Loving Your Lies (41 page)

Loves you more than he can ever
understand.

My heart exploded. An unstrained smile
stretched my lips. He’d never really left me, and with the subtle
actions that only I would notice, he’d made sure that a small part
of me remembered him. Even if it was only the shadow of a face in
my dreams.

Flipping the comforter to the side, I jumped
out of bed, then slipped into my jeans, and tugged on a T-shirt.
Barefoot I strode out the door, crossed the hallway to his room,
and stopped in the threshold with his name on my lips. But he
wasn’t there, the room was empty.

My heart sank.

Reluctant steps carried me further into the
room. My gaze wandered over the furniture that no one had used for
so long. But Julian had stayed in here for many weeks. His aura had
left its imprint—it closed in, enveloping me.

In front of his bed, I stopped as I glimpsed
something that was long wiped from my mind. A gray hoodie lay
sprawled on the blanket. He gave this back to me, too? And I had
never even noticed he’d taken it from me along with all the
precious memories of him.

Sinking onto the mattress, I pulled the
sweater into my lap. Uncertain what rush of emotions and longing
the scent would evoke, I hesitated to bring it to my face and
sniff. But the joy filling me as the fog lifted from my mind was
too great. I buried my face in the hoodie.

Ocean. Sun. Warm, wild wind. Happy day. A
kiss.
I drowned in the wonderful flood of remembrance. In his
arms, the world had stopped turning. He’d taken me to a place
between times. To live in a special moment.

“I miss you so much.” The words hurt in my
tight throat. And now it was all clear why I never seemed to
recover from the loss of my mother. Because I’d lost more than just
her. The day that she died, I had also lost the love of my
life.

It was hard not to break out in tears after
so long, but by pressing my lips together I managed to stay strong.
I slipped my arms into the sleeves of the hoodie, which was a few
sizes too big for me, and brought the cuffs to my nose to draw in
another deep breath of afterglow.

I would have given everything to hold him
again, just once more. Julian was the best thing that ever happened
to me.

“I love you,” I croaked into the fabric.
“I’ve always loved you. From the moment you broke through my
protection and walked straight into my heart.”

“It’s about time you realized that.”

A breath caught in my throat. I snapped my
head toward the French door where the chuckle had come from. Julian
sat on the railing of the balcony, his feet dangling. It was a good
thing I was already sitting, or I would have collapsed on the spot
at the very sight of him.

There you go. Craziness is taking over.

Julian returned my intense glare. Then he
lifted one suggestive brow. “Don’t want to come join me out
here?”

Slowly, I shook my head. “I’m hallucinating.
I’m hallucinating…”

Then why the hell bother to shake your
head at a mirage
?
Why was no one around to slap me when
I was so obviously going insane?

Julian drew his brows together, the corners
of his mouth turning downward. “Come on, Jona. You didn’t make me
wait for you this long, to call me a fantasy in the end.”

His voice sounded real. And his body seemed
solid, not ghostlike as I had seen him half an hour ago. He also
appeared without his wings, dressed in his usual outfit of blue
jeans and a shirt.

But, Jeez, what if I fell for my own
delusions?

Then make it a good one
!

My gulp echoed through the room as I rose
from his bed. Knees wobbly, I crossed to the door, but stopped with
a hand to the frame for support.

“What brought you back?” My voice had
abandoned me completely. In order for him to answer, he would have
to be able to read lips.

“You. Because you finally accepted what you
felt all along. You’ve learned to trust. And by speaking it out
loud you opened the portal for me to return.”

“Fully? Return?” My sandpaper dry tongue
stuck to the roof of my mouth. It made me stammer. “I—I mean, did
you come back as the man or the angel?”

His shoes thudded on the floorboards as
Julian hopped down. The overhung boxes planted with bright red
flowers shook, releasing drops of dew. His thumbs dipped into his
pockets, and he leaned against the railing.

“Fully,” he confirmed. “I’m here to
stay.”

I struggled to grasp what he’d said. I’d
endured so long without him, and now he’d come back. And he tempted
me to run into his embrace. But the small chance that he would
vaporize into thin air the instant I wrapped my arms around him
kept me rooted. How much craziness was one mind capable of?

“
Bonjour
, Jona,” my aunt shouted with
her usual cheerful tone from the garden below. “Hi, Julian. Will
you stay for breakfast?”

I held my breath. Leaning slightly to the
side, I gazed past Julian and spotted Marie carrying a scalding pot
of coffee and buns on a tray to the table under the willow
tree.

“Yeah, I think I will,” Julian replied with
a grin but without turning away from me.

“She just invited you to eat with us.” As
though it was the most natural thing in the world to have an angel
sitting at the breakfast table. “How come she remembers you?”

“You opened the gate.” He shrugged. “And
everyone affected will accept me as part of their life again.”

Mind swimming, I gave him a pointed stare.
“My aunt doesn’t wonder where you came from all of a sudden?”

“She knows me as her older sister’s
caretaker. As far as she remembers, I left shortly after the
funeral on another assignment. She doesn’t doubt I’m real.” He
walked toward me at a seductive pace, his chin low and fire
sparkling in his eyes. “So why do you?”

