Mercy for the Fallen (37 page)

“Chill out.  No, she just didn’t have much of an opportunity to say much when her head came away from her body.”

“You beheaded her?”

“Just a little bit.”  He held up his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart.

“And Raum let you go?”

“Are you kidding me?  He practically threw me a bon voyage party,” Adam grinned.  “The guy was over the moon not to be under her thumb anymore.  So I swung by to pick up Oriana and came back to save the day, only you’d already done it first.”  He wrapped his arms around me.

“Yeah, well, I wasn’t sure what else to do to scare him off.”

“I guess that’s a good excuse, but don’t let it turn into a habit.  The next guy I catch you kissing isn’t going to get a pass.” 

“I won’t kiss anyone else, I promise,” I smiled, turning my face up to his, but he pulled back. 

“I’m not so sure I want to be kissing you right now.  How do I know you won’t steal my Grace?”

“Come here, you big baby,” I suppressed a roll of the eyes, pulling him close for a deep kiss.  I felt his Grace there, and I knew I could take it if I needed to, but it wasn’t hard to let it lie.  This kiss wasn’t about that.  This kiss was all about relief and love and a growing swell of lust.   

“So what happens now?” I asked when we finally broke to breathe. 

“Besides hiring a new decorator?  Not a whole hell of a lot.  You grab a broom and I’ll take Oriana home and then we get down to some serious adult time.”

“You expect me to clean up this mess by myself?”

“Of course not.  Nelo will help.”  His smile was beatific.

“Funny,” I replied, less than amused.  “How about we let Oriana stay to watch over Evie and then you and I hole ourselves up in the bedroom for a week?”

“I like where you’re head is at.  No time like the present.”  Adam scooped me up into his arms, carrying me toward the stairs.

“It’s the middle of the morning!”

“The better to see you,” he grinned, his eyes flashing playfully.

“The better for them to
hear
us,” I pointed out. 

“So, we send them out to the movies.” 

“I don’t know about that.”  While Oriana might be better at functioning in society, I wasn’t quite ready to send Eve out alone with her yet.  “Plus, we’ve got a giant hole where our front window used to be.  I’m thinking we need to take care of a little business before we can get down to business if you get me.”

Adam let out a long sigh.  “Yeah, I get you.  Being responsible sucks,” he scowled, setting me down. 

“I’ll tell you what.  I’ve got an even better idea.  How about you go take Oriana home and I’ll make some calls to get this window repaired.  And then tomorrow, all three of us can go to Fiji.”

“Fiji?” The corner of his mouth tugged up into a half smile. 

“That is where you wanted to take me, right?  Evie can swim with the dolphins and you can rub sunscreen all over my body as many times a day as you want.” 

“Not quite the NC-17 trip I had in mind, but I’ll take it,” he agreed, leaning in for a possessive kiss. 

“Great, then you make sure my sister in law gets home okay and leave all the arrangements to me.  Oh, and don’t freak out if you get back and we’re not here.  We have some shopping to do.”

“What for?”

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it,” I smiled smugly.

* * *

The first call I made was to the glass company, making an appointment for them to come out and board up the mess and take measurements for the new window.  I almost liked it better with the board in place.  The house felt more secure that way.  But, seeing as how I was trying to avoid going overboard on the security, I placed the order. 

The second call was to Daphne.  I thought about going to see her in person, but I needed to be there for the glass guy at first and then Eve was taking her nap.  Thank God we didn’t have to stay in hiding anymore!  We talked for over an hour, the first half dominated by my apologies and the second half her assuring me that Sam was alive and well and that neither of them blamed me for what happened.  We made plans to go shopping as soon as we got back from our trip.  For baby things and to get some Christmas shopping done. 

By the time Eve woke up from her nap, I had the worst of the damage cleaned up, the pile of broken furniture on the side of the house ready to be picked up by the garbage hauler.  After a quick snack, we set off for the mall to buy a few provisions for our trip.  Eve was very excited about going on vacation, particularly someplace warm, and talked me into buying her two bathing suits.  I picked up a red bikini for myself, reminiscent of the one I’d worn in the Ether with Adam.  Maybe he wouldn’t remember, but it made me smile. 

