Death Knows My Name (Memory Keepers) (14 page)

“You don’t want to be like me. Where your duty and other’s plans for you tear you apart from something that makes you feel like the real you. To know the feeling of being brought to life, then not knowing it again because something you never asked for makes an enemy of your lover. You don’t have to go through that. You have people in high and low places. Low as they can possibly go. And then you also have me, someone who has been to both and navigates them both damn well and still comes out on top.” She stood up with a grace that did not seem fair for a human, even one that was only half, to possess. She let go of my hands after a quick squeeze and glided over to her Angel.

And I believed she did always come out on top. Yes, she pined for someone she couldn’t have, but she didn’t seem to be too hurtin’ for lovin’. Dartainian was hot. The hottest guy you have ever seen in your life—that guy was a dog compared to Dartainian. He grabbed Dhylaka around the waist and she giggled. To Dartainian she was all there was, but now for her, that person was Lucifer.

She was doing it for loyalties and duty. I wasn’t sure if I could even do it if I had to. I felt even worse for Eric and what I was making him choose between. Dhylaka had to decide the same choice that Eric was now faced with. She picked duty over love.

What if Eric did the same? I wouldn’t be able to bounce back as she had. I turned from them and decided to take Dhylaka’s advice. I would go home and be with Eric. These problems would still be here in the morning, but I’d have Eric to help sort them out.

Chapter 15

The fact that Big Jim wasn’t waiting at the door with his leash for me to get home and give him a walk let me know that Eric was there and that Eric was made of awesome. He had done the dog owner thing and walked Big Jim. He probably gave him a longer walk than I would have. He spoiled that dog.

I love the way Eric fit into my life. He easily inserted himself into my routine. I only wished that I fit in as easily into his life. But tonight’s talk with Dhylaka, his ex, showed me that I did not fit in so seamless. I was a complication. I would bring change. And though Dhylaka and Lucifer would welcome this change, I wasn’t sure it would be such the big deal that it obviously was if everyone felt this way about it.

But Dhylaka had been right, I did not want to dwell one more second on this issue. By the time Dhylaka and I finished, I had almost missed Devon helping a very tipsy Tammy into a cab and hopping in after her. I hope he was a good boy. When it came to Devon and redheads, he never was.

I headed toward my bedroom. Before Eric, I would have made myself comfortable on the recliner. I have gone weeks without even stepping foot into my room. But

Eric seemed to think bedrooms were an appropriate place to do everything that we had been doing, whether it had been talking or having sex.

Kicking my shoes off on the way down the hall and dropping my purse as I stepped past my bedroom door’s threshold, the beat of my heart quickened at the sight of Eric laying across my bed on his stomach. Big Jim nestled at his side and they were both asleep. I leaned against the frame of the door and watched the gentle rise and fall of Eric’s breathing.

No longer tired now that I was looking at him. My body ached and I toyed with the idea of waking him. Pulling my shirt over my head, I dropped it on the floor. I crossed the room and crawled on the bed.

Lifting my right leg over his body until I straddled him. He stirred beneath me with a groggy moan but didn’t awaken before I lifted my other leg over him, claiming his other side to lay against.

He was like the sun. Big Jim and I were caught in his gravity and we couldn’t get close enough.

My body hard against his side and snuggled close. He murmured and turned slightly toward me and pressed back. His arm draped across the small of my back and his hand curved over my hip and he urged me closer. I hadn’t thought that we could get any closer. His need to be so close had me almost pulled under him. I thrilled. There was no place I would rather be.

Once again, I dreamed. Only tonight, it was of a war. Two stone-faced Angels fought. One was Lucifer, his too handsome face set in a stone scowl. The other, almost as bright but expressionless. They were so beautiful, features impossibly alluring to be confused with anything but angelic. The attack on one another, ferocious. They tore at each other with strong bare hands though the unknown angel had a sword hanging from his waist. Lucifer, the more golden one, lost his footing. He fell.

As he descended—

down—

and down—

and down—

—my god it seemed he fell forever.

The whole fall, he screamed a name as he fell locking eyes with the other Angel. Michael.

When Lucifer finally stopped his descent, he landed hard on the ground with a thud and a sob. Climbing to his knees, he lifted his face toward the sky, his voice raw as he shouted, “Brother, why?”

Even in my sleep, I flinched at the emotion. Lucifer turned and slinked away into the shadows. I could feel the ache in his chest.

A tear fell from Michael’s eye as it splashed to the ground behind the retreating Lucifer.

