She laid there, both hands clenched next to her head as he kissed her, torn between desire and anticipation of his touch, and dread that he would be disappointed with her, that she wouldn't live up to his expectations. He deserved a woman as perfect as him, not some wrinkled old whore
And just exactly how much of her did he plan to kiss? Surely not—
He licked the hollow of her collarbone, sending an inferno rushing across her skin. "All of you. Every inch."
Her body stiffened with alarm. "Oh God, you can't…"
Cool air swept across skin that should be covered and at the same time Lyght groaned. "Oh my God," she gulped, realizing she—no, wait. She wasn't naked even though it felt like she was at first. A thin layer of shimmering something insubstantial covered her. Like warm mist rested weightlessly on her skin, supported only by the high points of her body.
She clenched her eyes shut, knowing he was seeing all the glaring flaws. Even more than two decades later, her bikini cut C-section scar was still a thick red line and her belly never did go entirely away. Of course she wouldn't change it, since she'd won those scars giving life to her precious daughter, but she had hoped they would fade a little with time as the doctor had promised. But when Carrington decided to beat the hell out of her only a few weeks after Samantha's birth and her incision ruptured, the damage was rendered permanent.
And then there was the half a handful of a joke that masqueraded as her breasts. At least they didn't sag but they did seem to disappear into her body when she laid on her back that way. Dear God. A man so perfect, who could have a woman as perfect as him, couldn't help noticing all her shortcomings, and she couldn't bear seeing the disappointment in his face.
His lips suddenly covered hers, his hand on her jaw, kissing her hungrily, that animal growl stronger than ever. Oh God, did he like what he saw?
He broke the kiss, his breaths hitting her face in hot gasps, his eyes slits of glowing white. "Sweetheart," he whispered between ragged breaths, "like is an extremely lacking term." He began to rain those hungry soft kisses all over her face. "I love your body more than even I can fathom. And I'm going to worship every inch of it with my lips."
She whimpered as yet another wave of incredible heat crashed into her. She really had to remember he could hear her thoughts. But if he liked how she looked... maybe she'd been missing something? No matter. She wasn't going to let her damn doubts stop her from enjoying him while she had him. She buried her fingers in his hair as he began to kiss a trail down. Oh God, her breasts. Reflex kicked in and she tried to move and cover them. He made that growl again. Why did he do that?
"Because you are driving me insane…your words…the beautiful sounds you're making. Don't you dare hide from me." He covered one breast gently with his mouth.
"Oh God!" Every muscle in her body clamped down tight in response to the wet heat.
He growled again creating an intense vibration against her nipple. "Kassie," he whispered, kissing his way along the valley to the other breast. "Beautiful Kassie." Cool air on her wet skin stirred another firestorm as her nipple pebbled.
Fingers clenching spasmodically, she pulled his hair and arched into the warmth of his mouth. "Yes, yes," she moaned, her hips squirming with the ache between her legs.
He adjusted his position slightly and shifted his weight to effectively immobilize her. The inability to move and ease the tension in her belly served to increase the throbbing inferno building so rapidly between her legs. Her inner muscles clenched and relaxed in an involuntary attempt to create friction.
Cold air replaced the wet heat of his mouth on her nipple, drawing a ragged cry of protest from her. Moving downward, he spread trails of flame along her ribcage to her stomach. He allowed his teeth to glide over skin causing the muscles of her belly to ripple.
He kissed his way along her stomach, not missing an inch, first tugging with his lips then licking with the tip of his tongue, occasionally pausing for a gentle nip. He slid his hands firmly up and down her sides and hips, his thumbs brushing under the tiny swell of her breasts with each pass, while whispering and moaning syllables she didn't understand.
Whatever he'd covered her body with—not fabric at all, more like a layer of shiny bubbly air—made her blood sing and tingle. Every hair on her body turned into a sensual nerve ending that he tenderly stimulated. Lost to the feeling, she gave herself to the luxurious joy of the pleasure he created. A concentrated amount of that joy followed his lips and tongue, a shower of light and life. So good. So very good.
