Fallen Embers (Fallen Guardians #9)

Chapter 17

Chapter

Seventeen

Breathing like she’d run a marathon, Nia rested her cheek against Lore’s head, reveling in his hard, warm body against hers. His scent of the infinite, of orange groves imbued with his musky release, wrapped around her and lingered on her tongue.

“You…” he rasped against her neck. “That was an out-of-this-world experience.”

She smiled, pleased she brought him such pleasure. She shifted on her sore knees and grimaced. Her jaw hurt. Wow, who knew her angel would be packing that ?

“Um, Lore?” she murmured.

His wings had spread like a fiery blaze in the gloomy foyer and seemed to be squashed against the walls in the confined space.

“Do you think I could get up from this cold, hard floor? My knees are kinda sore.”

He lifted his head, his hair swinging forward, brushing her face like a thousand caressing fingers. “My pardon, Nia.”

Man. Still so polite even after what just happened between them?

In that fluid way of his, he rose, scooping her up, his wings vanishing in a swish. He strolled to the sunken living room, his burning irises slowly resuming their metallic green hue as he skimmed her face, each pass a tangible caress that dampened her core.

After mouth-fucking his dick, the ache in her core grew worse. God, she needed release. But she wasn’t going to push. He was so new to all this.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” He lowered to the couch, keeping her on his lap, his fly unzipped, his hot, hard length trapped between them.

She longed for him to throw her to the cushions and finish this.

Hell, she’d even ride him where he sat.

He palmed her breasts. “I don’t think I’ll ever find myself again. You shattered me.”

Nia eyed him warily, not sure how to take his words. She understood, too, no matter this draw between them, it could only be momentary. And she tried not to let despair trap her again.

He rolled her nipples gently with his thumbs, stealing her mind back from her gloomy thoughts and causing arousal to swamp her.

“This, you and me, is dangerous, Nia.”

“I know,” she breathed. “Whatever happens will remain between these walls, and the wards here will protect this abbey and us, right?”

He grasped her upper arms, startling her, his stare fierce. “Promise me never to invite anyone into the abbey, even if you know them. Promise me, Nia?”

At his intensity, she put a hand on his bare, heaving chest, loving being able to touch him so freely, this powerful angel who allowed no one close. “I promise.”

“I cannot bear the thought of anything happening to you.”

Questions arose, but she put them aside for now. “I’m sure through the ages, there were angels drawn to humans, and these things happened…” She waved a hand between them. “And in the end, they were able to return to Heaven?—”

He moved her off his lap and rose. His back to her, he zipped up, and her heart sank. It was over already? Her core throbbed painfully as she pulled her bra back in place.

He turned to her. “I don’t know about that.”

Dragging in a deep breath, her core aching, she sat up, straightened her sliding bra strap, and looked around for her sweater, but he was there, kneeling in front of her.

“Why are you covering up?” He took her hands in his. “I prefer how you were moments ago.”

Her face heated. “This…” She hooked a thumb under her strap, tugging it a bit. “Is my bra. It’s hardly covering up.”

“Indeed.” He tucked some loosened strands of her hair behind one ear. “You are the most beautiful soul I have ever seen. But I find I like you this way even more so.”

A wry smile tugged at her mouth. “Yeah, guys generally do. They like the disheveled state, with breasts on show.”

His eyes narrowed, and his expression held the warmth of a glacier. “Who?”

“I didn’t mean me,” she said quickly. “I don’t go around putting myself on display to random guys. I meant men in general like bare-chested women.”

The ice melted a little. “Zayn?”

Ah. Still on that, was he?

“He’s just a friend. I’ve known him since I was a child.”

A growl rumbled in his throat. “No kissing him again.”

Finally, she fully understood his anger at the bar. He’d seen them on the dance floor. She hastened to reassure him. “It was only a kiss between friends.”

“I don’t care. No kissing any males.”

She wanted to smile at his jealousy, hope kindling, but his eyes sparked with irritation. He wouldn’t understand it was a playful kiss to make her smile after a horrid day. So, she nodded. “Okay.”

His gaze drifted to her mouth. He slipped his hand around her nape, gently caressing her throat with his thumb, and brushed his lips against hers.

Just when she wanted to jump his bones, he eased back. “Nia…”

He sounded so serious that she braced herself. There could only be one topic on his mind.

When he didn’t speak, Nia rushed into a speech. “Look, this thing—whatever it is between us—is fleeting. You don’t have to explain anything. I get it.”

