Page 27 of Archangel

When we broke apart, both of us were breathing heavily. Archangel rested his forehead against mine. “I’m so sorry, Sonya. I don’t care if it was my fault or not. I will take full responsibility and beg your forgiveness and mean every fucking word. Just please let me explain.”

“It’s OK. I swear. I just needed a bit to calm down. I’m sorry for making an idiot of myself in front of… uh… your…”

“Ex-wife. Emphasis on theex.” He slid me a sheepish grin. “Shotgun fixed that first thing. She’s still at the Black Reign compound because I want to make sure whoever she was with before isn’t still a threat to her. While there’s no way I’m continuing a relationship with her, if she’s on the run from someone, I can’t kick her out until I’m sure she’s not in danger.”

“Nor would I expect you to.” I smiled up at him, still cupping his face in my hands. “You’re not that kind of man. You’re a protector. A fixer. You can’t go against your nature. Not like that.”

He pulled me close again, this time turning to sit on the bed. My knees were beside his hips and I clung to him. He sighed and so did I, both of us content to just sit there and hold each other.

When he finally pushed me away from him enough to look at me, he brushed a few strands from my forehead and tucked them behind my ear. “I fucked this up to hell and back. I’ll tell you everything you want to know. But I swear to you, I don’t remember half of what happened that night.”

“I think you explained that part well enough. What I want to know most is what happens from here? You said she was now your ex-wife, but that she was staying at Black Reign until you knew she was safe. What will your obligation be to her?”

“Nothing.” His answer was immediate and firm. “El Diablo said Jezebel was taking care of her. If she wants to stay, they’ll find work for her. If not, they’ll settle her somewhere else if she needs help.”

“Like financial help? I thought she had all kinds of money.”

“No financial help. She’s got all the money she’s getting from me or the club. But if she needs help moving her stuff, the prospects will help her out.”

“No one is that much of a saint, Angel. While I think it’s admirable and I wouldn’t want it any other way, why would you do that after she deceived you?”

He moved us farther onto the bed and rolled over so he laid on top of me. I loved the tender smile he gave me. He looked… younger, or something. Maybe carefree? Contented? Whatever he was feeling certainly agreed with him and I wanted to always see that expression on his face when he looked at me.

“When I first met El Diablo, he told me something I took to heart and I try my best to live by. He said to treat everyone with respect, even if they hadn’t earned it. He said, when you understand the difference between granting respect to someone you don’t know and making someone you do know earn your respect, then you had the right to choose which applied. If you aren’t sure, you err on the side of caution. It costs nothing to be nice. You might make an ally.”

“Sounds like something he’d say.” I smiled up at him.

“So I’m going to assume she thought she had a good reason for what she did. To be honest, I don’t care why she thought tricking someone into marrying her was a good idea. All I care about is getting that marriage dissolved -- which it has been -- and getting back to figuring outus.”

“Speaking of us. What exactly do you see happening here? How do we end up?”

“I want you to be my old lady. I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy. I see us ending up very old, very wrinkled, and very happy in a beach house surrounded by grandkids and great-grandkids. And before you tell me how much older I am than you, I plan on living to be at least a hundred and twenty.”

I chuckled, shaking my head. “You’re so full of shit.”

“Am not.” He leaned down to kiss me again, tenderly. Gently. With so much love it made my heart clench. “What I am, is so in love with you, I’ll defy any god to take me from you before I’m ready.” He spoke so fiercely, I actually believed he could make good on his word.

Then I registered everything he’d said. “You’re… in love with me?” The words were barely above a whisper.

“Yeah, baby. I love you. With everything that I am.”

“Not because of, you know, because we had sex?”

“Sonya, honey. I try to be an honorable man in everything I do. That means I don’t lie. Especially not to people I love. I would most certainly make you my old lady to do right by you. But I will never lie to you about my feelings for you. And I’d never tell you I loved you if I didn’t mean it.”

“You didn’t wake up after we had sex and suddenly decide you loved me. I won’t believe that.” It hurt. Not because I thought he was lying. Because I was hoping like fuck he wasn’t. I wanted this so bad! I wanted Archangel for my own so no one else could have him but me. I wanted to ride behind his bike and for him to be proud to have me with him. Because I’d be damned proud to be with him.

He leaned in once more to place a lingering kiss on my lips. “Sonya, when you came home after your first semester of college, I realized you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever imagined. Not only that, you were wicked smart and sexy as fuck.” He leaned in again to nip at my neck, making me squeal. “I wasn’t in love with you then. But I had a healthy dose of lust aimed squarely at you. No. I fell in love with you when you were telling me about your life in Bane and how you loved everything about living there, even with your father breathing down your neck. You were so passionate and free spirited, you made me feel young again. I remembered a time before I met El Diablo when there was nothing to look forward to but death in battle and wished I’d met you then. Because, in those precious moments when you spoke to me from your heart, I knew you’d have been the person I looked forward to coming home to. And my life would likely have been much, much different.”

“Angel.” I stroked his beard gently, like I might pet a cat. “I’ve loved you since I was a teenager. There’s no other man I’ve ever wanted to be with. So I’m all in with this. You’re my fantasy. My dream.”

“You have me, honey. Everything I am.”

“You think you’ll be able to handle girls’ weekend?”

He stilled where he’d been kissing my palm and narrowed his eyes at me. “What’s girls’ weekend?”

“Well, you picked me up from one.” I gave him a bright smile. “One random weekend a month, we go to Moore Haven to pull pranks. Just to keep Lawdawg on his toes.”

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