by Zoey Derrick
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Let’s go.”
“You go then, if you’re so damn concerned about the humans.”
“Let me explain something to you, Riley. You don’t call the shots here, he does. You will follow orders or you will end up back where he pulled you from. You get me?”
Riley shivers at the memory of hell. He vowed to complete his task just so he wouldn’t have to return to the pits he was pulled from. Anything is better than being sliced open and left to bleed out, only to heal back up and go through it all over again.
All Riley wants to do is be done with this mess. He could’ve sworn up and down that when he’d left Vivienne in her apartment she wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a pulse. Once this is over, Link will see that he means business and let him keep working for him and, more importantly, let him keep working with the amazing powers the devil himself has given him.
“Fine,” Riley spats finally. “I’m going to see my father.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Derek says as they leave the room.
They walk down the hallway toward the exit door at the end of the hall. It has a warning on it that an alarm will sound when opened, but they crash the bar and go right through, and no alarm goes off.
“What the fuck do you care?”
“The cops are watching your dad’s place.”
“What do I care about cops?”
Derek slams him up against the brick wall of the building they’ve just left. “You better start caring. If you fuck this up, get caught or get yourself killed, you will be tortured, and believe me, you don’t want to have to deal with that again.”
But Riley shoves him off, straightens his jacket, and takes off as fast as he can toward his father’s house.
TWELVE
A few hours later, Vivienne stirs in his arms. Opening her eyes, she can see that it is still early; it’s very dark in the room. Unsure of what woke her, she snuggles closer to Mikah.
This isn’t the first time she’s woken up next to him, but this is the first time since she came to understand all the hidden emotions she’s been fighting. She squirms slightly and he stirs.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, and she can hear the concern in his voice.
“Nothing, I just woke up. That’s all.”
“Oh.”
She pulls herself closer to him, pressing their bodies tighter together. She can’t stop what happens next; it comes so natural to her now. She leans in and softly places her lips to his.
Her heart begins to race, desire shattering the nerves that have built up since they stepped into the room. Last night, seeing him on the floor on his knees with his wings extended had brought out her deepest desires for him, ones that were, at one time, only felt in their dreams, and she couldn’t stop herself.
She can’t stop herself now.
He kisses her back, letting go of all his inhibitions, and he lets her take the lead.
She hitches her leg onto his hip and pushes him onto his back. Rolling with him, she now sits atop him, her hands sliding down his cheeks, down his neck. Their kisses grow more and more passionate with every touch.
She runs her hands down his chest and back up to his shoulders, then down along his arms until she finds his hands. She lifts them to her body, encouraging him to touch, to explore, and he takes the not-so-subtle hint.
While their soft, warm tongues continue dancing, he ever so lightly runs his hands from her hips up her sides and down her arms. Her desire for him skyrockets to a fever pitch.
She shivers, and that need she feels for him grows hotter, stronger, making her bold and brave. This is it. This is what she’s been needing: to know that she can have him as completely as he has her.
Until a moment ago, kissing Mikah was all she could think about, all she ever wanted to do, and she wants more. She trails her fingers down his chest and over his abs, lightly tracing the bumps with her fingertips until they reach the point where their bodies meet. She can feel it between them, his erection growing stronger.
His hands glide down her body once again, but she longs to feel his fingers against her bare skin. She grabs the hem of her shirt.
His hands cover hers, stopping them. Through their kiss he whispers, “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” she breathes back, and he lets go of her hands.
“Can I?” he whispers again, and she nods.
At a slow, measured pace, he pulls the hem of her shirt up. Once the t-shirt rises higher than her breasts, the cool air of the room hardens her nipples into tight, painful peaks, and desire explodes. It causes her wings to unlock and spread.
She raises her arms to allow the shirt to come off, but in order for it to come off, she has to stop kissing him. She doesn’t want to stop kissing him.
Mikah pulls away from their kiss long enough to bring the neckline of her shirt over her mouth. Then he is instantly kissing her again. He stops pulling on the shirt, but it still covers her eyes. She smiles as she kisses him again; she’s trapped slightly by her shirt.
His hands are on her bare skin, leaving goose bumps in their wake. She shivers again and her wings rustle. She pulls her shirt off the rest of the way, and as soon as she tosses it aside she hears Mikah’s sharp intake of breath. His touch radiates through her wings and is felt deep down there. She moans into his mouth.
“You’re so beautiful,” he breathes as his hands continue their exploration.
He sits up, taking her with him so they are nose to nose, lips against lips. His hands slide up her sides to the swell of her breasts, tickling along her heated skin until his fingers brush her nipples and she moans again.
He pulls his lips away from hers and begins to kiss along her jaw, down her neck. Vivienne is lost to his touch; nothing matters but the two of them. His mouth continues down her chest to her breast — licking, kissing, nipping lightly as she writhes in his lap — until finally his tongue makes brief, searing contact with her nipple and she trembles.
He feels the tremor along the shaft of his throbbing erection, and suddenly he’s on the verge of losing control.
