by Azure Boone
“But he stopped to help us.”
“Yes. He stopped because he planned to rob you. And your father would have resisted, allowing him to justify killing all of you. He'd have discovered he liked killing that day. But when your father gave him the fifty-four dollars, all the money in his wallet, for his kindness, he saw exactly what he needed to see.”
Sam busted out laughing. “Oh my God! I remember my mother having a shit fit about that and my dad saying he just felt compelled to. It was the last trip we took as a family. Just a few weeks later, she was gone.”
“Well your father was compelled that day.”
“By an angel?”
“Yes, Lauris pulled that one off.”
Sam shot another laugh. “I’ll say, must’ve been like pulling a heist at the tightest bank in town getting my father to do that.”
Toren smiled. “Not when Lauris showed him similarities between that man and the little brother who he’d lost when he was seventeen. Before you were born, your uncle was shot to death attempting to rob a small diner.”
“Ohhhh my Gosh.” She shook her head, looking in the rearview mirror. She gasped. “Shit, I forgot about Joe back there.”
Toren bit his lip to keep from laughing when she didn’t slow down.
“So wait, isn’t that like manipulation? What the angels did?”
“Of course.”
“Of course! And that’s…okay?”
“Yes, as long as it’s for one's good. He didn’t lie or twist his arm, he just reminded him and your father did what was right.”
“Giving all his money?”
“His angel suggested it was the thing to do. Seemed right to your dad in that moment. And it changed that man’s life.”
“So…is it always about that? I mean getting people to believe that there’s good?”
“It’s about keeping people alive long enough for them to suspect there is a God and suspect they need Him.”
“Just suspect?”
“Yes. We take it from there. When anybody gets to the point where they suspect those two things, then it’s a lot easier. But it’s the getting them to that point that can get messy.”
“Messy, huh?”
“As in we don’t interfere much. Unless it’s absolutely necessary to the getting them there plan. We can speed up the process and do many things that often are seen as merciless and cruel, but it’s merely us getting them where we can legally truly help them.”
“And that’s…knowing God.”
He chuckled. “Yeah. It’s kind of a requirement if you want to live in His universe, under His protection.”
“Wow! Just…fascinating.” She glanced at him several times with a worried look. “Are you supposed to be telling me all these secrets?”
“They’re not secrets to those like you.”
“Like me? I’m no saint.”
He took his time looking her over. “You believe?”
“Yeah, so?”
“That’s all that’s required.”
“Oh don’t tell me living right has nothing to do with that.”
“Okay, I won’t. You live by what you believe, that’s called faith and works. Your works match your faith.”
“But I don’t even know a lot of stuff about God.”
“You’re not judged according to what you don’t know, but what you do.”
Brief silence preceded her reply. “Well, whew on that one.”
“You’re so much more righteous than you realize. God is an impartial judge. No two souls are judged the same, every life is a unique fingerprint on the fabric of existence.”
“Oh. You’re damn sexy when you talk all poetic.”
Her scent that was still all over his face became a sudden distraction in his nostrils. “Mmm.” His helpful mercury replayed every single part of what he’d done to her just before they left. Tasting her, pleasuring her, hearing her cry out in that abandon…damn it made his soul sing.
The problem with that was the danger they were in. Those things torturing the cow would lead hell to her door and his damn mercury was too busy playing at something else to seem to care. He had to take control. His mercury never acted in opposition to any plan he’d partaken in, so having to try in any way was bizarre. He’d sent a message to Kassern about what happened and was waiting for the verdict of what to do.
“You’re quiet.” Her words were like heavenly silk.
“Just thinking.”
She seemed to get fidgety, glancing in the mirrors, adjusting her grip on the steering wheel. “About?” She fluttered a laugh. “I’m sure about the end of the world and finding or meeting your couple. Or those hellish animals back there—”
“I’m trying to think of those things.”
“I don’t know how in the world you wouldn’t be.”
