by L. A. Banks
Now, she wasn’t confident that she’d parked far enough away. Criminals on the run were among the most paranoid people she’d ever encountered. It was almost like some of them had special antennae when it came to detecting the law nearby.
She abruptly rose. “Thank you, Ms. Davenport. Please lock the door and keep all of the children inside. Don’t let them go in the backyard. My partner and I are going to wait for Mr. White outside.”
Nora rose, too. “Y’all get that boy. Coming here, giving me all kinds of excellent references just so he could get next to my kids!” she cried indignantly. “Y’all get him, because if you don’t, I will!”
“Don’t worry, Ms. Davenport, we’ll catch him,” Sarai said as she quickly walked to the exit. She got on the radio. “Jim, this is the place. The owner says she hired him a couple of weeks ago. She expects him any minute now.”
“I’m still around back,” Jim responded. “Where will you be?”
“I’m going to change my appearance a bit and take a stroll down the sidewalk.”
“But he’s seen you before,” Jim said worriedly.
“Only once, and then I had my hair drawn back and was wearing all black.”
Jim laughed shortly. “Lucky you. You only wear a dress once every blue moon and today there happens to be one.”
“Ha, ha,” Sarai said dryly. “I’m going now.” She dropped the compact radio into her shoulder bag, reached up and took the clasp off her heavy fall of hair and shook the waves out as she stepped onto the front porch.
Nora locked the door behind her as she’d been instructed.
Sarai casually sashayed down the sidewalk, occasionally glancing at her watch as if she were waiting for someone to come pick her up in a car, and they were running late.
It wasn’t long before she spotted Sean White lumbering in her direction.
He was a tall man with straight red hair and watery blue eyes. Just short of being obese, he was awkwardly formed. His arms seemed too long for his body, and he was knock-kneed. When he walked his thighs rubbed together. Sarai heard him coming in his brown corduroy slacks a block away.
As he drew closer, she got her cell phone out of her shoulder bag and keyed in her home number. When the answering machine kicked in, she pretended she was talking to the imaginary person who’d forgotten to pick her up. “Look, if I can’t depend on you to be here when you say you’re going to be here, then forget you! I don’t need this hassle. I’m going to be late to work because of you.”
She was standing in the middle of the sidewalk, so Sean had to either walk around her or ask her to move aside. She hung the phone up and put it away as soon as he was within five feet of her.
She smiled at him, and said, “Hi, Sean!”
Sean went still. He squinted at her, confused by the fact that a stranger had called him by his name. He was sure that he didn’t know her. He wasn’t the type of man who collected beautiful women as friends.
If they didn’t give him disdainful looks, they gave him pity-filled ones. Either way, he never got anywhere with them. “Do I know you?” he asked, a little flattered by, but a lot suspicious of her apparent interest in him.
“Sure, you do,” Sarai said softly, still smiling. “My partner and I arrested you about three weeks ago.”
All bets were off then. Sean hauled off and tried to cold clock her.
Sarai ducked, went low, and quickly came back up with a punch to his mid-section. As she’d suspected, Sean didn’t work on his abdominal muscles. He doubled over in pain and yowled like a kicked dog.
By that time, Jim was there, and Sean didn’t give him any trouble as he forced him to the grass on his belly and handcuffed him.
“Next time, I’ll wear the dress,” Jim joked.
“You’ve got the legs for it,” Sarai said, grinning at him.
She helped him get Sean to his feet, then they walked him down the sidewalk to the waiting car. Sarai was more than pleased with the outcome.
It had taken them four days, but her hunch had paid off. Plus, there were only three days left before Daniel would be coming home. And now that Sean White was in custody, she could concentrate more fully on her man.
She would make sure that his first night back would be a night to remember.
Chapter Four
* * *
“Are you sure you don’t want me to drop you off on my way?” Daniel asked Maya one last time before they parted at the airport.
