“No. Not with the threat still out there.”
Frowning, she pulled her attention away from the abbey and found him watching her, jaw tight. “But Kas is dead…” Her eyes narrowed. “Who else is after me, Lore? I know it wasn’t only Kas. I don’t think he even blipped on your angelic radar until now.”
“Just know you are safe while with me.”
“Stop it, stop it! I hate this.” She thrust her fingers into her hair and encountered her bun.God!She stomped away from him to the balustrade and glowered at the swirling mist. It submerged her in its chilly embrace but did little to cool the spiking heat of arousal. The sheer isolation of the place just made her feel so very alone.
“I didn’t ask for any of this,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around her waist. “I didn’t ask to be the target of other beings. All I ever wanted was to find a little happiness and live my life on my own terms until I left this world, and even that is denied to me.”
“Is that why you seek your male friend as a mate?” His voice was so low that it took a moment for her chaotic mind to register what he said.
“What?” Nia wheeled around to find him where she left him, in front of the weathered, domed door. Another person she yearned for and had to let go.
“I saw you through the bar window with the human, Zayn,” he said.
“Zayn,” she murmured, remembering his teasing comment about happy kisses. Except, there would be none for her.
Maybe she should just say yes, that Zayn was her boyfriend, and put them both out of this misery.
“Don’t.” He was in front of her, cupping her face with both hands. “Don’t say it.”
“What?” She blinked up at him.
His beautiful hair slid forward since he’d lost his tie during the demon fight, and it framed his tense features. His otherworldly eyes were no longer cool and distant but dark with something she was too afraid to name.
“Zayn is a good man?—”
“Do not finish that sentence.”
“Why?” She grasped his wrists, pulling his palms away from her face. “Your job will be done here soon. My life will go on.”
He clasped her hands and pressed them to his chest before ushering her into the abbey and shutting them inside.
Nia stared wide-eyed as he propped himself against the shut door in the shadowed hallway and exhaled deeply.
“Lore, what is it?” Whatever was going on with him hauled her to a precipice.
“I can’t seem to fight this,” he whispered, gently brushing her jaw with the back of his knuckles. “No matter what I do, I cannot get you out of my head…”
He dragged her close, and his mouth settled on hers in a kiss so tender that her heart stuttered. Then it pounded so fast Nia clutched his shirt before her knees caved. Questions blazed through her mind.
She broke the kiss. “Lore, wait-wait?—”
“No.” His mouth came back on hers, stealing her thoughts.
The chaos in his head and the torment in his chest quieted as Nia kissed him back.
Heavens! He wanted no part of an emotion that twisted his gut and clawed at his chest, remembering the male, Zayn, touching her, his mouth on hers.
This…this feeling, whatever it was, would kill him.
With a low groan born of pure need, he slid his tongue into her mouth, desperately seeking hers.
She moaned, the sound heating his blood as she slipped her arms around his neck, her fingers tangling in his hair. He picked her up and braced her against the wooden door. Her legs hooked around his hips, her warm, feminine center rubbing against his rigid sex. Another jolt of arousal shot through him, and he grunted.
“Touch me,” she panted against his mouth.
I am holding you,was his first thought, then she grasped his hand and placed it on her breast.
