Shattering Halos (19 page)

“Mm-hmm!”

Eager, I took a couple of steps into the room, but behind me, Gabriel’s fingers tangled with mine and prevented forward motion. He didn’t speak.

I twisted to find his gaze fixed on me as he leaned a shoulder into the doorjamb. Did I see a flicker of insecurity in his expression?

There was something so feline about Gabriel. It might be his eyes. Maybe his beauty. At the moment, though, it might just be the lazy way he stopped me that made me think of tigers containing their prey; their bodies preserved energy in a stance so relaxed they seemed aloof.

Gabriel’s gaze softened, and dots of hunter green weaved around his pupils. I waited, unsure.

“Sunshine.” His customary endearment came in a catlike hiss that fueled my comparison. “I wanted you to see where I come whenever I’m away from you in angel time. This is where I unwind.”

“In angel time? What do you mean?”

“Only that I’m always with you in your time.”

From his posture, I could tell he wasn’t sharing further details. I yanked at his hand, urging him on with a confidence I didn’t own.

His gaze bored into mine. He hesitated, increasing my concern about his motives for taking me to Shimmer’s Edge.

Crap, he just wants to show me his house, doesn’t he?

My smile faltered, but I still said it: “Come?”

Gabriel reached for my hair and wound a lock around two fingers. The light tug made my skin tingle.

“Listen, Gaia, damn. I’m not sure why I brought you here.”

Great. Another one of my self-prophecies about to fulfill itself. How about I just quit thinking?

“This can’t be happening,” I muttered.

Gabriel hung his head, shaking it once.

“What you’re asking is too much, Gaia. I couldn’t possibly make this any less than it is. My self-control wouldn’t be the problem. It’s yours that would be lost. Completely. Do you understand?”

He dropped my hair to rake through his own in one of those achingly helpless boy moves.

“Of course not. How can she?” he said to himself.

Tousled—mercy me. Now he looks like he just rolled out of bed after…okay, I want him. Bad.

A
good
girl might have taken pity on him, but not me. No,
I
stepped back into his arms, shaped myself against as much of him as I could, and murmured, “Hmm, you’re protecting me from myself now? Let go, bodyguard. I’m fine.”

A sudden excess of emerald flecks overpowered the aqua in his eyes.

Am I delusional or is that the color of desire?

“Gaia, think. Please. Is this really what you want?”

“Yes! Ever since the janitor’s closet.”

A tentative kiss pushed at my lips.

“It’s going to hurt, right?” I mumbled.

He flicked me a glance before turning away in an attempt to hide how his face lit up in barely contained humor. When gleaming eyes met mine again, his features had smoothed into serious folds.

“No, sun. No.”

Beet red with embarrassment, I ducked a little, but a gentle fist pushed my chin up.

“Do you remember how an electric shock feels?”

“You have
got
to be kidding me!”

Now he was definitely chuckling. “It’s hard to explain. The current rips through you, and just like with electricity, you’d have to pull away from its source to regain control over your mind and body.”

“Geez—and you’d be the supplier? Of pain?”

Even to me, my squeaky timbre sounded pathetic. His voice dropped to a mouthwatering hum when he answered.

“I would not hurt you, I would…delight you? But the sensation is an unintentional side effect. The first Fallen angel to take a daughter of Eve created it, and nobody was ever supposed to feel this way—this much. With the pleasure being too intense for an Earthly One, you can’t let go of the source on your own. It has to let go of
you
.”

Troubled, his brows lowered in a frown.

“So…you’d be the provider of insane, unpreventable pleasures?”

“Exactly.” Relieved, he studied me, expecting a different answer than the one he found written all over my face.

“Gabriel, I’m sorry. That didn’t help—I—I…you’re killing me!” A flustered yelp was stuck in my throat. The more he allowed my hands to roam, the harder it was to suppress.

My stomach tumbled into a pit of flames. My fingertips traveled up his ribs to his face, and I got up on my toes to find his mouth. All soft lips, he stoked my confusion by kissing me back. Then, he hesitated and withdrew.

Gabriel framed my cheeks and locked my gaze in warning. It only made my breathing speed up.

“My biggest fear is to find you lifeless in my arms. Daughters of man have died from this love, like a prolonged electrocution can stop your heart for good. Gaia, you wouldn’t manage to tell me no
.