While she’d hoped for more than a few hours of sweaty, tangled-limbs time with him, she wasn’t a fool. For someone like him so high up in the hierarchy of angels, a few days were probably the most she could hope for.

“It’s good you know me well.”

Was that sarcasm? She frowned, unsure. But the confounded prickling heat constantly plaguing her lately roiled hard inside her, and sweat dampened her skin. On top of that, desire coiled up her core, making her feel as if she would split her skin.

God! Is he ever going to touch me where I want him most?

She squirmed on the couch, as if that would help her with the lust.

“What I meant to say is, I’m not sure what I should do.” He settled his palms on her knees, his voice husky. “But first, let’s get this put to rights…” He dragged the cups of her bra down again, the black framing her breasts, her nipples hardening under his burning stare. “Better.”

Thank God!

She huffed. Who knew her angel could be this seductive once his control cracked? His talk touched on borderline dirty, but he probably didn’t even know what dirty talk was.

“Please, just touch me,” she groaned, ready to drag him down and ride him.

He glided his hands up her torso in a slow caress as if fascinated by the sensation of her skin. Then he cupped her breasts, lifted them, and stared.

As desperate as she was for him, Nia had to bite back a smile at his wonder.

His head lowered, his fiery red hair sliding over her skin in a silky caress, stirring every nerve ending. Her breathing grew raspier.

He brushed his mouth over a nipple, then grasped the tip with his lips, teasing the bud before slowly suckling her flesh. And she trembled.

His other hand came into play, gently squeezing the flesh of her other breast and rolling the nipple?—

Christ! He might be exploring, and in the process unearthing her erogenous zones—not that he would know what that was—but the tug of his lips on her nipple strung straight to her core.

A whimper escaped her and had him lifting his gaze to hers.

She bit her lip. Her angel had no idea what a turn-on it was to watch someone like him map her body with his hands and mouth with such intensity. The silver in his irises had completely eclipsed the green, turning them to molten steel.

“Do you like that?” he asked, voice rough, as if touching her was causing his own need to stir again.

She nodded.

“Then say it, Nia. Because I won’t know otherwise.”

“Yes, I do. So damn much!”

An eyebrow rose, but he didn’t call her out on her cussing. He flicked his tongue against her nipple, and she shut her eyes. God!

“No, look at me. I want to see your eyes, see what you feel…”

He trailed his mouth along her sternum, adding little kisses along the way.

“Yes,” she groaned. “More.”

He moved back, unbuttoned her pants, and drew them down her legs.

“Wait, wait.” She sat up.

He frowned.

“My boots need to?—”

He’d already picked up her foot. With that efficient way of his, he had them both off and set aside fast. Her socks and pants followed. He tossed them on the couch, leaving her only in her black bikini panties with her bra framing her breasts.

Then he did that very male stare, trailing down her body and up again, then back down to her core. She slid her hands to her belly, and his gaze followed the movement, tracking her fingers as she slipped them into the edge of her underwear. Heat flared in his eyes.

She made to pull off her panties.

“Let me.” He moved her hands away.

He traced a fingertip over the edge of the silk, then hooked the top and drew them down, oh, so slowly. She was so darn grateful she’d kept up with her waxing and didn’t scare this beautiful angel who appeared to have no body hair. At all. But his stare had her blood heating. She was close to a meltdown and to begging him to move faster.

No man ever made her feel this way, this cherished, as if he were unwrapping something rare.

Finally, he slid her panties off. His gaze settled on her mound. With her legs together, she was still shielded.

He dropped her underwear on the couch. He stroked her thighs and gently parted them. “You are beautiful.”

Her breathing grew rougher, wanting his touch on her aching flesh so badly.

He ran his thumb over her cleft, then parted and slid a digit over her clit. Nia bit back a whimper. He met her gaze and did it again, this time with firmer pressure.

Christ! Her head fell against the backrest, her body on edge.

A smile tugged at his mouth.

Darn. He was such a male. “Lore, please, do something?—”

“You have to tell me what.”

Taken at face value, and being who he was, he likely wouldn’t know anything about pleasuring a woman. Yet something deep within her insisted otherwise. He had to know at least a little of what she needed, given how she’d used her mouth on him not too long ago.

Was this payback for all the time she baited and tormented him?

He kissed her inner thigh, and she stilled. His lips drifted up. “Your scent…” He shut his eyes, his nostrils flaring slightly. “Like an orchard. Apples and warm female…” He ran his tongue along her slit. “You taste incredible.”

Nia shuddered, barely hearing him, overwhelmed with sensations.

