Shattering Halos

by Sunniva Dee

  Holding me out from him, he studied my face intently. Slow and unapologetic, it combed my body, inch by inch, lighting a trail of embers in its wake. Oh yes, Gabriel’s stare could smolder.

  With a single look he’d replaced my fear with unadulterated lust. His eyes returned to mine, suddenly the grassy color of emeralds. As much as I searched into their depths, not a hint of blue remained.

  “You. No more of this,” he demanded, contradicting what his body told me. He stood abruptly. Looking away from me, he brought me to my feet in one motion.

  In the beginning, neither of us broke the silence as we descended to the car. A small space had inched in between our bodies, but he still held my hand in his. Despite Gabriel’s reaction, I was more aware than ever of what I wanted. When I opened my mouth, the words gritted out in a croak.

  “You promised, remember? You said we can’t control the future and that we should seize the day. Please be with me? Tonight at the dorm?”

  He stopped.

  “No-no. To deal with the girls in your dorm is not an option.”

  Hey, we’re discussing it?

  “What do you mean?”

  “Sun, you would lose control, and they’d call 911.”

  “That’s preposterous.” I blushed like a traffic light.

  “Trust me. It’s not you, it’s me.” He looked both innocent and humble as he said the worn-out phrase.

  “Fine, I don’t care where, Gabriel, as long as you give me this before they come for us.”

  My treacherous lower lip began to tremble at the thought. Pent-up tears spilled over. He stroked my hair before he drew me into a tight hug.

  “Gaia, please. Let’s not talk about this. I couldn’t possibly love you any more than I already do.”

  Without mercy, the maiden from the old-world fairytale stared at her magical lover and said, “We need it,” and “I want to.”

  Chapter 19 — Come Along

  Gaia

  The wintery gust tousled my hair as we wound up the hillside. Ahead of us, the dirt road narrowed before transforming into a field of hardy beach grass.

  Gabriel lifted me out of the car when we stopped. A girl could get used to this kind of chivalry. Feet carefully placed on the ground, I took in the wild lawn I stood on. It peaked out over a cliff, and far below us, the unrest of the sea beckoned alluring and alive.

  The setting sun was a luminous orange that burned the clouds into reds and purples. Gabriel turned to me, his expression suddenly eager, and pointed to the horizon.

  “Can you see it?”

  “The sun?”

  “Shimmer’s Edge.”

  Squinting, I could see the outline of a tower against the glow of the sunset. The silhouette became sharper, transforming into a tiny island that should have been white in the ceaseless ocean. Instead, its contours flickered with amber streaks. Waves caressed the granite base in brushstrokes of sparkling magenta.

  He took my hand and led me to the edge of the cliff, closer to the spectacle.

  “Shimmer’s Edge was built over a hundred years ago. The townsmen had planned to name it after the state governor, but seeing the lighthouse for the first time at sundown, its glow made them change their minds.”

  “Wow. Do they light it at night?”

  “No, not anymore.”

  With our legs dangling off the overhang, we watched the last rays of daylight paint the sky. When the sun finally dipped into the water, Gabriel pulled me to my feet. His arms formed around my waist in a snug hold.

  “Trust me.”

  I tensed with anticipation at the pressure of his body behind me. Before I could answer, the sound of a thousand restless feathers shook the air. I gasped in surprise, and then I was airborne.

  Because I did trust him, I lost myself in the current and in the crimsons and purples of the sun saying goodbye.

  Clutched beneath him in his arms, I was rapt in the sensation of gliding across the sky. Gabriel’s happy chuckle filled my senses when I, unconcerned with the cold and the altitude, opened my arms in the same “T” shape I’d used before. The wind gusts made his wings vibrate.

  Shimmer’s Edge closed in on us. As if on cue, the sky eclipsed with the onset of the night in the moment we landed on the balcony.

  The light flowing from the windows didn’t surprise me, but peeking through one of them, my jaw dropped. The size of the room defied logic. From the outside, the lighthouse was so small!

  Gabriel held the door open for me. The enormous space, circular like the lighthouse itself, would take some time to get used to.

