Sweet as Sin (43 page)

someone…a therapist. I want to be better for you.

I never want you to look at me in fear again.”

“I’m glad you’re getting some help, Murphy.

Not for me, but for you. You deserve to be happy.”

“You make me happy.” John eased her hands from his head, cradled them in his palms and brought his gaze to hers. Leather creaked as he slid off the couch, kneeling before her. “Last night you said you hated me. And then told me you loved me. Can you forget the hate, Liv? Can you forgive me? Can you love me again?”

Inez Kelley

479

The taste of her tears grew and she stroked his jaw. She didn’t have to love him again. She’d never stopped. Pain so fierce only came with love as strong. Livvy leaned in and stroked her nose against his. “Forgotten, forgiven and loved.”

A lopsided smile broke out. He brought her mouth back to his for a hard, short kiss before rubbing his nose to hers. “My mom did this. She’d tuck me in bed, kiss me goodnight and then rub noses with me. She said they were angel kisses and were made of pure love. The first time you did that, it shocked me. You gave me something I never thought I’d ever have, angel love.”

“Sounds like your mom was a sweet lady.”

Livvy leaned over, rubbed her nose with his deliberately and then dropped a kiss on the very tip. “And I love her son with all my heart.”

“I love you.”

His mouth took hers with an intensity that sucked the breath from her body. Livvy clung to him, afraid she would blink and this would disappear. His tongue dove deeper into her mouth, his fingers biting into her sides. No, this was real.

John was real. Somehow, he’d worked his magic and all she knew was love.

Suddenly, John moved back and brought her hands to his mouth. He kissed her knuckles then jumped to his feet. “Stay right there. I have something for you.”

480

Sweet as Sin

Livvy laughed. “Are you going to make me

read again?”

An excited grin appeared with his nod. He ducked down the hall and she called out, “Is this what loving a writer is like? Am I going to end up needing reading glasses from eyestrain?”

His quiet laugh warmed her, sending bubbles through her veins. The sound of the keyboard made her frown. “What are you doing back

there?”

“Give me one minute, okay? Don’t move.” She heard his printer wheeze.

Livvy ran her hands down her face and

collapsed back into the cushion. Her stomach gurgled and her knees shook. The urge to scream, laugh and dance in one fast movement zinged through her body. She contented herself with running her feet in place on the carpet.

His footsteps drew her cheek-splitting smile.

He’d never looked better to her. Although shadows smudged his eyes, his face radiated the same excitement she felt in her heart. The deep lines around his mouth shifted to laughing creases and he went back to his knees in front of her.

A folded single sheet of paper was held stiffly in his hand and he bit his lower lip. He handed her the page without a word. The paper rattled as she unfolded it.

Inez Kelley

481

Dead center, Courier font, the words stopped her pulse.

Livvy and Vory,

You are our Angel, our heartbeat,

our soul.

We cannot live without you.

We love you.

Marry us?

John, Jondi and Thorn

Stars flashed in her vision and her throat slammed shut. Every muscle froze solid. She lowered the page and a gasp jerked air into her lungs. On a bed of milk-colored velvet,

surrounded by blue, the box John held sparkled with magic.

Is this really happening? Maybe I’m still drunk
and this is a vivid hallucination
. But in no hallucination would her bare thighs stick to the couch. This was real.

“I bought this the day I went to the dentist. I had to wait while the stones were set. That’s why I was gone so long. I almost asked you half a dozen times. But I couldn’t get the words out.” A sound escaped her lips and he smiled, letting a palm glide along her thigh. “Don’t cry, Liv. It’s better like this. No more secrets between us.”

482

Sweet as Sin

She traced the three stones as he held the box.

Unusual but beautiful, the ring glittered in the bright sunshine.

John shrugged one shoulder. “It’s weird, I know. The first stone’s a sapphire for Jondi, the gentle part of my heart, the part that will love you forever. The other side is an onyx. The jeweler thought I was crazy, but Thorn’s as much a part of who I am as Jondi. He’s the one who will fight to the death to make you happy.”

“And the diamond in the center?” Livvy’s

voice came out with a wet squeak. “For Andros?

Because Vory would be pink.”

John shook his head. “For you. The purest part of my soul. My angel.”

