Hope in Love

by J. Hali Steele

“Ram, do we have a number that I can give to the nice young man I met? We are going to have lunch together the next time Patricia and I are in town. He’s going to show us some of the famous tourist sites.”

  “I don’t think that will be possible. I’m fairly sure he’s going to be away for a while.”

  Ram heard Osce’s laughter ring out across the table.

  Chapter Eleven

  Ramiel was livid and needed to do something to distract himself from the anger that had taken root inside of him.

  “Yael, would you like to dance?”

  “I’m not sure that I can, but I’d love to try.”

  “It’s very easy. You only have to follow my steps.”

  What he intended to do was reaffirm his place in her life. He didn’t question why he felt a need to remind her she was with him.

  When they reached the dance floor, he’d calmed down somewhat and couldn’t wait to hold her in his arms. It seemed like an eternity since he’d touched her.

  Without realizing what he was going to do, he pulled her close and became entranced by her amber eyes. His hands went to her face and his thumbs caressed their way down her neck. Her body trembled beneath his touch as she looked up at him. He couldn’t believe how much she got to him.

  His hands brushed the sides of her full breasts as his arms encircled her, bringing her closer. She felt so right held against him. Her curls brushed across his face as she laid her head on his shoulder.

  He rested a hand at the small of her back and one hand stroked her neck as he started to move with her. His cock pressed against her stomach and told her how much he wanted her.

  “I like the feel of your body next to mine,” he whispered in her ear.

  “Ramiel.”

  “Shh, just let me hold you.”

  Ram slid silently into her mind. He should do better with his promise but it was too damn hard. With his power, and if he was careful, she’d never know. He told himself it was so he could keep her safe from pricks like the guy at the bar. That made him feel better about the violation of her privacy.

  Yael craved his touch also. She wanted him inside her and, Lord knows, that’s where he wanted to go. Deep inside her again. She had sensed his tension and wondered what happened. Now he was much calmer and she relaxed against him. Her arms encircled his waist and she held on to him. Her hands crept up his back and it felt like heaven. He continued to move her in a slow motion. Ram’s erratic heartbeat matched hers.

  “Ramiel, please take me home.” Her voice sounded weak and unsure.

  Shit, she wants to take me to bed. He swallowed the groan that started in his erection and grew upward.

  “Now?”

  “Yes, I want you.”

  Ram missed a step. That had never happened before and it shocked him. He dared not hesitate. She might change her mind.

  She blinked and when she opened her eyes, he’d transported them to their bedroom.

  Yael was going to make love to him. Lord, he hoped he could stand it. Just being in her mind had driven him beyond the point of return. Drops of fluid gathered on the tip of his penis.

  “Do not undress us.” Her voice rasped with desire. She wanted to do that. Christ, was this his Yael?

  She surprised Ram by her boldness, but it made him so happy she wanted to take him. Glad he wasn’t the one who had to take the first step, his whole body sang out in joy. Standing still, his penis wedged behind his zipper, he waited for her to speak again.

  He watched as she pushed the shoulders of the dress down her arms. God, he’d never make it through this. Unable to move, he stared as she slipped the golden fabric over her hips. His cock throbbed with pain as he stood there, eyes glued to her.

  She stepped from the dress and kicked it across the floor. She still wore her golden heels. The shiny piece of gold fabric that held her breasts and her stockings clung to her body. The thin strip of material that covered her pussy set him on fire. She didn’t remove it.

  He could smell her. Ram exited her mind. His body was overwhelmed with hunger.

  Yael wanted to take him, like he’d taken her in the shower. But not yet.

  She moved to stand in front of him, still in her silky underthings. She would undress him before she took off anything else.

  She heard the air catch in his throat as she pushed his jacket down his arms and discarded it. She unbuttoned his shirt and ran her hands across his sculpted stomach and up his chest. His muscles rippled as she caressed him.

