim chance fate cut her a break, maybe it would be a while before she came back. Of course, there was a better chance she’d be heading back here within a day or so.

Once she did, she’d get the window fixed, hire a few guys to do the repairs on the house and sell the damn thing. Only one person had kept her in Greenburg all these years, only one thing. Caring for Kel’s dad. But Jake was dead now…and when he died, he’d made her his sole beneficiary. A certain percentage of his estate went to the church, but the rest was hers and she was going to use it. For…something. To help her find some sort of life without Kel.

But first, she was going to get an answer to her question.

 

 

Kel lay on his narrow bed, staring up at the ugly gray ceiling overhead. One hand pillowed his head, the other was closed around the ring at his neck.

He couldn’t feel Angel.

After twelve years, it was an abrupt, almost brutal absence, one he missed more than he could have expected. He was alone inside his head, more alone than he’d been in a long time. He hated it.

He’d been back in the enclave for a week now and he hadn’t left his room once except to feed a few days ago. Even that had been hell—he couldn’t touch a woman. No way. He’d sought out one of the werewolves who lived in the enclave—not Toronto. He couldn’t look at Toronto because the shifter kept giving him censoring looks and making Kel doubt the choice he’d made.

Feeding from a male never sat well with him and he spent half that night feeling like he’d eaten bad meat or something.

His body had recovered from the injuries sustained during the fight, but his resources were drained. That quick feed a few days ago wasn’t going to do the trick and he knew he needed a serious, real feed but he couldn’t find the energy or the interest.

Likewise for Hunting.

Anything.

A motor sounded from outside, loud and out-of-place, but he tuned it out, just as he had tuned out anything and everything else.

Nothing really seemed real anymore so it was easy to ignore it all. Like turning down the volume on a radio.

So it was a little bit of a surprise when his ears picked up the sound of a fist pounding on the door of the manor. Even more surprising when he heard a voice. Easily picked it out from the others.

Angry. Demanding.

“Don’t hand me that bullshit that you don’t know who I’m talking about,” the feminine voice snarled.

Another voice—and Kel felt the push of vamp compulsion. He recognized it, filed it away, because in a little bit, he was going to knock Josiah into the next millennium for trying to pull that mojo on Angel.

Rolling off the bed, he left his room and took off running up the steps. A woman with altered blood coming into a house full of vamps, even if they were on the side of the angels, was a bad, bad mistake.

Josiah was blocking the door but Kel could scent her—he had no doubt it was Angel.

“Leave her alone, Josiah,” he said, his voice hard.

Josiah turned around and met Kel’s flat stare. His eyes narrowed in understanding and he swore. “Shit. Kel, go downstairs.”

Kel snarled. Striding across the room, he got in Josiah’s face and dared him. “Why don’t you try and make me?”

They were collecting an audience.

Toronto separated himself from the crowd, moving to stand at Josiah’s side. His voice was pitched low, but the words were heard by all. “This doesn’t concern you, Josiah. Just leave it.”

The vamp whirled on Toronto, jerking a thumb in Kel’s direction. “The last thing he needs now is to be around that girl.”

“You know, that girl can speak for herself,” Angel snapped from the doorway. Stubbornly, she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Kel. “I’m not leaving until I’ve talked to you.”

Then she sent a withering look at Josiah and added, “And whatever in the hell you were trying to pull? It won’t work.” Her eyes narrowed and she focused.

Every last one of them felt the force of her psychic punch as she struck out at Josiah. His face tightened but he showed no other reaction. His lip curling in a disgusted sneer, Josiah turned on his heel and stomped out. “Stubborn as he is. They were made for each other.”

Rafe finally made an appearance and all the Hunters fell back to let him through. Barefoot, wearing black jeans and a plain black T-shirt, Rafe studied Angel for a minute and then he looked at Kel. Although he didn’t say anything, there was a look in the Master’s eyes that said, This ain’t gonna end well.

“It seems Kel’s got a guest, folks. Doesn’t concern any of us.” He nodded his head at Angel and then turned, left in silence.

The rest of them trickled out until Kel was left alone in the foyer, staring at Angel. She still stood on the porch, giving him an insolent glare. When their gazes locked, she angled her chin up. “What, aren’t you going to try that same lame-ass mind thing?”