As casually as I could manage, over frozen yogurt, I broached the subject of what had happened that morning, trying to see if Eve was at all freaked out over the battle royale in the house that morning.  Oddly enough, she seemed to roll with it pretty well.  She understood enough to know Michael and I had been there to protect her, and Lucifer had promised to stop trying to take her away, and that was enough for her.   She seemed much more interested in trying to talk me into buying a quirky little pillow shaped like a happy piece of sushi. 

With our purchases in hand (and the sushi pillow tucked under her arm), we made it back to the house, Eve’s face sticky with frozen yogurt.  There, in the middle of the kitchen counter, was a bouquet of pink roses and a smaller bouquet of pink and white carnations.  The card read:

For my two favorite girls. 

A.  

“Something tells me Uncle Adam is home,” I grinned.  It took us a while to find him though.  Finally, we remembered to check the basement, where he was watching a documentary on muscle cars with Nelo in the dark. 

“Hey, what’s going on?” I asked softly, not wanting to disturb them, as it looked like Nelo was fast asleep on his lap.

“The little guy was lonely,” he shrugged.  “No big deal.”  Adam carefully peeled Nelo off of him, settling him on the oversized dog bed we’d set up as a temporary bed for him.  He left the TV going to mask the sound of the creaky stairs. 

“Guess who else was lonely?” I smiled as he reached the top of the stairs, my height advantage placing my lips at the same height as his. 

“I’m definitely the guy to help you out with that,” he said with an answering grin, delivering a scorching kiss that left me clinging to him and panting for more.  “I don’t suppose you want to park the rugrat in front of the TV and take this upstairs?”

As much as I wanted to, I also knew I didn’t want to rush what we’d been waiting for after so long.  “Soon,” I promised, leading him up the rest of the stairs. 

“You still owe me a striptease, don’t think I’ve forgotten about that,” he grumbled, giving my butt a swat as we emerged into the light. 

“Soon,” I repeated, throwing him a teasing waggle of the eyebrows.  “First, we have to figure out what to do about dinner.  We can’t exactly use the kitchen like this and the dining set is kaput.”

“Leave everything to me,” Adam said, pulling out his cell phone.  A half an hour later, we had two pizzas, sodas, cookies, everything we could possibly want for a dinner camped out in the living room.  Somewhere about halfway through The Little Mermaid, I realized… we could do this.  We could be a real family.  We might not ever be a
normal
family, but we could make it work. 

Adam caught me looking at him and dropped me a quick wink. 

I reached over the back of the couch to cover his hand with mine. “I love you, you know.”

“I know.”

“No, I mean, I really love you.”

The movie forgotten, Adam caught onto my mood, his eyes blazing with another kind of hunger.  “Time for bed,” he said, his gaze holding mine. 

“I want to see the rest of the movie,” Eve immediately objected and Nelo chimed in as well.

It wasn’t all that late, but I could tell from the look in his eyes, there would be no denying Adam.  I’d made him wait long enough.  “You can watch it tomorrow.  Right now it’s time to get washed up for bed.  Nelo, take Bitey with you, I don’t want him clawing at the door to get down to you again.”

Eve accepted that without too much argument, making me think she was tired from the long day.  “Can I have a story?”

“Sure.  After you brush your teeth and put on your pj’s.”  I stood to escort her up the stairs. 

“I want Uncle Adam to tell me a story.”

Adam’s face registered surprise and genuine pleasure at the declaration.  He picked her up and swung her onto his shoulders.  “Sure, squirt, I know lots of ‘em.  Some that’ll curl your hair.”

“I like curly hair.”

“Good, ‘cause you’re gonna have a curly top by the time I finish the one about David and Goliath.”

I followed them up the stairs and down the hallway until Adam turned to face me, Eve’s hands pressed to either side of his face as she held on.  “Where do you think you’re going?”  He raised a single brow.

“I want to listen to the story too.”

“Oh no, you have some preparing of your own to do, woman.”  He flashed his best bedroom eyes at me. 

“I don’t even want to think about the lessons you’re teaching her,” I murmured, leaning up to give her a kiss.  “Goodnight, honey.  I’ll see you in the morning.” 

“Goodnight, Momma.”

I lingered in the hallway, listening to their hushed voices punctuated by the tinkle of her laugh.  We could do this.  We could be happy.   I hurried to my bedroom to dig through one of the pink bags from the mall.  He wanted preparing?  I’d give him preparation.