  Cassiel’s apartment had been mind-blowing, but Gabriel’s abode didn’t just challenge my senses. It challenged my imagination too. Clearly, Gabriel didn’t have to pretend in this place.

  Shimmering, cream walls stirred alive in a fabric that reminded me of silk. Their three-dimensional, layered texture expanded my vision of what simple partitions could be.

  Hundreds and hundreds of fawn-colored candles hovered inches from the walls up to the ceiling. Water streamed close by. Following the sound, I spotted a massive ivory-colored waterfall. Droplets jumped, burst, and vanished before they rejoined the spring in an endless cycle.

  The transparent, tan floor below me radiated an illusion of warmth. Speckles of gold glinted in sinking tiers under the top coat.

  Like clouds without a plan, the floor shifted, but it never rocked my balance. I took two tentative steps, and Gabriel’s amused chuckle reached me from behind.

  Craning my neck, I took in the ornate, dome-shaped ceiling. It was a blanket of miniature prisms that multiplied the stars above. They twinkled and reflected serenely off of the walls.

  Vases overflowing with white lilies stood on small tables shaped like crescent moons in the middle of the room. The tables were nightstands and flanked…an immense bed!

  I forgot to breathe.

  Feathery light and almost ethereal-looking, the bronze-colored bedding made me think of cotton candy. My awed expression must have been what triggered the sudden, beautiful curve in Gabriel’s lips.

  “You sleep?” I asked, trying not to sound breathless.

  “Sometimes. Whenever you’ve made sleeping look too delicious. Usually, I just rest here.” Gabriel tilted his head at me. “You like it?”

  “Mm-hmm!”

  Eager, I took a couple of steps into the room, but behind me, Gabriel’s fingers tangled with mine and prevented forward motion. He didn’t speak.

  I twisted to find his gaze fixed on me as he leaned a shoulder into the doorjamb. Did I see a flicker of insecurity in his expression?

  There was something so feline about Gabriel. It might be his eyes. Maybe his beauty. At the moment, though, it might just be the lazy way he stopped me that made me think of tigers containing their prey; their bodies preserved energy in a stance so relaxed they seemed aloof.

  Gabriel’s gaze softened, and dots of hunter green weaved around his pupils. I waited, unsure.

  “Sunshine.” His customary endearment came in a catlike hiss that fueled my comparison. “I wanted you to see where I come whenever I’m away from you in angel time. This is where I unwind.”

  “In angel time? What do you mean?”

  “Only that I’m always with you in your time.”

  From his posture, I could tell he wasn’t sharing further details. I yanked at his hand, urging him on with a confidence I didn’t own.

  His gaze bored into mine. He hesitated, increasing my concern about his motives for taking me to Shimmer’s Edge.

  Crap, he just wants to show me his house, doesn’t he?

  My smile faltered, but I still said it: “Come?”

  Gabriel reached for my hair and wound a lock around two fingers. The light tug made my skin tingle.

  “Listen, Gaia, damn. I’m not sure why I brought you here.”

  Great. Another one of my self-prophecies about to fulfill itself. How about I just quit thinking?

  “This can’t be happening,” I mutter
ed.

  Gabriel hung his head, shaking it once.

  “What you’re asking is too much, Gaia. I couldn’t possibly make this any less than it is. My self-control wouldn’t be the problem. It’s yours that would be lost. Completely. Do you understand?”

  He dropped my hair to rake through his own in one of those achingly helpless boy moves.

  “Of course not. How can she?” he said to himself.

  Tousled—mercy me. Now he looks like he just rolled out of bed after…okay, I want him. Bad.

  A good girl might have taken pity on him, but not me. No, I stepped back into his arms, shaped myself against as much of him as I could, and murmured, “Hmm, you’re protecting me from myself now? Let go, bodyguard. I’m fine.”

  A sudden excess of emerald flecks overpowered the aqua in his eyes.

  Am I delusional or is that the color of desire?

  “Gaia, think. Please. Is this really what you want?”

  “Yes! Ever since the janitor’s closet.”

  A tentative kiss pushed at my lips.

  “It’s going to hurt, right?” I mumbled.

