by Beverly Rae
“You’re beautiful. So pink. So ripe. I can’t wait to taste you again.”
She felt the heat rush to her cheeks and she spread her legs farther apart. He kissed her mons, then trailed his tongue over the sensitive skin between her leg and pussy. Keeping her exposed, he drove his tongue inside her pussy.
He rubbed his thumb over her clit, shooting spears of lust outward. The sounds of him licking her, drinking her juices, caused her to spiral into even higher heights of pleasure, and the first orgasm exploded to send shudders into her body.
Tanner pressed his mouth to her pussy lips and flattened his tongue against her. She bucked, her fingernails scraping the surface of the desk.
“Oh-oh-oh.”
He held her and pushed her legs even wider. He lashed his tongue into her pussy, then added his fingers. She clamped around him, loving what he was doing to her yet wanting to feel him inside her.
“Tanner. Please.” Her words came out in puffed breaths.
He rose, his eyes black and gleaming. Her gaze fell to his engorged cock and she shivered. Taking his enormous shaft in hand, he positioned himself at her pussy.
“I didn’t intend to do this. I just needed to see that you were all right.”
Was he going to stop now? She gaped at him, then shook her head. “Tanner, if you don’t fuck me I’ll never forgive you.”
Surprise and delight mixed together to form a bemused expression on his face. Then, without warning, he grew serious. “I don’t think I could stand that.”
“Then do it. Now.”
He plunged into her, driving her body over the desk. Grabbing her legs, he steadied her, pulled back, then drove into her again.
Hilly cried out as she slid over the cool desktop. Again, she reached to find something to hold on to. He slammed his cock inside her, pushing the limits of her vaginal walls.
She inhaled and matched her thrusts with his. She flattened her palms on the desk and lifted her hips, and he rammed into her harder than before, this time driving even deeper.
The curve of his mushroomed cap struck her sweet spot. She shouted as the release barreled through her. She fondled her breasts, her breath coming in puffs with each of his thrusts.
He leaned over her to take her nipple into his mouth. His hair swirled around his face, the tips of it tickling her chest in a soft black rain. Her mewls of pleasure mixed with his groans, and they rocked together, sweat mixing between them.
Wave after wave of orgasm shook her. She took hold of his shoulders and held on. When he tensed, she knew he’d reached the pinnacle, and she held him as his climax roared to life.
Tanner rested on top of her for several minutes. His chest pushed against hers as she sucked in each breath, and although he was heavy, she couldn’t bring herself to make him move.
“Damn it.”
She froze, surprised by his words. “I’m sorry?”
Tanner groaned as he lifted off her. His arm muscles rippled as he pulled her to a sitting position, then placed a hand to her cheek. “Like I said, this isn’t why I came to see you.”
She narrowed her eyes at his growing smile. “You’re not saying you regret what just happened, are you?”
The smile grew into a grin. “Hell, no.” He bent to pull up his slacks, then retrieved the rest of their clothes.
She slipped on her T-shirt, not bothering with her bra, then stood to tug on her slacks. Why did she feel like a “but” was coming next? She turned her face away from his, unable to stand seeing rejection in his eyes. “Then what?”
“Hilly.” He took her shoulders and forced her to look at him. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m thrilled we made love. It’s just… Well, I’m afraid you won’t feel the same once I tell you what I have to tell you.”
She swallowed the lump forming in her throat. “You mean there’s more? You told me you’re part demon. How much more can there be?” She took a deep breath. “Just spit it out, okay? Say what you came to say.” She shook his hands off and prepared herself for whatever he told her.
“My mother’s the one who sent you the nightmare.”
“But why? And how do you know she’s responsible?”
He braced himself, pulling his body taller. “I know because she’s done it before. She doesn’t want us to be together.”
She inhaled, remembering Tanner’s words to the monster. “Is that what happened to Mira?”
Startled, he stared at her as though trying to decide whether to tell her more. “How do you know about her?”