I reached out, almost expecting him to draw
back like he had done so many times in my dreams. But he moved
closer and let me feel the smooth skin of his face. I skimmed my
fingers over his cheeks, his lips, down his neck and shoulders.

“You feel so real. Totally alive. Even
though I couldn’t remember, I waited for this moment all these
months.” Feeling his firm biceps, I ran my hands lower and finally
laced them with his. “And now you’re here, and I hardly dare trust
my eyes.”

“You’d better believe it, babe. Because it
makes
this
feel so much better.” And the next instant his
lips took mine in a slow, thrilling kiss. My palms pressed against
the wall as I surrendered to him. His tongue delved into my mouth.
My knees gave way, but he steadied me with his body pushing against
mine.

Kissing a path along my jaw, he purred into
my ear. “Until the sun sets tonight I will still be an angel. It is
up to you to decide by then whether you want me to stay—or leave
again.”

Huh?
Stop kidding me, angel
!
“Can I make that decision now? I want you to
stay
!”

One corner of his mouth lifted in my
favorite lopsided smile. “I hoped you would say that. So after
sundown, I’ll lose my angel powers and spend this life with you as
ordinary Julian
.” He nibbled my earlobe. “But before that
happens, there is something I’ve wanted to do with you for a very
long time.” His fingers found the first button of his shirt to open
it.

“What?” I croaked, pressing harder against
the wall behind me. “Make love to me?”

His fingers went down from one button to the
next, revealing his strong chest to my gaping eyes. “That, too.” A
rascally grin flashed across his face. “But it will have to wait
for another
moment
.”

Over his shoulder, I spotted Marie pouring
coffee into a cup, only that the stream didn’t stop. She suddenly
seemed frozen in time. My unbelieving gaze moved back to Julian,
who had dropped his shirt to the floor. Behind him the air wavered
until a jet of light emerged. Two marvelous, wide wings appeared
and hovered at his sides.

Their sight robbed the air from my
lungs.

One arm behind my knees and the other
planted firmly on my back, Julian swept me up. Mischief sparked in
his deep blue eyes. His warm breath brushed my face. “Are you ready
for a sky-dive?”

Head tilted back, I laughed out loud. “Bring
it on, angel.”

If this book had a soundtrack

OneRepublic – Secrets

(On the run through London)

Beyoncé – Halo

(There’s something weird about Julian)

Jervy Hou – A breathtaking piano piece

(Jona eavesdrops on Julian playing the
piano)

Guillaume Robbe – Hallelujah (piano
cover)

(A special song for Jona)

Miley Cyrus – When I look at you

(No memory of the angel, but he’s still
around)

The Piano Guys – Over the rainbow

(A happy ending. Return of the angel)

Get a sneak peek into Piper Shelly’s teen
romance,

PLAY WITH ME

A novella all about first love and soccer

Ryan Hunter’s parties are legend.

And tonight she’s going to be there.

Liza Matthews anticipates the return of her
best friend and only love since kindergarten from soccer camp. But
when Tony finally shows up, his mind is more focused on another
girl. And worse, she’s a soccer player. Fighting for the attention
Liza craves, she’s just a hairbreadth away from making a very
stupid decision. But when extraordinary times call for
extraordinary measures, she’s prepared to play ball to get her
man.

The tryouts are hell, the first match ends
bloody, and the morning after the selection party she wakes up in
the worst place possible—in the arms of the captain of the soccer
team. The hottest guy in school. Ryan Hunter.

I opened my eyes to stare at the sensual
lips of Ryan Hunter.

My hand on his naked chest rose and fell
with his slow, even breaths.

Holy cow, what the hell happened? I was in
bed with the captain of the soccer team. Heck, I should have never
gone to that party.

Now, my only thought was
run
. But
shock kept me pinned to the bed as I became aware of the entangled
position Ryan and I had taken on in our sleep. Lying on my right,
my left leg was slung over his hip. My calf rested neatly on his
groin. He lay on his back, his left leg bent so, that I wouldn’t be
able to withdraw mine. I tried to stop my body from shivering. No
chance.

Not daring to wake him, I didn’t move,
frantically running through the options I had. Great, there were
none. I was trapped.

Maybe if I lay still, pretending to be fast
asleep, until he woke up and got out of bed first, then I could
sneak out after him and be gone before he noticed. I would have
slapped myself for that idea if I could remove my hand from his
warm chest.

And a firm chest it was. He must lift
weights besides playing soccer. As if my eyes had their own mind,
they traveled down his gorgeous body. A thin trail of dark hair led
south from his navel over his flat stomach until it vanished under
the waistband of his jeans. His bent leg seemed amazingly long. I
never paid attention, but he must be more than a head taller than
me.

My gaze swept up to his neck and the part of
his face not covered with his arm. A lean jaw and a perfect,
straight nose. He sported an overnight shadow that begged to be
rubbed. I resisted. Under his left ear was an old scar, about an
inch long. One would never notice unless close to him, like I was
now.

Suddenly his lips twitched.

“I can feel you staring at me,” he said in
the softest wake-up voice I’d ever heard. “I only hope you’re a
girl and not one of the drunken guys.”