My Paranormal Valentine: A Paranormal Romance Box Set

by Michelle M. Pillow

  The grip of the gun weighed heavy in my palm. I slipped my finger onto the trigger. My attacker would be a therianthrope. He or she would be faster and stronger than me. I hoped I could pull the gun out and get a shot off before the creature could get to me.

  A rattling noise convinced me I had to try. I pulled the weapon out in a not so smooth motion. It tangled on the pillow case, but I managed to toss the pillow to the floor and raise the gun. I squeezed the trigger.

  Nothing happened.

  I tried to squeeze again, but it was like the damn trigger was stuck. Shit! The large shadow of the intruder moved against the wall. I tried to shoot it again. But still, the trigger wouldn’t move. Fear gripped at my throat, choking my breath while my heart pounded in my ears, my hands shaking so bad I could barely keep hold of the useless fucking weapon.

  The light came on. I screamed and smacked the gun against my hand to unjam whatever was jammed. When that didn’t work, I threw it toward my would-be attacker. He ducked as the gun bounced harmlessly off the wall.

  “Sunny!”

  I’d been afraid to really look until I’d heard my name. “Babel?” Jeezus H. Christ and all twelve of his disciples. “I could have shot you!” I panted trying to control the anxiety attack moving into full-blown hyperventilation. “What the hell are you doing here? You scared the shit out me!” Which I was hoping wasn’t true, but I would have to check myself later.

  He’d already moved closer to me and the bed, his eyes on the gun. “Those things work better when the safety’s off.”

  Well, duh. My cheeks were hot with embarrassment. So much for my first time at playing Rambo. “How did you get in?” He’d obviously forgotten the whole “screw you” and “get out” moment we’d had this morning.

  “I have keys, remember? Besides, Eldin said it was okay.”

  “Oh. Well.” I huffed. “If Eldin says it’s okay, then it must be okay!” If Deputy Connelly thought Sheriff Taylor was scary, just wait until Farraday got a foot up his ass from me. I wore high heels, and I would make sure those bitches hurt. That man would be lucky if he’d be able to sit by the time I was finished. He’d have to stand just to take a crap after I was done.

  I held out my hand. “Keys. Now.”

  Babel sighed. “I made a promise to watch over you, Sunny. That’s all I’m trying to do. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Yes, I’d been scared, but one thought prevailed in my head, what if I’d shot him? What if I’d been responsible for hurting or even killing Babel?

  “Stupid, stupid man.” I was shaking all over now. I think I’d had a big enough shot of adrenaline to burn all the calories I’d eaten earlier. Fear was not a diet plan, I reminded myself.

  “Can I stay?” he asked.

  “You can’t. We can’t.” It wasn’t even the anger talking at this point. It was defeat. Sheila was a cow, but I wouldn’t be in a tag-team relationship with her and Babel.

  Babel’s gaze snapped to mine. He looked stricken. “Why? I don’t understand why you keep pushing me away?”

  There were a couple of ways I could go with this question. He was too young. Too my-best-friend’s-brother. Too man-beast. I decided to go with the most honest response. The real reason I couldn’t give in to my attraction to him. “I can’t be the other woman.” Why, oh why did I want him to hold me? Because I felt vulnerable and scared and sad. This too would pass. We would both move on with our lives, but I didn’t think time or distance would ever be able to heal my heart.

  “You can’t be the what?” His shoulders rounded as he leaned forward. “What in the world are you talking about?”

  He was close enough to touch now. All I needed to do was reach out. I hated that my entire being wanted his entire being. I scooted up the bed to put more inches between us. “You know. I’ve been cheated on. I can’t do that to someone else, even if that someone is the spawn of evil.”

  Babel looked even more confused, if possible. “Are you talking about Sheila?” Okay, so maybe he wasn’t so confused. Just clueless.

  “No. I’m talking about Demi Moore.” Gah! I threw up my hands. “Yes, I’m talking about Sheila. You know, your girlfriend!”

  “She is not my girlfriend.” His denial was like a knife twisting in my gut.

  “Your lover, then. Fuck!”

  He sat down on the bed and shifted his position until he was right up next to me. “She is not my lover.” He lowered his voice, making it soft and gentle. Sexy.