“You said her name in the nightmare when you fought the monster.”
Pain came and went in his silver-blue eyes. “Mira was the first woman I ever cared for. But my mother couldn’t stand our being together because she was human. So she sent Mira nightmares to drive her away.”
“But how can a nightmare keep two people who care about each other apart?”
“They can if they drive the woman insane.”
“Insane? Oh, Tanner, no.”
His shoulders slumped forward as he dragged a hand through his hair, and she ached to soothe his anguish. “The nightmares came every night. And every night they grew more terrifying than the night before. Mira couldn’t handle them, couldn’t understand that they were only nightmares.”
He shook his head, the struggle to relive that awful time showing in the tightening of his face. “She believed there was only one way to make the horror stop.” He dragged in a slow breath.
Alarm stiffened her body and, for a moment, she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the rest. Yet she had to. “I don’t mean this the way it sounds, but why didn’t you try to help her?”
He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth before looking at her again. “I wasn’t around. My mother had sent me away on business.”
“So you couldn’t save her like you saved me?”
“No. Before I knew what was going on, Mira was dead.”
Chapter Seven
“Are you all right? You look a little pale.” Tanner shouldn’t care what she thought. Had never cared before—except with Mira. Yet the truth cut through him. As much as he wished he didn’t want Hilly, he did. More than he’d wanted Mira.
“She’s trying to do the same thing to me?” Hilly swallowed, then pulled her body straighter.
He clenched his fists. Could he keep her safe from his mother? Or would he fail again? Whatever the outcome, he had to try. “Yes. But I won’t let her hurt you. Can you trust me on this?”
“I trust you.” She frowned at him, confusion etching lines into her brow. “But what about your father? Can he help?”
He smiled, giving her a true, sincere smile. Funny how she made him smile like that so often. “Maybe it’ll help you understand once you realize my father was kicked out of heaven at the time he met my mother.”
“So your father’s a fallen angel?”
“Not any longer. But he was when my mother got her claws into him.”
“What did he do so wrong to get kicked out?” she whispered.
He chuckled, but what came out was a mirthless sound. “My father was once a guardian angel. A little girl, a girl about Emma Grace’s age, wasn’t supposed to die in a car accident. But because my father got distracted, he missed saving her. She died well before her time.”
“Oh, no.”
He could feel the horror gripping her heart and sighed. “My father was grief-stricken and ashamed. He was so despondent that he asked to leave heaven and The Powers Above agreed.”
“Then he met my mother.” He couldn’t help the anger in his tone.
She didn’t let his words pass. “I know she’s a demon, but she’s still your mother.”
“I love my mother.” He stared at her, willing her to understand. “But I hate her, too. Even by demonic standards, she’s a truly evil being.”
They sat for a few minutes, each perched on the edge of the desk, each mulling over the conversation. Tanner glanced at her and wondered if she regretted what they’d done. “
My mother seduced my father and got pregnant on purpose.”
“Do you think maybe she chose your father to have a baby with because she saw the good in him? Maybe she wanted someone better than her to be her child’s father.”
He cupped her face, amazed at her capacity to see the best in people, even a creature as vile as his mother. “No. She had sex with him thinking it would hurt him more than living among humans. She thought it would damn him to hell.”
“But you said he isn’t a fallen angel any longer.” Hilly’s face lit up with hope. “Is he redeemed? Did heaven take him back?”
Where it had taken him months to tell Mira the truth, Hilly had managed to get him to talk about his parents in a matter of days. He took a big breath, happy to tell the good part of the story.
“My father saved an airplane full of people. Several demons tried to knock the plane from the sky, but my father risked everything, his own eternity to save them. For such a courageous act, he was allowed back into heaven with full angel status.”
“You sound very proud of him and you should be. He’s a hero.”
Damn, but he loved the way her blue eyes sparkled. “No, he’s not a hero. He’s an angel. Saving lives is what they do.”
“Still… But what about you? What did your father think about your mother getting pregnant?”