Sensing his distress and pleasure, she flicks her hips against his erection once again. This time he responds by running his hand along the front part of her wing. She stops as the pleasure locks down all of her muscles in a delicious tease. The moment his hand comes away, she is released.
“Not fair,” she says.
She smiles and breathes. Bringing her own hands around to his back, she brushes her fingers along the edges of his wings, which are still locked away, but the touch has the same effect: He is locked down with desire.
He turns, pushing her onto the bed, but before she makes contact, her wings disappear. He laughs at how quickly she pulled them back in.
“Now it’s my turn,” he says.
He slides his body between her legs and she wraps them around his hips, holding him tight. He kisses her again, then slowly licks and kisses his way down her body, between her breasts, and further still. Her legs fall slack and she runs her hands through his hair, urging him to keep going.
His lips come to the top of her bump, and he kisses it ever so tenderly. She fights the urge to cry as the emotions swell inside her. Something deeper spreads within her, a feeling she’s never experienced before and never wants to lose, as he softly kisses her belly along the waistband of her yoga pants.
He’s never felt this way about anyone before – at once nearly overwhelmed by his desire for her but also desperately needing to take things slow.
His hands slide into the waistband of her pants, and she responds by lifting her hips so that he can remove them. But he doesn’t pull them off immediately. Instead he continues to kiss along the lower swell of her belly.
“I will always protect you,” he says, his lips brushing against her belly while his eyes never waver from hers.
She knows that his declaration is not just for her, but is for her daughter too. All the raw emotion boils over, and thi
s time she can’t hold back the tears.
THIRTEEN
“I will always be here for you,” he breathes against her belly. “Never doubt that.” He can feel her emotion pouring into him. It is the emotion that he needs to feel in order to continue.
Vivienne is not just a girl in his bed; she is the woman who has his heart. Her emotions tell him that he has hers and lets him know that what he’s been fighting for for weeks is finally going to be his.
In agonizingly slow fashion, he begins to slide her pants down her legs. She doesn’t stop him. She needs this. She needs him. She fought for so long to prove to herself that she needed nothing and no one, but right now, she realizes that she was wrong. She needs him like she needs air to breathe.
As he’s freeing her legs, he can’t stop his eyes from wondering up her beautiful body. He slowly moves up her body, sliding his hands along her legs to her hips, and he watches as she closes her eyes to savor the sensations. He needs to worship her body, show her what she means to him.
She senses his need as he gets closer to her lips. He pauses to flick his tongue across one nipple, then the other, and she moans with each contact. Then finally he reaches her lips.
Throwing aside all resistance, he kisses her with more passion than he’s ever felt in his entire life.
She wraps her arms around him and pulls him against her as tight as she can, needing to feel his skin on hers.
Using her feet, she tries to push down his pants. He smiles, knowing that she wants what he wants just as badly. He pulls back from their kiss and rears up, which allows him to slide his pants down his legs. She surprises him by maintaining eye contact; he can’t pull his eyes away from hers.
He manages to liberate his raging erection from the constraint of his pants. Then he leans back down and kisses her once again.
She wraps her legs around him again, holding him to her. She can feel his erection pressed against her pelvic bone, so close, and her growing need for him can be felt in the warm wetness between her legs.
When his erection makes contact with that wetness, he cannot hold back anymore. “Are you sure?” he breathes against her lips, needing her reassurance.
“I’ve never been more ready for anything than I am right now.”
That’s all he needs to hear. He pulls his hips back, lining up the head of his erection with the warmth of her sex.
“Please,” she breathes, and slowly he pushes into her.
She can feel her body giving way to his sensual invasion, feel when the crown makes it past the tightness of her entrance. He’s bigger than anything she’s ever felt before.
He moves unhurriedly, not wanting to hurt her, knowing that he is larger than most men. Vivienne writhes beneath him as he pushes himself inside.
Vivienne has never felt anything like this before. Her body is stretching and contracting in ways she’s never experienced. Just when she thinks she can’t take anymore, he pushes in a little deeper, filling her a little fuller.
He finally stops pushing when he feels significant resistance. He pauses, looking deep into her eyes, waiting patiently for her to adjust to him inside of her. When she starts to move, he takes it as his cue that she’s ready.
He pulls back and then slides in a little faster. The pleasure within her starts to fire through her veins like lightning. His hands roam her body from her hips to her belly to her breasts. Her eyes close, the better to feel his touch and savor the sensations flying through her body. She moans and runs her hands up his body from his hips up his sides to his neck, where she tugs on him, pulling him down toward her.
He gives in and follows her lead, arching his back so he doesn’t put his weight on her, and she kisses him, slow and sweet. He can’t help the moan that escapes his own lips as he feels her tighten and respond to the pleasure he’s providing her.
“I want to see you,” he says as he pulls back from her kiss.
