Page 53 of Mortal Heart

“Yes.” He cupped her ass with both hands and lifted her up easily. She wrapped her legs around his hips and kissed him hard. With his hands under her thighs, he returned the kiss with even more demand and ten times the heat.

“What did you do right before we left her office?” she asked when they broke the kiss.

“I flexed.” He stared into her eyes, his gaze hot with desire. “One last test, just to be sure.”

“And if she’d been a demon, she would have reacted?”

“Yes.” He squeezed her. “If she’d been a demon, she would have come at me. She wouldn’t have been able to resist. It’s instinctual.”

She kissed him again because he was so good at it. She supposed that skill, like many others, improved over time. And if she was right about him, he’d had a long,longtime to get good at it.

She’d had a theory forming for a while. She wasn’t sure when the clues had begun to click into place, but somewhere between Farrell’s jibe that had cost the vampire his life and Ronan’s ability to detect a demon—and vice-versa—certain things had begun to add up. And the more she thought about it, the more sense it made.

Ronan drew back, his brow furrowed. “What’s wrong?”

Of course he’d sensed she had something on her mind. Instincts again. Instinctsalways. Hers kept her alive before, during, and after her time in the army and working for the vamps. Then they pushed her to forge not only a friendship but a partnership with Alice.

And then they drew her to this man. And his had drawn him to her.

A ridiculous thought popped into her head and made her chuckle:I gave head to a fallen angel. She truly had no idea how to process that fact. Nor did she know how to deal with the knowledge a fallen angel had expertly gotten her off in a vampire sex dungeon.

Another thought:Wow—he must bereallyfallen. This time instead of making her laugh, her ridiculous thought turned her on. What it was about him being a fallen angel she found particularly arousing, she wasn’t sure, but it absolutely made her want to rip his clothes off.

When she didn’t immediately respond to his question, his frown deepened. “Miss Woodall?”

She ran her fingers through his hair and gripped it tightly. “Take me to bed, Ronan.”

“I plan to.” The way he said it—part promise, part warning—made her shiver with desire. His gaze searched her face. “What were you thinking about just now?”

He knew she’d figured something out. The question was whether to tell himwhatshe’d figured out.

She’d had the best of intentions when she chose not to tell him she’d seen his scars, and that hadn’t worked out how she’d planned. She didn’t know how he’d react to her figuring out his secret, but she was pretty sure he’d take it better now than later. And besides, he needed to be crystal clear she was the looksandthe brains on this team.

“You’re a fallen angel,” she said simply. “I like that a lot. Now show me just how fallen you are.”

He moved so fast that everything around her blurred. She let out a very uncharacteristic shriek—not in fear, but in pure exhilaration.

She wanted nothing to do with being a dhampir or vampire, or even one of the Court’s human enforcers, but she’d always envied how fast vamps could move and wondered what it felt like. Now she knew. And it absolutely fuckingruled.

In a blink she and Ronan had made it from the kitchen to her bedroom. He tossed her on the bed, toed off his shoes, crawled up her body until his knees straddled her hips, and ripped her top and bra in half. His eyes blazed with desire and the hint of silver magic she’d seen earlier. Angelic magic. Power thrummed in the air around him.

She didn’t fear him at all. Not one bit. But the way he looked at her, as if she was a feast laid out before him, and the thought of him striking terror in the hearts of others, made her grind against him impatiently.

“Isaidshow me how fallen you are,” she snapped. “Don’t make me repeat myself.”

He made a rumbly sound deep in his throat and kissed her deeply. “I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said.

His hot mouth moved down her throat to where his hands cupped her breasts, already aching for his attention. He sucked, nibbled, and flicked her nipples with his tongue until they grew painfully hard.

When his right hand slid down her abdomen and slipped into her pants, she dug her nails into his shoulders. “Yes,” she breathed, moving her hips in rhythm with the strokes of his fingers. “Oh, God,yes.”

His mouth returned to hers and she gasped against his lips, her back arching as she moaned. She was so close to coming…so close…

Without warning, he took his hand from her pants. “What are you doing?” she demanded breathlessly.

He kissed her lightly as he unfastened her belt. “I told you at Nyx I wanted you to come with my mouth on you,” he said, his lips against her ear. “I meant what I said. And I want you to scream my name when you do.”

She shivered hard and gripped the comforter as he slid her pants down her legs. They joined her torn top and bra on the floor. But when she tried to slide her red lacy thong down her hips, he pushed her hands aside. “Leave that,” he commanded. “I like it.”

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