  “I think you already know that my visions are real, asshole. I know what I saw, and I saw things that make my brain bleed every time I think about it.”

  “She’s not my lover,” he repeated. His blue eyes drank me in. I felt myself growing weak and powerless. I took a deep breath through my nose and my stomach jittered. He smelled so good, all earthy and musk.

  I would be strong. “Don’t lie to me. What about yesterday? You totally threw me over for her, even after she attacked me.”

  “Sunny, I took her away from you, so she wouldn’t hurt you. Sheila is insane. And yes, regretfully, I did sleep with her, but only the one time, and I was pretty drunk. She was Judah’s girlfriend. They’d been dating for a couple months before he disappeared. She’s kind of fixated on me, but only because she was in love with him, or at least she thinks she was.

  He only slept with her the one time? “So, when you were comforting her…”

  “I felt bad. I was having a hard time as you well know.” Oh, I remembered just how hard he’d been.

  “When she showed up all bat-shit and stuff, I was afraid she’d really hurt you if I didn’t get her away.”

  “Really?” I sniffed. “You were protecting me?”

  “Jesus, woman. You’re frustrating.”

  Tell me about it. He was grinning now and looking so damned sexy I wanted to pounce on him. But I’d been suffering for days, and it was all his fault. Okay, maybe a little bit my fault, but I decided to let myself off the hook and blame him for the most part.

  “Damned sexy, huh?” He wiggled his eyebrows and smirked.

  Crap. Had I said that out loud?

  Babel drew his large hand across his tightly tee-shirted chest. The corner of his mouth crooked up on the right, and he said, “You move me, Sunshine Haddock. I’m sorry if I ever gave you the impression that I might feel any other way.”

  Okay, I’d seen this tactic before. I liked to call it the “man-pology.” And when he leaned over and stroked my arm with his fingers whisper-soft against my skin, I considered complete forgiveness. I couldn’t let him off that easy, though. “A body built for sin does not give you an all-access backstage pass to the Sunny Show. Sorry.

  Ticketmaster is closed. And the main event is all sold out.”

  “Come on, darlin’,” he said softly.

  Damn it! He knew he had me.

  “You don’t want to stay mad at me, do you? That’s not fun for either of us.”

  “You know what?” I patted his shoulder. “I do want to stay mad at you. I don’t need fun right now. And I want to go back to bed and sleep. So, get.” I shooed him.

  “I’m staying.”

  My skin went all goose bumps and shivers. “You’re going.”

  “You’re not safe.” His eyes were soft at the corners, and his mouth was begging to be kissed.

  “Farraday is watching the place.”

  “Farraday couldn’t rescue his ass from the toilet.” I chuckled. “Could so.” At least I hoped he could.

  “Could not.”

  We were quickly disintegrating into schoolyard tactics, soon it would devolve to “did so, did not, did so, un-uh, uh-huh.” He kissed me gently.

  “Hey,” I said against the press of his lips.

  “Woman, you talk too much.” He kissed me again, his tongue slipping across my lips as I opened for him. I didn’t usually like to agree with a man when he was being insulting, but in this case, I thought Babel was definitely right. The passion of our kiss grew intense. I didn’t ev
en mind the ache in my jaw. It was secondary to his hands roaming over my body.

  He pulled me closer until I was on his lap, my chest plastered against his. Our kiss was filled with passion. He moaned against my mouth, making everything south wet and hot and needful. I wanted this man and I loved everything about him, even beyond the sharp angles of his gorgeously rugged face, beautiful blue eyes, a body any MMA fighter would be proud to have, and an ass you could bounce quarters from. He was sweet and gifted—he moved down my neck with his kisses and nips and licks—sooo gifted.

  “Wow,” I said, my brain too electrified for anything more intelligent. His slipped his hand between my thighs and I moaned my pleasure.

  “Damn, Sunny,” he panted, lust shining hotly from his eyes. “You’re so goddamned beautiful. So sexy. I want you. I want only you.”

  Hot damn! My body yearned for him, and I maneuvered to make it easy for him when he tugged my nightgown up over my head and took my naked breasts into his mouth, first one then the other. I squirmed under his talented ministrations.