  He flicked me a glance before turning away in an attempt to hide how his face lit up in barely contained humor. When gleaming eyes met mine again, his features had smoothed into serious folds.

  “No, sun. No.”

  Beet red with embarrassment, I ducked a little, but a gentle fist pushed my chin up.

  “Do you remember how an electric shock feels?”

  “You have got to be kidding me!”

  Now he was definitely chuckling. “It’s hard to explain. The current rips through you, and just like with electricity, you’d have to pull away from its source to regain control over your mind and body.”

  “Geez—and you’d be the supplier? Of pain?”

  Even to me, my squeaky timbre sounded pathetic. His voice dropped to a mouthwatering hum when he answered.

  “I would not hurt you, I would…delight you? But the sensation is an unintentional side effect. The first Fallen angel to take a daughter of Eve created it, and nobody was ever supposed to feel this way—this much. With the pleasure being too intense for an Earthly One, you can’t let go of the source on your own. It has to let go of you.”

  Troubled, his brows lowered in a frown.

  “So…you’d be the provider of insane, unpreventable pleasures?”

  “Exactly.” Relieved, he studied me, expecting a different answer than the one he found written all over my face.

  “Gabriel, I’m sorry. That didn’t help—I—I…you’re killing me!” A flustered yelp was stuck in my throat. The more he allowed my hands to roam, the harder it was to suppress.

  My stomach tumbled into a pit of flames. My fingertips traveled up his ribs to his face, and I got up on my toes to find his mouth. All soft lips, he stoked my confusion by kissing me back. Then, he hesitated and withdrew.

  Gabriel framed my cheeks and locked my gaze in warning. It only made my breathing speed up.

  “My biggest fear is to find you lifeless in my arms. Daughters of man have died from this love, like a prolonged electrocution can stop your heart for good. Gaia, you wouldn’t manage to tell me no.

  “Somehow, I’d need to find out before you exceeded your limits. Do you understand? I’d have to guess when to withdraw from you.”

  I was panting in agony when it hit me. A small, almost wicked smirk played over his features, stoking my realization.

  “Hey, but you can read my mind. We’ll be fine!”

  “Well, the times your guard is down and your emotions flow raw, I can. Like now.” His expression turned serious.

  “Gaia, you don’t know how hard it is to not do this. Please. I shouldn’t. We shouldn’t.” The gaze he sent me was pained, but I’d stopped thinking straight a long time ago.

  Oh, baby, quit talking! I. Need. You.

  “Anyway—” he began.

  The shock, the surprise—oh God, the speed and strength of him when he lifted me up in one swift move and threw my legs around his waist.

  Air wheezed out of me in disbelief at the force of his embrace, from the lust pooling heavy in my own abdomen.

  The indecision was gone from his stare. No mercy, no sympathy, just raw, determined passion led me to the brink between dread and undoing.

  Heat ached in between my legs, making me squirm to close the distance to his abs. He rocked me to him once, teasing without a shred of humor, eliciting a disgraceful whimper from me. Would I ever again breathe in anything but incoherent gasps?

  A purr caressed my ear. It contrasted with the intensity of the lock he had on me. “I’ll ease your pain, baby. Come along with me. You’ll see what it’s like to be free.”

  What? So. Freaking. Sexy.

  By the time I realized my thoughts had slipped out, it was too late. Of course he’d read them, shriveled to pieces as I was. His laughter growled into my neck as he carried me into the room.

  Flung down at the heart of the bed, my lap was full of him. My pulse raged as I fisted Gabriel’s hair. Irresistible groans vibrated in his chest. His lips played over my throat, my collarbone, and down my cleavage.

  In one quick move, he delivered me from my sweater. I sank against the pillows, my cheeks flushed. His stare held a predatory expression I’d never seen on him before.

  Is this finally happening?

  Straddling me, he slipped down the straps of my bra without asking permission. Before I knew it, Gabriel had released my breasts.

  My nipples strained taut toward him, giving me away as if he required further evidence. He unclasped the front, leaving me bare.

  Unnerved by the attention of this stunning creature, my breathing grew frenzied as I watched him watch me.

  “Ah damn, Gaia.”