“It’s beautiful.” She stared at the ring, her timid fingers touching the cool stones, the smooth velvet. His written proposal wrinkled. Her staggered breath was the only sound.

“Livvy.” His voice drew her gaze. A grin

angled one corner of his mouth. “I haven’t heard a
yes
yet.”

She didn’t answer and the small smile

disappeared from his lips. She stayed silent. His mouth flattened and he eased his hand from her leg. “Does that mean no?”

Her dry tongue darted out against her quivering lip. Regret darkened his eyes and he dropped his head. His shaky hand snapped the box shut. When Inez Kelley

483

his jaw clenched and he looked away, she grabbed for his free hand. “Murphy, I—”

“Why, Liv?”

She heard the sting in his tone, like sandpaper on steel. He tossed the blue box on the couch haphazardly. She waited until he brought his eyes back to hers. “It’s just…I need to…you…

Children. You said you didn’t ever want them.”

“And you do.” At her nod, he drew a breath then blew it out slowly. “The idea scares the hell out of me, Liv, straight-out piss-my-pants fear. I don’t think I could… What happens if I… What if I hurt them?”

Livvy shook her head. “No, Murphy, you

wouldn’t. You know the pain too well. You’ve never hurt your nephews. Even though you were messed up, you didn’t hurt me. You’d never hurt a child.”

“I’m scared, Liv.” John pinched his eyes shut and swallowed. The tension never left his shoulders but determination pulled them back.

“Okay, if you want them, I’ll deal with it.”

Livvy dropped her head to her hands. “I don’t want you to deal with it. I want you to want it, too.”

They sat in silence for a long tense minute.

Finally, Livvy lifted her head and fixed an unflinching gaze on him. “Murphy, what if I tell 484

Sweet as Sin

you I lied and could walk across the lawn and bring back a positive pregnancy test?”

Blood drained from his face. His brows

rounded and his mouth dropped. “You told me you weren’t.”

“I know what I said.” She refused to blink, keeping her eyes locked on him.

“A baby?” John slumped. His chest began to heave. He whispered, “You’re pregnant?”

Livvy stared. Shock began to fade and his brows furrowed. His lips thinned and his eyes flicked from side to side, jaw grinding. She watched the stiffening of his spine, the tightening of his forearms, the clench of his fists. He rocked to his feet with a single thrust and glared at her with furious eyes.

“You knew? You knew you were pregnant and you got so damn drunk you couldn’t stand up?

Christ, Liv, what in the hell were you thinking?

You can’t undo shit like that. Fucking hell, I was worried you had alcohol poisoning.” His hands shot through his hair and he spun away.

John stomped two paces then whipped around.

The determined slant to his jaw and slashed lines of his brow screamed anger. “And I’m definitely kicking Tow’s ass now, dumb son of a bitch.

Damn it, you knew? Schnapps and snappers?

Jesus, Liv, what the fuck were you thinking?”

Inez Kelley

485

Livvy leaped from the sofa with a laugh. John caught her, elbows gripped in hard hands, and yanked her back before she could wrap her arms around his neck. The intensity on his face made her smile wider.

“It’s not fucking funny, Livvy. Do you have any idea how dangerous what you did is?”

“I’m not pregnant.”

He frowned in confusion. His hands dropped away and he took a step back. “But you just sai—”

“I said ‘what if.’ I am not pregnant. Andrea is.

That’s why I sold my house to her and Tow. They need it. For their baby.”

“Andrea?” He rubbed his temples. “Then why did you—”

“Don’t you see? When you really thought I was, you didn’t get scared or panic or anything like that. Your first instinct was to keep your baby safe. You got protective, Murphy.”

Shock blanked his features. His tight brows relaxed and his shoulders softened in slow degrees.

A twitch danced along his mouth. “Yeah, I guess I did.”

This time, when her arms slid around his neck, he didn’t hold her away. She whispered against his ear. “Sometimes an idea is a lot more frightening than the reality. One day, I want to tell you those words and mean them. Now you won’t be so afraid to hear them.”

486

Sweet as Sin

His grin widened and he wrapped his arms

around her waist, drawing her up until her feet left the floor. “That was dirty.”

“Hey, when the stakes are this high, I’ll use what I have to.”