  He rolled me onto my back and got between my legs. With one hand, he stroked me through my panties and I arched to meet his fingers. He stopped for a moment and I glanced down my body at him. His face was slack with desire as he kicked out of his jeans then knelt between my legs, one hand reaching up to caress my breasts while the heat of his breath penetrated the cotton barrier between his mouth and my sex.

  My nipples hardened to attention as he pinched and rolled them between his fingertips. I groaned even louder when his tongue swiped at the fabric of my panties. Gah! His teasing of my sex was agony—blissful, orgasmic agony.

  I fisted my hand in his hair and yanked him harder to me between my legs. He bit down gently and growled. He worked his way up my body, his fingers replacing his mouth at my nether region, as he took my nipple between his lips and sucked.

  “Oh, God,” I said, my voice a hoarse whisper. His fingers touched my lips and I sucked the tips. He moaned this time and the vibration against my breast drove me wild. I raised my hips, rubbing my wetness against his stomach.

  He made a rumbling noise as his tongue swirled my nipple. He dragged his hands down my sides, his fingers from his right hand finding purchase on my ass, while the fingers of his left hand slipped beneath the fabric of my underwear.

  “Off, off,” I said, breathless with anticipation.

  He didn’t bother pulling them down my legs. Instead, he tore the panties in half, leaving me exposed. I gasped, my breath catching in my throat. Our first time together had been fun, but I’d had fun before. This, however, was beyond anything I’d ever experienced. Babel was a man possessed and his craving for my body set me on fire. The feeling overwhelmed me. He kissed me all over, inch by joyful inch, his mouth playing me like an instrument. His instrument. And he was definitely hitting all the right notes. I was slick and throbbing. Our bodies slid together as he spread my legs even wider with his knees and kissed my neck and jaw.

  He paused, his blue eyes drinking me in. “You mess me up, Sunny. You mess up my world.”

  “Is that bad?”

  “Hell no.” He growled a low, possessive rumble. “I want to be inside you, Sunny. I want to make love to you.”

  “Yes,” I heard myself saying without any real thought. My brain was too numb with passion.

  “You’re mine, Sunshine Haddock,” he said, his voice guttural and deep.

  “Yes,” I repeated.

  “Say it,” he demanded.

  I’d been waiting for this, waiting for him, my entire life. I just hadn’t known.

  “Say it,” he repeated more insistently, pressing a finger inside me as his thumb played over my swollen nub.

  “I’m yours,” I said, then again. “I’m completely yours.”

  The tip of his shaft entered me and we both moaned. His mouth captured mine in a tangle of lips and teeth and tongue. He tasted delicious. My body arched and rocked as he stroked his shaft just a few inches inside me and over the sweet spot. I groaned, trying to curve into him, to force him deeper, but he outplayed me and kept up the torturous pace, the ridge of his length tormenting me to the point of rapture.

  “Babe,” I pleaded. “Babe, please.”

  Without any more encouragement, he thrust inside me, deep and hard, filling me so utterly completely. “Ah!” I cried out. “Yes, yes.”

  His paced quickened, and I rocked my hips forward to meet each thrust. Heat pooled to my stomach, groin, and thighs, our sex making me lightheaded and tingly.

  “God!” he roared.

  “Yes!” I shouted as I exploded in the hardest orgasm of my life. I shuddered and shook and clung to Babel, my hands fisting at the nape of his neck. I wrapped my legs around him, holding him tight inside me until every ounce of the orgasm subsided.

  “Oh, Babe,” I whimpered, and that was the trigger he needed. His animalistic roar echoed off the walls of my bedroom as he thrust hard three times, his chest bowing forward as he loosed his climax.

  “Shit,” he said, when he’d rolled over onto his back.

  “Yeah,” I agreed. We both laughed.

  “You called me Babe,” he said. I could hear the smile in his voice.

  I rolled onto my side and propped myself up on an elbow. “I did, didn’t I?”

  “Yes.” He kissed my left eyelid, then my right. “You did. It sounded wonderful.”

  I fought to keep from grinning. “I don’t know what possessed me.”

  He stared down the length of his body, then down mine. “Oh, I know exactly what possessed you.”