  Leaving the shirt hanging open, she unfastened his pants and slowly pushed them over his hips. Kneeling down, she caught his musky scent and it drove her mad. But she continued to push his pants down until they pooled at his feet. She lifted one leg, took off his shoe and removed his sock and pulled the pant leg all the way off. Repeating the same ritual for the other side, she tossed them away.

  His thick cock waved in her face. A teardrop slipped from the tip of his penis and was caught in the cup of her tongue. She feathered a kiss across the moist tip and heard him growl as he fought to control himself.

  Standing, she pushed the shirt all the way off and put her arms around his waist. She pulled him into her body, planted light kisses on his nipples and then took one between her teeth. She bit it, flicked it with her tongue and sucked the nub into her mouth. The other nipple was given just as much attention.

  His breath came in rapid gasps as he moaned. She loved the power she now held over him.

  “Yael, please,” he begged.

  “Shh, lie down.” She pushed him back until his legs hit the bed and he fell on it. “I want you.” She hooked her thumbs in the sides of the thin gold band of material covering her womanhood and slowly slid it over her thighs and down her legs. She kicked it aside.

  He reached to pull her onto the bed with him.

  “No,” she said as she rose over him and straddled his body.

  She leaned down and covered his mouth with hers. Her tongue slipped through his soft, sweet lips and again, she knew heaven.

  “You are so delicious, Ram, so sweet,” she said as she kissed him deeply.

  His tongue slid into her mouth and he buried his hands in her hair. He held her still while he tasted her. Yael loved it. But she wasn’t done with him yet.

  “No,” she whispered again and pulled back. She took his hands in hers and held them there as she sat up and covered his cock with her creamy folds. Rocking back and forth on his thickness, the head of it almost slipped inside her. She was drenched.

  “Honey, you’re going to kill me.” His voice grated through his teeth.

  “Give me what I want, Ram.” Slowly, she continued to slide over his erection. Each time it nudged her clit, she moaned.

  “It’s there for you, baby, take it.” Ram arched his hips up to meet her.

  Yael was lost. She wanted to make this last but she couldn’t wait any longer. Sliding back far enough to feel the head of his shaft at her entrance, she lifted slightly and allowed his penis to slip into her.

  “Mmm,” she murmured as he burrowed into her tightness. It felt so good. She didn’t move. She wanted to savor the thickness of him as her canal convulsed slowly.

  She let Ram pull her down so he could take a nipple in his mouth. He sucked and teased it with his teeth, licking around the peak until it grew even harder. All the while, he drove his cock into her slick sheath. He laved her other nipple and tugged as though he couldn’t get enough of her in his mouth.

  “So good,” he said as he plunged deeper into her.

  She still clasped his hands tight in hers on either side of his head and she rode him, bouncing up and down on his shaft. Leaning forward, she felt him touch that special spot inside that made her crazy. He shoved his body up each time she came down on him, trying to bury every inch of his cock inside her.

  “Take it all, baby,” he croaked.

  “Yes.” Yael never felt so good. This was what she needed. Him. All of him. She couldn’t release his hands because she used them
to lift herself after she met each onslaught. She clenched and released her sheath around his penis.

  He gave her more and more of his length each time she came down on him.

  She felt her release build like a storm. It gathered with a force of its own, ready to rip from her in a torrential downpour. She went wild. The urgency to let it out tore through her and she continued to ride him mercilessly. This was her time. But she wanted to make him remember it too.

  “I know you’re there, baby. Let it go.” Ram punished her pussy with his cock. He wanted to take everything from her. He wanted it all. To feel her juices drench him and cool his own passion.

  “Ram,” she screamed as the dam broke and her life poured out. It flowed and dripped around him. She slowed her assault on his shaft as she leaned into him, rising up until the head almost came out, and then sat back down on him. She did it again and again as her pussy trembled around him.

