Page 5

At Least We Had Each Other

Rafferty slipped his long, warm fingers between Helena’s and squeezed.

During the car ride, he felt like he lived in a bubble of tension just waiting to pop. Agent Sophia checked them in once they got to the hotel, a nice one with valets and everything. The agents produced their bags from the trunk, the ones Helena had packed when she had thought about running. The valets took them without another word. Agent Caruso, the driver, escorted them on the elevator and then off of it at the fifteenth floor. It wasn’t the top floor, but it was pretty high up. Their escort then deposited them into a suite with a couch, dining table, and a king- sized bed.

A few seconds later, Agent Sophia came in behind them and immediately jumped into explaining the amenities of the room as she flipped on the lights in a beautiful bathroom with two sinks and a decent-sized shower with two showerheads.Helena listened politely, but she moved to look at their view of the city, which was mostly dark buildings studded with lights and glowing streets where cars continued to move as if it we re midday.

“Call me if there is anything else you need. I’m going to get out of your hair now so you both can get some sleep. Your dinner should be delivered shortly, and don’t worry, everything is taken care of, including the tip. Just get some rest, and I will come see you tomorrow morning. Don’t leave the room for any reason, please.” Agent Sophia moved toward the door. And as she opened it, a covered cart appeared with thei r dinners.

“I’ll take that,” Helena insisted, grabbing the two covered trays before Agent Sophia could. “Have a go od night.”

It was a bit rude, but Agent Sophia only smiled and left.

At last, they w ere alone.

Helena deposited the trays on the dining table. It seemed too quiet, after all of the hectic franticness o f the day.

And the day before, for th at matter.

Just like that, Rafferty didn’t know what to say to the beautiful woman regarding him ex pectantly.

“Are you okay?” she as ked first.

“I feel…” As if bidden, emotions flooded through him, zipping down his limbs and bubbling out h is throat.

H e laughed.

He had seen humans go mad before. This felt like how that looked as more laughter kept bubbling out of him. His eyes filled with tears as he looked up at Helena. Her surprised expression made it worse. It was just so dam ned funny!

“Why are you laughing?” she asked.

“I have no idea!” he crowed, throwing his arms wide. “But it feels really d amn good!”

Now the laughter was working its magic, washing over her face, enhancing her beauty, making her e yes shine.

He rushed across the space, throwing his arms around her, like he had when they had dropped through hell. Instead of dissipating into nothingness like she had before, this Helena felt solid and real. She tucked her head into the space where his neck met his shoulder, burying her face there. The smell of her hair hit him, and his body responded. She was real and whole, and he didn’t deserve thi s miracle.

“We’re alive,” he muttered. “I’m alive! I won ! I won!!”

He hadn’t noticed right away that while he was riding high on his elation, Helena’s laughter had died away too fast. Not until she lifted her head to look up at him, tears bubbling in her eyes.

“This is going to destroy Scarlet Promotions,” she mewed as if she were embarrassed. It sobered him immediately. “And after everything I did… we did to try to save it. Even if they are not holding us responsible for…” She shook her head. “Damn it. It seems so stupid to be worried about it. I mean, Yosef died! A man lost his life, and I’m worried about… But Scarlet Promotions was his whole life too. Literally Scarlet’s whole life and now… she’s ruined and he’s dead and I can’t do anything to fix a ny of it!”

He cupped her face. “I am sorry for everything,” he repeated. He couldn’t tell her that he didn’t care about all that. Those people and places didn’t mean very much to him at all, but they meant something to her, and she was in pain over it. He wanted to do anything to tak e it away.

She took one of his hands, pulling it away from her face so she could plant a precious kiss in his palm. “How could you have known? When all you’ve ever known before were people who used you? What do you have to compa re it to?”

Dammit, her mercy and compassion for him seemed to have no end. “I shou ld have…”

“Shhh,” she hushed, breathing on his lips, blowing away his half-formed arguments.