Kel shook his head. He reached up and scratched his chest, absently realized he hadn’t put a shirt on when he had awoken earlier. Angel’s eyes slid down, rested on the chain around his neck. Instinctively, he wrapped his hand around the ring, shielding it.

“I know better. If there’s a vamp with the juice to force you out on mental power alone, I don’t know him.” He blew out a harsh sigh and murmured, “Angel, what are you doing here?”

“I had a question I wanted to ask you. That question, you answer honestly, and I’ll go.”

Kel shoved a hand through his hair. One question. He could handle that, right?

“You going to stand on the porch all damn night?” he asked caustically.

She frowned, glanced down at the ground. Her body shifted like she was going to move, but she didn’t. She shrugged and then shook her head. “Don’t worry. It won’t take more than a minute.”

Kel glared at her. “Get your ass in here if you want to ask me something. I don’t care if it just takes two seconds.”

She snorted. “So is two seconds my time limit?” she asked as she crossed the threshold and closed the door behind her.

Folding his arms over his chest, he just stared at her.

“That was a neat trick, that deal you did forcing those memories in my head. But something about them felt off.” She gave him a mean little smile. “Not that I don’t believe you about the woman in the memories, but something about it was a lie. I’m thinking the timing…”

Vampires didn’t blush. But they sure as hell could feel embarrassed and being caught in a lie would do it. He didn’t bat a lash, though, as he lied through his teeth. “Got no idea what you’re talking about, sugar. Is that your question?”

“No.” She sauntered over to him.

As she drew close, Kel stiffened but he didn’t pull away. She reached out and hooked a finger under the chain around his neck and tugged on the chain until he let go. Flashing him that insolent smile, she lowered her gaze and studied the ring. “Here’s my question, sugar. Why are you wearing a woman’s engagement ring around your neck?”

He jerked away, crossed the foyer. When he had a good ten feet between them, he turned back to meet her gaze but for the life of him, he didn’t know what to say.

He’d bought it for her before his life went straight to hell. He hadn’t found the right time to ask her. He’d been working on something romantic, including candlelight and roses. And although he’d told himself to get rid of it a hundred times, a thousand, he couldn’t do it.

And he also couldn’t lie about it, he realized as he met her blue eyes.

“You need to leave, Angel.”

Her chin angled up another notch. “Sure. When you give me that answer.”

He swore and turned away. He heard her footsteps, all but soundless on the gleaming wood floors, felt the warmth of her breath caress over his back as she stood less than a foot away. “You going to take off running again, Kel? That’s fine. Go ahead. And I won’t come looking for you again, although it doesn’t matter where you go—now that I know you’re alive, I could find you in my sleep.”

Her hand caressed the skin of his back, leaving a fiery trail of sensation. “I won’t come looking for you. If you won’t give me that answer, that’s fine. Once I walk out of here, I’m done.”

Woodenly, he turned to face her. The words were in his throat. He wanted to tell her. Wanted to give her that answer…and more. But he couldn’t.

She smoothed a hand up his chest, toyed with the ring. “And I won’t be spending the rest of my life mourning you. You were right about that—I never let myself get over you. But that’s done. If I leave here alone, if you let me walk out that door, I’ll get over you no matter what it takes, no matter how long.”

“Angel…” His voice trailed off. He didn’t know what to say, other than the plain, ugly truth. “You can’t be with me. I can’t be trusted around you.” He sighed and reached up, trailed his fingers down her neck. “Something weird happened to you that night. Not just me. He… That vamp, we call them feral, he must have wanted to Change you, make you a vamp. He fed you. It wasn’t…it wasn’t enough to do it, but it changed something inside you and whatever it is, it’s like a drug to vampires. I’m not strong enough to resist it.”

Her head cocked. “No? Doesn’t seem to me like you had any trouble stopping last week. Or walking away.” A conniving smile appeared on her face and she brushed her hair back, baring her neck. “And I don’t see you falling on me like a raving lunatic. Neither did your oh-so-charming friend. Or any of the others…you’re not the only one like you here, right? But nobody seemed all that fixated on me.”

“They wouldn’t dare,” he growled.

