Forgiven

by Fall, Carly

  A few minutes later, Adela gripped his biceps with such force, he was certain there would be marks. He thrust his hips forward as sweat trickled down his back, and her core pulsate around him. Adela threw her head back and began to scream, and Liam took her mouth with his as his own orgasm hit him. He closed his eyes and felt all the frustration, jealousy and anger he’d been feeling the past few days spill out into Adela, and it was replaced by peace and tranquility. He didn’t want to move.

  As he listened their labored breathing, he opened his eyes and Adela gazed up at him with a glint in her eye, and a small smile.

  He kissed her, not wanting the moment to end, but he felt reality tugging at the edges, trying to rip the magic away from them.

  “That was . . . incredible,” he whispered against her mouth.

  “I agree,” she said. He rolled off her and tucked her under his arm, her head on his chest and her arm around his waist.

  He kissed Adela’s forehead. Sleep pulled at him, and as she sighed, her fingers made lazy circles around his belly button. His body responded, and when her finger hit the tip of his cock, she stopped its exploration.

  “Oh!” she exclaimed, as if she were startled by her find.

  “Sorry,” Liam murmured with a grin. “Can’t help it, Adela. That’s what you do to me.”

  She lifted her head and met his gaze.

  As he stared into her eyes, he knew his erection wasn’t going anywhere, so he rolled on top of her and kissed her, their passion igniting quickly once again.

  “Is it okay to do this again?” he whispered, licking her nipple.

  Adela squirmed and giggled. “Yes, Liam. Yes it is.”

  Chapter 20

  Adela woke the next morning, surprised to find herself in Liam’s room. As her mind cleared, the happenings of the night before came to her.

  Oh my God. She had slept with Liam. She slapped her hand over her mouth to contain her squeal. Whether that was a squeal of horror or happiness, she had yet to decide.

  Curling up on her side, she recalled the whole night.

  She had been so angry with Liam, and she had truly been ready to ask Evangeline for a reassignment. But first, she wanted to give Liam a piece of her mind and also try one last time to find out why he was acting like such a jackass. She realized she had never gotten her answer as she had been too overcome with his touch and the feeling of his lips against hers.

  It bothered her that she had been so overwhelmed she hadn’t gotten the answers she was looking for, but as she remembered the sex, she let it go.

  It had been just like it was in those romance books she had read.

  Smiling, she stretched out her legs and realized that her hips were tight, her lower body sore. She didn’t mind, especially when she thought of the exquisite pleasure she had experienced.

  Liam had been a gentle and caring lover, always putting her needs before his own. He also seemed to know, even before she did, what she required to get to that ultimate place of pleasure.

  He had reached for her many times during the night. It surprised her and made her feel beautiful, as it seemed he simply couldn’t get enough of her. She recalled sex with her husband. The marriage had been arranged, and she had never loved her him. They had settled into to an amicable relationship, but she couldn’t honestly say that she loved him. She had orgasmed a few times during their five-year marriage, but nothing like she had experienced with Liam.

  Adela rolled on to her back. Why hadn’t Edward and she had fantastic sex? Was it because Liam was a more experienced lover, or was it because the feelings were different? Did she love Liam?

  She felt as if her heart had sprouted wings and was going to fly right out of her chest at the thought.

  Liam had made love to her as though he cared about her as well. But where did that leave them? Even though they were living as humans, they were still technically dead. She supposed at some point they would have to return to their roles of Angels of Death after there was more love in the world among the humans. She hoped all the Angels of Affection were successful in their assignments. The thought of burning in Hell for an eternity sent a stab of fear through her.

  She heard the pans rattling around in the kitchen and she recognized the faint smell of coffee. Apparently Liam was up for the day and wouldn’t be joining her in bed again.

  The thought disappointed her, but she remembered that she was on an important assignment. Hopefully Jonathan would show up soon and they could evaluate the situation between Jackie and him. Adela was certain none of the people they had come in contact with last night was who they were looking for, unless they were very good at hiding their true feelings.

