“You don’t punish the angels as you were punished.” Another step.
He rose to his full height and glared down at her, his black wings stretched wide, spanning the room and fluttering like smoke.
“It does not change anything,” he said, his tone gruff and dark.
Nina shook her head. “It changes everything. You changed everything. You said that yourself. You seized power and changed things here. You might have embraced the darkness, but it doesn’t rule you, Lucifer. I’ve seen the good in you. You’re not heartless.”
His shoulders dipped and his handsome face softened, the red in his eyes fading.
“I am,” he whispered, raised his hand towards her as his eyebrows furrowed and swept his fingers downwards through the air, as if stroking her cheek. “I was heartless from the moment I met you. You stole it from me.”
Nina’s lips curved into a soft smile and she stepped close enough to him that he could touch her cheek as he clearly needed to. He brushed his fingers across it as she continued walking, his head dipping to keep his eyes locked on hers.
She pressed her hand to his black breastplate, tilted her head back and smiled up at him. “You have a heart.”
He opened his mouth and she lifted her right hand and pressed her finger to his lips to silence him.
“You have my heart.”
Warmth flooded his golden eyes and she heated inside, feeling light as he gathered her into his arms and pressed a kiss to her fingertip.
“You are not lying,” he whispered against it and she was tempted to chastise him for still wanting to doubt her, but she let it go instead.
She could understand why he couldn’t accept the heart she was offering him, her love and devotion, and that it was going to take him time to overcome the doubts that lived within him, born of his position and his past.
She would give him that time and she would make him understand. She would keep showing him that she loved him and wanted to be with him. She would show him every day that her feelings for him were true, until the day that he believed her, and beyond.
She would never stop showing him.
Nina slid her arms around his neck, locked her hands behind his head, and tiptoed as she lured him down to her.
She pressed her lips to his and he tensed, going still for a heartbeat before he responded. He curled his arms around her back, grabbed her bottom, and raised her up him. His mouth claimed hers, the ferocity of his kiss melting her and tearing a moan from her lips.
He pulled back from her, his golden eyes searching hers, flooded with hope and affection that brought a smile to her lips and only made her want to kiss him again.
She placed her hands against his cheeks, held his gaze, and lost herself in it.
She wasn’t afraid of him or what she was doing. She felt certain that this was where she belonged, that this was her destiny, and that she would be happiest here. She wanted no part of Lucifer’s duties, but she understood that he had to carry them out. He was part of the balance in the world.
A world that she was going to bring a child into with him.
It still sounded crazy to her.
But it was the best sort of crazy and she wouldn’t change it.
“You’re going to be a wonderful father,” she whispered and his expression softened, bringing a smile back onto her lips.
He began to smile but it wavered, and a trace of fear entered his eyes. She shook her head but it didn’t stop that fear from taking root and spreading. Nina smoothed her palms over his cheeks and stroked his black hair, needing to soothe him. She didn’t want to think about what might happen. She wanted the next nine months with him to be heaven, not spent living in fear.
“You’ll never let anything bad happen to me.” She ran her fingers through his hair, sure of that in her heart.
Resolve vanquished the fear in his eyes. “And what makes you say that, Little Mortal?”
“Because you like me.” Nina was beginning to think that meeting Erin had unleashed her playful side, the one that had been dormant for nearly a decade, because she couldn’t stop teasing him now that she knew he responded to it so wonderfully.
He stared at her in silence. “Like?”
She nodded. He frowned and turned with her, walking towards the four-poster bed.
“I do not think like is the right word.” A flicker of mischief shone in his eyes and she had to force herself not to smile as the heavy air in the room lifted, becoming lighter and warmer with each step he took and each inch further he relaxed.
“Oh, it isn’t?” She wrinkled her nose up and wrapped her legs around his waist. “Adore then. You adore me.”
He shook his head, set one knee down on the bed and laid her down on it. He braced his hands on either side of her shoulders, his gaze tender as he looked down at her.
“I believe the word you are looking for is love.” He went to dip his head to kiss her.
Nina pressed her palms to his chest. “Love?”
He nodded, his golden eyes sincere and filled with that emotion. “I love you.”
It was her turn to stare at him. She hadn’t actually thought he would come out and say it.
He grinned wickedly, dropped his head and kissed her hard.
Nina moaned into his mouth, arched her body up to press into his, and pulled him down against her. He groaned and rolled with her, bringing her up on top of him, and her eyes widened as cool air washed over her.
She was naked.
She pressed her hands to his chest.
His bare chest.
Heat spread through her, turning her blood to fire as only he could and making her burn for him. She had the feeling that there were some powers he had that she would come to love.
