“I lied. I didn"t want to scare you off. You"d just told me you wouldn"t lie with a man „til you found true love. How would it have looked if I"d said it then? What would you have thought?”
“I would have thought you were trying to get in my pants,” I said grudgingly.
“Exactly.”
“This changes nothing,” I said. “We still can"t be together. You"re an angel of light. I"m the daughter of Satan. Talk about oil and water. I won"t corrupt your chance to return to Heaven.”
“Who says you get to decide?”
“I do. You can"t love me. I don"t believe you.”
“What do I have to do, to prove to you I love you and want to be with you?”
“You can"t,” I said, pushing out of the warm circle of his arms and standing up again. Feeling stronger–Auric packed a potent kiss--I walked to the door and left the office. Headed for the bar, I could feel him, a scorching presence at my back.
I pretended not to see him, and busied myself behind the bar with unsteady hands. But Auric refused to be ignored. I saw him walk out into the bar area and whisper something to Trixie, who headed off towards the jukebox.
The music blasting from the speakers stopped, as did the dancers who milled about on the dance floor in confusion. Auric walked swiftly to the center of the dance floor, which cleared at his approach; and he raised his hands to get everyone"s attention, including mine.
“Anyone who knows me will tell you I hate to sing. But my lady over here,” Auric said, nodding in my direction, “loves karaoke. So bear with me as I serenade her, will you? And Muriel,” he said looking right at me, “I"m not going to leave, and you can"t stop me from loving you.”
Then he sang to me, his low, gravelly voice playing my senses like a finely tuned violin. I didn"t quite grasp what he sang with the first few bars, but when he hit the lyrics I smiled, and I felt the tears rolling down my cheeks. Stupid angel–how I loved him.
He stared at me while he serenaded me to an eighties love song, “What Does It Take” by Honeymoon Suite. A song so apt, I had to wonder if he"d planned this. And when he finished to rousing applause, I found my feet moving towards him. I had no control. I"d tried to warn him.
I"d tried to save him, but I was my father"s daughter. Selfishness ran in my genes, and I couldn"t fight the pull Auric had on my heart and soul.
So be it. We"d be damned together.
Chapter Eight
I"m not sure how we made it to my apartment, because once we locked lips in the bar, everything else blurred. And burned...
We stumbled up the stairs to my place--a safer location, considering the bounty on my head.
Shutting the door behind me, Auric pushed me up against it and devoured my lips. My lust, held at bay so long, surged through my body like a ravening beast. I wanted to taste every inch of his body.
I pushed his coat off his shoulders and it fell in a heap, which he kicked to the side. Scooping me up easily, he strode to my bedroom, tossing me on the bed, his green eyes alight with passion as they watched me. He pulled the hem of his t-shirt up and stripped it off, baring his chest. There were three faint red lines marring his perfection, all that remained of his earlier injury. An injury I"d foolishly forgotten. With a cry, I went to my knees and leaned forward to touch the red welts, the skin lightly ridged as new scar tissue formed. Scars he"d gotten because of me. Calloused hands gripped mine and I look up at him, my eyes brimming with tears.
“How could I forget?” I whispered horrified. “You could have been killed. It"s dangerous to be around me. I can"t let you do this.” I tried to twist around him, to flee the love he so innocently offered me. A love I would surely corrupt, given my pedigree.
But I couldn"t escape. Auric wouldn"t let me. Instead, he wrapped his arms tightly around me and sat on the bed. He pulled me onto his lap and hugged me close.
“I got injured. Big deal. It happens a lot to me.”
“But this one is my fault,” I said against his chest.
His fingers grasped my face and he forced me to look at him. “Muriel, my body is covered in scars. So what? I healed.”
“This time. What about the next time? What if they kill you? I couldn"t stand that.” Now that I knew I loved him, the thought of his death terrified me.
“And what if they kill you?” he replied. “Do you think I"d fare any better? I"ve been walking this earth for close to thirty years now since being thrown out of Heaven, not truly caring if I lived or died in my quest to return to a realm that spurned me. Then I met you, and suddenly Heaven pales in comparison. I see things in color again, more vividly than before. I feel alive once more; more alive than I ever felt, even when I was a part of the Army of Light. Knowing this, would you still push me away?”