Maya, already heading in the opposite direction toward a line of waiting taxis shook her head. “I’ve got a date, boss,” she said. “And if I grab a taxi I can be home in time to get all dolled up for him. Your taking me home would take you out of your way. You’ve kept Sarai waiting long enough!”
Daniel couldn’t argue with that. He still innately felt it was his duty to deliver her home safely, though. It was undoubtedly the Boy Scout in him.
“Okay,” he finally conceded. “Take care of yourself.”
They waved and he trotted the rest of the way to the waiting town car. He used the same limousine service every time. And they usually sent the same driver: Titus. The guy standing next to the back door of the car wasn’t Titus this time.
He recognized Daniel right away, though. “Good evening, Representative Wingate. I trust you had a pleasant flight?”
“I did. Thanks,” Daniel replied, his keen eyes taking in the tall, muscular black man. “Titus couldn’t make it, huh?”
“Afraid not, sir,” said the man as he held the door open. “I’m Malcolm.”
Daniel held out his hand. Malcolm shook it. “Good to meet you, Malcolm. Mind if I see some identification?”
“No problem,” Malcolm said good-naturedly as he reached into his inside jacket pocket and produced a billfold. He showed Daniel his driver’s license and the I D that the limousine service provided for all of its drivers.
Satisfied, Daniel climbed onto the backseat and relaxed, his mind already anticipating his reunion with Sarai.
Sarai was in the kitchen when she heard Daniel’s key in the door. A delicious thrill of longing shot through her. She closed the refrigerator door, and hurried to the living room, the soft, sheer fabric of the negligee she was wearing floating in her wake.
The negligee was red. Her hair was piled on her head in a sexy twist. She smelled good enough to eat, and she was barefoot.
Daniel saw her the moment he opened the door, and he didn’t have time to either close the door or drop his bags before she was in his arms. The bags fell to the floor.
Lips immediately locked in deep, ravenous kisses.
Tears of relief sat in her eyes when he set her back down. His eyes devoured her as if he was seeing her for the first time. The love, the lust, the palpable emotions were all exposed for her to witness.
“Welcome home, baby,” she said, grinning.
He shut the door, locked it, and enfolded her in his arms again. “You’re a vision,” he said, his voice husky. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. Or his hands, it seemed. He picked her up, heading to the bedroom. Sarai wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I cooked dinner for you,” she said.
“Thank you,” he smiled, kissing her chin. “Later. Right now, all I want is you.”
Sarai buried her nose in his neck, loving the scent of his skin. “The bed’s already turned down.”
In the bedroom, he dropped her onto the bed and immediately began removing his clothing as she watched. He removed his shoes and socks first, which made her wonder when he’d started doing that. He usually removed his jacket, shirt and tie first.
Then he would turn his attention to his shoes and socks, which he usually took off before taking off his slacks.
She missed so much when they were apart.
She wondered what else he was doing differently lately.
Soon, he was down to his boxer briefs. She got up and went to him. “Let me give you a nice relaxing massage.”
“Okay,” he said, surprising
her. His dark eyes were alight with sensual promise. “But, ladies first.”
Sarai’s brows drew together in a frown. As an athlete, Daniel enjoyed a massage but only after physical exertion, not before. She didn’t say anything, though. Maybe he was simply following her cues. She’d brought up the massage, after all. Maybe it’d slipped his mind that she sometimes teased him by offering him a massage to relax. Relaxing was the last thing on their minds when they were about to make love. Relaxing was for later when they didn’t have any energy left to pleasure each other. Then, it was time for a leisurely bath and a soothing massage.
He insisted on taking the sexy negligee off her and had her lie down on her stomach. Sarai scooted over to the middle of the bed, her golden brown body long, lithe and gorgeous.
Daniel began by gingerly straddling her and beginning the massage at her shoulders. Sarai smiled knowingly when she felt his penis, heavy, and approaching a full-on erection, brush the backs of her thighs.
She gave him two minutes, tops, before he was trying to penetrate her. The old Daniel would have had her on her back by now.
