Hell's Gift (17 page)

I could tell she had awakened. Only a few moments earlier her body had given a violent jerk, gone completely still, then her arms enveloped me like I was her life support. I continued to run my fingers comfortingly over her back and right shoulder, waiting for her to talk when she was ready. There had been much for her to ponder.

Abbi took a deep breath. “I want out of here, Rhyan. I don’t see how it’s going to be possible to steal my soul back from Lucifer. I’m not fooling myself into thinking anything we come up with will work, and I’m not completely sold on the fact that you’re here because I get another chance to go to Heaven, but I know I have to try. I refuse to lose you again and we will not be allowed to stay together here. You don’t want to know the torture we both will have to endure when he finds out who you are to me.”

I hugged her closer; my chest was tight and my eyes were burning from the intensity of the moment. I knew we had to be careful, but it was actually looking like things were heading in the right direction for once. One thing was for certain, I wouldn’t stop until we were both out of Hell and safe.

I glanced down at the top of her head where it was resting on my chest and managed to swallow around the lump in my throat. I had just opened my mouth to speak when she moved to casually prop her head on her palm and look at my face and the glistening tears that blurred my vision.

I looked away from her, pressed my lips firmly together and cleared my throat. She was quick. I wasn’t expecting her to catch me going all soft in my thoughts.

“Who is Kendra?” Abbi asked nonchalantly, but I could hear more in her voice that the words didn’t say.

She was jealous and I didn’t have a clue how to explain about the woman I’d loved for thirty human years to my wife I had loved for over three-hundred. Of course, my love for her had been blocked from my memory, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there the whole time, waiting for our souls to be reunited.

My breath suspired from my lips as I looked back at her, all excess moisture gone from my eyes. I had to do this or it would eat at the both of us until one of us blew up. She had been with other men, and I couldn’t honestly say I was as happy as a kid in a candy store about that.

“Kendra is important to me, Abbi. She was given to me as a charge when she was born. The memory of you had been blocked from my mind and I allowed myself to fall in love with her, knowing that her soulmate had lost his faith at a young age. And even though they lived in the same city, I felt they would never meet. Even if they had bumped into each other at Starbucks, Adam was too far gone to love anyone, so I was all set to wait for her in Heaven.”

I swallowed. That damn lump had returned, bigger and badder than ever. I cleared my throat again and risked a glance at her eyes. She didn’t seem to be thinking of stabbing me again, so I continued. I had to get it all out. “That was until Adam’s guardian angel caused an accident, landing Kendra on an operating table, which belonged to none other than her soulmate, Adam Chamberlain, M.D.”

Abbi smiled like it would have been something she would have thought of doing, too.

“Oh, it gets better. Coen, Adam’s guardian angel, bribed Kendra with her life. He explained that he could gift her life back to her if she would help him get Adam back on the right track,” I made eye contact with Abbi again, “back on our side.”

Abbi sat up and faced me, then crossed her legs, Indian-style. She didn’t seem upset at all. She seemed intrigued by the story.

“Go on…”

I nodded. “She made the deal, but what she didn’t know was she was also damning her own soul if she didn’t succeed in getting Adam’s soul back. I didn’t know it either at the time, but when I did find out I turned him over to the archangels and they condemned him to an eternity in Hell.” I shrugged my shoulders. “He’s here somewhere, and if we cross paths before I leave here, I am going to make him regret his decision to gamble my charge’s soul all over again.”

“So, what happened?”

“Murry is Adam’s guardian demon, and he had so much control over Adam that he was able to live in human form. He worked beside Adam every day, lived just a couple of blocks away from him, too. Adam was a great surgeon, but I’m almost positive the reason he never lost a patient was because of Murry. I’m sure the demon kept Adam’s ego psyched, kept him feeling like he was superior to God, like he was the one in control.”

Abbi took my hand and I looked down at the gentle gesture. I prayed I wasn’t wrong in thinking she had done a complete one-eighty. I had no choice but to jump in with both feet. If I thought losing Kendra was bad, I didn’t even want to imagine how it would feel to lose my soulmate for a second time. I would go mad. I was sure of that.