  His own release gathered and rushed from him like an avalanche and his cum filled her. The sound of their wet desire washed over him and made him give even more. He crammed his thickness into her until there wasn’t a drop left. Pleasure sang through his veins, singed his senses. Suddenly the realization of what he’d done slammed into him.

  “No,” he whispered. It was too late. Too late to stop the flood of his seed filling her.

  Yael fell forward and rested on his chest.

  Ram wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. He couldn’t move. He was sure she’d conceived their daughter. It saddened him to think that he would lose her. Maybe it wouldn’t happen. There was so much he wanted to share with her. If only he could use his powers and make time stand still, freeze this sweet moment of Yael in his arms forever.

  He moved their bodies so that they lay with her butt curved against his now flaccid cock. Every night from now on he would hold her until she was gone. He thought of what it would be like when she was no longer in his bed or his arms.

  “Why are you sad?” Yael asked.

  “I thought you were asleep.”

  “No.”

  He didn’t want to talk about his sadness. He couldn’t think past this moment. He felt anger at losing her well up inside. He tried to put it away from him, but he failed. For the months ahead he would share her with no one. He thought about the son of a bitch at the club.

  “We have no need of a phone and if we had one, you couldn’t just give the number to anybody who asks for it.”

  He felt her body stiffen against his.

  “What you really mean is I can’t choose my own friends?”

  “That’s not what I mean at all.” But that was exactly what he meant. “The bastard had one thing on his mind.” He felt her pull away from him.

  “Is it so hard to believe someone might just want to be my friend?”

  “Yael, I don’t want to argue with you. I only ask that you be more careful of the kind of people you befriend.” His pain was so raw at losing her he didn’t care what he said.

  “In other words, don’t choose male friends.”

  This was going to end badly but he couldn’t stop. The possibility of her being in someone else’s arms after their affair ended drove him forward like a bulldozer. She’s mine.

  “No, you can’t have male friends.” There, he’d said it.

  Yael got out of the bed and stood naked with hands on her hips. Her eyes were wide with disbelief and they pierced him with anger.

  “How dare you insult me? I do not care what he may have had on his mind. Do you think so little of me? I would not bed just anyone. I would not have bedded you if I had not been forced.”

  “I didn’t mean that.”

  “The hell you didn’t. I won’t be insulted by you even if you are an angel,” she growled at him.

  “That has nothing to do with anything.” Ram said—to himself.

  Yael had vanished.

  “I’ll be goddamned!” She did not just leave me? “And she’s naked.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “What are you doing here?” Ram was in no mood for bullshit but it sat on his patio in the form of one of the nastiest motherfuckers he’d encountered.

  “My, my,” Uriel said. “And you think I’m nasty.”

  “Uri, I don’t have time for your crap. Stay out of my mind. What do you want?”

  “Where’s Osce?”

  “How the fuck should I know?”

  Ram should have known. But right now he didn’t care. He’d swept Yael from the dance floor and returned to his bed without thinking about the other couple. Osce would take care of Patricia. There was no question about that. Only problem was how might he do it. Not any worse than Peter, that’s for sure.

  His concern was how to get Yael back. Into his home and his bed. Shit, what a mess. Why couldn’t he leave it alone? She did have a right to friends of her own but not like the bastard who hit on her at the club. He’d collected from his mind every detail of what he wanted to do to his sweet Yael. And Ram would have none of it. It was what every man would want to do with her and he couldn’t stop it.

  She belonged to him.

  When had he started to feel that way? He was aware of how Michael and the Father felt about angels meshing with anything other than another angel. That alone should have stopped him from losing control.

  It didn’t matter now. She was gone.

  Why in the Lord’s name did he give her the power to dematerialize? Sooner or later she was bound to use it. Ram just never thought she would use it to escape him. Especially after the way she’d been tonight.

  God, he never imagined Yael could be so damn good that he’d be unable to pull out. His cock had found a home and it didn’t want to move. Even now it jumped against his leg as he thought about her. In a million years he wouldn’t have believed she could be so fierce in bed. Yael had taken him. And he loved it.