  She sat up and pulled on her clothes from the night before, somewhat embarrassed at having to see Gunnar, and she hoped she didn’t run into him before she made it to her room.

  What would the day hold for Liam and her? Would there be more amazing sex? Perhaps he would wrap his arms around her and kiss her good morning. Maybe later they could take a walk down by the lake and hold hands.

  Smiling, she quietly opened the door and stepped into her own room, excited about the day ahead.

  Chapter 21

  “Good morning!” Gunnar said, reaching for a coffee cup.

  “Hey,” Liam said, keeping his eyes on the eggs he was scrambling and trying not to think about what had happened between Adela and him. When he reluctantly crawled out of bed at dawn, he felt raw, as though he’d been flayed, his heart and feelings exposed, and he didn’t like it one bit. He was trying to push everything aside, to not even think about how he felt about Adela and their mind-blowing night together. The last thing he wanted was to talk to Gunnar.

  Gunnar poured a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter by the stove. “So what’s the deal with you and Adela, Liam?” he asked in a soft voice.

  Liam didn’t meet his gaze. So much for not talking to the Viking. Why couldn’t the guy ask about the weather, or talk about football scores? “What do you mean?”

  Gunnar chuckled. “It may have been seven hundred years since I was alive, but I can still recognize the sounds of a woman in the throes of pleasure, Liam.”

  Fuck. Liam was glad he could make Adela orgasm over and over, but that girl was loud. He had been afraid Gunnar would hear her and Liam would be in this very situation. “There’s nothing going on between us,” Liam snapped. “Nothing at all.”

  Gunnar sipped his coffee again, and they stood in silence for a moment as Liam stirred the eggs.

  “Well, if there’s nothing going on, perhaps I should see if Adela would be willing to accommodate me and my needs as a human male as well.”

  The next thing Liam knew, he had Gunnar up against the wall, his hand around the Viking’s thick neck. The coffee cup had shattered on the floor, the linoleum now slick with coffee. “Don’t you even think about it, Gunnar,” he hissed.

  The ice blue eyes narrowed on him. “Why not? If she is just someone to fuck, why can’t I partake as well?”

  Liam squeezed harder, seriously wanting to kill Gunnar for even thinking about sleeping with Adela. “This is not the Viking era, Gunnar. You can’t just take what you want, when you want it.”

  Gunnar smiled. “I would ask her first, of course. I would never just force myself on her.”

  Liam didn’t believe him for a second. “You stay away from her, Gunnar,” he growled. “Do you understand me? You. Stay. Away.”

  Liam let go and stepped back. As Gunnar’s fist connected with Liam’s chin, he smelled the burnt eggs. Liam staggered backward, his hand hitting the hot frying pan out of the way and landing squarely on the burner. He quickly pulled it off. The smell of burning flesh made memories of his own death flash in his mind.

  Gunnar stepped in close. “Don’t ever lay another hand on me, Liam. I’ve killed much bigger men than you for much less.”

  Gunnar left the kitchen and walked down the hall. Liam heard a bedroom door shut shortly after. He turned and ran cold water over
his hand, the ache and throbbing of the burn making his eyes sting.

  “Damn it,” he whispered. “Damn it all to hell.”

  If Gunnar went near Adela looking for sexual favors, and she accepted, he didn’t know what he’d do. He did know that even though Adela and he could never be together, he simply couldn’t stand around and watch Gunnar and her as a couple.

  Liam sighed, wrapped his hand in a towel, stepped around the shattered coffee cup and sat down at the kitchen table. Adela would never accept Gunnar in her bed, would she?

  He closed his eyes, willing the pain in his hand to diminish.

  What had he done? Would there be ramifications of their lovemaking from Michael the Archangel, Mother Nature, and the Creator? What about birth control? Since Adela was human again, could she get pregnant? How much more fucked up could this situation get?

  As hard as he tried not to think about being with Adela, he was terribly unsuccessful.