It was hard not to smile at the disappointment that flitted across his face at finding me in a flannel sleep shirt.  “I thought you were going to make yourself ready for me.”

“I did.”

“This is all I get?”

“Hey, if you’ve changed your mind…”

“No, no, no, it’s what’s inside that counts.  I just thought you’d… you know.”

“Be draped in leather and lace?” I cocked my head to one side.  “Maybe next time.” 

“I like the sound of that.”  Adam found his smile again as he drew me into his arms with a welcoming kiss.  “Or there’s always nothing at all.”   

“You said you liked having something to unwrap.”

“So I did,” he smiled against my lips, hands delving to the soft fabric between us as he edged me backwards to the bed.  I obliged, laying back against the pillows while he made short work of the buttons.

Adam gasped when his eyes set upon the delicates underneath the flannel, fingers reverently stroking the black lace.  I’d managed to surprise him, and that was worth the silly disappointment over the sleep shirt. 

“You like?” I arched a brow.

“Oh, yeah,” he nodded, hands closing over a lace encased peak.  “Daddy likes…”

“Ugh, you’re disgusting,” I punched his shoulder lightly.  Just when I thought he was reformed of his old ways, something stupid came out of his mouth.

“What?” His eyes widened innocently.  “I didn’t mean it like I’m
your
Daddy.  I meant it like… I’m the Daddy of this family.  I am, aren’t I?”  There was a trace of hesitation in his voice, the vulnerability there erasing any annoyance over the obnoxious words. 

“Yes, you’re the Daddy of this family now.” 

“That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”  His face became serious, foreplay forgotten as he strove to tell me something significant.  “You and Bun, you’re the most important things to me.  I would’ve sacrificed everything if you hadn’t been able to beat Lucifer.”

I reached up to cup his cheek, drawing his face close to mine.  “Hey, you didn’t have to sacrifice anything.  We’re here and we’ve got nothing but smooth sailing ahead.  We have only one major problem that I can see.”

“What’s that?” he frowned.

“You’re wearing way too many clothes.”

“Now that I can fix.”  The sexy grin was back, his eyes watching me as he slowly lifted his t-shirt up and over his head, revealing the smooth, taut lines of his torso.  “Your turn.”

I shrugged out of the sleep shirt, rolling one shoulder at a time, never breaking eye contact with him until I was clad only in the black bra and panty set.  Laying back against the pillows again, I drew one finger across the rigid line in his jeans.  “Your turn.”

  His breath left him in a whisper, fingers busy with the button of his jeans.  The zipper made a tantalizing hiss as he revealed the dark thatch of hair atop the low slung boxer briefs.  He shoved them down over his hips and kicked them off, the poetry of motion somewhat marred when one pant leg got stuck on his foot.  “Your turn,” he grinned when he tugged it free. 

I shook my head.  “Nope, you said you wanted to unwrap me.  Don’t you start shirking your duties already,” I teased, arching my back ever so slightly to draw his eyes. 

“Maybe there’s something to be said for being a responsible adult after all.”  His eyes crinkled in amusement, hands closing over the curve of my breasts.  But he didn’t stop there, expertly teasing me with teeth and tongue, his breath hot through the lace.   

“I thought you wanted to take them off,” I gasped as he worked his way lower, leaving the lingerie in place, the thin material easily pushed aside.

“Not yet, I’m still enjoying it.”  A swirl of the tongue made me gasp.  “Aren’t you?”  Instead of letting me answer, he began his tender assault in earnest, leaving me breathless and panting, begging him for more.  And when he’d reduced me to little more than a slave, my body quaking at every touch, only then did he settle above me, the thick tip of him begging entrance.  I felt the raspy lace torn free and whisked aside as he plunged into me with one perfect stroke. 

I clung to his shoulders as he moved within me, enjoying the play of strong muscles beneath my hands.  It was as if our bodies had been made to become one, every curve and hollow fitting together, his lips a perfect height to reach my mine with every powerful thrust.  The Grace enveloped us, mingling, adding another level of tingling energy to our movements.  Our bodies became slick with heat, sliding sensually, craving every inch of friction between us as the pressure began to build.  The slow grind gave way to a fever pitch as we drove each other closer and closer, mindless in our quest for release.