Her eyelids are heavy, but she opens them to meet his eyes, vibrant and blue. Pleasure and desire pass between them at the same time she feels herself building, climbing toward something beyond anything she’s ever felt before. The intensity is too much and she moans again, her eyes rolling up and closing just as her sex clamps down hard.
He picks up his pace, moving inside of her faster and faster with each short breath they take. Sweat covers both of their bodies.
She opens her eyes again to see him: His eyes are closed, immense pleasure on his face. His hair is a mess and falling down over his forehead.
Just as she reaches up to brush his hair away, he opens his eyes, and that emotion, the one she couldn’t identify before, is there again, only this time she knows it for what it is. She can feel the same emotion building up inside of her. Love and adoration.
With each thrust of his hips, Vivienne’s pleasure builds and builds, climbing higher and higher. Then, just like that, the pleasure peaks. Her eyes close and she moans louder, arching her back to the pleasure she feels deep inside.
In a second they both come unraveled, lost in the climax, and Mikah pours himself into her.
FOURTEEN
They are both breathing heavily, and neither one says anything for some time. Staring deep into each other’s eyes, they know nothing needs to be said. It’s there, between them, everything they’ve been fighting emotionally since they met.
Vivienne’s never experienced anything like this before, has never known what real, raw desire and love truly feel like. Somewhere along their journey, she’s fought it, fought to embrace it, to accept the fact that she could be deserving of more, but he makes it clearer to her now; it’s in his eyes.
Destiny. That’s what this feels like to Mikah. And the look in her eyes now is all he needs. He will do anything for her, anything to protect her, no matter what the cost.
Once their breathing finally returns to normal, Mikah slowly slides out of Vivienne. She winces and shivers at the loss.
“Did I hurt you?” he whispers.
“No,” she says back to him as he rolls to her side.
He snakes his arm in under her head and she snuggles into him. He pulls the covers up to cover them and brings one hand to rest on her belly.
She smiles.
“Are you feeling okay?”
She blushes. “I feel great,” she says and kisses his chest. She puts her hand over his.
He smiles at her. “Good.” He kisses the top of her forehead and settles in with her. He knows now what all of this emotion has been building toward.
That first night, in the diner, he found a woman who wasn’t helpless but who maybe needed a little bit of help to get through. There was something special about her; he felt it in places that he’d long since forgotten. When his mother died, he built up walls of determination that made loving another woman nearly impossible. He’d tried, but there’d been nothing like what he feels right now.
He’d gone back the next night with no prompting from his wings. He’d just wanted to see her again. He kept going back because the wanting became needing. He knew it then – that she was something special - and now...now she’s here, in his arms and in his bed. He meant what he said: He will stop at nothing to protect her, to make her safe, and no matter what, he will always be here for her, for both of them.
Vivienne tilts her head toward him. His eyes are closed, but his hand rubs lightly along her belly, sending goose bumps across her skin and a warmth into her heart. Her life has changed so much in such a short time; she can’t imagine going through all of this with anyone but him. To have him here to help her, to protect her and to guide her is exactly what she needed.
She pulls her hand away from Mikah’s and begins to trace the lines of his chest. Doing so reminds her of his chest in their dreams, the tattoo that runs over his right shoulder. She wonders where it comes from.
She hears his breathing hitch a little with some of her strokes, but she doesn’t stop, and when she looks up at him he’s smiling.
He begins to do the same, t
railing his fingers along her belly, down over her hips, across her pelvic bone and up the other side. His fingers are light against her skin, and her nipples harden.
He continues tracing the lines of her body, carefully avoiding all of those spots that would send her over the edge. Her caresses have stirred his erection once again, but he’s not sure how she’d feel about a round two. He’s content to touch her in any way he can.
She writhes beneath the slow, sensual patterns he is making along her skin, which has been made even more sensitive by the explosive orgasm she experienced not all that long ago. The desire she feels for him is building once again, and she can feel his erection pressed against her thigh between them, but since he hasn’t made a move to intensify the contact between them, she’s not entirely sure what to make of it.
She can’t see his body and he can’t see hers, but their touching continues until the pleasure closes their eyes one last time and they fall asleep in each other’s arms.
FIFTEEN
Around noon, Vivienne begins to stir in Mikah’s arms. One of his legs is draped over her, and his arms are both wrapped around her. She takes a deep breath, breathing in his scent: sweet and heady and simply Mikah.
She fights the urge to squirm. She really needs to go to the bathroom, but he’s sleeping so peacefully – something she’s never seen before because he always manages to wake up before her - that the idea of waking him nearly breaks her heart. He looks so innocent. The beautifully tanned skin of his bare chest begs her to touch it.
Last night feels like a dream and miles away from right now. She’d come home from the spa trip with Celeste to find her apartment lined with candles, the pictures, the bracelet, and then the clothes, that dress, the one she always seems to be wearing in Elysium. Then taking her to the charity gala. Did she really tell him that she’d go back to school and eventually work for him? She smiles at the memory of the evening and where it had been going...at least until Red had interrupted them.
