Authors: Tara West

Divine and Dateless (36 page)

“You mean there were more?”

He nodded. “At least a dozen downstairs, and only two other Grims to help me. You knocked out that Sarge of yours pretty good. When I found him unconscious, I raced inside the house as fast as I could.”

My hands flew to my mouth. “Oh, no. Sarge! Is he okay?”

“He’s fine.” Shadow interjected, his smoky apparition barely distinguishable except for his luminescent, almond eyes. “Just a nasty bump. He’ll heal soon enough.”

I was fairly certain it would take a lot longer for the bruises on his ego to heal. I did not even want to know what kind of back-breaking PT he’d have in store for me tomorrow.

“And the rest of my squad? Are they okay?”

“They’re fine. They did the smart thing and stayed in the barn like they were told.” Shadow laughed. “I warned the Deltas you were too strong for them.”

Some part of me was relieved to find my friends were okay. Another part was pissed they hadn’t at least tried to help me.

I felt a tug on my shirt and looked down at the little girl. She had dirt streaks on her face, and her red, curly hair was a tangled mess, but, otherwise, she looked okay.

“Thanks for saving me.” The smile in her eyes made it all worthwhile.

“You’re welcome, kid.” I squeezed her shoulder. “You going to be all right?” I hoped what she’d witnessed tonight hadn’t caused any deep, emotional scarring. I knew if this had happened to me when I was a kid, I would have needed therapy every day for the rest of my life.

“Yeah, my dad will be home later. He works the graveyard shift.” She laughed. “Wait until he finds out about Lucia. She only married him to get to me. I knew it all along.”

“I’m sorry, kid,” Shadow interjected, “but we’re going to have to burn down this house.”

“That’s okay.” She shrugged. “It was Lucia’s, anyway.”

Grim tightened his protective grip around my waist, reminding me I had one very sexy, demon-ass kicking stud who required my attention.

He brushed my lips with a feather soft kiss. His deep blue eyes held such tenderness, my heart wept with joy. But then I winced and pulled back when he rolled my hands over and examined an open sore.

A heavy frown marred his brow. “We need to treat this before infection sets in. Are you ready to go home?”

Despite the pain in my sore limbs and throbbing fingers, I couldn’t help but smile. “More than ready to be alone with you.”

By the time the elevator dropped us off at Delta House, Grim was carrying me in his arms. I felt kind of silly that he didn’t think I could walk on my own, but after the reality of what had happened struck me, my legs had pretty much felt like two wet noodles.

Jack raced up to Grim, frantically barking and clawing up his leg to get to me.

“Easy, boy,” I laughed. “Mommy’s safe.”

Grim set me down on the sofa, and Jack didn’t wait for an invitation, jumping into my lap and nearly crushing me with his weight as he lavished me with sloppy wet kisses. Or maybe the wet part came from the tears that fell down my face. Had I been cast down to Hell, I would have never seen my best friend again. How stupid I’d been to think I could have handled such a dangerous situation by myself.

“Hey, you okay?” Boner asked as he sat in the chair across from us, a box of cookies in his lap.

“Yeah,” I wiped my eyes as I smiled up at Grim, who stood behind me with a protective hand on my shoulder. “I am now.”

When Boner ripped open the box, Jack suddenly forgot how much he missed me and jumped off my lap, tail wagging as he ran over to him.

“He was scratching on your door.” Boner flashed an apologetic grin. “So I’ve been feeding him cookies.”

Grim squeezed my shoulder before leaning down, his whisper a warm breath on my cheek. “Let’s go to your room.”

Those spaghetti-noodle legs of mine suddenly felt a whole lot stronger at the proposition of makeup sex. I slowly stood up, and Grim came around the sofa and swept me off my feet. “Could you watch Jack for me tonight?” I asked Boner, cupping Grim’s cheek and looking deep into his eyes.

“Sure,” Boner answered.

Grim carried me out of the room with heavy, urgent strides.

Blasting demons and evil witches had sure made me horny.