  I playfully smacked him, then kissed him as a reward. “We were pretty damned awesome.”

  His expression grew serious. “You can’t be a fling for me, Sunny. I hope you know you mean more to me than that. I’m in love with you.”

  “I know.” I caressed his face. My heart thrilled at his words, and I wanted to shout out my own declaration, but I knew he’d never be happy staying in Peculiar, so I didn’t know how we’d make this work. We’d cross that bridge (the only one in and out of town) when we came to it. Instead, I wrapped my arms around him and snuggled in close.

  When we woke up the next morning, Babel was curled up behind me. “Morning,” he murmured, kissing my ear. I smiled. I really loved the warm emotions swarming in my chest.

  We cuddled in silence for a few minutes more, then Babel tilted my chin with his fingertips. “Ruth told me you had a run-in with Brady Corman.” When had he talked to Ruth?

  Reading my mind (no, not psychically), he said, “I saw her yesterday evening at the cafe. It’s why I couldn’t stay away last night. It drives me nuts not being next to you, protecting you. I want to keep you safe, Sunny. Don’t you understand? I can’t lose you too.” He let his grief for Judah and his fear for Chavvah fill his expression.

  “I’m not going anywhere.” I tried to be reassuring. “I don’t think Brady wants to hurt me. Not really. He’s just got a lot of demons on him.” And after what I witnessed about Rose Ann, I could understand why.

  “Real demons? Do they exist?”

  “No.” I snickered. Then stopped. Hell, up until last week, I didn’t think ghosts and were-creatures existed. “Not that I’ve seen anyways. I just mean, the man has problems. I feel sorry for Jo Jo. And his wife…Babel, I have to tell you something.”

  And I confessed everything to him—Rose Ann, my visions of the hunters, the necklace, the diner check, the dream about the ledger—everything. After I finished, I felt unburdened.

  However, Babel looked really angry. “I’ll kill those bastards.”

  Oh man, the way they’d caged Rose Ann, I hadn’t thought. They must have done the same to Judah. Kept him locked up like an animal until it was time to hunt.

  “Oh, Babe.” I stroked his cheek.

  He turned to me, the hard lines around his eyes softening. “I like it when you call me

  Babe.”

  “Why?” I liked that he liked it, but everyone called him Babe
.

  He blinked, measured, as if in slow motion. “Because when you say it, you mean it.”

  I was having one of those hands-clenched-to-chest moments. The emotion overwhelmed me. Avoider that I am, I changed the subject. “You going to Ruth’s tonight?”

  “Do you want me there?”

  He was playing with me. “Silly man. Of course, I want you there. I need a date, after all.”

  “Cool.” He rubbed his thumb over the curve of my thigh. “You think Judah figured out what happened to Corman’s wife and that’s why he was taken?”

  “I’m not a hundred percent sure, but yes, that’s what I think. And I think Chavvah figured out who is behind all this. Babe, I think she might’ve been taken.”

  “Damn it. You can’t even know how frustrating this is for me.”

  “I know.” I smoothed my hand through his hair. “Me too.”

  “No, you don’t understand. I gave up. After one year, I just gave up on Judah. Ready to just throw away my brother because I was done.” His eyes brimmed with unshed tears.

  “And now Chavvah…”

  I finally understood. Babel was ashamed and angry at himself. He felt like he’d failed Judah. “Don’t say that. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

  “I went back to Kansas City and left Chavvie to deal with all this. I’m worse than a coward. I couldn’t face the not knowing and I ran away.” He sat up on the edge of the bed and put his head in his hands.

  I understood the desire to run. I’d been doing it my whole life. “I’m not a big believer in fate, Babe. But I’m here for a reason. We’ll find these bastards and we’ll make them pay.”

  I got up walked around the bed to him and tilted his chin up. I looked him straight in his baby blues. “I promise you, I won’t give up until I know exactly who is responsible for what happened to Judah and Chavvah is safely back home.” I hoped I wasn’t lying about Chav, but after looking at those numbers again, I was pretty sure the “07” had been July. It was possible they only hunted in July, and July was a few weeks away, and still, it would have to be a night of a full moon. If I was right, Chav was alive.