“I’ve probably been in love with you for the last four hundred years,” he said, “even if I couldn’t remember.”
She stared mutely at him, and he started to get a little uncomfortable.
“Sorry if that’s too much,” he mumbled, his gaze sliding away. “Just wanted to be honest.”
But when he chanced a glance back at her, she was giving him a look of wonder that simultaneously made him feel like the most powerful man alive and an idiot. Powerful, because who wouldn’t feel that way with a woman like her looking at them like that? Stupid, because he didn’t get why she was so impressed with him.
And then she said, “I love you too.” And it was his turn to stare.
She reached up and placed her palm on his scaled cheek. “I think I fell in love the first moment I saw you in that club with Daniel. I couldn’t stop staring at you, glaring at everyone with your beautiful eyes.”
“So you stalked me for weeks.” The hint of a smile curved his lips.
“Yes.” She looked sad again. “And then lied and forced you into the middle of this horrible mess. All of this happened because of me.”
“Most fun I’ve had in years.”
“You could have been killed—”
“It was worth it to get close to you.”
“Raum—”
“I’d do it again. I’d do worse. I’d have another three hundred years of memory wiped.”
“How can you— Don’t even say that!”
“It’s true.”
She was staring at him in amazement again, but this time, he decided he liked it.
* * *
Sunshine reachedup and wound her arms around Raum’s neck, pulling him down to meet her lips. As she kissed him, it struck her how close she’d come to losing him. Again.
Suddenly, she didn’t care about the half-dead angel in pieces behind them. She didn’t care that her robes were covered in the blood of someone she’d once considered a friend. She didn’t care that her actions today meant she would now be on the run the same way Raum and his brothers were. She didn’t care that her entire future was uncertain.
She only cared about him—her demon, the only one who’d ever truly been on her side. Even when they’d been enemies, he’d been more honest and upfront with her than anyone else. She wasn’t sure she could ever express her gratitude to him just for being himself.
“I need you,” she whispered against his lips as she reached as far around his broad shoulders as she could, stroking the silky feathers of his wings.
“You have me.” He gripped her hips suddenly and pulled her tighter against him. As their bodies pressed together, she felt the unmistakable ridge of his arousal against her stomach.
Every nerve lit up. The blood, the aftermath, the knowing that they’d been kept apart for so long, that they’d nearly lost each other again… It only inflamed her more.
She rose onto her toes, eager to reach more of him. She wanted to meld them so closely together, they fused as one.
He slid his grip to her ass and his fingers clenched, claws digging into her flesh. And then he lifted her like she was weightless. She wrapped her legs around his hips and her arms around his neck. They were both filthy, but she didn’t care and neither did he.
He groaned as she rolled her hips against him, craving friction through the clothing that separated their bodies. She could feel the hard strength of his abdomen through the fabric of her robe.
“Sunshine—”
“I need you now.” Her voice was a breathless pant. “Don’t make me wait.”
He dove back into a kiss with a low moan that sent a shiver through her. Carrying her to the far end of the room, he pressed her back against a wall, wrapping his wings around them as far as he could to shelter her from their surroundings. She hauled her robe up her legs and then tugged down the waistband of his pants.
“This is fucking insane,” he panted.