From the shadow, I almost missed another emerge from the shadow as if it had just suddenly become a man, Eric. He stared after the broken and fallen Lucifer and then up toward Heaven as if he were locking eyes with the Angel Michael who had shed one tear for his fallen brother. Eric shook his head and let his head drop, letting his eyes close shut at the pain.

My eyes fluttered open. It was dark. I almost panicked at the blackness. Eric’s warmth reached me asleep at my side and pushed the fear away. Something inside me relaxed. Nothing could or would dare to hurt me, even in the dark, if Eric was here.

Eric stirred fitfully in his sleep as if he were having a dream he didn’t like. I wondered if the dream I’d had was actually something that happened. Was that the start of the war and the reason for the truce?

They had all appeared so broken. Couldn’t they see that? Didn’t they realize that this stupid war was breaking every heart involved? I wanted to cry from the weight of what I saw in my dream. They could have stopped this but now it was too late. When Lucifer had cried out for his brother, when Michael had cried a tear for the fallen, and Eric had to stand in the wake of his family tearing itself apart, it was almost too much for me to bear. I was human. I should not know these things. I should not be privy to them. But I was. Was this just another memory that would haunt me?

This was one that I did not want. This was the memory of the war that tore heaven apart. This was the first battle of the war between Heaven and Hell. The war was still not over, and if what Dhylaka said was true, it could be about to boil over after simmering for thousands of years all because of me?

At some point, I must have fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes again, Eric leaned over me, his dark hair falling in waves like a jet-black curtain. I smiled up into his eyes. I already knew what that look meant.

His hands roamed down my body, over the curve of my hip and to my thighs where they stopped briefly. My legs opened as he moved his body over mine and his legs spread mine the rest of the way. His weight on me was divine. I didn’t know if I would ever get used to the feeling.

My arms wrapped around him and my hands met at his back where they crept down to the bottom of his shirt and slipped it free from his pants.

“I want this shirt off.” My voice was still husky and soft from sleep.

The passion behind his eyes roared to life.

The weight of him lifted and I wanted it back. He pulled the shirt over his head and then he tossed it behind him. I scooted up, wiggling under him in an attempt to pull myself to sitting so I could look at him and his wonderful body. I would never, ever, get enough of seeing it. I wanted to run my hands over every inch of his body.

His hands gripped my thighs, trying to stop me from removing myself from being pinned under him. It didn’t work. I was free and then I pounced on him just as he shifted himself up to rest on his knees. He fell back, his arms wrapping around me as I dropped on top of him. I wanted him, even if I knew all that he was giving up and risking for me. I saw the world he was from last night, the pain he felt when his family was torn apart when Lucifer slipped from Heaven. If that happened to Eric for being with me, I didn’t want him to have to slink into the dark. Eric had me.

I kissed him hard. My mouth pressed up against his until it almost hurt. My fingers tangled in his hair. I balled my fist around the strands and held on. His lips parted inviting me in and I accepted his invitation. My tongue licked across his bottom lip before I plunged it into his mouth in search of his tongue. He kissed back.

His hands grabbed a firm hold of my butt, so tight that it almost hurt. Or it did hurt, only I didn’t care. The rumble of a growl vibrated into my mouth. Eric’s need vibrated inside of me. I pressed against him until I could feel how hard he was. His want for me tight between us, restrained against his pants.

I reluctantly freed one hand from my hold in his hair, never once breaking our kiss. I slid the freed hand in between us, moving it down our bodies. Eric shivered in its wake. I reached the buckle of his belt and pulled it loose in a small yank. Eric held his breath in anticipation.

Once I had undone his pants, I broke our kiss. I found something more exciting that I wanted to do with my tongue, my lips, and my mouth. I kissed down his neck and Eric took in a sharp breath, releasing it in a quiver. The hand that remained in his hair slowly unfurled and followed after the trail of kisses I was leaving on his chest as I moved lower and lower.

When I reached his stomach, it jumped slightly at my tongue as I flicked down the thin trail of soft curly hair that started below his belly button. Odd, I didn’t think Angels would have belly buttons.

At the top of his boxers, I used both hands to pull them from where they rested on his hips. When I got them low enough, he kicked them off.

He was there, lying naked before me. I sat back, ass on my feet, and studied him through lowered eyelids. He was gorgeous. My heart ached with how badly I wanted him and lower, much lower, tingled with how badly I wanted him inside me again. How could I have been so tired yesterday that I hadn’t wanted to do this again?