Then she rested her forehead against his and savored the feel of him. It was intoxicating and he succumbed to it. “I saw hell. I know what you’ve been through and where you come from. And I love you.”

There were so many other arguments to make. So many things left unresolved. Things he wanted to say, but… he couldn’t get the words out or his thoughts to order.

There was on ly Helena.

And she loved him.

And h e had won.

Then those lips were pressing against his. He opened his mouth to their demands and let her tongue in. She caressed along his own and she tasted wonderful. Heady and rich. His fingers slipped through her hair, holding her, while her hands slid down his chest, leaving a different sort of fire trail that felt like it burned him through the cloth of his shirt.

God, he cr aved more.

And she offered it without being asked, pulling up the edges of the shirt to slide her hands over his skin… his real, warm skin… and up his back.

The groan that shuddered out of him broke their kiss as he arched back. She wasn’t bothered by the interruption at all. Instead, she moved in closer to press her lips to his exposed neck, then just behind his ear, and across his vulnerable throat, where her teeth could cut him open and spill his blood, ending him forever. The irrational danger of it sent more shocks of pleasure bolting through him. She could do it, but she never would, and tha t was hot.

He had had all sorts of sex before. Other than making food, making sex had been the most requested ta sk of him.

This was different. He felt everything . Every touch that had come through the body formed from demonic magic had been nothing compared to this and making love to Helena had been intense in that form. She had elicited such sensations that had burned through the layers and layers of numbness, yet even then the sex and subsequent orgasms had been more in his own mind than in his body. Now her touch con sumed him.

“Rafferty?” Helena’s voice cut through the chaos of thoughts i nside him.

Opening his eyes, he panted, wondering why she had stopped. She looked at him wit h concern.

“It’s just so… much…” he gasped out. At some point, she had gotten his shirt off, her fingers still resting on his heav ing chest.

“I’m going too fast.” She started to pull away.

“No!” He wrapped her up against him again, to keep her in place. “It just… I just feel s o… much.”

“It’s okay, come on.” She tugged him away from the window, toward the bed, pushing him down gently but firmly. He laid himself out before her, like a dish being served. She stripped him out of his pants, and he felt vulnerable and exhilarated at the same time before her appraising eyes. He hoped she liked what she saw. She must have because she smiled warmly, shedding away the rest of her own clothes. This body had something to offer her. This body wouldn’t drink her essence when she touched him and gave herself to him. He couldn’t harm her by simply l oving her.

Holy hell, I’m alive!

He welcomed her as she came to straddle him. He longed to be inside her, even as he relished her explorin g fingers.

“Tell me if you need me to stop or slow down,” she whispered.

“Just kiss me, please,” he begged, and her mouth was on him again, devouring him like a ravenous beast. He lost all sense of her fingers until they gripped around his fully erect member, to direct it into herself. Crying out with unabashed sensation, he broke the kiss, once more bowing against her, his hands slapping her hips as he gripped them. It only encouraged her, and she lifted up to repeat the motion, slowly gaining momentum with each of her thrusts. She was in control; he was the rebo rn virgin.

“Raff,” she breathed, and he loved it. He loved the sound of his name from her lips; the name she gave him. He was alive. This wasn’t a dream, confirmed as she took him faster a nd faster.

She rose up, glorious. Her breasts bounced as she rode him, her mouth open with her moans, her eyes closed. Alive an d vibrant.

He felt the pressure build up inside. Urgent and real.

“Rafferty,” she sang out.

“Helena,” he offered back, her name guttering out of this throat roughly. He was barely able to speak.

Now he pulled down, his grip on her hips, forcing himself even deeper into her, thrusting as hard as he could as fast as he could.

“Ahhhh!” she cried out, her arms spreading wide as she came around him, her body shuddering, her mouth open and her eyes closed with intensity, her back exploding as a pair of wings burst and stretched to either side of her body.