Saving Grace (20 page)

I walked off the dance floor and back to Lea and Conner, who were huddled against the bar kissing. I reached for my coat and yanked my arms through the sleeves angrily.

"What are you doing?" God, even the tone of his raspy voice just makes you want to rip your own pants off. He should not be legally able to walk around.

"I'm leaving," I answered.

"Why?"
He moved forward slowly, holding on to my gaze. Those blue eyes sent shivers down my body. He placed his hands on both sides of me and once AGAIN leaned in and trapped me against the bar. How does he do that I know NOT! Because I was seriously ten feet away from the bar about t
o leave, and now I wanted to lean
back on the damn bar and let him...

I inhaled deeply, which was not a well thought out plan of mine, because his earthy Shane scent hit me like, I don't know, something um, very heavy. I couldn't even think straight wit
h Shane so close to me. "Why Shane?"
I gave an unsteady laugh. "Are you serious right now?"

His hand slid down my side and my heart skipped a few beats as he hovered his lips over mine. His other hand reached up and gently skimmed the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip.

"You can't keep doing this to
m
e,
Shane," I breathed. "You accuse me of wanting everyone but the only person I want. I'm not one of your groupies Shane. I'm not playing games." My voice trembled. I closed my eyes as he smoothed his lips over my cheek
. "You want a night with
m
e,
Shane;
I will give it to you without a second thought."

Shane's body tensed, his movements stopped. Pulling back
,
looking at me
,
he let his arms go limp against his sides. "A night
, huh
?"

The mental punch to my gut his look gave me left me gasping for air.
Why couldn't he have said to me it could be more? I wanted more than
one
damn night with him!

He tipped his head back and laughed. "Come on, let's get out of here." He looked to Conner and Lea and called out to them. "You guys ready?"

The
y
both nodded and grabbed their coats and put them on. Conner and Shane made sure there was enough money left on the bar, but his intense eyes were on me the whole time.

We walked back to the house in silence. The sounds of the ocean lapping against the shore drifted to our eyes and the heavy saltiness of the air burned our noses.

Caroline had the two couches in the living room
set
with pillows and blankets for the guys to sleep on. She came out of the kitchen when we walked in explaining to us that
premarital sex will send you straight to hell if it happens under her roof without at least a ring and date set
. Lea rolled her eyes and stomped up the stairs to her old bedroom
,
sighing heavily. I glanced at Shane who sat on the couch smiling and
then I
walked up the stairs following Lea.

I closed the bedroom door behind us laughing and pointing at Lea, "Oh, you are so going to hell in a
hand basket
!"

"We should have just
gone
home after that
all you can eat spaghetti dinner
. I feel like I'm sixteen again."

I
crawled
out of my clothes and changed into a pale pink tank
top with matching boy shorts.

After Lea
changed,
she pulled down the covers of her bed and we both climbed in. She faced me, leaning her head on her hands. "So, spill. What's going on with you and Shane?"

I let my head fall back on one of the pillows and sighed, "I have no clue. We had a nice time on the bike. We talked at the beach. We flirted. He mauled me on the dance floor. Everything that man did was so freaking erotic it made my head spin." I turned to look at her, "But we didn't kiss, and he accused me of wanting to be with someone I punched in the face on the
dance
floor."

Lea bolted up. "What? You punched someone in the face?"

"Okay, listen. Don't freak out. Let me try to explain." I sat up and faced her, crossing my legs. "There isn't some crazy guy here, or an intruder who I accidently walked in on
like I said to the detectives
.
"

I watched her chest rise and fall faster like she was starting to hyperventilate. I didn't want to tell her everything, but I didn't know what else to do.
"
Gabriel and the other fallen angels have been behi
nd all the crap that's going on. I think it's mostly Gabriel though.
"

"Gabriel? Gabriel, the one who helped me save you when you were sixteen when you tried to off yourself?"

I shrugged. "None of this makes any sense, I know. The only thing I know is that when I was in a coma
,
I was with Gabriel and I saw you and Shane
in the hospital room. I saw him call Gabriel like he
knew him
, and that's when Gabriel said that Shane was the angel I had been looking for all these centuries."

Lea's eyes welled with tears, but I continued, feeling a weight lifting off my shoulders I didn't even know I was carrying. "Then Gabriel told me he loved me and offered me...things. I left
though. But h
e caught me again. I
don't even know what he did to me, all I know is that I woke up and Jacob untied me
because I was chained up
. Shane was there and handed me to Michael telling him to do something and that I was worth it, and left me."

"Shan
e saved you?
He was there?
"

"
Well, yeah. But that was when Shane had
Shamsiel's
soul in his body.
Doesn't matter. I'm here. He's there. Gabriel and the rest of the fallen angels are here and if I choose Gabriel, we can take over the heavens or something
crazy like that. And all I want to do is be a normal human being for once, forget about all this crazy angel crap and be with Shane."

