“Are you home for the day?”
“Yes.”
I felt the kick in my stomach, the overwhelming relief. “I told Claire I would take her out for ice cream after school if you’d like to join us.”
His stare continued.
“But if you have other things to do—”
“How was she this morning?”
I gave a shrug. “Quiet.”
He dropped his gaze, like a knife had plunged into his heart.
“She’ll be okay, Benton.”
He stared at his desk for a while before his hand rubbed his head, ruffling his hair. “The cut isn’t what kills you. It’s what happens afterward—when you bleed to death or die from an infection. She seemed well, but maybe I just pretended she was for my own sake.”
“I think she is well. It just reminded me…that’s all.”
He looked away. “Every time she sees an angel, she’s going to go through this.”
“That can happen with anything. If you got bit by a dog, you’d be scared of dogs. If you got hit by a car, you’d be scared to drive. It’s just a part of life. Doesn’t mean there’s something deeply wrong with her.”
He kept his eyes on the window.
“I know you’re worried, but she’s strong.”
His eyes flicked back to me.
“Like her father.”
When I finished preparing lunch, he came downstairs and sat at the dining table. Still in just his sweatpants, he never bothered to get dressed—not that I minded. Somehow, his nakedness made me feel more secure because I knew he didn’t need a weapon when he was a weapon himself.
I sat across from him and watched him dig into his food. With his arms on the table, he inhaled his meal, scarfing everything down as if he’d skipped breakfast that morning. His eyes were down most of the time, like I wasn’t even there.
I took my time with my food because I couldn’t just eat however much I wanted and stay trim.
He took a bite and chewed, his eyes lifting to meet my face.
There had never been much activity in my personal life. I worked a lot of nights at the theatre, so I didn’t have a lot of opportunities to go out and meet someone. I hooked up with a couple dancers, but those were short-lived flings. Relationships were rare, and if they did happen, they were short. Never even came close to living with a man. But now I shared my life with the man across from me.
And I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
Even if Forneus weren’t lurking in the shadows, it would be impossible to go back to a normal life as if nothing had happened. I’d probably have to move like Beatrice. Start over somewhere new, somewhere that wouldn’t remind me of all the horrors I’d witnessed. But even if I did that…I would never be okay.
Benton was the only thing that made me feel okay.
Now his eyes didn’t leave my face. “What is it?”
“What is what?”
“I can read your eyes.”
I’d never been with a man in tune with my emotions, who could read my moods and thoughts like he felt them pressed directly against his skin. Was he just good at that sort of thing? Or was it because of what we had together? “I just… I don’t know what I would do without you.” My eyes dropped before I finished talking because I regretted what I said before I even said it. The first time I’d seen him was in the theatre, desperately asking everyone about Claire. He was just a stranger then. It was hard to believe he’d ever been a stranger. Our lives were tied together so tightly that it seemed impossible we’d ever lived separately.
The silence reigned, along with the heaviness.
I kept my eyes on my food, still unable to look up and see his reaction. He was probably annoyed…just like he was with everything else. I had the strength to kill a Malevolent, to stand up to Forneus, to tape those papers on the windows of the church. But it took a lot more strength to raise my chin and meet his gaze.
Still as a gargoyle, blue eyes carved in stone, he stared. “I know what I would do without you. I’d be here alone—without my daughter.”
I rinsed the dishes in the sink, my eyes down on my work. They moved from right to left, the clean dishes sitting in the bottom of the other sink so they could be placed into the dishwasher when I was done.
My hand released the button on the nozzle when I felt him behind me.
His chest was against my back.
Both hands gripped the counter on either side of me, boxing me in.
The sharp breath I took was so deep it hurt, especially when I held it immediately afterward.
His mouth dipped to my neck, placing a kiss so soft that his hard mouth was hardly recognizable. His lips moved closer to my shoulder, his kisses growing more aggressive as he went.
My eyes closed, and I breathed again.
His powerful arms locked around me, one across my chest with his hand clamped on my shoulder. The other slid underneath my shirt and across my stomach, his hand reaching all the way around me to my back. He tugged me hard against him as he kissed my neck again, this time devouring me.
My hand reached behind me to cup the back of his neck. I tugged on him as I rolled my head back over his shoulder, exposing myself so he could take all of me. “Yes…” Every touch of his lips was morphine to my aching body. Every touch of his hands was lidocaine to my muscles. I spun in his arms, circled my arms around his neck, and kissed him like it was the first time all over again.
Our mouths moved together in perfect harmony, his breaths filling my lungs at the perfect time. His lips were full and soft, and he used them with the same purpose as he did with everything else. My fingers dug into his short hair as I was swept off my feet, to the safest place I’d ever known—in his embrace.
As if I weighed nothing at all, he lifted me into him and carried me down the hallway to his bedroom. One large hand supported my ass, while the other remained in my hair, keeping it out of my face as he devoured my mouth.
My back hit the mattress when he dropped me. He kneeled in front of me and yanked off both boots before he moved up and pulled off my jeans and panties in a single tug. His bedroom eyes weren’t much different from his normal stare because he was so innately sexy, but they were a little harder now than before—like he wanted me as much as I wanted him.
I pulled my blouse over my head then unclasped my bra, getting naked on top of his bed.
He dropped his bottoms and revealed his massive cock. Thick. Long. Carved out of marble by an artist. Six foot something with narrow hips and massive shoulders, he was a statue himself, a Roman emperor who conquered everything in his path. A thick vein from the base of his dick up his pelvis toward his stomach because he was so tight everywhere. A prominent V was distinct over his hips. The lines of his abs were so dark, it looked like permanent marker. He seemed to take his time, to let me enjoy the sight of his body before he moved for his nightstand.
I blurted out the words like I had at the dining table. “I have an IUD…”
He stilled at the statement, his blue eyes moving back to my face.
“I want to feel you…”
He regarded me for several seconds, his hard expression impossible to decipher.
I didn’t want a barrier between us. I wanted that high to go even higher. I wanted that connection to be deeper. Swept up in the adrenaline and the desire, I was taken to a new plane of existence, a place where angels and demons didn’t exist.