  Once she entered his room last night, he’d been caught up in the moment and not considering anything but Adela. He should have kept it in his pants and realized that his actions would have consequences, as they always do.

  Last night he’d been so close to telling Adela he loved her, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so. He may not have been able to stop making love to her, but the words he wanted to say choked in his throat.

  It was bad news all around. He had to keep his feelings to himself. Adela could never know how he felt about her. The last time he had loved someone, they had died and it had almost destroyed him. He wasn’t going to go through that again. He had to look out for number one—himself. Therefore, he had to distance himself from her, which wasn’t going to be easy. Maybe Adela was right—maybe they should request reassignments. He would be away from her, and hopefully, out of sight, out of mind.

  He also had to make sure Gunnar stayed the hell away from Adela. If he ever heard Adela make those beautiful sounds and he wasn’t the one responsible, it would kill him.

  Nope. No one, not him, not Gunnar, was having Adela.

  He would simply have to keep her at arms-length: far enough away from him so he wasn’t tempted to repeat last night, yet close enough so Gunnar didn’t get any bright ideas. When this assignment was over, he would request the three of them be separated, and hopefully he would never have to lay eyes on Adela again, unless it was from a distance as an Angel of Death where nothing could be done about his desire for her anyway.

  Chapter 22

  As Liam was cleaning up the broken coffee cup, Adela came into the kitchen. He saw her out of the corner of his eye, but pretended he didn’t.

  “Hello, Liam,” she said softly.

  “Hey,” he grumbled, sweeping the last of the mug into the dustpan.

  “What happened in here? Can I help you?”

  Liam emptied the dustpan into the garbage. “No, I got it. Thanks, though.”

  He kept his back to her as he dumped the burnt eggs into the garbage.

  “What happened?” she asked again.

  Liam shut his eyes, exhausted, even though his day had started a mere two hours ago. At some point he would have to face her, so he took a deep breath and turned around.

  She glowed. It wasn’t a glow that one would see in Heaven, but one of life and happiness. She looked delicious as she stood before him in a green sweater and grey sweatpants, her hair back in a braid. Her large, brown eyes looked at him expectantly.

  He didn’t know what she was expecting from him. A good morning kiss? A hug? Or just an answer to her question?

  He went with the latter. Distance—he had to distance himself from her, but keep her close enough so that the fucking Viking didn’t get his paws on her.

  “Well, I, uh, burnt the eggs, dropped a coffee cup, and burnt my hand.”

  There was no sense telling her that he had gotten into it with Gunnar. It would only open up room for more questions.

  “Oh, no!” Adela exclaimed, reaching for his hand wrapped in the towel. “Are you okay, Liam?”

  No, he wasn’t. His hand hurt like a bitch, and he hated himself for what happened last night, but on the other hand, he wouldn’t trade the experience for the world.

  He pulled away from her. “I’m fine. Thanks.”

  Adela looked at him, and he could see she was trying to figure out how to act, just as he was. Sighing, he figured he better just lay down the rules right now before she tried to kiss him or something.

  “Look, Adela,” he said. “Last night was fun, okay? I really enjoyed myself, but it never should have happened.”

  Her eyes clouded over and her face fell. She quickly arranged her features into an emotionless mask, like the one he was used to seeing when she was an Angel of Death.

  “And why is that?” she asked, he voice clipped.

  “Because we shouldn’t have done it and it can’t happen again. It won’t. We’ll just call it our little mistake and be on with our lives, with our assignment, okay?”

  Adela crossed her arms over her chest and her eyes flared in anger. “A mistake?” she snapped. “That’s how you think of last night? A mistake?”

  No, I think it was the most beautiful experience of my existence, but the way I feel about you scares the hell out of me.

  Instead, he said, “Well, yeah. We don’t know what’s going to happen with us, Adela. We’re supposed to be working together, not sleeping together. We could be Angels of Death again tomorrow and never see each other again. It was a mistake.”