I squeezed her hand gently and ignored the sudden heat that passed between our hands. The urge to kiss her senseless, take her beneath my body and make her mine again was almost too much to bear. But it wouldn’t happen now, not while I was talking about being in love with another woman. That was wrong on so many different levels. That wasn’t what Abbi needed at the moment anyway. From the looks of the fading bruises, she needed gentleness, a soft hand to make her feel safe and secure. I could give her that again. I hoped and prayed I would get the chance.

I chuckled lightly as my thoughts returned to the story at hand. “Of course, Murry underestimated Kendra. Hell, I guess even I did, too, but she surprised us all and came out on top. She and Adam are happily married, have a four month old baby boy, and Adam has a brand spanking new guardian angel. I thought Murry would never be able to surface again, but I guess I was wrong, eh?”

“Do you still love her?” Abbi asked quietly.

I looked over at her in alarm. There was hurt in her voice, but I could tell she knew I couldn’t help how I felt. I wasn’t expecting her to ask that, but now that she had, I found that I had to ask myself the same question.
Was I still in love Kendra?

I had looked away from Abbi to ponder the thought and almost missed the sudden move as she brushed her fingers under her eye, quickly trying to wipe away a drop of salty emotion without my knowing.

Panic rushed through me and I rose to my knees and had her beautiful face cupped in my big palms, searching her teary eyes with my own. I knew the answer to her question, but I had waited too long to answer it. I also realized she had asked a double-sided question. She was only half asking if I still loved Kendra. The real question, the hidden question, was if I still loved
her
.

She tried to turn from me, but I didn’t allow it.

I shook my head. “Don’t, Abbi.—”

She couldn’t move her head, but her eyes cast downward. “No, it’s okay; I understand, Rhyan—”

I repositioned my hands to the back of her head and tilted her head up, encouraging her to look me in the eyes. She complied, but it was clear she was uncomfortable. “I don’t think you do understand.”

The tone of my voice had her looking at me differently, confused even. Good, ’cause I was about to clear everything up for her, and blow her mind a little in the process, hopefully.

“I will always love Kendra, Abbi. I won’t lie to you or try to make you believe otherwise, but the feelings I have for her have changed. I no longer pray for her life to take a drastic turn for the worse so I can spend an eternity with her in Heaven. I only wish the best for her and the family that loves her. I am extremely happy she has found her soulmate. I’m ecstatic that I fell into such a deep depression over losing her that my negative voice landed me in Hell. Because if any of that had played out differently I would have missed my chance to rescue
my
soulmate. I love Kendra as my charge and I wish to keep her safely away from Hell’s gates. Nothing more. How could I possibly be in love with any other woman when I have found my soulmate? I love you, Abbi. I am forever yours, my love.”

I frantically searched her expression, praying I hadn’t misunderstood her signals. Her eyes filled with tears and I felt like my heart exploded in my chest, the love could no longer be contained in such a confined space and it had to burst free.

It was right. Everything about her, me, us being together, was right. The constant tugging I felt when around her, as if there were magnets enclosed within our bodies trying to connect, was about to get its way. I couldn’t hold out any longer.

My lips hovered a breath away from hers. This was the last chance she would get to say no. She was
my
woman. She was
my
wife. She was
my
soulmate, and no other man would ever touch her again if she accepted me as her man now.

Her breath hitched and I could see she was still worried about the fallen demon angel. “Say it and I promise he will never lay another hand on you. Nobody will ever separate us from being together. I will never give up, and nothing will ever make me forget about you, ever again.”

I waited.

“Say it, Abbi,” I pleaded with her.

She nodded, then smiled. There was definitely a change in her. She had made a decision, and she was happy about it. “I love you, Rhyan. I’m so sorry I did this to us and our child, but I want to make it right.”

I didn’t need any more answer than that; my lips found and consumed hers. I took it painfully slow. I knew she hadn’t been treated well in my absence and I didn’t aim to dig up and remind her of any other men, except for the one male she was holding on to.

