Page 11 of Her Avenging Angel

Taylynn scanned the area. The doorway she stood in opened onto a huge concrete slab. A roof extended about a dozen feet out from the building, but left at least that much more uncovered before the slab ended and a large span of dirt filled the space to the brick wall that stretched as far as she could see around the building in both directions. There were several picnic tables scattered across the area, with most on the cement but a couple in the dirt.

“You’re perfectly safe back here, even if the Demons have figured out you didn’t die and are looking for you. The only way to get in here is over the fence or through the building and I have men watching for anyone to try anything.” Raven kept his eyes on her but went to one of the picnic tables. He rested one hip against the tabletop and lifted one booted foot to rest on the seat, then propped one elbow on his raised knee and watched her.

She stepped outside, hesitant at first. Ready for someone to jump out and scream gotcha, then drag her back inside and force her to do horrible things. But that didn’t happen. She took first one step, then another. After a couple more she took a deep breath and pushed the anxiety away and continued out onto the patio, past where Raven leaned against the table and out to one that sat on the uncovered portion of the slab.

When the sun hit her face, she closed her eyes and tilted her face toward the sun. Letting the warmth she hadn’t been able to enjoy in so long soak into her skin.

Intellectually, she knew it had only been a few days since she’d been outside. Since she’d been dumped on the side of the road, but she’d been so hurt, so unaware of anything but the pain and trying to survive that she hadn’t been able to take the time to enjoy the sun. Now, though, she stood for a full minute, taking deep breaths and letting the heat and freedom of having the sunshine on her skin sink in. The longer she stood in the sunshine, the more the tension that had been building for longer than she cared to remember seemed to melt away.

After a moment, she opened her eyes and found Raven still watching her. There was something in his gaze she thought she recognized, but he was so reserved, so careful around her that she couldn’t be sure. And she’d been mistreated for so long, she didn’t know if she could trust a man ever again. Though, something about Raven made her want to. She didn’t even know if she could trust her own instincts anymore. Still, she was going to try.

Moving from where she stood she went to him, stood for several seconds trying to gather the nerve for what she had in mind, then leaned close and brushed her lips across his. He didn’t react. Didn’t move, didn’t kiss her back. She did the only thing she could think of.

“Thank you for this.” She looked around, still finding it hard to believe that they would let her outside and that they had a place she could feel protected and still get some sunshine.

Chapter Nine

“Ineed something todo,” Taylynn said from where she sat at the bar a couple of seats down from Raven. She was talking to him, but she still didn’t feel comfortable taking the stool next to his, even when it was just the two of them.

He couldn’t blame her. She’d been through a lot and the Demons had been more than abusive. After what he’d learned about everything she’d been through, he didn’t blame her for being a bit leery. Still, he wanted her. He wanted to hold her and tell her it would be okay. Raven had been battling his wants for weeks, holding back from letting her know he was interested in more than just helping her, because she’d been through so much. He wasn’t an insensitive ass who only cared about himself, even if he sometimes came across that way.

But since she was healing, both inside and out from what he could tell, he was having a harder time keeping how he felt hidden. He wanted to taste her, he wanted to see her head thrown back and hear her scream his name as she clamped around him, her body losing all control as he showed her how good he knew it would be between them.

But none of that could happen if he couldn’t get past her walls.

“What do you want to do?” He didn’t want her to leave, though he wouldn’t keep her from it. If that was what she needed to reclaim her life, he’d let her go. Though he refused to think about how bad letting her go would hurt. She’d only been here a few weeks, and he’d only touched her in the most innocent of ways, and even then only rarely. There was no reason he should want to make her happy, but he did. He found himself looking for little things to make her smile.

“I don’t know. I just know that I can’t sit around doing nothing all the time. I feel useless. I feel like a charity case, and I can’t have that.”

“You’re healing. That’s enough for now.”

Taylynn scowled at him. “The bruises are all but gone. I’m fine.”

He watched her for a moment, trying to figure out how to say this without making her close up. Without reminding her of things he didn’t want her to remember. Without pissing her off to the point she walked away. That wasn’t to say he didn’t like making her mad. He did. He loved the fire in her eyes when she got pissed at him, that no matter what the Demons had done to her they might have bent her, but they hadn’t broken her. Still, he resisted the urge to push at her as he’d learned over the last few weeks that it was a fine line between her letting her temper free and when she shut down. One he was doing his best to walk.

“How are your ribs?” he knew they still hurt her. Not as badly as at first but he’d seen the wince she’d tried to hide when she’d climbed up onto the stool a few minutes before. Why she insisted on sitting at the bar when getting up on the stool hurt, he didn’t understand. “Plus, you’ve got a few weeks left with that thing.” He motioned to the cast on her left arm.

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