  He needed to get her back.

  “Ramiel, tell me you have not meshed with an exulted?”

  “Shut. The. Fuck. Up.” Ram’s voice was so low, so full of menace that Uriel sat back in his chair with a look of pure fear. He wasn’t afraid of Ramiel. They were on equal footing as far as strength and magic.

  What caused the fear in his eyes was the fact that this archangel would tear the world asunder to have the woman he’d carelessly fallen for.

  Thing was, Uri didn’t think Ram knew it. Yet.

  The Great Whore was done for.

  He smiled, knowing many angels would be pleased to have that information. Including himself. He never did understand why all women fell at this one’s feet. What was special about him? Shit, he almost wanted to check it out firsthand. His body stirred at the idea but Ram wouldn’t stand for that. He doubted if anyone could have Ram like that ever again.

  Unless their name was Yael.

  “How did you break my shield anyway?” Ram asked, calmer now.

  “I’ve never known you to be so sloppy with your protection before. What’s happened to you?”

  Uri wanted to hear him say it. Ahh, the fun he’d have with this information. Michael and the Father would be pissed. And so was he. The last thing he needed was more Nephilim bastards using the Earth as a playground. He already had enough trouble with them and Luke.

  What were the Fates up to this time? It had something to do with Gabe and EZ for sure. But what? Uri would keep a close eye on the outcome of these events.

  Whenever the angels fucked up, he got stuck with the fallout. Usually in the form of some crazy-ass being that would end up on his end of the spectrum to be dealt with.

  Repentance wasn’t easy to come by from him these days. Tired of the crap from above, Uri had begun to flex his own muscle. Michael always seemed too busy lately to offer assistance. Shit, Luke wreaked havoc on earth and he was the only one left to handle it. Which reminded him of why he was there.

  “Look, Ram, you got a serious problem, my friend. You know it won’t be long before Michael is aware of what’s happened. I’d suggest you take
care of it, and fast. Meanwhile, where is Osce? Something’s come up and I need him, like now.”

  “My lord and master, how can I fucking serve you now?” Osce’s eyes gleamed with hatred when he appeared on the patio with Patricia, who scurried away like a scared rabbit to hide inside Ram’s home.

  “What the hell is wrong with everybody around here?” Uri asked. “A maudlin bunch of shits. And watch your tone, Osce. I’ll not be kind and you know it. I have a small problem I need you to handle.”

  “What would that be?”

  “A slew of Luke’s light demons escaped and they’ve ravaged the western part of the States with fires.” Uri’s head slanted toward Ram, one dark brow raised in question. “It seems his helper has been reassigned to the Basque area for some unknown reason.”

  “I mean it, Uri. I’m in no mood for your bullshit, man. Raph can better serve there than playing fireman out west.”

  “No problem,” Osce said. “I can give the devil a hand trapping the demons. Ram, take care, I’ll see you around.” He vanished in a shower of sparks.

  One blazed to life in Uriel’s crotch.

  “I will kill that bastard one day,” he said as his pants disappeared from his body along with the fire that burned there.

  He glared daggers at Ram, who laughed loud and long at his predicament. “You could be placed on my death list too if you’d like?”

  “No, I’m okay. Got enough trouble of my own, thanks. You know what, to kill time I think I’ll give Luke and Osce a hand,” Ram said.

  “I’ve always kind of liked you, and since there’ll be more women for me now, I like you even more. But be careful. Take care of your problem with the exulted. I’d hate to see the Father smite you for bad behavior.” Uri ran his finger along the scar that traveled from the corner of his left eye to just below his ear. “Of course it could be better than what Michael will do to your ass when he finds out.”

  Uri watched Ram’s eyes turn dark blue and sad. Shit, it’d been a long time since he saw sadness in the eyes of the angel of hope. He’d become one cold bastard. There might be some hope left in the world after all. He sure wished him luck.