He finally allowed her to move to the rhythm of the pleasure slowly seducing her every fiber. He continued to carry out his promise until she writhed with want for so much more in her most secret places. Her nipples tingled and itched with a bite me intensity as her nails scraped along his scalp to the erotic tempo he created in her.
He reached her navel and adored it with licks and nips, then dipped his tongue into the hollow with a moan that vibrated on her skin in a way that would have tickled if it hadn't felt so good. Smiling against her skin, he proceeded to her scar and kissed along every centimeter, then swept his tongue over it, whispering more of those strange words on her.
Unaccountably, the dead skin along the scar, devoid of sensation since Samantha's birth, began to tingle then a faint tickling turned into the heat and moisture of Lyght's tongue. Her startled gasp drew a faint chuckle from him before he continued.
Lost to his touch and her response, Kassie's hips pumped in abandon, all her needs seeming to end there, where she knew he headed. But he didn't go there. Instead, he kissed down her thighs, the right one first, keeping his word and not seeming to miss an inch. He kissed each of her toes and her original yuck reaction quickly disappeared. She'd never felt so clean and pure in her life.
His fingers and palms caressed and stroked ahead of kisses that were sometimes soft and tender, other times he sucked her with passionate intensity, his entire body vibrating from his growls. Every second carried her away on a new wave of sensation.
He clamped his hands softly just above her knees and very slowly opened her legs. Kassie's breath came in a combination of surprise and worry, but before self-consciousness could overcome her passion she forced herself to comply with his wishes. Far from unpleasant, it felt like opening her arms to embrace him. Nothing had ever felt more natural. No worry or fear, only an eager anticipation to have him kiss her there, now.
He made that snarling sound when she latched her fingers in his hair and pulled him to what she needed. He resisted, kissing up her inner thighs, first the left, then the right.
"Please, do it." The plea escaped her mouth in a trembling rush. Her hips rolled with the erotic wave pulsating in her bones. She pulled his head and he didn't deny her. His lips and tongue connected softly to her secrets and she cried out from the unexpected intensity.
Reality suspended for a second of startling clarity. Kassie was no shy virgin, having been with more men than she cared to admit even to herself, but nothing in her past had prepared her for Lyght. The joy his touch imparted was incomparable to the meager pleasure she'd managed to find before. Yes, he was an angel, but that wasn't the difference. With Lyght, her heart was involved.
"Oh God, Kassie…" The groaned words scorched her back into the haze of intensity he created in her and she pulled harder at his hair, wriggling against his mouth. "So good." His tongue swirled feverishly all over her, tiny rapid flicks of fire on her most sensitive flesh sent tremors through her muscles. He worked his fingers under her bottom to cradle her in his large hands so he could move her to the sensual rhythm he created with his mouth.
Kassie was there, that wonderful spot between time and space where all the tension Lyght had built within her body released in a cascade of spasms through her inner muscles. "Lyght! Yes, yes, oh my God yes!" Hot white sparks exploded in her body and mind, shooting her into some dimension she'd never known.
She cried out with abandon as her body trembled with the violent ecstasy
, fingers clenched tight in Lyght's hair, holding on to the only reality she knew. Lyght. All around her, in her. She tasted and smelled his unique scent, felt him inside her soul, his heart beating furiously in her ears.
Lyght cried out as if in pain and he was suddenly gone, no longer touching her.
Forgetting her nakedness Kassie jerked upright, heart pounding in terror. "What! What's wrong?" She quickly spotted him, arms and legs spread wide against the wall where he seemed somehow suspended. She flew off the bed and ran toward him.
"NO!" His roar rattled the entire room.
Kassie froze in her tracks as fear surged through her. He lowered his gaze to her chest and she immediately covered her breasts even as he clenched his eyes tight, growling. "What's wrong?" she whispered, her heart hammering wildly. Had she done something to hurt him?
"I might hurt you." He gasped. "I want you in a way…that you're not ready for."
