Immortal (Page 32)
Immortal (Fallen Angels #6)(32)
Author: J.R. Ward
It was like having a Bunsen burner in your stomach, she thought as she put her glass down.
Jim tossed back the last of his and stared at Nigel. “I’m going to assume you’re fully returned. As in, I’m going to stay down here and keep doing what I’m doing.”
“That is my intention.”
“Intention?”
“The Creator is going to be displeased in all likelihood. But I shall take full responsibility. If there is to be a punishment, I shall accept it in your stead.”
“Devina says she’s going to tell Him it was her idea.”
“And you trust her?”
“Good point.”
Nigel looked up at the ceiling. “I shall be off then.”
“I’m not going to ask you who the next soul is.”
“Indeed? After your good deed, I am in the mood to grant you a favor.”
“No.” Jim’s expression grew hard. “I’m going to win this the right way. The way He set it up. I’ll find the soul, and she’s not getting them this time.”
“Fair enough. Let me know if you change your mind.” Nigel glanced at Adrian and gave him a nod. Then he looked over at Sissy. “My gratitude for the restorative.”
And on that note, the archangel up and disappeared, leaving nothing behind. Just like Colin had.
Sissy reached out and picked up one of the flashing white stones that had fallen to the floor. “Is this really what I think it is?”
“Yeah,” Ad said. “The tears of archangels are pretty damn fancy, huh.” The guy grunted and stood up. “I’m fucking starved. Between the drama and no lunch, I’m ready to eat the doorknobs.” He glanced around. “Lucky for me, ’cause that’s about all that’s left in here. I’m gonna hit the Seven Eleven and then make a McDonald’s run—no reason for the likes of us to eat healthy. Whaddaya want.”
Sissy put in an order for two cheeseburgers, a large fries, a high-test Coke, and a chocolate sundae. Jim wanted four Quarter Pounders with cheese and three Cokes.
“Hold down the fort,” Ad said as he limped off. “And try to do something about the windows. I think we’re supposed to get rain tonight.”
Left alone with Jim, Sissy sat and played with the little diamond she’d picked up, moving it around the center of her palm. A minute later, the sound of the Explorer backing down the driveway was louder than it usually was on account of the lack of glass.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s honest.” She looked up. “I’m glad … you came back.”
Jim rubbed his jaw, and for some reason that made her focus on his lips. Which made her wonder—what they would feel like … against her mouth, her throat, her breasts.
“I’ve got to find the next soul. I’ve got to—shit, who the hell is it gonna be? And where are they…”
She had a feeling he was talking to himself, and that was okay. The rambling gave her an excuse to look at him some more, measure his broad shoulders, his veined forearms, his—
“You’re bleeding,” she said, pointing to his shoulder.
He glanced at himself. “Who stabbed me? And why?”
“Colin. They were worried your body would … God, are we really talking like this?” She scrubbed her eyes. “Sometimes this is just too much. It really is.”
“I’m sorry.”
Sissy glanced over at the blown-out windows. The darkness outdoors was because of the sun having set, not that demon, but it was hard to feel safe with all the open frames. Then again, why did she think a couple of panes of glass were going to help.
“Are we okay here?” she said.
“I’ll put the spell back up. I guess it failed or Devina wouldn’t have gotten in here.”
“Yes.”
There was a long, awkward silence. Probably because his head was tied up in war, and hers was somewhere else entirely.
“What were you going to say to me?” she blurted.
“Huh? Sorry, I got game brain.”
As he glanced over at her, she felt foolish. “Oh, it’s okay. It’s nothing, really. Well, actually—what can I do to help? You know, with what you’re doing about Devina.”
He opened his mouth. Then clapped it shut. “I’d really prefer you stay out of this. Not because I think you’re weak, but because I am.”
“You’re weak?” She laughed harshly and eyed the way his biceps stretched the sleeves of his T-shirt. “Don’t think so.”
A strange look came into his eyes. “When it comes to you, I am.”
Sissy’s heart stopped. “Really?”
“Yeah.” He cracked his knuckles one by one. “Listen, I don’t want things to get weird, okay.”
“Oh, yeah, no, weird is bad.”
“But just so you and I are clear, I really fucking want to kiss you right now.”
Chapter Fifteen
What the hell, Jim thought. He might as well lay it all out there.
And as Sissy didn’t run for one of the very, very open windows, he took it as a good sign. Or … actually, a really bad one.
“So kiss me,” she said.
Jim actually recoiled. Which proved that the right woman could turn any full-grown man back into a fourteen-year-old with the right combination of words. Although that quick-fire regression was only the first part of his response. The second half?
Pure. Sex.
Fuck the kissing. He wanted to shove her back onto the hardwood floor, yank her pants down, and get inside of her. In spite of the fact that she was hardly that kind of girl and Adrian would be coming back with twelve thousand calories of fast food at any given minute.
“Or are you going to make me do it?” she asked.
“Do what,” he blurted. Christ, like he had amnesia?
“Kiss you.”
God love her, she didn’t wait for a response. She leaned in, grabbed the front of his shirt, and pulled him to her.
“Oh, fuck,” he groaned as he tilted his head. “Fuck me…”
Please, oh, shit, fuck me, he thought as their lips met in the middle.
She was soft. She was sweet. She tasted like sherry.
And he took over from there.
Dragging her into his lap, he kissed her hard and held her harder. He’d wanted this for too long and for all the wrong reasons, and in the back of his head, he told himself that was why he was instant hot-’n’-heavy. Then again, maybe it was because she was just so good, so right.