“No you don’t.”
“Well…maybe you can tell me, I might be able to help? I mean I've got a good head on my shoulders when it comes to handling difficult situations, I could be useful.”
“I doubt it.” Toren felt the metals in her body slow with a slight depression. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like it sounded. I just…”
“Think I’m too girly for the tough stuff. I get that all the time.”
“Yes, I think you’re too girly for the tough stuff but not because I think you aren’t strong. I…”
Silence filled the cab for several seconds until her metals began to move in reverse. “Go on,” she said with a harder voice.
“I think I need to protect you.”
She gave a light snort. “You sound like that’s unusual.”
“It is. For me. I’m not a protector, I’m a warrior.”
“Well you’re a warrior that protects something. Might not be a woman but it’s something, what you believe in, same difference.”
He glanced at her unable to hold down a smile. She was beautiful in every way. “Maybe protect is the wrong word. Possess. I can’t stop thinking about making love to you. I need to bind your soul to mine as I bury myself in you.” He looked out the window. “I don’t want to do those things to the other things I’m protecting.”
The change in her body had occurred the second he’d said making love. Toren stifled a groan and cracked the window for air. “And then you do that.”
“Do what?”
Her anger mixed with her arousal and Toren opened the window more at the heady scent. The combination was lethal to him, made him want to pleasure her aggressively.
“What are you doing, it’s freezing.”
“I’m suffocating,” he muttered, honestly.
“Oh great, we just get started and I’m already suffocating you.”
“No Samantha.” He looked at her, amazed how she read every word he said in a negative light. “Your scent is suffocating me. You forget I can smell you, I wasn’t being romantic when I first told you that in the cabin.”
The scent of shame added into the mix and Toren rolled the window down the entire way.
“Now what? Does it…stink?”
He put his head out the window, breathing in the Samantha-free air. When he pulled it back in, the scent hit him full force. “God, no it doesn’t stink,” he gasped. “I feel like I’ve been starving for eternity and you’re the first meal I’ve ever had and it’s…it’s hard not to just devour you every time I’m near. And then you begin to emit these scents. Your arousal and anger combined drive me crazy and then you add shame into that mix and I am filled with a desperate need to show you how amazing you are, how much you mean…”
Wow, was he really saying all of those words out loud? Was he supposed to? Seemed normal, felt natural to him but what was normal for him was sure to not be for her. One glance at her confirmed the scent of her astonishment.
He shook his head. “Every single emotion you have smells differently. And you have…many and they all make me crazy to…”
Her arousal kicked up in
high gear and Toren’s phallus grew to the point of painful. He realized she thought he just meant she excited him physically and before he could consider if the words were okay to say to her, they blurted right out. “You make me crazy to love you. In every way.”
Her chemicals went nuts and he panicked until he realized what it was he was smelling and feeling. She loved him too. The idea staggered him in a near painful way. His mercury seemed…determined to dominate her in that second and the urgency in the way it raced made him nervous.
“You…okay?”
The ranch house came into view and Toren was ready to jump out the truck and walk the rest of the way. You’re the Mercury Warrior. Get a grip. She’s a human woman. “I’m good.”
“What other miracles?” Sam glanced at him several times as the ranch house finally came into view, wishing she had more time.
“Well there were those three dreams you had about the calico cat.”
Sam sucked in her breath. “I knew it! Oh my God I told daddy an angel told me and he never believed me.”
Toren gave her his sexy side grin that made her tummy tickle. “How couldn’t he believe a sweet baby girl like you?”
And there went her train of thought. Believe her about what? Oh yeah, the cat. “I cried so hard when he died. It meant I’d failed him, I knew.”
“You have to experience the miraculous before you can act on it usually.”