“That feels good,” she said.
Indeed, his big hands felt wonderful on her. She could get used to this.
She didn’t see Daniel’s face, though. He’d closed his eyes with sheer satisfaction and he had to remember to breathe because the feel of her skin excited him so much.
His penis continued to harden until he was in pain with the desire to pin her to the bed with it. He held himself in firm control, though, because a husband’s, a good husband’s, first duty to his wife was to assure her pleasure. He would get his afterward.
“Daniel?” Sarai said after several minutes of silence.
“Yes, baby?”
“Would you screw me already? I’m enjoying this new you, but you know I’m a ride ’em cowboy kind of girl. I’m horny as hell.”
It was true. A couple of days ago, she’d begun having those symptoms her mother had warned her about. She felt like she could make love to Daniel all night long. “Baby,” Daniel breathed, none too gently turning her over in bed, “you read my mind.” Sarai opened her legs wide and he guided himself inside of her.
“Oh, God, you feel good!” he gasped roughly.
Sarai smiled up at him. “That’s the idea.” She arched her back, driving him deeper. Daniel screamed with a powerful orgasm.
Sarai was astonished, but schooled her features so that he wouldn’t see the surprise on her face. Daniel had never had a premature ejaculation. Never.
He collapsed on top of her and nuzzled her neck. “I’m sorry, baby. I guess I’ve been away from you for too long.”
She turned her head to kiss him softly. “It happens to the best of men,” she told him, a mischievous gleam in her eye.
Daniel surprised her again by rolling over onto his back and throwing his arm over his face in an apparent moment of self-disgust. “But not to me.”
Usually, whenever Sarai made a comment about human males, Daniel would assume she was comparing humans to Nephilim and he’d come back with something like, “Oh, I guess a Nephilim never lost control of his dick in bed!”
Then they’d have a spirited debate about human sexual prowess versus Nephilim sexual prowess.
Sarai cuddled closer to Daniel. “We’ve got all night,” she said, kissing him in the middle of his back.
When Daniel felt her mouth on his back, he was startled as if she’d touched him with a red-hot poker.
Sarai sat up in bed. “What’s going on with you tonight?”
Daniel sat up and regarded her with a tired expression. “I guess I’m more stressed out than I thought. I need to take my mind off work.” His eyes were pleading. “Talk to me, Babe. Tell me something funny that’s happened to you lately.”
They got comfortable in bed, with her lying in Daniel’s arms. “Okay, well, my ex moved into the building a few weeks ago. You remember him. He crashed our wedding.”
Daniel appeared stumped for a moment, then said, “Oh, you mean Nicolas Armaros?”
“Who else crashed our wedding?” Sarai asked, really concerned, now, that Daniel had indeed been working too hard. He normally had a mind like a steel trap. Anything that went in it remained firmly in there for easy future reference.
“Anyway,” she went on. “He’s been making a nuisance of himself.”
“In what way?”
“Leaving orchids and other exotic flora on the terrace for me to find when I come home from work. He never leaves a note. He doesn’t have to. No one except someone who can fly would have access to the terrace.”
“What do you suppose he wants?” Daniel asked, his tone calm.
“He wants me to leave you for him,” Sarai told him.
Daniel laughed. “He’s got big balls.”
“To match his ego,” Sarai said with a short laugh of her own. “Nighthawk is the most powerful Nephilim in the city. He can have any woman he wants. Yet, he wants a woman who’s already taken. He’s like a spoiled kid in a candy store—Gimme, gimme, gimme! I detest him.”
“You never loved him?” Daniel asked.
His tone was serious, and that gave Sarai pause. She had been in a joking mood until then. Having a bit of fun at Nighthawk’s expense.
But she and Daniel never lied to each other. So, her tone got serious, as well. “I did love him, Daniel. I loved him so much I wanted to marry him and have his children. That kind of behavior goes against everything I’ve been taught about the Sons of the Morning Star and the Grigori. But I was willing to forget all that just to be with him. Then, he broke my heart by telling me he couldn’t see me anymore for those very reasons. His family had found out about us and demanded that he drop me. So, he did.”