Angel just lifted a brow. “If I’m some sort of drug, nobody here seems too affected, Kel.”

Affected? Hell. He damn well was affected. Wanted to fall on her, exactly like a raving lunatic. He wanted to—he itched to do it. But even as that thought circled through his head, he realized that what he wanted from her wasn’t blood. Or rather, he wanted the blood, he didn’t need that.

He needed her.

A sad smile curled her lips and he knew without a doubt, she knew just what he was thinking.

“You’re stronger than you think, Kel. I don’t know what in the hell it is you’re trying to tell me, but I do know that it doesn’t matter. Nothing could compel you to hurt me—except your own blindness. Like pushing me away because you think you’re a physical danger to me.”

She shook her head. “You’re wrong. And I know it even if you don’t.” Her hand came up and she cupped his cheek. “Goodbye, Kel. And don’t worry. I’ll get okay with this somehow. I’ll be fine without you in my life. I won’t need you to be happy.”

She pushed up on her toes and kissed him. Then she turned around and walked away.

The door closed behind her and not even a heartbeat later, Toronto appeared. “Are you really that stupid, Kel?” The shifter didn’t look at him, just stared at the door.

Exactly as Kel was doing.

“I’m doing what I have to. Hell, even if I could control myself, who’s to say other vamps can?”

Toronto shrugged. “Nobody. But then again…when she showed up, I didn’t see every vamp in the enclave staring at her the same way I look at a hot fudge sundae.” Then he grinned. “And she smells different than she used to.”

“Different?” Kel asked.

There was no sound, but they both turned their heads to watch as Rafe came into the foyer, his brown eyes unreadable. “Yeah. Different.”

“Different how?” Kel demanded.

Rafe shrugged. “Can’t really explain it. I haven’t seen her in years, Kel. I stayed away because of what I figured out that night. She’s always had a witch or a shifter checking in on her. Smart vamps don’t hang around vampire bait, but I can’t say that’s what she is exactly.”

Then he closed his eyes and swore, mumbled under his breath. “Sheila’s never going to let me live this down…” He opened his eyes, focused on Kel’s face and said, “I didn’t give you much credit, Kel. I don’t know if anything I said is playing into this massive act of stupidity, but regardless…I was wrong. You wouldn’t hurt her. You can’t. And you just showed that by letting the one woman you loved walk out the door after merrily telling you she’d forget your ass and find somebody else to make her happy.”

Rafe left. Toronto left.

Kel stood there alone.

Alone. In the span of heartbeats, he saw his entire damned life spread out before him. Nothing but cold days sleeping alone, and endless nights spent alone.

You wouldn’t hurt her. You can’t.

You’re stronger than you think, Kel.

Nothing could compel you to hurt me—except your own blindness.

Outside the house, a truck engine roared to life.

Abruptly he took off running. He tore the door open and darted across the carefully manicured lawn, through Sheila’s flowerbeds without a thought that the woman would kick his ass over it, down the drive as the truck drove away.

He put on another burst of speed and jumped. Angel’s startled shriek didn’t faze him a bit as he walked up the truck bed, climbed out and stood on the rusted out running board as he jerked open the passenger door and climbed in.

That big-ass dog had been lying on the bench seat next to Angel but as Kel climbed in, the dog sat up and studied him with a quizzical stare.

She slammed on the brakes and he smacked a hand against the dash to keep from crashing into it, automatically grabbing the dog’s collar to keep him from tumbling off the seat. The truck skidded to a halt and then he reached over, shoved it into park.

Then he settled back on the seat, reached up behind his neck and took off the chain he’d worn for the past twelve years. The dog whined, sniffed at Kel and then climbed over him, one big paw coming very, very close to a sensitive portion of his anatomy. Kel grunted as the dog poked his head outside, his massive body draped over Kel’s lap. The dog sniffed, then his muscles bunched and he jumped out through the open window.

In a casual voice, Kel said, “I was working all that overtime to help pay off this ring. Talked to a few girls at school, tried to set up the perfect romantic time to propose.” A smile came and went, fleeting. “Had it planned for a couple weeks after…after that night.” He curled his hand around the ring and then rested his arm on the door, staring out in the dark, quiet night. The sun had just barely set and off to the west, he could see the faint pale orange glow cast by the sun. Nodding his head towards it, he murmured, “This is the closest I can get to sunlight for a long time. If ever. I may never be able to take the sun’s rays.”

