His voice was rough. He swiped at the tears on his cheeks with the back of his hand, and cleared his throat.
“So now you know my tragic origin story.”
I put the frame down beside me on the blankets and wrapped the big vulnerable man beside me in my arms.
“I'm so sorry.” He turned in my arms and buried his face in my neck.
“Shh. It's okay. You are a different man now. It was a horrible accident that had terrible consequences. You just have to live better this time around.”
I felt his nod against my neck. “I will.” A deep breath. “Let me run you a bath. You have a date in the kitchen soon.” He kissed my throat and rolled out of bed.
I shamelessly watched his ass as he left. My poor Oz. Such terrible guilt in his eyes, staining his soul. I would do whatever it took to save him.
A very long, luxurious bath later, where Oz washed my hair in a conditioner that was apparently made by some woman out in Cali who sold it through her new age shop, I left Oz's apartment in a pair of cut-off shorts and a tee.
I ran into Eli coming home from night shift in the elevator on the way to Valery's apartment.
“How are you feeling, Arcadia?” He asked, giving me a once over.
“I'm good. Actually, I need to ask you something. I, uh, well, Lux and I and then Oz and I…”
“Had intercourse?”
“Right. Should I be worried about diseases or whatever? I should have thought about it before but you know, my brain seems to switch off.” I wasn't worried about babies. The treatment for the Hodgkin’s Lymphoma had destroyed my fertility.
Eli smiled. “Don't worry. We are technically in suspended animation, zombies as you say. We can't give you anything as we can't contract anything. We also can't impregnate you for the same reason. We do not have the gift of real life so we can't gift life. Trust me, we would know. There would be literally hundreds of little Orion’s in New York alone. Not to mention the other guys. Don't stress. I believe that until our mortality is regifted to us by being redeemed, we are as sterile as the dead. Have fun. But not so much fun that you put stress on your heart,” he added sternly.
The lift doors opened at Valery's floor.
I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Thanks Eli!” That was a load off my mind. I didn't want to get a 70 A.D version of syphilis with no known cure.
I knocked on Valery's door, and he opened it shirtless, flour dusting across his bare chest. He wore a pair of black pajama pants.
“Uh, hey there.”
“Cady, bonjour. Come in, come in.” He ushered me into that amazing kitchen. I let out a long contented sigh. So pretty.
Ingredients littered the benches in organized chaos. In the center, on a beautiful china plate patterned with swirling pink roses, sat the most beautiful plate of bite sized French pastries and desserts. I was drawn to them like a moth to a flame. There was a mille-feuille, a perfect rectangle of opera cake, a chocolate dome that shone under the overhead lights like glass. There was also a thing that looked like a pastry doughnut stuffed with cream, some kind of double cream puff drowned in ganache and a mousse with a madeleine biscuit perched on the rim of the glass.
“Did you make all this this morning?”
Valery laughed. “No. Some I made yesterday morning. I am compiling my summer menu, and I would like your opinion on desserts.” I sat down eagerly on a stool on the opposite side of the breakfast bar.
Valery went to the oven and pulled out a tray of golden croissants, moving them to the cooling rack with practiced ease that all chefs had. It's like they lose all heat receptors in the tips of their fingers.
I was totally going to fail redeeming Valery. I was probably going to end up in hell with him for the sin of Gluttony. Hey, at least I'd have a friend.
He picked up a spoon from the bench and came over to lean on the bench opposite me.
“I want your honest opinion, mon chere.” He used the edge of the fork to cut through a section of the Mille-feuille. “White chocolate and raspberry mille fueille, or Napoleon slice. Over 700 layers of pastry, a white chocolate and raspberry cream and finished with fresh raspberries.” He held the spoon to my mouth and I obediently opened. As soon as the sweet cream hit my tongue, I let out a moan. It was perfect. Tart, sweet, flaky. I wanted another bite.
“That is amazing.”
“Merci, but we are not finished yet. Is the dessert too simple? The combination too overdone?”
“I think it's classic, understated but incredibly well made.”
He made a humming noise, and wrote in a notebook.
Next, he got a piece of the opera cake. “L’opera cake. Orange and cardamom flavor. A simple twist on a visually impressive dish.” I eagerly took the spoon in my mouth. It was amazing. So delicate but packed with flavors.
“I think I may have just died and gone to heaven.”
“There was never any doubt where you will be headed, my sweet.”
Dessert after dessert he fed me, his hungry eyes watching my mouth as I wrapped my lips around the spoon. He'd watch my face as the tastes exploded on my tongue, and then he'd ask my opinion and write it down.
I didn't know foreplay could come in the form of Chantilly cream, but by the time we got to the mousse, I was ready for him to paint it on my body and lick it off. Slowly.
He'd moved around the bench after the Paris-Brest. Yeah, I'd giggled too. But apparently it's the name for the pastry doughnut thing. It was amazing as well, obviously. The guy could cook and he looked damn fine doing it.
I'm pretty sure the fantasy where he did me right here on the kitchen floor was becoming my new number one.
“You have to stop looking at me like that, Ma Cherie. I am trying to be a gentleman.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
I meant it as a question, but somehow it came out as a seductive invitation. This sex kitten was totally getting claws. Accidentally.
