I gasped, clutching the handle tighter. He spread my legs wider and lapped at me again. The hand not keeping me upright came down on his head, my fingers tangling in his gelled locks, creating chaos where there wasorder.
His knuckles flexed white as he licked harder, quicker, before pulling away to murmur dirty words that sounded sweet against my tensing flesh. His lips closed over me in a languid kiss before his steel and silk tongue took over, lashing violently until it tore a scream from mylungs.
“So. Fucking. Sweet,” herasped.
He kept licking long after I’d drifted down from my high, as though on a mission to absorb every last ounce of my pleasure. Satisfied, he unfurled his imposing body and brought my eyes to his with the softest brush of his fingers under my chin. He didn’t say anything, didn’t kiss me, just drank from my eyes the same way he’d drank from mybody.
Still trying to catch my breath, I murmured, “I’m not sure what I did to deserve that, but thank you. It was . . .extraordinary.”
“First off, that was entirely for me.” He licked his glistening lips, and the air that had been cooling my damp skin gained a dozen degrees. “And secondly, you deserve so much more thanthat. You deserve so much more than I have the means to giveyou.”
I cupped his jaw, my heart feeling as though it would balloon right out of my chest. “You’ve already given me everything Iwant.”
“No. I haven’t.” His pupils shrank, granting his irises more space. The effect lent his eyes an unusual brightness. “I haven’t given you the words you gave me lastnight.”
I frowned. “Whichwords?”
“The ones I told you not to feel forme.”
Oh.I combed my hair back, my earring catching in a snarled lock. As I worked on freeing it, I said, “I’m not expecting you to say them back, Jarod. I know I’m important to you—you’ve shown me this in so many ways—and that’s enough forme.”
I climbed onto my tiptoes, needing more inches than my heels afforded to kiss the puckered ridge between hiseyebrows.
“I’m trying to be a better man, Feather.” His arms came around me, sealing us close. “I’m trying to be worthy ofyou.”
I hadn’t thought I could love him any more than I already did, but with that declaration, he conquered every last uncharted territory in myheart.
Chapter 56
The following morning over breakfast,Jarod told Muriel to help me pack for a trip. When I asked him where we were going, he said it was a surprise. When I enquired as to how long we’d be gone, he repeated that it was asurprise.
As he left to attend to some business, I wondered why we were taking a trip. Was guilt fueling this impromptu escapade? Did he think he needed to give me an adventure to make up for being unable to say that he lovedme?
I tried to worm the answer out of Muriel, but she was a tomb. So, I helped her fold the clothing she’d picked out, studying her selection, but it still didn’t give me an inkling as to where we were going. Would we be driving or flying? I’d never been on an airplane, never had use for them because of ourChannels.
Our angelic transport system made me think of the guild and the Ophanim. No one had come to check on me. Not that it surprised me all that much. As long as we had wings, they didn’t worry aboutus.
Lunchtime rolled around, and Jarod still hadn’t come home. Growing skittish and bored, I scoured his bookshelves even though I wasn’t sure if reading any of his books was permitted considering the pages crinkled like tissue paper and the leather bindings were stamped in gold. I went down to ask Muriel. When she said yes, I scampered back up the stairs, moved aside the purple-stingray box Jarod used as a bookend, and grabbedCyrano de Bergerac, placing it delicately inside my bag along with my cell phone before returning to thefoyer.
“Where are you going?” Muriel asked, balancing a crystal vase filled with drooping callas on herhip.
“Just to the park across thestreet.”
Her gaze flicked to Luc, the guard on duty today. “Jarod should be home soon,ma chérie. You know he doesn’t like to be keptwaiting.”
“But I have my cell phone.So—”
“Leigh, he doesn’t want you going outside the housetoday.”
My insides seemed to melt away. “Why?”
“He didn’t tell me why.” Her attention slid to the two other guards discussing something beside the fountain in thecourtyard.
Their anxious expressions made me think it wasn’t weekendplans.
My excitement and nervousness turned into dread.Jarod Adler, what are you doing that requires me to stay indoors and hidden from the world?Did I even want toknow?
On wooden legs, I climbed back up the stairs and let my bag drop to the floor. Here I’d thought he was taking me on a romantic getaway, but maybe it was just agetaway.