His words thrown back at him brought a

chuckle. “Hey, Liv, want to know something?

When you said you weren’t pregnant just now, do you know what I felt? Disappointment. How’s that for a shocker?”

The surprise in his voice thrilled her. His mouth claimed hers and her heart sang. This is where she wanted to be forever, in John’s arms, loved and protected. Not even Thorn’s wings could wrap her in such happiness.

“Ask me again, Murphy.”

John put her feet back on the ground and

buried his hands in her hair. “Will you marry me, Livvy?”

“Yes.”

She rubbed her nose against his, giving him angel love. John answered, giving her his version, monster love.

Epilogue

~Book Five: The Blood Curse~

She stood at the top of the knoll, her back to him, her back to everything but the wide open valley below. Sucking wind through his fangs, Thorn shrugged his sore wings and watched. She didn’t move, even though she knew he was behind her.

Now, she would always know. Just as he would always know where she was. Air currents kissed her fur, rippling the pink fluff as her ponytails danced. Breath whistled as he blew out. He swallowed across his swollen tongue and walked to her.

Her singing voice bounced in the wind before reaching him. “I wondered if you would come.

You’ve been watching me for an hour, trying to gather your courage.”

She irritated him. She always would, with that sharp tongue and sassy wit. He hoped he would be irritated for a long, long time. It was what Jondi wanted. “You have a mouth on you, girlie.”

“Says the bat with three-inch fangs.” Her sarcasm couldn’t hide the tears she wiped away.

“Is it over? Is he buried?”

488

Sweet as Sin

“Andros sent me to get you. Look, I didn’t want you here, that’s no secret. Me and him, we were like an echo. You couldn’t have just one of us. But when he found you…you smelled funny, like danger but sweeter. Now I know it was the Blood Curse. I wanted to scare you off, make you leave, keep him safe. I wanted him to pick me over you. But he didn’t and I got scared. I’d yell and he’d step between us…and I’d hate you more.”

The harsh sound of his sucking air filled a minute of silence. Even now, she stood in front of him, arms defiantly crossed, treating him like a buzzing insect. Thorn raised his arm, the fresh knife slice barely scabbed over and tender.

“I still don’t like you much. But he chose us both so we’re bound, forever.” Grabbing her wrist, he yanked it up. Her knife wound was as raw as his, the bright scab shining wetly in the sun. The pale pink fur glowed lighter against the backdrop of his deep indigo wingskin. He squeezed her arm.

She flinched but didn’t care. He wanted her to remember this minute for the rest of her life.

“He gave us his blood, every last drop of it.

Now he lives in you as well as me. We live in each other. We’re family, girlie. A mismatched, mixed-up, mingled-blood family.”

Inez Kelley

489

Vory tried to turn from him but he wouldn’t let her, his grip tightening on her arm. The glare she settled on him was icy, lilac frost.

“Let go, Thorn. If you were scared, it was your own fault. I never tried to separate you two. He never wanted to choose between us. He wanted, he needed, us both. But he’s gone and I don’t want to be around you anymore.”

“Get used to me, girlie, because I’m here to stay by your side forever. He made sure of that.

I’ll die for you if I have to, but I don’t have to like you to do it.”

He sucked his fangs in irritation and she jerked her arm out of his grip. Summer lightning flashed in her violet eyes and she smacked his wing. Fresh tears made her words liquid, anger made them boil.

“Stop doing that! It sounds like you have gnats in your teeth, you stupid bat. I know what he did, what he gave us. I felt his blood go into my veins.

I felt his life start to fade. I saw Andros carry him away. But what did you do? Why did you bite me like that?” Thrusting up her other arm, she shoved the puncture wound he’d left in his pointed face.

“What were you doing when he gave us his life, O

Mighty Protector?”

Nonexistent brow cocked, he sneered at her.

“You’re not too bright, are you, girlie? I made a 490

Sweet as Sin

circle—him to me, me to you, you to him. I was trying to save all our lives.”

Heartbreak scratched into her face and glitter tears fell like rain. “Well, guess what? You failed!”

Taking one step back, Thorn glared at her.

Sobs shook her shoulders and those wide eyes pinned him with pain. His patience snapped.