  Eyes bottomless with desire, his palms began their path at my waist and moved up to caress my breasts. His body sank down over mine, and he swiftly draped one of my legs over his hip.

  The relief of feeling his hardness, yet the discomfort of all this denim keeping us apart. Shamelessly, I begged for more, but his tongue didn’t stop playing with my lips.

  A hand stole between my shoulder blades and forced my chest up into an arch toward him. Half sitting, my head fell back as a warm tongue licked the swell of one breast, then the other.

  Full lips sucked on my nipples, provoking moans I couldn’t withhold any longer. He sighed over me.

  “God, I’ve waited so long for this. You’re delicious.”

  “As delicious as sleep?” I stuttered.

  “Mm, no…better.”

  I think I tore his shirt open. I couldn’t recall undoing a single button. Moments later, I watched him tense above me. Gabriel was all glorious, naked skin, and afraid he’d back out, I whispered, “Shhh.” Then, I unbuttoned his jeans.

  Gabriel didn’t stop me. When I realized that he wasn’t wearing underwear, I inhaled quickly. Smooth muscle and a soft trail of hair invited me to the velvety warmth of his erection.

  Unsurprised, I acknowledged that Gabriel was beautiful everywhere. A fresh surge of need simmered hot in my womb as I reached for the silky feel of him.

  When I located my target, an inward hiss interrupted his feverish kisses. I stroked slowly, enjoying his desperate reaction—his moan in my mouth, an incoherent, mumbled appreciation of my touch.

  Out of the blue, the heat from his nearness left me.

  “Ah, this is out of control,” he groaned. When I opened my eyes to focus, he was standing over me, looking down at me like the goddamn deity he was. His Levi’s barely hung on to his thighs.

  Disappointment stung in my chest, and angry threats boiled at the tip of my tongue.

  I swear—do not do this. I’m going to strangle you!

  Gabriel’s eyes widened in surprise. A quiet laugh escaped him. “Are you joking? No, no, no.”

  His pants flew across the room and landed two feet from the fountain. Next thing I knew my skinny jeans were removed with a grace and swiftness I c
ould only dream of.

  A master of contrasts, Gabriel crouched back on the bed at the speed of light before stretching over me with the languid grace of a panther. His voice lowered into a lazy whisper.

  “Where’s the trust, sunshine? Didn’t I tell you I’ll ease your pain?”

  My breath hitched. This angel was free falling, no doubt. I craved his kisses, the lean, muscular weight of him spread over every inch of my body…and so much more.

  Gabriel ignored me when I tried to pull him up to me. His palms wandered over my hips, my stomach, and teeth suddenly grazed the sensitive skin beneath the hem of my panties. Driving. Me. Crazy.

  “Please, Gabriel, please…”

  “Please what, sunshine?”

  Lips covered my mound, fogged through the sheer fabric of my lingerie, causing me to jerk toward him. He skimmed to the center of my most sensitive folds. Nimble fingers found their way inside my panties and lifted them from my flesh, exposing me to air.

  A quick rip and he had freed me. In disbelief, I watched him toss away my destroyed undies without a second look.

  For one endless moment, Gabriel sat back and took me in from his position between my legs. I squirmed beneath him.

  “Gaia, you’re incredible.”

  “That is so my line.”

  A hand traced my inner thigh until it came to a halt at my apex. When he slipped a finger inside me, the sigh he let out was the sexiest thing I’d ever heard.

  “You’re so warm, so wet for me…”

  Shut up? Who says that?

  “Because you’re torturing me,” I managed.

  He slinked up to my face and sank on top of me. For the first time, he blanketed my entire body with his.

  Easing my knees further apart, he pressed his warm erection against my cleft. I whimpered as he sucked damp kisses down my neck.

  “You were wrong, Gabriel…I can handle this.”

  “This isn’t it, my sweet one. I haven’t started yet.” The now familiar stab of pleasure hit my stomach, and I moved to meet him.

  Gabriel’s otherworldly face hovered above me. Faintly, I acknowledged the stars showering our every move with their reflection.

  Golden biceps framed my shoulders as he lifted his weight off me to stare into my soul. His eyes were so filled with longing that my throat closed when he asked for permission.