What? "But…I am ready." More than ready.
Like the words spoke directly to his body, he growled and pulled against invisible restraints. He shook his head. "I'm not ready. Even if you are. I need…" he gritted his teeth, keeping his eyes closed. "I need to tell you why I'm here."
She stared at him, suddenly worried. "What-what do you mean? Is it…is it something bad? Bad news? Is…Sam okay? My daughter?"
His wind rushed out, a sound of relief. "Your daughter is fine. Toren, my Brother, is taking care of her."
"Your brother? Mr. Toren? He's…he's an…"
He opened his eyes and nodded. "An archangel, yes. The Mercury Warrior. I am Lyght, the Diamond Warrior."
Kassie put a hand over her mouth, accidentally revealing one of her breasts and Lyght thrashed against the restraints again, making her cover it back and wonder. "My breasts…repulse you?"
He didn't open his eyes, but an incredulous laugh spilled forth. "Kassie, sweetheart…" He finally gazed at her, chest heaving. "You are…more beautiful than I can stand. That is why I am holding myself back."
"You?" She pointed at him, then jerked her forearm back over her breast. "You're doing that?" He whispered his yes harshly and Kassie was suddenly stunned. Confused. Was he blind?
"You're the blind one sweetheart, I promise you this. And I don't ever promise."
She swallowed down the bubbly feeling threatening to make her laugh. She couldn't stop the smile though.
"Now, if you'll just please get dressed, and leave the room, I will be able to unpin myself from this wall."
She angled her head, looking. "How are you doing that, anyway?"
"I promise to explain it later, in great detail, if you do as I ask now."
She turned and quickly made her way to the bed. Apparently he liked her backside, judging by the loud growling that ensued. She peeked over her shoulder. "Stop looking then!"
"I'm bloody trying! You're asking me to stop smelling you and tasting you. I cannot, you're all over inside me and I want to devour you. I want to take you right here and now and make you mine in the most animalistic and dangerous way. I'm extremely unstable, an angel with infinite powers, and you, sweetheart, are merely a fragile human. So, help me and get. Dressed. Now."
The urgency in his tone hurried her up.
"Oh God, you're aroused again," he whispered.
She trembled as she put her clothes back on. "It's your fault," she whispered, incredulous. "You're doing this to me, I've never had a man say those things, want those things with me." Her heart pounded with a mixture of fear and exhilaration.
His thrashing grew more violent, his growls more ferocious.
"Now what did I do!" Just the thought that she, plain little old Kassie, could affect any man so much, let alone an angel, was just laughable.
"You're bloody needing me. I can't stand not answering your needs. Go!"
She flew to the door with her shirt in hand, heading for the bathroom, not caring if anyone saw her half naked. She had to do whatever he needed to help him.
"Don't!" His angry command cut through the air with physical force, stopping her in her tracks.
She jerked around. "What now?"
"Do not show another man what is mine!" Every delicious word reverberated through his chest and throat as a growl.
His possessive command took her breath away in another first. No man had ever considered her his except as something to control. Breathless, she put the shirt on, realizing she forgot to hide by the way he jerked his head away. "I'm done." She opened the door.
"Gather the others into the room near the kitchen. The living room? Please."
He sounded weak and worn. She wanted to go to him and kiss him, to take care of him. Would she ever be able to do that?
"Yes, love. You will. Soon."
He said that without turning to her. She nodded and shut the door, hurrying to gather the others as he said, while wondering what he was going to tell them. She'd thought he was there just to save her, with no idea there might be something beyond that. She scolded herself for the little jab of disappointment over the new development.
Chapter Eight
Miya stood at the counter with her plate while Lesedi sat at the table with the boy. He'd insisted she take the chair, but she'd managed to overrule him on that, at least. She occupied herself with a slice of bacon while she tried not to be too annoyed that the man who'd demanded they meet him was already fifteen minutes late and Kassie was nowhere to be found either. Besides that, Lesedi obviously knew at least some of what the man wanted to say but refused to even give a hint.
