Page 65 of Angel's Vengeance

“If anyone had a damn good reason for not letting go of their past, it’d be you.”

“No, hear me.”Then he gentled his tone.“Please.I was using what had been done to me as an excuse and was content to allow my fury to burn hot enough to propel me into whatever future I never expected to live long enough to have.Until you came along and made me realize that hot air only lasts for so long.”

Neela shook her head, a bit overwhelmed at his admission.“I didn’t do anything.”

He lifted her chin higher.“Oh, little demon, you know that’s not true.And that ismyfault for making you feel that way.”Then he opened the passenger door for her, and the eagerness in his eyes was bright enough to light ten city blocks.“I’d like to share this world with you, to discover it together, if that is what you’d like as well.”

She didn’t know whether it was the temperature outside or the promise of heat inside, but her butt found that leather in a speed that surprised even herself.Then he climbed in the driver’s seat beside her and closed the door.His hands found hers again, and she remembered how much she missed this.How much she missedhim.

The smooth plastic shell hitting her palm was a surprise.

“What’s this?”

“Your key.”

“Mykey?”

But he was serious.Dead serious.“This vehicle is yours.Not mine.If we’re going to figure this living-life-aboveground thing out together, then I need you right here with me, learning and driving and hopefullynotskidding out, as I may have almost done on the way over here.”A gentle tease lifted the corner of his lips, and it made her heart swell.

“You’re really doing this.You’re not kidding, are you?This is really mine?”

Rhode nodded.“Paperwork’s in the glove box.Permanent plates will be available in a few weeks.This private garage is one of many places you can park.Bronze actually owns the property, along with several storage units for his bikes.You need oil changes, tire rotations, or anything so much as a car wash, you let me know and I’ll take care of it.But nothing would make me so happy as to figure this thing out together, not as partners or roommates but as soul bonds.Truesoul bonds.”

Neela’s throat tightened with a pang that threatened to warn her off what she still needed to do, what she needed to tell him.Her lip quivered beneath the weight of his confession, though, of what the small key fob in her hand not only symbolized but the future it would steer her toward.

A future with Rhode in it, with the angels, the mates, a home, all of it wrapped up neatly beneath the blanket of only her second snowfall ever.And once they finally defeated Cyro and reclaimed the relic, they’d have time to talk about what was to come.Crawling before walking.Parking before racing.

For the first time in her existence, time didn’t seem like such a somber sentence, not with Rhode by her side to hold her hand should she stumble.

We have time.He’s giving me time and asking for it in return.

It was a promise she swore she wouldn’t waste.Later, she’d sit him down, holdhishands, and speak the truth her heart needed to tell him.Lift the final weight so they could both soar.

Until then, she’d seize every moment with this angel.

So she chucked the key fob into the console, threw her arms around him, and captured his lips in a searing kiss.

Neela’s weightin his arms was a comfort his body had begged for.He hadn’t known the joys of such tight confines as the front seats of cars until he’d crawled in next to her and was hit with the concentrated scent of hyssop and earthly vitality.It washerscent.A smell that would forever be etched onto his skin and scored into his soul as uniquely hers.It enveloped every part of the car, blanketing his senses and driving him mad.The heat blowing from the vents didn’t help, either.All it did was tease the ends of her hair, offering up her charms like the distracting scarf of a belly dancer.

The entire scenario was a game he’d never learned to play, and he was gambling with something far more precious than money.

Many times, desperation had threatened to get the better of him, but he’d always been able to, if not outsmart, at least outlast it.When it came to Neela, however, he had taken an undue risk, and now that he’d finally gotten his head out of the sand and secured it in the direction of what mattered most, he was worried he might have been too late.

But then his arms were around her again, and he was fervently sipping from her mouth, every logical thought casting itself off to the dancing snowflakes beyond the windows.

The heat of the soul bond flared to life beneath his skin, and the fury of it forced a groan into her mouth.

“You know,” she said, breathless, “remind me to thank Chrome for the extra leg room.”

Rhode unzipped her coat as she helped him shuck out of his.“Remind me to show you what happens when you mention another man’s name while I have my hands on you.”

“Oh, fine.Very well.”Neela leaned back, feigning annoyance with an exasperation that refused to meet her eyes.

He took the opening for what it was and quickly scooped her onto his lap, yelps and all.Her weight was the blanket his soul would never grow tired of.Large thighs filled his palms as he slid her impossibly closer against him, until his straining cock begged to close the few inches separating them.She wore an orange-and-black plaid knee-length skirt that tied at the waist and would have been shreds on the floor if another idea hadn’t occurred to him first.

“I want to see you come apart in this car, little demon.Can you do that for me?”

Neela’s breaths were thick and heated and pulled her delicious breasts higher to the edge of her scoop-neck sweater.“That doesn’t sound like that big of an ask,” she said, undoing the buttons of his silk shirt.

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