I broke away and then kissed her again, lingering, taunting and teasing her supple, swollen lips.

When she opened her eyes to me, there was no fear of anything. There was only love and desire and the yearning to spend the rest of eternity with me. That was what I’d been waiting to see.

She smiled, and in the next instant her fingers were in my hair, pulling me back to her lips again and again; giggles escaped her lips each time the kiss broke. I quickly caught up with her pace and immediately turned the tables on her. She would not be in control and turn this into a game as if I were one of her sex puppets.

Long locks of dark-brown hair wove its way around my fingers as they dug deeper and twisted in her thick mane. The sharp edge of her jaw was begging for the tender touch of my lips and I surrendered to its silent plea. I had a feeling there would be several different parts of her body begging for me to kiss, touch and lick, and I had a feeling I was going to be doing a lot of surrendering in the future.

Her body relaxed in my hands and a soft moan escaped from her throat.

“I’ve waited so long to have this feeling again. I’ve searched for it for centuries, but no one else can make me feel the way you make me feel, Rhyan.”

My mouth had made it to her collarbone and that hideous, black satin reaper’s cape. I froze. Evidently, what I was doing wasn’t quite right, or how disappointing her other lovers had been in bed wouldn’t have entered her mind. I had to admit going over three-hundred years with absolutely no practice could make anyone a bit rusty. But I wanted to be the only male in her head at the moment.

“Abbi,” I whispered gruffly, trying to kick my way back to the surface of the Sea of Desire so I could catch my breath and, with it, my sanity.

“Yes, Rhyan,” she said, just as breathless.

“I’d really appreciate it if I was the only male here with you now.”

Her eyes shot open and a horrified and embarrassed expression covered her face. “Rhyan, I’m so sorry.”

She tried to cover her mouth with her hands, but my lips got there first. I didn’t give her any more time to think about anything except
me
, and the feelings
I
was giving her.

Chapter 22

I wanted to pull and rip the material from her body, press her firmly against the solid wood headboard and release over three centuries of sexual frustration within her heated and throbbing core. And I would do that, eventually, but now wasn’t the time; there would definitely be other times. I was sure of that now.

Every memory I’d ever had with Abbi was back full force. I remembered every beautiful inch and every sweet taste of her body. And now I had an eternity to kiss her, hold her, make love to her, and just be with her. I had finally found my happiness again, and this time I wouldn’t let anything take it from me.

I kissed my wife slowly, deeply, taking precious time with her and listening intently to the all too familiar husky sounds of passion escaping her soft lips.

I drew back and watched as her lashes fluttered and knew I had succeeded in erasing every other male from her mind.

Good. Now we could have some fun.

“You’re mine, Abbi. I’m going to take you now.” Still soft, so tender, my lips brushed over the velvet skin of her eyelid, then the tip of her nose, her cheekbone, then they devoured her mouth just as a low moan slipped through.

I found the thick satin cord and tugged until the bow was free and dangling in two long strings down the length of the cape. “Where we are going, you won’t be needing this.”

She smiled. “And just where are you taking me?”

I leaned in and kissed her cheek gently, then whispered in her ear, “I thought I would give you a little taste of what Heaven feels like.” She threw her head back in instant approval and desire, and the cape parted and fell from her shoulders. I flung it aimlessly across the room toward the chair I had been tied to only hours before.

I quickly noticed and approved of the simple white cotton gown she’d dressed herself in under the black satin cloak. It wasn’t meant to look sexy the way some undergarments were intended to look, but the only other thing I would have preferred her in was, well, nothing…and I was hoping to see her in that next.

I was staring in awe at her perfect, curvy body, taking in the sight and letting the memories flood the fore-front of my mind: her legs locked around my waist, her soft heat surrounding my sex, her lips on my skin—I was about to lose it.

“Malcolm, go away!”
I shouted in my mind, but the angel didn’t answer. A low growl escaped from deep within my chest.