The ability to make clothing disappear being top of that list.
She leaned into him and kissed him as he wrapped his arms around her, clutching her to him in a way that said that now he had her he was never going to let her go. She held on to him, showing him that she wasn’t going anywhere. She was staying right here with him.
Because he was her home.
And she knew that she was his.
Fate had made their paths cross and they walked a new one now, towards a future they both wanted with all of their hearts.
The End
Thank you!
Thank you for reading Her Sinful Angel and I hope you enjoyed it.
When you've finished reading Dark and Damaged, please consider leaving a review for the boxed set. Reviews help other readers make decisions about books and I really appreciate every review my books receive.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author who writes passionate paranormal romance books. In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons!
If you're a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter, Larissa Ione and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too.
If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, her best-selling Her Angel romance series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm romance series or any of her stand alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try her Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series. Or if you like hot-blooded alpha heroes who will let nothing stand in the way of them claiming their destined woman then try her new Eternal Mates series. It’s packed with sexy heroes in a world populated by elves, vampires, fae, demons, shifters, and more.
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BOOKS BY FELICITY HEATON
Eternal Mates Romance Series
Book 1: Kissed by a Dark Prince
Book 2: Claimed by a Demon King
Book 3: Tempted by a Rogue Prince
Book 4: Hunted by a Jaguar
Book 5: Craved by an Alpha
Book 6: Bitten by a Hellcat
Book 7: Taken by a Dragon
Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series
Book 1: Covet - FREE
Book 2: Crave
Book 3: Seduce
Book 4: Enslave
Book 5: Bewitch
Book 6: Unleash
Her Angel Romance Series
Book 1: Her Dark Angel - FREE
Book 2: Her Fallen Angel
Book 3: Her Warrior Angel
Book 4: Her Guardian Angel
Book 5: Her Demonic Angel
Book 6: Her Wicked Angel
Book 7: Her Avenging Angel
Book 8: Her Sinful Angel
Vampires Realm Romance Series
Book 1: Prophecy: Child of Light - FREE
Book 2: Prophecy: Caelestis & Aurorea
Book 3: Prophecy: Dark Moon Rising
Book 3.1: Spellbound
Book 3.5: Reunion
Book 4: Seventh Circle
Book 5: Winter's Kiss
Book 6: Hunter's Moon
Book 7: Masquerade
Book 8: Hunger
Books 1-3 are also available in one anthology ebook: Prophecy Trilogy
In Heat Romance Series
Book 1: In Heat
Book 2: In Heat: Mating Call
Stand alone paranormal romance books
Blood and Snow
Love Immortal
Ascension
Forbidden Blood
Heart of Darkness
Vampire for Christmas - FREE
The Resurrection of Sam Sloan
by Erin Quinn
When a reaper is trapped in Maggie’s estranged husband’s body, she knows only that the man with her husband’s eyes feels like a stranger... a compelling, seductive stranger who touches her in ways her treacherous husband never could. She wants to trust him, but what about the ghost who haunts their home, implicating him in a gruesome murder...
Table of Contents for THE RESURRECTION OF SAM SLOAN
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
About the Author
Other Books by Erin Quinn
CHAPTER 1
The Reaper tucked himself in shadow at the back of the room, waiting. It wouldn’t be long. Already the rattle of death chased the breath from the body of the man in the bed. Already the grim shade of mortis leached the life from his pallor. Sadly, he wouldn’t regain consciousness before it was time to take him.
Unconsciousness stole the thrill from the reaping.
In the past few hours, nurses and the occasional doctor had bustled in and out of the room, checking vitals, offering sympathetic smiles to the woman sitting on the chair beside him. The soon-to-be widow.
A pretty thing, she stared at her dying husband with glazed eyes. No weeping; no rejoicing. The Reaper had seen both in equal measures from other widows, but this one seemed to fall somewhere in the middle. Not yet ravaged by grief; far from elated to be free of him.
She leaned back and stretched, groaning wearily as her strained joints creaked and her reluctant muscles gave way. Her shirt pulled tight over her breasts, the hem rising to flash a strip of pale flesh at her belly. Both drew his attention, until an exhausted sound pulled his gaze to her full lips, opened on a yawn. Her teeth were small and white, her tongue pink.
For time untold, the Reaper had moved in the world of humans, but rarely did he notice such mundane things as eyes or noses or lips and tongue ... On this one he did. Her eyes were a peculiar shade of blue and green. Startling, like the woman herself.
The female stilled and her gaze moved slowly around the room, lingering for a moment too long on the corner where he stood.