“Oh look, there’s your couple. Talk about falling out of the sky.” Sam pulled up next to the porch. “Make that your trio. Did you order three people?” Sam had her eye on the beautiful woman in freaking particular.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Great, a goddamn rodeo queen, just what I don’t need.” Sam threw the truck in park and Joe banged on the back glass. Sam craned her neck and met his you-maniac glare. He turned to Toren then promptly dissolved into a beaten mutt look. But Toren had his eyes forward and Sam’s stomach plummeted at the thought of him looking at another woman.
Toren suddenly leaned over, took Sam's face in one hand and turned it. Before she could wonder, he pressed his full lips softly to hers and moaned hungrily then pulled away. She watched with liquid limbs as he got out of the truck and walked toward the porch. She tried to figure out who he was aiming for but her eyes kept getting sidetracked by his super fine ass in those jeans. Lord thank you, thank you.
She climbed out, needing to see where his eyes roved, sure it’d be on the woman. Better not be. She wasn’t going to be treated like a nothing when a beautiful woman was around. Sam spied the first male on the porch…then the second in the shadows. The first one was quite appealing to the eye. Army cut hair, bright blue eyes. About all she could decipher from that distance. And the dynamite sized body—oh and camouflage pants? Okay, little GI Joe there. Not tall but no less a powerhouse of lean mean. Nothing gorgeous like her Toren. Oh good God, her Toren? She was so beyond hope now. All that was left was the ride and she could only hold on for dear life and pray her little love boat didn’t smash up against the rocks.
The third guy hung back in the shadows a bit. She could use all the help she could get, and she had no business being picky whatsoever.
“Looks like your little internet trick worked.” Sam turned in time to see Joe grab his head. “Aghhh.”
“Better go put some ice on that chin,” Toren muttered, continuing his walk toward their company with a lethal purpose in his step.
Sam remembered she lived there and needed to act like it. She hurried her own steps to introduce herself. “You guys are here to answer the ad?”
“I am.” The rodeo queen fluttered her fingers. Shit. She really was the damn rodeo queen from several years of state competition. What pot fucking luck.
“I believe I know you.” Sam stretched her hand for a shake.
The girl shook her hand and rattled off at the mouth. “Yeah, yeah, Skye Blue, that’s me, I’m trying to forget about it if you don’t mind.” Sam looked down at her the non-stop handshake. “I’m here for a job, and I’m praying you still have openings. I can cook, clean, train horses, care for animals, I can do diesel mechanics, I’m also proficient at working the land, I—”
“You were hired at cleaning.”
The woman let out a light gasp of relief and fluttered slender fingers through her long, just stepped out of the salon, brunette hair. If she didn’t like the reputation, then why the hell did the woman dress the part? “I'm actually Skylar Thomas. Sorry for being sarcastic but I've gotten sick of being thought of as a pretty airhead. I'm trying hard to live it down, but it’s been a rough few months.” Deep shadows in her eyes gave truth to her words. She nodded and eyed Toren with an appreciative gaze. “I was worried somebody would’ve filled the position.”
“Well, I’ve got a lot of sick men down. So, I can use all the help I can get.” Sam glanced at the guy just behind her, the army stud. “You here for the ad too, I assume?”
“Yes ma'am.”
He didn’t spout his resume like the woman had. “You good with anything?”
He cast his blue eyes down then bore them right into hers. “I’m good with anything.”
She nodded, not liking his vague attitude. But desperation said it was good confidence. “This is Toren and…” Sam looked around for Joe. “Guess he had to go. That was Joe, the guy just here. I’m Samantha, the owner of the ranch.” Sam looked at the third guy. “Excuse me sir? Are you here for the ad?”
He came forward in a strange scuttle kind of way, almost like he was nervous. “Yes'm. Here for the ad. I can work with horses n’ stuff. And cows n’whatnot.”
Okay, a dumb one but he seemed to pack plenty of horsepower. “Much appreciate you all answering my ad. You’ve come at a desperate time. Nearly every hand on the place is down with the flu and with the storm, there's plenty of extra work to do for a fit crew.”