He moved in, lifted her legs, and set her feet on the cushions, opening her up. He pushed his tongue in a little more, gliding down one side of her cleft and up the other. He circled her clit, and she stiffened. Spurred on by her reactions, he grasped that bundle of nerves with his lips, and she grabbed his hair, draping her legs over his shoulders.

A low growl rumbled from his throat, vibrating against her flesh.

“Yes, like that,” she breathed, lifting her hips for more friction. So close. Another touch and she would fall, but she wanted him to know there was more. “Use your hand, your fingers.”

“Show me,” he rumbled, lifting his head, his gleaming mouth from her dampness.

Her heart thudded. She grasped the hand squeezing her thigh and positioned it against her aching core. The intimacy of it had her body coiling like a spring. She dragged one of his fingers between her folds, lower to her opening, and pressed the tip in.

He took over. Leaving her hand on top of his, he slid the digit farther into her. His mouth came back to her clit. Then he thrust in and out of her as he suckled her swollen flesh.

She moaned, her body a strung bow. “Add another finger.”

Without stopping, he did as she asked. A slow, gentle push. A slight stretch, and he had both digits inside her, working her.

Oh…man! Her angel was a fast learner.

A whimper escaped her at the fullness and the pressure building inside. She moved her hips in tandem with his actions, his hair sliding over her sensitive skin like a thousand fingers coming into play. God, so close. “More, more?—”

His gaze met hers. He tightened his lips on her throbbing flesh as he suckled. A gentle tug?—

“Ohhhh!” Her legs squeezed around his head, her orgasm shattering her entire being, sending her spiraling into a place of absolute pleasure…

It took several minutes before she came back to the room, with Lore clamped between her trembling thighs and the burning desire sated—and more, that impossible heat had subsided a bit, too.

“Sorry,” she rasped, her voice sounding rusty as if she’d screamed and damaged her vocal cords. “I didn’t mean to strangle you.” She lowered her shaky legs from his shoulders.

He didn’t say anything, looking as stunned as she felt, his fingers still inside her, his thumb stroking between her folds and over her?—

“Eeep!” She jerked upright as he hit her supersensitive bundle of nerves, and his fingers slipped out of her. “Too sensitive after that orgasm. Need a moment.”

“What is this part of you called?” he asked with another brush of her clit.

She grabbed his wrist. “It’s a…” Aw, man! “Clitoris.”

He brought his hand, with her fingers still manacling his wrist, up to his mouth and licked them. “ Mmm ?—”

With a groan, she grasped him by his open shirt fronts, dragged him close, and kissed him.

Keeping their mouths joined, he returned to the couch and shifted her to straddle him. He deepened the kiss. She rubbed against his cock, and his sex hardened.

“Again,” he demanded.

“It’s better without clothes,” she whispered.

His eyes heated to a brilliant silver?—

The next instant, she was seated on the cushions so fast that her head spun. He dropped her clothes on her lap. “Dress.”

Expression flat, he replaced his own shirt in a flash.

“What is it?” Nia grabbed her clothes, pressing them to her chest.

His features molded in stone, he prowled the room, head angled like he was listening.

If it were demons, he would have said so. It had to be other angels, like the one she’d met at the river, and considering what they had just done…

Her stomach heaved. Would they haul him off like a criminal?

Fear knotted her belly. Nia shot up, hastily dressing.

He glanced back, taking in her neatly attired form.

She removed the pins from her loosened bun, dropped them on the side table, and shook her hair free before making her way to where he stood near a soaring pillar. He caressed her cheek with his fingers, and her heart settled again.

“What is it?” she whispered. “This affects me, too, Lore. I’d like to know what we might face.”

“I know.” He rubbed his jaw. “I sense angels. Not here, but close enough. And being who I am?—”

“They would kill us, just like what happened with the Watchers?”

He cast her an unreadable look and blew out a deep breath. “I hope not. I’ve never been in this situation before, but why take a chance? We must be careful.”

Nia nodded and wrapped her arms around her waist, feeling as if the floor were slipping out from beneath her. “I should go and shower.”

“Why?”

“Lore, I smell of you and must reek of sex. While you can get rid of my scent on you with a thought, I have to shower.”

“I like you smelling of me…” His eyebrows dipped, then he nodded. “Go. Don’t be long.”

Nia dashed off for the stairs and took the steps two at a time.

Lord knew she liked Lore more than he would ever know. And while it wasn’t something that could lead to anything concrete, she definitely did not want to find out what angels did to those who broke their sacred rules.