Part 8 (2/2)
I walked to the stairs that led to my room on the upper floor. Theo followed me.
”You don't believe that you and you alone have the power to save me?”
The laughter that burbled forward died in my throat at the look in his eyes. I stopped in front of my door, oddly disconcerted.
”Theo, despite everything you've done to me, despite all the trouble you've been, I kind of like you. If there is somethingreal I can do to help you, I would consider it, but this...” I waved my hands around in a vague attempt to explain. ”This is beyond me.”
He took a step closer to me, and his woodsy scent curled around me. ”All you have to do is believe, Portia. You just have to have faith.”
There was that word again. ”I lost my faith when I was eight. It is long gone, never to return.”
His jaw tightened. ”Then I will help you find it in return for your a.s.sistance.”
I did laugh that time, even though the expression on his face was one of grim determination. ”Putting aside the fact that I am getting along just fine without faith of any sort, just how do you expect to do that?”
”The third trial is tomorrow.” He took my chin in his hand, tipping my head back to look deep into my eyes. ”It will be very difficult.” ”More old ladies beating the c.r.a.p out of me? I could really do without that.”
He leaned closer, and for a second I thought he was going to kiss me right there, outside my room. ”I will make a deal with you-if you can give me proof that the trial is mundane, I will serve as your champion without requiring you to pardon me when you are admitted to the Court. If you cannot provide proof, you will accept the truth, and will reward me when you are accepted.”
”Mundane?” I asked, more than a little distracted by his nearness. Theo was an imposing presence by any standard, but when he was close enough that I could count individual hairs in his widow's peak, he was almost overwhelming.
”Ordinary. Not supernatural.”
I smiled. ”Oddly enough, I have a similar bet going with Sarah. I don't think taking on another comer will be a problem. You, sir, have yourself a deal.”
He took the hand I offered, a light kindling in his eyes. ”Shall I show you how a deal was sealed a thousand years ago?”
His lips brushed mine as he spoke, and before I could decide what I wanted to do about the overwhelming urge to kiss him, I was doing just that, my mouth opening to welcome his, my body all but melting when his fingers dug into my hips, pulling them against his. I am not the most feminine of women, but the steely, unyielding hardness of his body made me very aware that I possessed more curves than I had given much thought to. His mouth was demanding, hot, tasting faintly smoky from the whisky, insisting that I give him what he wanted. I had no qualms at all about kissing him, going so far as to jerk the back of his s.h.i.+rt out of his pants so my hands could slide up his back.
”Salus,woman, do you have any idea how good you taste,” he growled into my mouth, one hand sliding around to cup my behind, the other sweeping up to my breast.
”It's the lime in the gin and tonic,” I answered, unable to keep from wiggling my hips against him.
He growled again, deep in his chest, his eyes molten with s.e.xual desire. He caressed my breast beneath the velvet of the dress, ever so slightly tweaking my nipple. ”Of all the women on this planet, why do you have to be one who will fight me every step of the way?”
”Some men like the chase,” I said breathlessly, arching my back to press more of my breast into his hand. I trailed my fingernails down his back, causing him to s.h.i.+ver as my hands dipped lower, to his oh-so-attractive derriere.
”I prefer the yielding that follows,” he said just before he kissed me again, a kiss of so much blatant s.e.xuality that I seriously considered the possibility of going to bed with him.
Luckily, Sarah chose that moment to use the bathroom next door to her room.
”Well!” Her voice was rich with amus.e.m.e.nt. I had no doubt of the picture we made-me groping his behind, while he had one hand on my breast, our bodies locked in a sensual embrace.
Theo and I parted, although he kept his hands on me as he half turned to look at Sarah.
She grinned at us both, and winked at me before proceeding to the bathroom. ”I'm glad to see you're taking my advice aboutsomething. ”
Chapter 8.
”It was just a kiss.”
”You said that three times already. Would you turn off that light?” Sarah plumped up a pillow behind her, and tucked the coverlet firmly over her legs before sitting back.”A perfectly innocent kiss!”
”Honey, there wasnothing innocent about that kiss,” she said with a knowing look.
I stomped over to the light she had left burning on the desk and turned it off, feeling awkward and unsure of myself. I don't know why I felt compelled to explain that the kiss Theo and I shared was not what it seemed, but there I was, wringing my hands as I tried to sort through my emotions and thoughts.
”I find him physically attractive even though he's got some issues,” I explained. ”There's nothing wrong with a healthy libido.”
”Nothing at all, especially when the recipient of your attentions is a gorgeous angel. I looked up nephilim while you were occupied with Theo. That's what a nephilim is, you know. Kind of a sub-angel, the result of a union between-”
”Oh, I know all about that,” I said, waving my hands around for a moment before I was aware of what I was doing. I am not at all the hand-waving sort of person. ”It's part of this tale he spun me. That's neither here nor there-what I want to know is what is going to come of a relations.h.i.+p with a lunatic!”
”I thought you said it was just your libido?”
”It is!” I shoved the chair aside just because I could. ”But you know me-I don't do casual s.e.x, so if things progress beyond kissing, I'm going to end up in a relations.h.i.+p. With a madman!”
”Theo isn't a madman,” Sarah said calmly, picking up the book she'd brought to read on the vacation.
”Well, maybe not mad by the strictest definition of the word, but you have to admit that he's not normal.”
”Of course he isn't. He's immortal. Are you done trying to convince yourself that he's not handsome as sin, and twice as delicious?”
”I did not-oh, you're impossible!” I said loudly. ”And speaking of that, you sure changed your tune quick enough.”
”What do you mean?”
”Yesterday you were positively drooling over Theo.”
Sarah looked surprised for a moment. ”Don't be ridiculous-I'm happily married, which you know.”
”That didn't stop you from ogling Theo yesterday.” I refused to examine why it bothered me that she had ogled him. It couldn't possibly be important.
”Oh, that was before,” she said, returning to her book as she waved a dismissive hand toward me.
”Before what?”
”Before Theo explained he wasn't for me.”
I sat on the chair, staring at Sarah, confused by her calm acceptance of the short-lived l.u.s.t she had felt for Theo. ”Aren't you the least bit disconcerted about the fact that Theo interested you? Should happily married women feel that sort of thing?”
”They should if the man in question is a nephilim.” She sighed at my puzzled look. ”I thought you knew about nephilims? Didn't Theo tell you that they have an effect on mortal women?”
”No, he didn't.” I frowned.
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