My breath caught in my throat. I’d known what he was going to say, but that wasn’t at all the same thing as hearing him say it, feeling the truth behind his words, seeing the earnestness in his eyes.
For a second I couldn’t speak as emotions overwhelmed me. I’d never dreamed that I’d get married at twenty-one, never dreamed that I could love as fiercely or as much as I loved Joriel. He was everything I’d ever dreamed about when I’d longed to be one of the angels who had a predestined mate. I didn’t care if Joriel was my mate or not, if we were always meant to end up together or if it was just random chance. I was choosing him.
I took a deep breath and held Joriel’s gaze as I said my own vows. “Joriel, you are my strength and the answer to all my prayers. I promise to love you for eternity, to walk through life by your side, to be faithful and devoted to you, to never forsake you, and to be your partner in all things. You are the one I want by my side for the rest of my life and the only one I want to face Hell with. I’m yours from this moment on.”
“Now seal your promises with the rings,” Roth said, holding a ring out to each of us.
Joriel picked mine up and slid the plain black band onto my left ring finger. He brought my hand to his mouth, pressing his lips to my finger right beside the band.
I slid the identical ring onto his finger and repeated the hand kiss.
“I pronounce you husband and wife, bound by your promises this day for the rest of your lives.” Roth turned his attention to Joriel. “You may now kiss your bride.”
Joriel moved around the small round table with purpose. His every step increased my anticipation. We’d kissed many times, but this was going to be the first time he kissed me as my husband. It was real now, permanent. Lucifer might own Joriel’s soul, but I owned his heart, and he’d proven to me again and again that that was worth more. Even if he didn’t always believe it.
One of Joriel’s arms wound around my waist, and he cupped my cheek in his palm, his fingertips sliding into my loose hair. I held my breath as I stared up at him, waiting for the kiss that would complete our wedding.
“I love you,” he whispered, and then he lowered his mouth to mine.
The kiss was scorching and gentle at the same time, and I melted into it. His tongue swept over my lips, probing, silently asking permission to deepen the kiss. I opened for him, and the tip of his tongue brushed against mine in a tender caress that set my whole body alight. Heat spread through my veins, and my skin tingled everywhere, begging for his touch.
By the time Joriel pulled back from his thorough exploration of my mouth, I was breathless and my body felt like I’d been doused in gasoline, like all it would take was a single spark for me to burst into flames.
“Ready?” Joriel asked in a low, husky voice.
“For what?”
He didn’t answer as he bent and swept me up into his arms. I let out a startled shriek and clung to his neck for balance. He chuckled, and I felt it in every part of me.
Joriel carried me up the stairs as easily as if I were weightless, peppering the top of my head with kisses as he went. He pushed open his bedroom door with his foot. Clearly he’d planned this, leaving the door open a crack so he wouldn’t have to put me down.
Once we were inside, he kicked the door shut and strode across the room, bypassing the bed and carrying me straight into the bathroom.
“What are we doing?” I asked as he lowered me to the lip of his tub and turned on the water behind me.
He knelt in front of me, inching my skirt up my legs and taking my foot into his lap. He slid off one shoe and then the other. “I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow or after,” he said softly. “We don’t have any guarantees when it comes to our future. So I’m taking full advantage of tonight. I don’t want to just take you to my bed. I want to experience as much as I can with you while we have the chance.”
Moving to sit beside me on the edge of the tub, he turned me so my back was to him. He gathered my hair and moved it over my shoulder so he could undo the tie at the back of my neck. The top of the dress fell away and cool air kissed my skin, making my nipples tighten.
Joriel’s lips ghosted over my shoulder, sending goose bumps racing over my skin despite the fact that his mouth was warm. His kisses moved lower, whispering over my spine as he slid back to his knees on the floor. “Stand up for me, snow angel.”
My legs felt shaky as I stood, but Joriel’s hand on my hip was grounding. I trusted him completely, with my body and with my heart. I felt the zipper of my dress moving down over my backside. And then the dress was pooling on the floor around my feet, leaving me in only a pair of thin white panties.
Using the hand on my hip, Joriel turned me around to face him. He looked up at me, never taking his eyes off mine as he slid the last bit of material from my body. It was the first time I was completely bare before him.
“I love you,” he said, pressing a kiss to my stomach. “I should have told you every day since I first realized it was the truth.”
“And when was that?”
“The moment I heard the demons coming and knew they’d find you in my cell when we were in the prison realm. That’s when I realized it, but I think I loved you long before that.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I love you so much.”
He rose, his fingers moving to the buttons on his shirt. I watched him remove it, drinking in the sight of his muscles and the skin of his torso. I’d grown up in a place where none of the males wore shirts ever, and yet none of them had ever made my body come alive the way the sight of Joriel’s bare chest did. Maybe it was the scars that made him so beautiful in comparison to everyone else, or maybe it was just him, the heart I knew was inside his body.
His hands moved to the button on his pants, and I watched him strip out of the last of his clothes. I still couldn’t believe that he was mine. I was the only one who got to see him like this, the only person he looked at with that dark heat in his eyes.
He held out a hand to me and helped me climb into the tub before climbing in after me. There were some distinct advantages to living in Roth’s mansion. This tub was about three times the size of the one in my bathing chamber in Heaven’s palace.