I locked eyes with Eric as I lowered my head down to the soft curls exposed when I removed his boxers. I took him in my hand and stroked him, firmly moving my hand up. He moaned softly. I smiled and flicked out my tongue, tracing it around the rim of his head.

“Oh my god,” Eric whispered.

I licked my tongue down the length of him then blew a soft breath back up over the trail of wetness my tongue left. Eric made a noise that only can be described as a purr. A purr from a very masculine and huge cat, but a purr all the same.

I finally took him into my mouth and slid down to the hilt. Slowly I came back up, sucking with my tongue softly. Eric groaned and plunged his hands into my hair and held tightly. I hummed softly with him still in my mouth and the purring grew louder.

“Come here,” Eric’s deepened voice demanded as he took hold of my thigh and swung it over his body until my sex was over his head.

His hand caressed my ass briefly and then moved to my center. He pushed my panties aside and his tongue found my already very sensitive clit, plump from arousal. I moaned softly with him still in my mouth. He growled in pleasure as he devoured me completely.

In no time, my body reached the edge of a climax. Eric’s hands grabbed my hips and pulled me closer to his mouth, causing me to abandon the job I was giving him. But at that moment, I didn’t care. I rested my forehead on his stomach as I exploded with pleasure. I screamed, loud enough that my neighbors heard as they banged on the wall. Still, Eric licked and sucked until he pulled every bit of ecstasy possible from my climax. I lay on top of him panting for my next breath as he gently lifted my ass from his face and flipped us until I was on my back and he was looming on top of me.

“We are not done just yet.” His voice was thick with arousal, and I almost squirmed.

Hell, I think I did squirm with excitement. I was still trying to catch my breath from one hell of an orgasm and I still wanted more.

His knee pushed my legs further apart and in a smooth thrust, he entered me. He inhaled roughly as he withdrew and plunged into me again. I clenched around him as he pulled out and he groaned. I pushed up lifting my pelvis to accommodate more of him as he quickened his thrust. I gripped the sheets, bracing myself for the explosion that was building inside my body. My heartbeat pounded in my ears and Eric pounded inside me.

I closed my eyes and rode the wave of pleasure that sparked through every inch of my body and with one more hard thrust, Eric erupt inside me with a growl. Underneath him, I liquefied. If it weren’t for the weight of Eric’s body on top of mine, I would be floating. His breathing slowed and returned to normal as he rolled over and pulled me into his side until I fit snug against him in a perfect fit.

I beamed up at the ceiling, insanely happy lying next to the man that I loved. I turned my head using the excuse of looking at the clock so he wouldn’t see the Cheshire cat grin on my face. It was a little after 6 a.m. and I didn’t have to be anywhere until noon.

“I met a friend of yours last night, another one, I mean. This one was a lot nicer than Valience.” Okay, I was out of practice with knowing what an appropriate post-coital conversation topic was. But this was an issue that had to be discussed and if not now, when?

Eric tensed, but he didn’t move, holding me tight as he buried his face into my hair and inhaled.

“You smell like milk and honey.” He took another deep breath as if he couldn’t get enough.

“Coming from you, I will take that as a compliment. I know what wealth those things held for your, um, generation?”

He nodded against my neck. “Yes, and I found my very own land of wealth right here.”

He paused, then added, “You also always have a hint of a coffee smell, but that is not you, only your environment.”

I rolled over to face him and pushed up on my elbow. “Remind me to quit that damn lounge today at lunch with Devon.”

His face turned serious and he rolled to his back. “Which friend?”

I assumed he hadn’t heard me earlier when he didn’t respond, but I supposed he just needed time to allow me to step into his world. Or maybe it was time to figure out the effect it would have if our two worlds merged.

“Dhylaka.”

“Really? When?” The delight in his voice cut into me.

Jealousy ripped through my body. Shit, don’t get that excited, asshole, I thought.

He narrowed his eyes. “I’m not excited. I am just surprised.”

Okay, maybe I said it aloud and didn’t just think it. I need to get this little verbal vomiting under control.

I sighed. “I didn’t mean to say that.”

“When did you see Dhylaka?”

“When you were with the Devil. She told me you two didn’t know she was talking to me.”

“She was at the bar?” He sounded shocked and almost as an afterthought, he added, “And don’t call him the Devil.”

“Yes, sir, she was. We almost drowned in the drool she caused. She is like drop dead hot.”

“You both remind me of one another in so many ways.”

I patted his arm. “It’s okay, babe, you don’t have to say that. A healthy amount of jealousy on my part is fine.”

He laughed. “You are such an odd woman, but that’s one of the very striking differences between the two of you also.”