Tanner paced to the door, turned and faced her again. The way she looked at him, so open, so caring made him lose his thoughts for a moment. “She never told him about me until I was in my teens.”
“So she raised you without letting your father know? Did she tell you who he was?”
He shook his head and snickered. “She told me I was the son of the devil himself.”
She made a choking sound, and her hand went to her throat. “What a bit—” She backed away from finishing her sentence, regrouped and straightened her shoulders. “And what did you do?”
“I was stupid enough to approach the Big Evil Dude myself. Which, by the way, I suggest you never do. After he laughed himself to tears, he threw me in a hole and let me stay there along with a few gargoyles, snakes and ghouls. Trust me. It was not the way I wanted to spend my sixteenth birthday. Hell, my sixteenth year.”
She was in his arms before he realized she was moving toward him. “Damn him. I wish I could punch his lights out.”
She couldn’t have said anything better. He let loose a laugh that came all the way from the bottom of his belly. “So you’d punch his lights out, huh?” He took her by the arms and pulled her away from him. “I bet if anyone could, it’d be you. But just so you know, I don’t think you should try it.”
She touched his lips, then drew him into a kiss. Her lips tasted sweeter than ever, her body warm next to his and, for the first time in longer than he could remember, he felt safe, secure, and nothing short of…loved.
A rumble, low and growing louder, echoed up from the floor below them. He broke the kiss, thrusting Hilly away from him.
“What’s the matter?” She gaped at him, then glanced at the floor. Tremors shook the wooden floor. “What’s going on?”
“It’s my mother.” Rage, cold and clear, swept over him. No. He wouldn’t let her rob him of the peace he’d found in Hilly’s arms. But he had to keep her safe first.
“Your mother?”
“I’ll get in touch with you soon. I promise.”
“Wait. What’s going—”
But he was already out the door and racing down the hallway before he could hear the end of her question.
“So you and Tanner hooked up?”
“Meg, you know how much I hate the phrase ‘hooked up’,” Hilly chided, pulling out her sister-who-is-more-like-your-mother card.
Allie and Meg exchanged a look and crowded next to her on the sofa, one on either side of her, and bumped into her. “Hey, watch it. You almost made me spill my drink on my brand-new couch.”
Meg squinted at her with the suspicious expression Hilly knew so well. “Go ahead and spill away. But while you’re at it, spill the juicy details, too.”
“You had drinks with the man. Then, according to Shana, he showed up at the bakery. We know that much at least.” Allie ignored her phone’s incessant chiming. She finally picked it up, checked who was calling, then clicked it off. “I’ll call Tom back later. This is more important.”
“But maybe it’s about Emma Grace.” Hilly adopted a worried attitude, although she knew it wouldn’t fool her sisters.
“Emma Grace is with Tom’s mother, and I know she’s fine.”
Meg slapped Hilly on the arm. “Stop trying to change the subject. We want to know everything about the handsome Mr. Tanner Cage. Where’s he from? What does he do for a living? Is he good in bed? You know. All the pertinent deets, sis.”
Hilly studied her drink. Anything to keep from looking at her sisters. Who knew what Meg might sense? “I didn’t say anything about getting into bed with him, did I? Besides, I really don’t know him well. I just met the man.”
“Yeah, you met him in the bushes.” Allie’s eyes grew wide. “Did he figure out that you were masquerading as Emma Grace’s twin?”
Hilly squirmed, hating the feeling of being penned in, both literally and figuratively. Truth was, she needed to tell someone and who else would she tell besides her sisters?
“Yes, he did.”
“Wow.” Allie was awestruck.
Hilly lifted her gaze to find Allie shooting Meg a questioning look. “Yes, yes. I know what you two are thinking. He has to have powers to have guessed.”
Meg took Hilly’s drink, set it on the coffee table, then took her hands. “The man is supernatural. I got as much off him when we found you two in the hallway. So I was right, wasn’t I?”
“Yes.”