“
Somehow, I’d need to find out
before
you exceeded your limits. Do you understand? I’d have to guess when to withdraw from you.”

I was panting in agony when it hit me. A small, almost wicked smirk played over his features, stoking my realization.

“Hey, but you can read my mind. We’ll be fine!”

“Well, the times your guard is down and your emotions flow raw, I can. Like now.” His expression turned serious.

“Gaia, you don’t know how hard it is to
not
do this. Please. I shouldn’t.
We
shouldn’t.” The gaze he sent me was pained, but I’d stopped thinking straight a long time ago.

Oh, baby, quit talking! I. Need. You.

“Anyway—” he began.

The shock, the surprise—oh God, the speed and strength of him when he lifted me up in one swift move and threw my legs around his waist.

Air wheezed out of me in disbelief at the force of his embrace, from the lust pooling heavy in my own abdomen.

The indecision was gone from his stare. No mercy, no sympathy, just raw, determined passion led me to the brink between dread and undoing.

Heat ached in between my legs, making me squirm to close the distance to his abs. He rocked me to him once, teasing without a shred of humor, eliciting a disgraceful whimper from me. Would I ever again breathe in anything but incoherent gasps?

A purr caressed my ear. It contrasted with the intensity of the lock he had on me. “I’ll ease your pain, baby. Come along with me. You’ll see what it’s like to be free.”

What? So. Freaking. Sexy.

By the time I realized my thoughts had slipped out, it was too late. Of course he’d read them, shriveled to pieces as I was. His laughter growled into my neck as he carried me into the room.

Flung down at the heart of the bed, my lap was full of him. My pulse raged as I fisted Gabriel’s hair. Irresistible groans vibrated in his chest. His lips played over my throat, my collarbone, and down my cleavage.

In one quick move, he delivered me from my sweater. I sank against the pillows, my cheeks flushed. His stare held a predatory expression I’d never seen on him before.

Is this finally happening?

Straddling me, he slipped down the straps of my bra without asking permission. Before I knew it, Gabriel had released my breasts.

My nipples strained taut toward him, giving me away as if he required further evidence. He unclasped the front, leaving me bare.

Unnerved by the attention of this stunning creature, my breathing grew frenzied as I watched him watch me.

“Ah damn, Gaia.”

Eyes bottomless with desire, his palms began their path at my waist and moved up to caress my breasts. His body sank down over mine, and he swiftly draped one of my legs over his hip.

The relief of feeling his hardness, yet the discomfort of all this denim keeping us apart. Shamelessly, I begged for more, but his tongue didn’t stop playing with my lips.

A hand stole between my shoulder blades and forced my chest up into an arch toward him. Half sitting, my head fell back as a warm tongue licked the swell of one breast, then the other.

Full lips sucked on my nipples, provoking moans I couldn’t withhold any longer. He sighed over me.

“God, I’ve waited so long for this. You’re delicious.”

“As delicious as sleep?” I stuttered.

“Mm, no…better.”

I think I tore his shirt open. I couldn’t recall undoing a single button. Moments later, I watched him tense above me. Gabriel was all glorious, naked skin, and afraid he’d back out, I whispered, “Shhh.” Then, I unbuttoned his jeans.

Gabriel didn’t stop me. When I realized that he wasn’t wearing underwear, I inhaled quickly. Smooth muscle and a soft trail of hair invited me to the velvety warmth of his erection.

Unsurprised, I acknowledged that Gabriel was beautiful everywhere. A fresh surge of need simmered hot in my womb as I reached for the silky feel of him.

When I located my target, an inward hiss interrupted his feverish kisses. I stroked slowly, enjoying his desperate reaction—his moan in my mouth, an incoherent, mumbled appreciation of my touch.

Out of the blue, the heat from his nearness left me.

“Ah, this is out of control,” he groaned. When I opened my eyes to focus, he was standing over me, looking down at me like the goddamn deity he was. His Levi’s barely hung on to his thighs.

Disappointment stung in my chest, and angry threats boiled at the tip of my tongue.

I swear—do
not
do this. I’m going to strangle you!

Gabriel’s eyes widened in surprise. A quiet laugh escaped him.
“Are you joking? No, no, no.”