Finally, he slanted her a look but she wasn’t looking at him. She was staring off out the driver’s window and had her arms crossed over her chest. Her heart was racing, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t pick up anything from her. “I’ve been a mess the past twelve years, Angel. I fly off the handle, I don’t feed enough and when I finally do give in, it’s because my body won’t let me deny it.”

Speaking of body… He closed his eyes. Rubbing a hand across his naked chest, he thought about what he’d done to Angel when he forced the memories of Phoebe into her head. If Angel had done that to him, he would have gone stark raving mad. Probably already had.

“The night you were up planning Dad’s funeral, I wasn’t with that woman. I was at home, alone. Brooding. I’d been with her the night before but when you got the phone call, I knew. I felt it and I left, went back home and wished like hell I could be there with you.” He licked his lips. “I can’t thank you for the way you stayed with him, helped him the past twelve years. You won’t ever know how much that means to me.”

Her voice was flat as she asked, “Why the hell are you telling me this? And you’re sitting awful damn close, Dracula. Aren’t you afraid you’ll snap and attack me?”

Kel rubbed the back of his hand over his mouth. “I’m terrified I might do just that. But you keep telling me it won’t happen. And others.”

She snorted. “So you’ll listen to others. Maybe me. What about yourself? Why don’t you listen to yourself first for once, Kel? What do you think—would you attack me, hurt me? Do any damn thing to me that I didn’t ask for?”

His voice was ragged and harsh as he answered, “Not on my life.”

He closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the headrest. “I’m a mess, Angel, and I have been ever since this happened. I can’t undo what I am, and I can’t change what I have to do just to live.”

Finally, she looked at him. “Do you think I wouldn’t get that? Hell, you won’t even tell me just what you are. There’s more to it than a pretty pair of fangs and the ability to live through an injury that would kill anybody. A bit more to it than sex and the way it felt when you bit me. But you walked away without bothering to explain anything. Without telling me anything other than, I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”

Abruptly, she grabbed the handle of the door and jerked, sliding out of the truck. Kel waited a minute and then followed, watched as she started to pace. It was growing darker by the minute and although it didn’t affect him, the rocky, unfamiliar ground probably wasn’t ideal pacing territory.

But her footsteps were as sure and as certain as his own, even when she paced out of the moon’s rays under the canopy of leaves. Sticking to the tree line alongside the drive, she walked ten feet, turned and came back. Turned again. Ten feet, then back.

“You don’t even know the meaning of messed up, Kel. I pretty much lost it. I was hallucinating, seeing things that weren’t real…” She shot him a look over her shoulder and added, “Or so I thought. Now I don’t even know if real exists. But I spent a month in a mental hospital after that night—I have a close, personal acquaintance with messed up.”

“I know.”

She stopped in her tracks, turned to face him.

Kel clenched his hand around the ring and had to force himself to meet her gaze. “I’m the reason. The first few months after it happens are rough. Control is non-existent. You’re always hungry. You picked up what I was going through and it’s stuff that a human wouldn’t understand.”

He gave her a thin-lipped smile. “So I’m the reason behind your personal acquaintance with messed up. Once I figured out what I was doing, once some people helped me out, I got it under control…but I couldn’t ever cut you off completely. I always felt you. When you cried, I felt every last tear. When you lay awake at night hurting, I hurt with you.”

He blew out a breath and lifted his hand, staring at the golden ring and the gleaming diamond. “I’m a slow study, Angel. But I finally figured it out. You can get by without me, I don’t doubt that. You’ll live just fine and I imagine you’ll find a way to be happy.”

Without lifting his head, he stared at her from under the fringe of his lashes. “But I’m not going to be able to live without you. If you walk away, my world pretty much stops.”

He sighed, shoved a hand through his hair. Then, without quite realizing what he was doing, he went to her, reached out, took her hand. Tucking the ring and chain into her palm, he closed her fingers around it. “I’ve worn that every day, every night since the day I figured out that I’d lost you. That I’d never have you with me. But it isn’t mine. I bought it for you. It’s yours. Just the way I am. But I don’t have the right to ask you to stay.”