Allie’s gasp matched Meg’s exclamation. “Then what is he? I know he’s not a warlock. I would’ve sensed it. But what is he? A sorcerer? I’ve never felt a presence like his. Tell me what he is.”
“He’s not a warlock or sorcerer. He’s not a vampire or a shifter, either.”
“Thank goodness for small mercies,” quipped Allie. “But all we know is he’s very handsome and sexy as hell.”
Hilly could hear Tanner’s words as she repeated them. “Well, now that you mentioned hell…”
Meg sat back, releasing her hands. “Oh, this does not sound good.”
Allie hadn’t caught up with Meg. “What doesn’t sound good? What’s going on, Meg? What do you know? Why am I always the last one to find out?”
“I hope I don’t know anything.” Meg leaned forward, making Hilly look at her. “What is he? A ghoul? Or worse?” She pulled away, her body stiffening. “Please don’t tell me he’s a demon.”
Allie’s hand flew to her mouth. Meg narrowed her eyes at her older sister. “Hilly? We need to know the truth.”
She should’ve known Meg would hit close to the mark. “He’s not a demon.” Hilly paused to let her white lie sink in.
“Whew, what a relief.” Allie giggled. “A demon. Can you imagine our sweet Hilly messing around with a demon? How creepy.”
Hilly closed her eyes, summoned her courage, then blurted out her confession. “He’s not a demon. At least, not a full demon.”
“Not a full demon?” Allie looked at Hilly, her big eyes wide with fear.
“He’s only part demon. But being part demon isn’t so bad, is it? It’s not like being a real evil-is-my-middle-name type of demon, right?”
Allie was on her feet and moving to the other side of the room. Repeating the word demon over and over, she finally fell into the chair facing the couch and placed her face in her hands.
Hilly searched Meg’s face and found a sense of dread. “Remember, there are some who think witches are bad. And I doubt many people would’ve liked the idea of knowing a succubus. So see? Being part demon isn’t so awful, right? Right?”
She waited for her sister to respond but got nothing. “What are you thinking, Meg?”
“I’m wondering w
hat the other part of him is.” Meg bit her lip. “Who has a child with a demon anyway? Certainly not anyone good. I mean, it’s not like a being of good would ever couple with a demon, which rules out people like white-lighters or angels.”
Hilly tried to cover, but knew Meg saw the wince she made. “Well…”
Meg’s mouth dropped open. “Holy hell, Hilly. Which is it? A white-lighter or an angel?”
“An angel.”
“No!” both her sisters exclaimed at once.
“You’re kidding. It’s not possible.” Meg sat back, crossed her arms and glared at her. “No angel would ever have a child with a demon. It’s just not possible.”
“Think again.” Irritation whipped into Hilly and gave her the strength to hold her head high. Besides, what had she done wrong? Met a sexy man and had a little fun? Hadn’t her sisters told her to get out more and meet someone?
Allie’s voice dropped to a whisper. “But Hilly, angels hate demons and the other way round. How could this happen?”
“You’re talking about a fallen angel, aren’t you?”
Hilly nodded at Meg. “Tanner’s father was a fallen angel at the time his mother met his father. After she seduced him, he was able to redeem himself and return to heaven.”
“But if he knew about the child, why didn’t he take him to heaven with him? Surely, they would’ve allowed a blameless child in.”
Leave it to Allie to believe in the best outcome, thought Hilly. “His father didn’t know about him until Tanner was in his teens.”
“Wow.”
“Stars and moon. Who would’ve ever guessed?”
Hilly let her sisters digest the information, then took the next step. “I’m going to see him again.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Meg bolted to her feet. “You can’t see this, this, whatever the hell he is. He’s part demon, and you’re as good as they come. Maybe even as good as an angel. Hilly, he’ll use you, then leave you brokenhearted and alone.”
Hilly clenched her fists and kept her tone level. “I’m just having a little fun. No one said anything about falling in love. This is what you two wanted, remember?”