His pants flew across the room and landed two feet from the fountain. Next thing I knew my skinny jeans were removed with a grace and swiftness I could only dream of.

A master of contrasts, Gabriel crouched back on the bed at the speed of light before stretching over me with the languid grace of a panther. His voice lowered into a lazy whisper.

“Where’s the trust, sunshine? Didn’t I tell you I’ll ease your pain?”

My breath hitched. This angel was free falling, no doubt. I craved his kisses, the lean, muscular weight of him spread over every inch of my body…and so much more.

Gabriel ignored me when I tried to pull him up to me. His palms wandered over my hips, my stomach, and teeth suddenly grazed the sensitive skin beneath the hem of my panties. Driving. Me. Crazy.

“Please, Gabriel, please…”

“Please what, sunshine?”

Lips covered my mound, fogged through the sheer fabric of my lingerie, causing me to jerk toward him. He skimmed to the center of my most sensitive folds. Nimble fingers found their way inside my panties and lifted them from my flesh, exposing me to air.

A quick rip and he had freed me. In disbelief, I watched him toss away my destroyed undies without a second look.

For one endless moment, Gabriel sat back and took me in from his position between my legs. I squirmed beneath him.

“Gaia, you’re incredible.”

“That is
so
my line.”

A hand traced my inner thigh until it came to a halt at my apex. When he slipped a finger inside me, the sigh he let out was the sexiest thing I’d ever heard.

“You’re so warm, so wet for me…”

Shut up? Who
says
that?

“Because you’re torturing me,” I managed.

He slinked up to my face and sank on top of me. For the first time, he blanketed my entire body with his.

Easing my knees further apart, he pressed his warm erection against my cleft. I whimpered as he sucked damp kisses down my neck.

“You were wrong, Gabriel…I can handle this.”

“This isn’t it, my sweet one. I haven’t started yet.” The now familiar stab of pleasure hit my stomach, and I moved to meet him.

Gabriel’s otherworldly face hovered above me. Faintly, I acknowledged the stars showering our every move with their reflection.

Golden biceps framed my shoulders as he lifted his weight off me to stare into my soul. His eyes were so filled with longing that my throat closed when he asked for permission.

“Sunshine, do you want me inside you?”

I should smile, say something to reassure him, but my oxygen-deprived state didn’t facilitate an answer.

“No going back if we do this.” The words ended in a sigh.

I must have nodded. The warm tip of him brushed gently along my folds. A frenzied muddle of passion and fear unclenched my breathing, making me hyperventilate. I met his gaze, and saw that it was already too late.

“Don’t be scared. I’ll take care of you,” he whispered.

And just like that he slid inside me with a beautiful groan, filling me completely and rocking my world.

Pleasure incarnate, I jolted to him in an ecstasy I’d never imagined. It soared through me in tremors I couldn’t control. No waves, no highs and lows, nothing but a continuous tornado ravaging body and mind in climaxes that never faded.

A minute, a week? I didn’t know or care. Now, I understood how he’d need pure intuition to stop. Even if I could, I’d never ever ask him to.

Feebly, I struggled to reign in my ridiculous yelps and cries.

“Don’t, Gaia. I want you free.” His voice was huskier than I’d ever heard it.

I obeyed, and shutting my eyes, I succumbed to the intense pleasure without restraints. Gabriel moved inside me. He scared me by pulling almost out before filling me again to the core.

Tethered in maelstroms of unearthly bliss, I still sensed the change in him. Muscles tightened, and his moans became irregular, hotter at my neck.

My eyes flew open and stared up in awe as he arched, iridescent wings visible, fanned wide in flight. When he came, he shuddered his release into me in one breathtaking moan.

I sobbed weakly after he slipped out of me. In my erratic mind we were one, a moist trail on the inside of my thigh the proof of how we’d been forced into halves. I didn’t want it to dry.

God, how I missed him already. Droplets of sweat glistened in a fine spray over his body. He embraced me and kissed my collarbone, my neck, and my face. Over and over again he murmured brokenly in my ear.

“I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…so sorry…”

Gabriel wrapped himself around me and pulled the cotton candy duvets up, cocooning us in them. I wanted to tell him how much I loved him and how happy he made me, but my heavy lids didn’t cooperate.