"Holy angel
crap
!"

"Exactly. And tonight when we came out of the bathroom and you ran away from me, Gabriel was right in
front
of me
,
and then him and Shane had words.
I think Shane went after him, but I never got to ask him. That's when Shane accused me of wanting to be with them."

"I'm so confused right
now;
I don't even know the words you are saying to me."

"You're confused? Try being me. It's seriously like I have two completely different lives and I have to split myself between them."

"Two different fairytales that don't really belong together?"

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Pick one and go with it. I suggest the one with Shane, because even though Gabriel is beyond
angel hot
, he is creepy as hell. He has always scared the shit out of me, like he was the devil himself."

The devil himself?

I pulled myself out of the bed and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Lea asked yawning.

"Bathroom," I murmured.

She giggled from under the blankets, "Yeah sure, tell Shane I said good night.
Oh, and Grace...
"

I turned to look at her when I reached the door, "Yeah."

"I think you should tell Shane. Tell him everything. Maybe you can't see it, or you just don't want to trust him, but that man loves you."

"Yeah. Marie too."

I stepped into the hallway and quietly closed the door behind me. The house was dead silent. I tiptoed past Caroline and Anthony's bedroom and past the bathroom. I um...always liked the downstairs bathroom better. Yeah, that's it. I silently slipped down the stairs and heard the soft breaths of sleeping bodies on the couches.
Damn. Oh, well. I might as well really go into the bathroom and wash the makeup off my face
.
I wanted to ask him how
his knuckles got messed up, and if it had anything to do with Gabriel.
There's no way an archangel like Gabriel would let Shane get away with hitting him.

I walked behind one of the couches without a sound. A hot flash burst across my face and chest when I heard his low raspy chuckle. Shane sprang up in front of the couch, grabbed me around the waist and dragged me over the back of the couch and into his arms. I
let out a small yelp and he pressed the palm of his hand against my lips.

My
eyes focused on his in the dim light that peeked through the blinds of the front bay window. Slowly
,
he slid his hand away from my lips and down my neck. A sexy smile pulled at his lips.

In one quick
move,
he flipped me on my back and his hand reached up to brush his warm fingertips along my lips. My breath caught and my lips parted, waiting.
Wanting
.
All my thoughts about asking him questions flew out the window.

"
Grace Taylor, I am going to kiss you right now and you are not going to run away from me, because you have no excuse now. Then you are going to go back upstairs
to bed
and all you are going to think about are my fucking lips on yours and nothing else.
Not strange men that want to hurt you, or buy you drinks, not Ryan, not Tucker, not even Ethan.
I swear
to
yo
u,
Grace, I will not let you think of anything or anyone else until I put my lips back there again
."

I pressed my hands against his chest and my fingertips tingled with heat from his skin through his
tee shirt
.
A raw heat swept across my cheeks.

Shane's mouth
hovered
over mine.
His breath husky and ragged.
His body
pressed against mine and the button of his jeans felt ice cold against my belly where my tank top had ridden up to
just below my breasts.

And then his kissed me.

His lips crashed against mine and I was
done
.
Lost. Gone. His
.

I pulled my knee up and wrapped my leg around his and he groaned deep in his throat.

The sound of him moaning, the sound of his breathing,
and the
heat of his hands sent me reeling. I wanted more, more than just his touch; it wasn't enough. I clawed at the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up over his head. Our lips broke contact for a second and he growled and slammed his lips against me when the shirt went sailing freely across the room.

His fingers moved in slow circles over me
.
The
searing
heat of his touch sent fire through
my
veins like a pure, unadulterated drug.
His lips glided smoothly against mine, the small flickers of his tongue sent me rocking against him. He kissed a hot trace of electricity across my jaw and down my neck. I whimpered when he lifted my shirt and took one of my nipples in his mouth.
My body trembled from his lips and he held me tighter.

The couch beneath us could have completely
disintegrated
and I wouldn't have noticed a damn thing
but those lips
.
I ran my hand along his smooth skin and slipped it between the hard muscles of his stomach and the rough material of his jeans.
Holy Mother of ALL THINGS GIGANTIC!

"God
,
Grace," his voice shook. He grabbed at my hand and tugged
it reluctantly
out of his pants.
We looked at each other panting, breathless.

"Go back
upstair
s,
Gra
y,
and go to sleep."

I bit my bottom lip, "I sure as damn hell don't want to, Shane."

"Grace," he whispered as he slid his finger over my swollen lips. "I want to be inside you so damn bad right now. But when I do that
,
I want to hear you scream my fucking name as you claw your nails down my back.
You can't do that here.
"

"I'm never getting to sleep now," I giggled.

"Baby, I'm going to be taking a cold shower for weeks after this."

"That doesn't really work too well," I said as I stood up and fixed my shirt.

"Remember tonight...for it is the beginning of always," he whispered.

"Dante Alighieri, Shane?"