“Maybe we can have a talk with them,” Toren cut in, looking at her. “Maybe we can talk back at the little shack I’m staying in?”
“Well, I was thinking we—”
“Good, we can all ride together, come up with a plan to save the ranch from…becoming run over with more catastrophe than it already has been.”
Oh yeah. Sam had forgotten about the whole angel coming to town down from heaven seeking out the human couple standing before her in order to save the world. Not her ranch. She struggled to shove twenty years of responsibility that had etched its way into her pores and psyche, telling herself that saving the world was just a tad more important.
“I’m ready when you are.” The determination in Skylar's voice seemed a little familiar, but Sam couldn't place it.
“And who are you?” Sam asked the army guy, realizing he hadn’t said.
“Ezekiel Beshara.”
Sam nodded and glanced at the dirty man off to the right with the greasy looking goldilocks. “Got a name?”
His dark eyes flitted all around and his mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. You’d think she’d asked him to recite the constitution before a huge audience. “Rufard. Ruffard Lam-Lam-berg.”
Sam looked at Toren. “Guess that’s that.” She looked at the three people. “You can hop in the truck, I just need to touch base here.”
“I’ll come to help.”
“It’s not necessary, I can—”
“I’m coming.” Toren seemed to realize his harshness and softened his voice a touch. “If you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.” She flicked her gaze over him then tossed a look over her shoulder. “Climb on in my junk bucket, we’ll be back in a moment.”
Sam went inside looking for her father with Toren on her heels. After not finding him in his office, she turned for the den and ran into Toren who caught her. “Sorry,” she muttered, trying to side step him.
“For what?”
He held on to her and she looked up at him. He stared down into her face and pulled her close to his hard body. She let out a l
ight gasp when her belly came into contact with his arousal. His lips descended and that skilled tongue snaked its way into the deepest recesses of her mouth. Sam had to grab hold of his neck to remain standing when dizziness hit. He held her jaw and groaned deep and long. “I want you so bad,” he whispered into her mouth. “I can’t stand it.”
Sam whimpered with her own need. “But…”
By the time she managed to use her mouth for words, he’d managed to open a door and usher her inside it. The downstairs bathroom. Okay.
His easily undid her jeans and hunger erupted in her blood. Again he dropped to his knees and slid them down to her ankles and off her feet. He moaned, staring right at her sex, stroking it softly with his fingers before lifting one of her legs onto his shoulder. Instead of pressing his mouth to her like she expected, he slid his finger inside her then looked up at her. Sam’s mouth remained open in shocked pleasure as he meandered his finger all over inside her, stopping on that spot that made her lose strength in her legs and cry out.
“Yes,” he whispered, watching her face a few more seconds. “Undo your shirt for me. Hurry.”
While she complied with shaky fingers, he leaned in and slid his tongue between her folds to flick over her clit. Sam gasped watching his tongue, so perfectly nestled inside her folds.
“Oh God, Toren.”
He flicked his finger fast inside her and she grabbed his head with both hands and pressed him to her. She moved her hips so that he had better access to her clit then began rocking on his mouth.
It didn’t take her long to reach her point of orgasm and Toren moaned and grunted his approval as she grew more vocal from the amazing pleasure.
He reached up to her breasts and fingered her nipple sending bolts of heat straight to her clit and her body into orbit. Sam grabbed hold of the counter, gasping and shuddering on his mouth, shocked with how damn good he did that.
“Stand up,” she gasped.
He did and kissed her. Tasting herself on him was strange and yet exhilarating. She worked his jeans open and pushed him up against the far wall before dropping to her knees and sliding his jeans to his ankles. Not bothering to take them off, she took hold of his massive erection and began making slow love to the swollen head with her lips and tongue. Toren’s fingers gripped her head, moving her along him. It felt amazing to have him do that. The sounds of pleasure coming from his sexy mouth and body were just out of this world. His every groan sounded excruciating and shocking. Made her insane.