Did she sense him?
“I don’t know why I’m surprised to see you here,” she said finally.
The Reaper stilled. Did she see him? She wouldn’t be the first human to do so. He leaned forward eagerly.
“I think some part of me always knew.”
Her gaze moved on and an odd disappointment filled him. Now, she stared at the silent man in the bed. The bandage on his head had been changed recently, but still it seeped over the wound the bullet had left.
“It was that dangerous edge that attracted me in the first place.” She laughed. “I’m such an idiot.”
Her head hung forward, and she sniffed before reaching for her dying husband’s hand. “I want to be sad right now.” She shook her head. “I mean, I am sad. But I’m not grieving. I’m not that much of a hypocrite. Hard to believe, right? After all these months of denial. I just thought ... You know me. Always looking for the fairy tale. I never quit hoping. But you broke my heart.”
She fell silent and once again her gaze strayed, finding the Reaper in his corner. Pausing for a drawn moment before moving on.
“I hope there’s a better place for you, Sam. One where you can figure your shit out. I’d tell you not to worry about the kids, but if you’re in there, I’m pretty sure that’s not your top concern. I know they’re not my children, but I’ll take care of them if Janet will let me. Now that you’re ...” Her voice hitched. She cleared her throat. “She’ll try to take them, and I don’t know how I’ll stop her.”
The monitor beside his bed bleeped. The woman sniffed and looked up, dark brows pulled. Anxiously, her gaze shifted from the monitor to the man.
The time was near.
The machine made another strident sound and a nurse rushed in, checked something on the display, looked for a pulse, opened one of his eyes. Her expression said it all.
“I’ll get the doctor, Maggie,” she told the woman before hurrying from the room without an explanation.
Maggie. Her name was Maggie.
Maggie stared at the man again, the blues and greens darkening in her fascinating eyes as she came to her feet.
The Reaper stepped from his corner and moved to the bed. Maggie’s gaze jerked to the corner and tracked back until it rested on him once again.
Do you see me? he breathed.
Her nostrils flared and a breath hitched somewhere in her chest just as two men in white coats hustled into the room. A different nurse followed, this one bigger than the first and all business. No sympathetic smile was given as she took Maggie’s arm and moved her out of the way.
“Mrs. Sloan,” the nurse said, “You might want to step out.”
Maggie shook her head. “I’ll stay.”
The nurse gave a curt nod, and Maggie moved to the end of the bed where she could see without hindering their efforts. She didn’t ask what was going on. Nor did she sob the usual, will he be okay? Samuel Franklin Sloan was going to die. She knew it as well as the Reaper did.
The doctors conversed in sharp tones, and the nurse bust
led about efficiently. Maggie simply watched with that angry, mournful stare. The Reaper moved to stand beside her. Up close, her eyes shimmered with tears she was either too proud or too hurt to shed. She had long, dark hair that fell in a silky cloud to just below her shoulder blades. He touched it, wishing for the first time that he had the same senses as humans. Wishing he could feel the glossy strands.
She caught her breath and looked right at him once more. Her pulse beat a hard and erratic tempo at the base of her throat. Her eyes widened, the kaleidoscope of blues and greens mixing and changing. Her skin looked like pearl, her lips so soft he wanted to touch those, too.
The machines beeped frantically, drawing her back into the unfolding drama. The doctors began administering emergency measures, and two more nurses rushed in to assist. Maggie watched it all with an impassive expression, but he saw the panic she couldn’t hide. He felt the bitter desperation, the guilt-ridden relief that it would soon be over.
It was time, but suddenly the Reaper wasn’t ready to see the interlude end. One of the nurses pulled the blanket off the man, unveiling his inert, muscular body and tugging down the gown so it bunched at his waist. Even in death, he appeared strong, a big man with broad shoulders and a solid chest. Someone pushed a cart in the room, and Maggie shifted to the side to let them by.
She was almost touching him now.
The temptation to bridge that gap became a seed, a sprout, then a vine that wrapped around him and choked out any thought to resist. In the moment of reaping, when he and the reaped would be one, he might touch her. He might feel her.
The Reaper shrouded himself in death and moved over Samuel Sloan, seeping beneath his skin to the soul that had brought this woman such complex pain. The man’s brain still controlled his failing organs, still commanded his slowly beating heart and forced his weakened lungs to inflate, but his consciousness, that which made him the human, Sam Sloan, had long since ceased. The Reaper gathered up his soul and held tightly, emerging with just one goal.
Dark and Damaged: Eight Tortured Heroes of Paranormal Romance: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set Page 62