“Because, we barely know each other. I want to be sure that you actually desire me, and it's not just Lucifer's magic that makes you want to make love with me. Also, if I'm not mistaken, you spent the night with Oz, no?”
I nodded, and blushed. Awkward.
“I have known Oz a long time. I think making love again this soon would put too much strain on your…” his eyes dipped down to my lap then back to my eyes, “heart.”
A laugh escaped my lips, and grew until I was doubled over, trying to suck in breaths. Valery began to laugh as well, and I discovered that Valery laughed a bit like a goose; loud deep honks of sound. This made me laugh harder until I thought I was going to die from asphyxiation if I didn't get a breath.
I looked at the floor and deep breathed through my nose. I hadn't laughed that hard in so long. I leaned forward and kissed Val gently on the lips. He leaned into the kiss, his hand curling around my hip. He tasted of dessert, decadent and sweet.
His tongue ran over my teeth, and I bit gently, before his tongue darted in and his mouth was devouring mine.
The French really did know how to kiss. By the time he pulled away, I was panting.
“You should go now, before I forget why I was being so noble, oui?” He stood and there was a tent in his pants.
I'm pretty sure that there have been so many tents in this apartment building since you arrived that we should change the name to Dicks Sporting Goods.
I laughed.
THAT IS A GOOD ONE, ACEREZEAL. I HAVE MISSED YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR. I HAD A MEETING ON WALL STREET AND WISHED TO SPEAK TO MY CONSORT.
I winced as the Devil's voice hurt my brain.
LUC, PLEASE. OR LUCIFER IF THAT SUITS. THE DEVIL MAKES ME SOUND LIKE I'VE GOT HORNS AND CLOVEN HOOVES.
There was a subtle warning in his tone. I swallowed hard.
I'll try. It just slips out.
Ace snorted. Don't worry, he's just being sensitive. Speaking of slipping out, do you remember…
I blocked her out. That story was definitely not going anywhere g-rated and
I had enough mental scars for the moment. I didn't need to imagine her and Lucifer getting freaky.
Valery was in front of me, concern etched across his handsome face. Every time I saw him, the picture of him from the history book overlaid itself in my mind. Handsome, but his expression in the painting had been so arrogantly cruel.
“Are you okay? Are you in pain? You have gone very pale.” His hands ran down my arms, searching for invisible wounds.
“I'm fine. Lucifer is in town. He just came to visit Ace inside my brain. It's like when you turn on the stereo and it's already up to the highest volume. Just a bit of a shock, that's all.”
Valery wrapped me in a hug, and I laid my head on his shoulder. He was a little shorter than the other guys, not too much, but enough that I wasn't hugging his sternum like I was with Sam and Oz. We fit together almost perfectly.
“Come, I'll box the rest of the entremets up and walk you to your room. You look like you could use the rest.”
I was suddenly exhausted. I was too busy living to give my body the rest it needed. Once again I felt resentful of the hand I'd been dealt. If I'd been healthy… but there was no point in falling into the abyss of ‘what-ifs’.
As Valery gave me his elbow, the box of desserts in his other hand, I appreciated the Gallic handsomeness of his face.
I was what I was, and right now, that made me the luckiest woman on earth.
Chapter Fifteen
By the time I woke from my nap, it was already late afternoon. My stomach was bloated from far too many French desserts, I may have eaten them all at once, and my body was exhausted.
I laid in bed a second longer, before it dawned on me that it was a knock on the door that had woken me. I shifted out of bed, glad I was still in my shorts, and went to the door. I opened it to find Orion on the other side, looking awkward as hell.
I hadn't seen him much since the incident at the club, maybe once or twice with the guys, and in my apartment when Luc came to visit. Other than that, he’d been like smoke. He was definitely avoiding me.
I opened the door wider and invited him in. He pecked me on the cheek on the way past.
“Do you want a beer?” I asked, heading for the kitchen. Whoever did my grocery shopping left me some after Lucifer's last visit.
“Please.”
He looked so nervous, and it morphed his whole face. Gone was the confident man who oozed sex through hooded eyes. He looked younger, and I revised my estimated age for him down a few years. He couldn't be that much older than my own twenty-one.
I handed him the beer and sat down on the arm chair across from him.
“Are you okay?” He was acting weird. I wouldn't say I was an expert on any of their behavior yet, but this was definitely weird for Ri.
“Yeah I'm good. I just wanted to come and apologize for what happened. You know, at the club.”
I scrunched up my face. I'd kind of put the whole experience in a small box and stuffed it deep into the recesses of my brain, never to be thought about again.
“Okay? I don't know why you're apologizing, though. You didn't make those guys into perverted scum.”
Ri stood, and began pacing around the room. “No, but I should have been taking better care of you, watching you better. That's my club, I should have known if someone was trying to roofie women on the dance floor. I completely failed you. Everyone thinks so. I know so.”
Oh.
I'm not sure if this is sweet or pathetic. But I really need to help you develop some ass kicking moves so you don't have to spend the rest of your days surrounded by so much chest-beating testosterone. A girl needs to be able to handle herself. It's the first thing I'll do when I get my body back.