  Adela let out a long, slow breath. Her cheeks flamed red, and he could see the pain in her eyes at his words. Her features remained masked, and if he didn’t know her so well, he never would have guessed that his words hurt her. Agony stabbed at his heart at the thought of causing her discomfort, but he remembered that he had to keep himself safe from his own feelings, no matter how selfish it was.

  “That’s fine, Liam,” she said. “You think of it the way you want. However, I do want an answer to my original question. What the hell is wrong with you?”

  He stared at her, trying to think of a good answer, but didn’t come up with one. How could he explain the jealousy of Gunnar even looking at her, and the anger that came with it, not only at Gunnar, but at himself? How did he explain his feelings for her, and how badly they scared him? He couldn’t. Even if he wanted to, which he didn’t, the words just weren’t there. He leaned on the broom handle as if it were the only thing propping him up. “Nothing, Adela. There’s nothing wrong. I guess I’m just a little tired.”

  “Bull, Liam,” she snapped, and turned to head back down the hallway. Liam’s soul felt a little darker, especially since he was certain he had seen a tear roll down her cheek before she left the kitchen, and he knew he was responsible.

  Oh, hell. What had he done?

  Chapter 23

  As Liam continued to clean up the mess in the kitchen, Adela slipped out the front door and went for a walk. The snow came up to her knees, but she kept going, fueled by her need to put as much distance between Liam and her as possible.

  Tears stung her eyes and pain lanced through her heart as she thought of his words. A mistake? What a horrible thing for him to say. Perhaps he was used to amazing encounters like they had last night, but she wasn’t, and it hurt that he would refer to something she considered so wonderful as a mistake.

  The gray skies matched her mood, and she jammed her hands further into the pockets of her red parka after zipping up the flaps that would cover half her face. The cold air stung her eyes, or maybe it was the tears that wanted to fall.

  A mistake. General malaise settled in throughout her body at his words.

  What an ass.

  She had been closed off as an Angel of Death for pure necessity. First, dealing with death was hard, and when she began the job she was horrified at the ways people died. Soon enough she became hardened to it, and was able to do her job efficiently and without much thought. Being human again and feeling human had broken down those barriers th
at she had carefully constructed, and in turn, she had allowed Liam to get close to her.

  She wished that had never happened. She wished she had kept up her barriers, her protection, against everything.

  Damn him.

  Another thought occurred to her. Since she was human again, could she get pregnant? She cursed at the thought. There hadn’t been any birth control used. She would need to find out the answer to her question soon.

  Traveling through knee-deep snow was exhausting, and her puffs of breath against the parka kept the bottom part of her face warm. She recalled Liam’s warm lips on hers and more tears came. She walked down toward the lake and found a rock to sit on off to the side, where hopefully she wouldn’t be disturbed. She just wanted to be alone and try to get over Liam’s comment, then she would pull herself together and go about the business of being an Angel of Affection and helping people fall in love. She wouldn’t need to speak to Liam of anything but their assignment, and she certainly didn’t have to spend any time with him. At the end of this, she would ask for a reassignment, and hopefully, she would never have to lay eyes on Liam again. The world was a big place, and maybe the Archangel Michael could send him to somewhere far away, like Africa or Libya, or maybe the Antarctic since he was so opposed to the cold.

  The thought made her smile. Surely she would have some seniority over Liam, and perhaps her request would be granted.

  “Hello, Adela.”

  Adela jumped, wishing Evangeline would give forewarning when she was going to make an appearance.

  “Hello, Evangeline,” she said, looking up at the angel. She scooted over on the rock, swiped her eyes and motioned for Evangeline to join her.

  “Thank you.”

  They silently stared out at the matching gray skies and water for a few moments.

  “Why are you out here all alone?” Evangeline asked. “And why are you crying?”

  Adela sighed. Evangeline wouldn’t know what happened with Liam last night unless she read the History Scrolls. Apparently she hadn’t bothered before making this visit.