Page 95 of Guild Boss

“After I pulled you out of the tunnels I went back to Cadence and told my boss that opening up the Ghost City was going to bring a lot of security problems to this sector of the Underworld. I gave him a list of excellent reasons for establishing a new Guild operation here in Illusion Town. He took those reasons to the Council. When I returned from the Rainforest mission, the position of director was waiting for me.”

“I was the real reason you moved to Illusion Town?”

“I had it all planned out. My strategy was in place. But when I got here, ready to pick up where we left off, I discovered that things had gone wrong. Really, really wrong. My to-do list was in chaos. But you were always on it and always at the top.”

It wasn’t exactly a Covenant Marriage proposal, but it was enough for now. Progress.

“I never stopped thinking about you,” she said quietly. “I dreamed about you. Sometimes good dreams. Sometimes nightmares. But you were always there.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, surrendering to the fierce urgency of the moment.

He picked her up off the lounger and carried her through the open slider, down the short hall, and into the green shadows of the bedroom.

He stood her on her feet, gripped her shoulders, and fixed her with his hot, intent eyes.

“Sometimes you scare the green hell out of me,” he said.

“I think being able to scare a Guild boss occasionally is a job requirement for a goddess.” She touched his hard jaw. “What was it that made you nervous? The lightning bolt in the hallway this morning?”

“I’m getting used to the lightning. What sent me into a panic this time was that conversation out on the balcony. I thought you were going to tell me you were ending our relationship.”

She started to unfasten his shirt. “What would you have done if I had said that?”

“Gotten down on my knees and begged you to give me another chance.”

“Hah. I don’t believe that for one minute.”

“It’s true.” He reached behind her and slowly lowered the zipper of the blue sheath. “Trust me, it’s true.”

“And if that hadn’t worked?”

He eased the straps of the dress off her shoulders and let the garment fall to her ankles. For a moment he simply drank in the sight of her standing in the paranormal light of the ancient ruins.

“If that hadn’t worked, I would have carried you down into the Underworld and made love to you until you changed your mind,” he said.

“That sounds interesting.” She smiled. “It would have worked.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

It was the truth, Gabriel thought. Reality slammed through him as he finished stripping off his clothes. He could not take his eyes off Lucy. She was waiting for him on the bed, the sheet drawn up over her breasts. If she had ended their relationship out there on the balcony tonight, some part of him would have shattered.

He had been living on the edge of a cliff since it had dawned on him that she wasn’t going to greet him with open arms—since he had discovered what she had gone through after he had abandoned her the night he carried her out of the ruins. For a time out there on the balcony he had been afraid she was going to push him off the precipice. The future was still uncertain, but at least he had been able to take a few steps back from the edge. He was not in free fall.

He tossed the last of his clothes aside, pulled back the sheet, and lowered himself down onto the bed. He gathered her into his arms.

“You really did scare me tonight,” he said.

She flattened her palm against his chest. “That wasn’t my intention.”

“Be careful. I’m delicate.”

She laughed and pushed him onto his back. She propped herself on her elbow and began to stroke him. The feel of her warm palm, the vibe of her aura, the scent of her body thrilled him.

“Let’s see just how delicate you are,” she said.

She let her hand glide down over his belly and lower still. When her fingers tightened around him, he thought he would explode.

“Lucy.”

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