For Angelo(27)
He pressed the softest kiss to her fingers. “Does this seem like something a man who wants you to go would do?”
Oh.
He wasn’t going to send her away.
He was letting her stay – even when he knew the truth about her.
The truth made her body shudder with relief, and Lane’s heart threatened to shatter. “I promise I won’t cause you any trouble.” Her voice was hoarse with unshed tears.
“You’ll never trouble me.” His was calm and strong, just like what she would expect from a fallen angel like him.
She choked out, “I wish I wasn’t sick.”
Releasing her hands, Angelo shook his head, saying quietly, “It’s not your fault you are, tesoro.”
Her chest tightened with pain, but oh, it was the good kind of pain, pain that she would never get enough of.
She whispered brokenly, “I t-thought I’d never hear you call me that again.”
A smile formed over his lips as he said gently, “It means darling…and you are that, my Lane.”
A tear slipped down her cheek.
“My darling.”
And the tears no longer stopped, running down silently as she whispered the only thing she could think of saying. “T-thank you.”
He smiled at her, and as he wiped the tears away, he told her, “Don’t be.”
She started feeling warm and fuzzy.
“I intend to punish you for the trouble you caused.”
Oh. “Angelo.” But she said his name like she was still thankful, and she was.
Her fallen angel had accepted her.
****
Angelo had a dinner tray brought to Lane’s room, and he kept her company as she ate her dinner. When he stood up to leave, murmuring that it was time for her to rest, Lane impulsively caught hold of his hand.
Angelo raised a brow.
She heard herself say, “I’m, umm, afraid of being alone.”
“Is that so?” Angelo’s voice was drily amused.
“Uh huh.” But she didn’t meet his gaze as she continued with the lie. She waited tensely for his answer but was only met with silence. She peeked at him, and that was when she saw that he was already taking off his shoes and socks.
And then he was getting into bed with her, and Lane’s heart jumped to her throat.
Angelo pulled her to him, his hot, hard chest pressing against her back. The strength and power in his body was almost tangible, making her feel feminine and alive. His scent, an irresistible mix of something sensual and elegant – like chocolate and moonlight – surrounded her.
It was exciting, comforting, terrifying, and beautiful.
She wished this moment would never end.
“Thank you,” she blurted out in the darkness.
His arms tightened around her. “Go to sleep.” His voice was gruff but she didn’t mind, not when she could feel him smiling against her hair.
Her eyes drifted closed.
“Thank you again.”
“You don’t have to thank me, tesoro.”
“I do.”
“No, you don’t.” Before she could ask, he said silkily, “Because I’ll punish you for this, too.”
Her eyes flew open. “P-punish?”
“For making me do this.”
“Sleep?” she gasped incredulously.
“For forcing me to go to bed with my clothes on—” Angelo’s chagrin was evident in his voice as he finished, “—with a girl I want to f*ck.”
“Oh.”
“I can hear you thinking.”
“I’m not.”
“It’s probably a masochistic thought, too.”
She twisted and cringed because he was right.
Angelo sighed. “Go on. You probably won’t let me sleep until you ask whatever it is you want to ask.”
She blurted out, “Am I the first?”
“No.”
Her heart writhed.
“There was only one other.”
More pain pinched her heart. “The girl you told me about before?”
Instead of answering her, he said, “You’re unbelievably masochistic.”
She turned red.
“But I have to say, it’s effective.”
She blinked in confusion, asking, “Effective at what?”
“Arousing me.”
“Angelo!”
Grinning, Angelo pulled her more tightly against him and simultaneously pressed himself harder against her. She stiffened and audibly caught her breath, and Angelo chuckled, knowing she had felt his arousal.
“Just focus on that, tesoro, and stop thinking about the past, and go to sleep.”
And eventually, she did, but unfortunately the same wise words did not work on him.
Angelo lay awake, Lane’s soft, voluptuous body making it one of the longest nights of his life. But more than that, he thought about what he had warned her against.
He thought of the past, and now, whether he liked it or not, the past and present were once again intertwined.
He had thought he would never allow anyone like Jaike enter his life.
And yet here he was, doing the one thing he had sworn he would never do again.
He was picking up the pieces that someone else broke, and he couldn’t help feeling, believing, that one day, when all the pieces of her were back together—