Grim refused to make love to me until after he’d treated every one of my cuts and burns. First, he undressed me and placed me in the bathtub, scrubbing me down with foamy soap. I even let him lather up and clean that juncture between my thighs, though I was fairly certain I didn’t have any bruises down there. Next, he dried me off and pulled a tube of antiseptic out of the medicine cabinet. I guess it was a good thing I shared a bathroom with Sarge. His toiletries sure came in handy.

I looked down at Grim’s fingers with a sense of awe as he tenderly rubbed the laceration on my hand with the medicine. Demon whips stung like hell.

All pain was forgotten when he stripped naked and scrubbed that big, beautiful body. I licked my lips while eyeing his his solid cock with appreciation. It jerked in his hands when he lathered it with soap. I never thought I’d be jealous of bubbles.

After he dried off, he cleaned and treated minor burns on his hands and arms, but I insisted he let me take care of the sores on his back. He’d actually came out of this ordeal with less wounds than me. I still couldn’t believe he’d survived an embrace with the fiery demon and had only a few marks to show for it.

He had a faint, jagged scar down the side of his back which looked like it had been formed ages ago. I wondered if a demon had given it to him, but he grumbled and jerked away when I touched it. Though I was too afraid to ask him how he’d gotten it, the scar was a sobering reminder of the dangers on level one.

The thought of what that Dragon Demon could have done to him made my throat tighten with emotion.

“You were right about the dangers of this job.” I frowned, fighting to hold back the tears that threatened to spill. “I’m sorry I ever doubted you.”

He cupped my face in his hands, searching my gaze. “I should never have left you.” He stroked my lower lip with the pad of his thumb. “I’m sorry, Ash.”

A slow and devious grin stretched across my face. I leaned up and lapped a drop of water off his neck. “I guess you’re going to have to make it up to me.”

Considering the ordeal we’d been through that night, I thought Grim’s plan would be to throw me on the bed and make love to me with urgency. I had no idea he’d planned a night of slow, tender foreplay, drawing out my release by teasing me with his tongue and fingers. And here I’d thought torture was only reserved for Hell.

He propped my hips on a pillow, spreading my legs wide as he lapped up my center with long, languid strokes of his tongue. Every so often, he’d answer my pleas and insert a finger, fucking me with just a few short thrusts before pulling out and suckling that raw bundle of nerves.

He licked, teased, and tormented until I screamed his name, begging him to make me come.

Thin walls be damned.

By the time he climbed up my body, my sweet spot was painfully swollen and weeping with need. I tasted my essence on his tongue as he captured my lips in a kiss. I wrapped my legs around his waist, moaning as I rubbed my swollen sex across his erection, begging him to fill me.

I expected more tender lovemaking, slow gentle strokes and feather soft kisses. I gasped when he buried that huge cock inside me, seating himself to the hilt and thrusting into my sweet, achy spot as if he was a battering ram trying to tear me apart, inch by glorious inch.

It hurt so damn much. Fuck, I never wanted him to stop.

He kissed me deeply, spearing my mouth with his tongue while fucking me with relentless, hard strokes. I sucked in a breath right before the first wave hit me, and then I screamed his name as pleasure like I’d never known rippled through me.

All the orgasms in Heaven couldn’t even come close to the climax that gripped me, holding me in its clutches for the span of several glorious, pulsating heartbeats.

He cried my name as his hips flexed and then stilled, his throbbing head spilling warmth into my channel. After he rolled us over and held me in his arms, we kissed, nipped, and stroked, working ourselves into a frenzy before making love well into the early morning.

Not only had this been the best makeup sex of my entire existence, it was the best sex ever. Cheesecake be damned, I’d found my own slice of nirvana right here in my boyfriend’s arms.

Thank God for faulty blow-dryers.

The End…

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Divine and Dateless?
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But wait!!! Ash and Grim’s story continues with
Damned and Desirable, Eternally Yours, Book Two.

Damned and Desirable
, by Tara West

Coming this fall

What could be worse than getting tricked by a demon and sucked into the fiery pit of doom? Discovering that the demon who captured your soul is also the devastatingly sexy twin of the man who still has your heart.

The only fate worse than eternal damnation is eternal temptation. Someone please get me some water. It’s getting hot in here.

BOOKS BY TARA WEST

From the Something More Series

From the Whispers Series