He cupped her face and forced her lowered chin upward until she met his gaze. “If you chose to stay with me, I’d do my damnedest to make it up to you. I’d do my damnedest to make you happy.” Stroking his thumb over her lip, he said hoarsely, “But if you don’t want that, I’d understand.”

He let go, stepped back. Shoving his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching for her, he said bitterly, “Hell, it would be easier for me to understand you walking away than choosing to stay.” The knot in his throat made swallowing sheer hell, but he had to because the words kept getting stuck inside him. “It’s your choice. But before you walk away, I wanted to tell you I’m sorry. That I love you. And I do want you with me.”

Then he turned and started the walk back up to the house.

His heart was pounding with an intensity that deafened him and his blood roared in his ears. The ache in his chest was huge—but he felt a little more at peace than he had in a long, long time.

At least he’d told her.

At least he’d tried to give the two of them—give himself a chance.

That had to count, right? He told himself that as he passed by her truck. The dog was laying by the rear tires, whining, but Kel just kept walking. Until she grabbed him.

Angel grabbed his arm and he turned, almost afraid, to face her. She jumped towards him. Thrown off balance, he caught her against him and stumbled against the truck. Her mouth was on his. Her tongue in his mouth. Her hands in his hair…and her voice whispering through his mind even though she couldn’t exactly speak out loud at the moment. You’re a jerk, Kel. A class-act jerk. You think I actually want to walk away from you?

He tore his mouth away from hers. He had to hear it. Had to. “You’ll stay? Here? With me?”

“Here. There. Who gives a damn, as long as you’re with me.”

The relief that hit him left him weak-kneed. He crushed her against him, buried his face in her neck and just breathed in the scent of her, listened to her heartbeat pounding against his own. He stumbled around the back of the truck and ended up sitting on the bed of the truck. The tailgate was missing and looked like it had been for a while—it was a good thing because otherwise Kel would have probably ended up dropping down to sit on the ground.

“I love you,” he muttered, blind to anything and everything but her.

She stroked a hand up over his bare shoulder, up his neck, and fisted it in his hair. Angel tugged gently and he lifted his head, met her gaze. She lifted her hand, let the chain dangle from her fist. The diamond ring swung back and forth between them as she asked, “Then maybe you could help me put this where it belongs.”

Slowly, he reached for the ring and took it from her. Sliding the chain away, he dropped it on the bed of truck next to him and then reached for her hand. Lowering his head, he kissed her ring finger. “I can get you a nicer one. A better one.” Moving his shoulders restlessly, he said, “I don’t exactly have a normal-type job but I do get paid and there’s not a lot I need to spend it on.”

Angel wiggled her finger demandingly. “I want the one you bought for me. And I want you to ask me the question that goes with the ring.”

He kissed her finger again. “Would you marry me, Angel? Save my life?”

She smiled as he slid the ring onto her finger and then she lowered her mouth to his and whispered against his lips. “We’ll save each other… How’s that?”

“Good. Real good.”

Her tongue rimmed his lips and he opened for her, sinking back onto the truck bed. She came with him and through the sweater she wore, he felt the soft, round weight of her breasts, felt the heat of her skin, and the rhythm of her heart. “I need you.”

She shimmied her legs up and straightened up. Grabbing the hem of her sweater, she dragged it off and tossed it aside. Her bra followed suit and then she reached for his hands, brought them to her breasts. “Then have me, Kel.”

Sweet and slow… That was what he wanted to give her.

But it wouldn’t happen tonight…or at least not now. He grabbed a fist full of her hair and jerked her back down to him and at the same time, he rolled, placing her body under his. The smile on her lips faded, replaced by a hungry moan as he kissed her.

The rest of their clothes, her jeans and his, the lacy scrap of her panties, went flying. “Later,” he rasped against her mouth. “Later we’ll take it slow. Promise.”

“Hmmm. Don’t talk.” She wrapped her legs around his waist and rubbed her sex against his cock. “Just make love to me.”

Without another word, without another touch, he entered her. She whimpered and wiggled under him, working to take him inside. Through their connection, he could feel the pain edging through her and he tried to slow down. She was damp and hungry, getting hungrier by the second, but she wasn’t ready for him.