“Just like that?” Daniel asked incredulously.
“That was the cruelest cut,” Sarai admitted. “I thought I meant something to him. Apparently, I was dispensable.” She sighed. “Luckily for me, a year later I met a guy who has the heart of a lion and the loyalty of a Grigori.” She smiled into his eyes.
“Did you fall for this guy?” Daniel asked, smiling back.
“Hard,” she said.
Then, they were kissing again, and Sarai could feel his arousal on her thigh.
That night they fell asleep, naked, in each other’s arms. The bedroom curtains were open and moonshine spread its benevolent light over them as they slept.
Sarai was awakened, quite pleasantly, before daybreak when Daniel took one of her nipples in his mouth and began to suckle.
She opened her eyes to clearly see his face in the moonlight. A mischievous grin curled his lips. “I woke up hungry for you.”
Smiling, Sarai grasped his hardening penis. “You’re a growing boy. You need your nourishment. Eat up.”
Straddling her, he licked her nipples with obvious relish, his tongue, wet, hot and insistent.
Sarai moaned with pleasure and arched her back.
Daniel ran his tongue between her breasts, straight down to her bellybutton where he made a wet circle, then continued downward.
Grasping her by the hips, he roughly pulled her toward him and bent to plunge his tongue into the slick, swollen folds of her vagina.
“Daniel.” His name was a breathless sigh on her lips.
Daniel didn’t hear her. He was under the spell cast by the combination of her taste and her smell. It was a unique aroma that lovers emitted exclusively for each other.
“Daniel.” She said his name again, this time more urgently. He looked up and saw what she was referring to: Her wings had begun sprouting.
She propped herself up on her elbows, allowing her wings room to grow. Once the transformation had started there was nothing to do except allow it to happen.
“Do you want me to stop?” Daniel asked, concerned.
“No, I want you inside of me.”
This had never occurred before. She wondered if it was a symptom of her pregnancy: sprouting wings when sexually aroused. In which case, she
would have to be careful not to become aroused in public.
Daniel straddled her once again and bent to kiss her. Sarai squeezed his ass with both hands. Daniel moaned deep in his throat and entered her, his penis thick, hard, and pulsing. He grabbed her ass, too, and pulled her hard against him as he thrust deeper.
Sarai closed her eyes and gave herself over to the pleasure of the moment. Her arms were wrapped tightly around Daniel, as his were around her.
Suddenly, she began to rise from the bed, with Daniel on top of her. His eyes were closed too.
Daniel felt her convulse when she came. He followed soon afterward, and they continued to hold each other close as their bodies settled down.
They were so caught up in the passion that they were floating six feet above the bed before they realized that they were defying gravity.
Sarai was the first to come to her senses. “Oh, God, Daniel. Look what we’re doing.”
Daniel opened his eyes and looked down. “Shit!”
That broke the spell, and they plummeted to the bed.
“What was that?” Daniel asked of the strange phenomenon.
“I don’t know,” Sarai admitted. “Maybe my powers are evolving.”
Daniel gently rubbed his hands over her wings which had grown to their full splendor. “You didn’t hurt yourself when you fell, did you?”
Sarai smiled at the joke. “Oh, I get it, another fallen angel joke.”
There were two delivery men in the truck as it pulled up to the gate that led to an exclusive estate in one of Chicago’s historic neighborhoods. Stan was the driver, a short, terse, pugnacious man whose personality was invariably sour when he thought that someone was trying to take advantage of him. He was in a sour mood tonight.
LaSalle Antiques was emblazoned on the side of the panel truck. Henri LaSalle had a reputation for finding anything a collector wished to pay for. He asked no questions. The customer was always right, especially if his credit rating was in good standing.
Stan looked around suspiciously as he yelled into the intercom, “LaSalle Antiques! We have a delivery for Mrs. Martin.”