Fine then. She'd wait. But whatever kind of scam the guy was running wouldn't work on her. She wasn't one to fall for just any handsome face that showed up with a hard luck story. In fact, she looked forward to hearing his tale. She loved using logic to refute the lies those con artists came up with. This one would be no different from the dozens of others who'd showed up at the diner since she started working there, all wanting something from her or the other servers, or worse, Craig. That man didn't have the sense to say no in most cases and usually ended up giving them a free meal at the very least.
Hopefully Lesedi hadn't been taken in by the weird English guy's accent and decided to invest in some hare-brained scheme or something. Lesedi was a genuinely nice guy and she'd hate to see him taken advantage of.
While she fumed, Lesedi and the boy, Tyler, ate enthusiastically and chatted. Something about the boy appealed to the instinct that made her feed the stray cat. He looked lost and alone, even while he laughed at some silly remark Lesedi made. And his eyes. They were clear and gray and should sparkle with mischief but instead they were haunted and fearful, as if he'd seen something really bad and knew for a fact that thing was coming for him. What on Earth could put that look in a person's eyes?
Even children she'd seen who were abused didn't have quite that same look about them. Tyler looked like he'd seen the monster under the bed, up close and personal, and knew the night was coming again all too soon.
She fought the temptation to ask him about it. One class in child psychology at the community college didn't qualify her to dig into a kid's brain and try to slay his demons. It was enough for her to know she didn't have what it took to do that kind of work. She settled for refilling his milk and offering him a blanket when he shuddered with a sudden chill.
Miya washed the dishes she and Lesedi and Tyler dirtied and left the rest of the food in the warmer of her cook stove. Lesedi had enticed Tyler into the living room to see if they could find anything interesting on her TV.
Drying her hands, Miya considered what to do next. She really wanted to go back to her work table and see if Lesedi followed, but common sense prevailed. Even if he came along she couldn't do that in a houseful of people liable to walk in at any moment. A walk then? No doubt Tyler could use some fresh air and exercise. And maybe Lesedi would walk with them.
In the living room, she paused to eavesdrop on Tyler speaking softly to Lesedi. "And then we moved again, but my Grams and Paps got killed that time b
efore I started school. I didn't have any more relatives so they put me in the system."
Lesedi ran a hand over his close-cropped black hair, pausing briefly mid-way to signal Miya to silence. "What is that?"
"The system? It's what they do with kids nobody wants. You move from one house to another with other kids. Sometimes it's pretty good but mostly it's just not bad. And sometimes it's really bad." Tyler stopped a moment and studied Lesedi as if deciding how much to trust him. "My friend James was getting sent to one of the really, really bad houses, where the man uses boys like those men did Kassie. So we ran away. It was going good, too. Some kids that didn't have families were showing us what to do so we didn't get caught and put back in the system. But then James got sick. I didn't know what to do. You ever have a time when you didn't know what to do and every choice was a not-good one?"
Lesedi appeared to consider a moment, brow furrowed. "Yes, I have. I was scared." His hand on the back of the couch clenched into a fist. "What was wrong with James?"
"He stayed really hot but said he was cold, then he started throwing up and had the runs bad. When that stopped he couldn't walk by himself anymore. Tina, our friend, said for him to drink water and he'd get better, but when he did, he started throwing up blood. I got really scared that he might die. I called nine-one-one at a shop. I was going to leave when the ambulance guys took James to the hospital, but he was afraid and I couldn't leave him."
Lesedi nodded. "That was brave of you."
Tyler shook his head. "Maybe, but it was stupid too. At the hospital they were really nice, but they thought I might have the same germ James did so I let them test my blood. I didn't want to get sick like that. The next day they told me I wasn't sick and I couldn't stay there. They signed me over to a man who was supposed to take me back to the foster home. Only he took me to another place where they had a lot of kids, grown-ups too, that they'd kidnapped and were going to sell."
Summon Lyght (Archangels Creed) Page 7