Other than their one night last week, she hadn’t been with a man since he’d disappeared from her life and her sheath was so sweet, snug and tight—but while that felt like heaven to him, it wasn’t so good on her. He rasped, “I’m sorry,” against her lips and went to pull away. “Let me…”

“Don’t.” Her lids fluttered down and she slipped a hand down her torso, down her belly, slipped through the pale yellow curls between her thighs.

Kel swore and straightened, leaving her body supported by the truck while he braced his feet on the ground and stared down, watched as her slim fingers stroked her clit. Her pussy convulsed around his cock and her hips undulated against his. Soft…sweet…and wet, rippling around his rigid shaft in a silken caress. “Bring me to life, Kel.”

He slid his hands down her thighs and caught her behind the knees, shoving her legs high. “You’re my life.” He caught her wrist and bent down, sucked her fingers into his mouth and licked away the sweet dew as he took up the teasing caress with his other hand. “You’re my heart. My soul. My everything.”

Lifting his eyes, he stared at her flushed, gleaming face and stroked the sensitive flesh of her pussy where she was stretched so tight around him. “Come for me. Let me see it,” he ordered. Then he touched her clit, working it with smooth, quick circles. She wailed and arched, wiggling her hips, trying to take him deeper. He leaned over her, braced his hand by her head, watched her face for any sign he might hurt her. He started to shaft her, taking her with deep, hard thrusts and stroking her clit.

Her sharp, staccato scream echoed through the night. She reached down, caught his wrist and worked herself against his hand. “Come for me,” he ordered. She was dewy wet, tight and swollen…and when the rippling convulsions started deep inside her, he felt it.

Growling with victory, he muttered, “That’s it…come for me, sugar. Let me feel it…”

Her lids lifted, revealing dark, slumberous eyes. “Not without you.” She shuddered under him, arched up and reached for him. “Never without you. Not anymore.”

He hunkered over her, wrapped his arms around her slender torso. She draped hers over his shoulder and her lips touched his… The gentleness he’d wanted was suddenly there and he slowed until he was just rocking ever so slightly against her. “I love you,” he whispered.

“Hmmmm… Love you…Kel.” She cried out his name and bucked under him, the orgasm erupting inside her and as she clenched down around him, it set off his climax. Wrapped in each other’s arms, lost in each other’s bodies and thoughts, they fell…together.

Their lips met in a slow, lingering kiss and even after he collapsed against her, spent, the kiss didn’t end.

There were questions. There were worries. He was no longer quite sure exactly what to make of Angel and he didn’t know what the future held for them, or what awaited them… She was still mortal, right? But even as he asked himself that, a niggling little voice whispered, Are you sure?

She smelled different.

She moved in the night with the grace of a vampire.

Something about her simply felt different.

But none of that mattered. Not right now.

She smiled against his lips and whispered, “Kel…you’re thinking too much.”

 

 

Josiah came into Rafe’s office and pointed out the window behind Rafe’s desk. “You got any idea what’s going on out there?”

Rafe smirked. “I dunno…arts and crafts hour?”

Sheila, sitting at one of the two other computers, looked up from the blog she was reading. Batting her lashes, she said, “I really like arts and crafts, baby.”

Toronto came strolling in, smirking and looking entirely too satisfied. “I knew he wasn’t stupid.”

“I think all of you must be,” Josiah snapped. “Didn’t you say she was vampire bait? And you’re leaving Kel alone with her? Kel?”

Sheila glanced toward the window and then sent Josiah a wicked look. “Well, as much fun as it can be to watch, I think this is one of those ‘alone’ kind of moments.”

“But what if he…”

Rafe shook his head. “Don’t. There’s no ‘what if’, not when it comes to Kel and that girl. I never should have thought otherwise.” He slid Toronto and then his wife a glance. “As I’ve been pointedly told.”

Then he shrugged. “Besides, I’m not entirely sure what she is now. She still doesn’t feel human to me, or not entirely. But she’s not like she was when we first started watching her either. Who knows…maybe the effects fade.”

“Or maybe she’s a little more than just altered now,” Toronto offered, giving them one of his secretive little smiles. Without bothering to explain that, he left.