I laughed. The first thing?
Okay maybe the tenth thing, but still high on the list.
I could understand that. It was worse for Ace now, to be trapped inside my head. Now she remembered what it was like to be free, and the confines of my mind were chafing. Soon, Ace. Then you can do whatever you please. Run naked through the bowels of hell eating a burrito, if that's what you want.
That wasn't on the list, but it is now. Hell, I'm making that number four on my list of things to do when I regain my body. By the way, your boy over there is starting to look uncomfortable.
Whoops. I realized that I hadn't answered Ri. I stood and stepped in front of him, halting his pacing.
“Look at me, Orion.” He stared down at me with his large golden eyes that usually promised pleasure but held nothing but uncertainty and perhaps a touch of fear now. “It was in no way your fault. You are my friend, hopefully one day something more. You are not my bodyguard. I'm a grown woman. I've been fending for myself for years. I don't need you guys to protect me every second of the day.”
“But-”
“There were hundreds of people in Dante's that night, you can't have known that those dirt bags were planning on anything. I was having fun up until that point. I don't need another over protective lover. I'm dying, Ri. At some point I want to let go and have fun. Besides, Lux gave them an ass whooping they won't forget anytime soon.”
A small smile curled on Ri’s face. “No. They will think twice before trying to do anything against a woman's will ever again.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What did you do after we left?”
His face was serious again. “Eli said it was best if I didn't tell you.”
“Ri…”
He shrugged, and sat down on my armchair, pulling me onto his lap and snuggling me against him like a teddy bear. He breathed deeply.
“I've wanted to hold you for days. That shit with Luc would have shaved a decade off my life if I wasn't already, you know, dead.”
I wrapped my arms around his chest, letting him indulge in the physical contact he needed. I felt better too, so maybe we both needed it. But when he was silent too long, I poked him in the ribs.
“Ouch. Okay. After I was sure that Lux had you safe, I followed those guys outside. You gotta understand, Cady that lust can result in something magical and beautiful. And I've always used my powers in that way. Well, most of the time. There was a time at the beginning that we were still trying to understand everything that resulted in a couple of accidents, but that doesn't matter right now. What I'm trying to say is that lust can be a positive thing.
“But it can also be a brutal, terrible thing. Something that destroys and punishes. I was so angry at those animals for trying to rape you, that I thought they should have a taste of their own medicine.”
“Ri…”
“So I followed them out to the car park, and I waited until they got in their car, and I told them that they were never, ever to lay a hand on you or any other woman ever again. And then I hit them with a massive wave of lust. The only way they could assuage the urge was with each other. But neither was willing. It got...messy. Then the paparazzi happened to wander past. Did you know that they were the sons of popular congressmen?”
I was completely still in Ri’s arms. I didn't know how to feel.
If I was there, I'd give Ri a big high five. Those scumbags got what they deserved. Just wait until they get to hell. I have a long memory. Oh, wait until I tell Luc. He's going to love that. He already had such plans for them. No one hurts his Redeemer. Ace sounded pleased and even a little amused. But she had spent centuries in hell, she was immune to this kind of barbarity.
Was it any different to Lux pounding them with his fists? I was willing to forgive Lux for that. But there was something horrifying about revenge being so intimate. Maybe my mind shied away from it because I was female, and that loss of control was always an all too real threat.
It was exactly what those guys planned to do to you, and have probably done to dozens of other women. God wasn't above an eye for an eye in the old days, so I doubt he would have a problem with Orion's punishment either.
Ace was right. It was poetic justice, even if it was wrong.
Ri was still staring at my face, and I realized he was hol
ding his breath. “I can't condone using your power like that, but thank you for the spirit behind it. I pretty sure the dozens of other girls that were in my position would have gotten some kind of satisfaction from seeing those pictures in the paper.”
“You're welcome,” he said and kissed my head.
“But, you can never do that ever, ever again. No one should be subject to that.”
He nodded. “Okay. I've also thought about what you said that night. About redeeming me even if I continue to sleep with other women.”
I had said that, even though it grated against my heart. But I made it very clear that I wouldn't share. So he could be in a lot of beds, or just mine. Either way, I would help him.
“I don't want to sleep with other women. For the first time in forever, I only want to make love to one woman. And it's you.”
I felt a grin stretched across my face. Thank god. I didn't like to share. Maybe that made me greedy, but the thought of Ri going out every night and sleeping with someone else would have driven me crazy.
I leaned forward and kissed him, falling into the softness of his full, pink lips. It briefly occurred to me that I should feel ashamed that I had kissed three different men in the space of a morning, four if you counted Eli in the lift, but surprisingly I felt nothing even close to shame. I felt alive. Cherished. Sore.
I let the kiss consume me, the whole world shrinking down to Ri’s lips on mine.
Eventually, I pulled away and caught my breath.
“I'm so happy you are mine,” I kissed his cheek, dipping my tongue in his dimple. “And I'm sorry to be a tease, but I have to go see a man about a ninja.”
Ri blinked. “Excuse me?”
Hell's Redemption- The Complete Series Boxset Page 11
