“My grandmother was a guardian, and she, along with the PTF, began preparing me for my role when I was young.”
She angled her head to see him. “So basically you’ve been a cop since you were a kid.”
“Guess you could say that. We have different vibrations. Different energies. You must be able to feel that on me?”
“I do.” She marched her fingers over his chest. “But how come I wasn’t discovered until now.”
“Someone in your family must have been a guardian, but I’m not sure why they never properly prepared you.”
“My parents died when I was just a toddler. Then I got sent halfway across the world to live with my estranged grandmother here in Chicago and practically raised myself on the streets. I guess I likely got lost in the system.”
“Someone still should have followed up.”
“Maybe they did, and figured I didn’t inherit any powers. I kept them under wraps since I was enough of a misfit as it was. Only Kaylea knows I can read auras and I’m a good judge of character.”
“There is more to your friends than you realize, Nicole. But that’s a discussion best left for the two of you.”
“Really? Do you think they know what I am?”
“Not exactly, but I think you were drawn together for a reason. And I think Lucifer found you through them, and because you don’t have control yet, he’s able to manipulate you.”
She dipped her head, touched his hands and examined his bandage. “I vaguely remember Kaylea saying something about a force field.”
“They couldn’t break through it.”
“But you could.”
“Yes.”
Sadness passed over her eyes. “You could have been killed.”
His eyes darkened. “I wasn’t about to let him control you.”
She looked at her own hands. “Why didn’t I burn?”
“Because he needed you and kept you protected inside his force field.”
He cupped her cheek and tipped her head until their eyes connected. “You’re very powerful, Nicole. But right now there is no time for me to teach you everything you need to know to fight off Lucifer if he makes another attempt to lure you in with his charm. We have to keep you hidden and off his radar until his time on earth is up.”
“How often can he return?”
“It takes months, years sometimes, for him to gather enough energy to send someone through. And you’ll be ready for him by then.”
“I will be ready,” she announced.
Tired eyes stared up at him and he pulled her impossibly closer. “Yes, you will. But for now, you need rest.”
Chapter Five
Connor woke to find the bed empty, the room cold. A quick glance at the window told him sunrise had come and gone and night was upon them once again. It also told him Lucifer’s time on earth was dwindling, and Connor just prayed that their never-ending lovemaking session had broken the spell Lucifer had over her.
It takes years for a guardian to block their mind to Lucifer’s power of suggestion, and they didn’t have years, they only had hours. Under the circumstances, the only thing he could hope for was that their passionate sex had countered Lucifer’s control over her and put her under Connor’s spell instead. Otherwise, the depraved bastard would be able to track her.
He heard a noise in the other room and set out to find Nicole. As he slipped from the bed, he removed his bandages and examined his hands, noting that they had already begun to heal, a perk of being a guardian.
A surge of excitement whipped through him when he found Nicole stoking the fire, completely naked.
He cleared his throat. “You shouldn’t walk around like that.”
Nicole tossed another log into the stone fireplace and spun around. “No? Why?”
“Because you have a beautiful ass, and if I see it bare one more time, I’m going to have to fuck it.”
He watched her chest rise and fall as her breathing grew labored. They stared at each other, exchanging a long lingering look, then Nicole did something that completely caught him off guard and had his mind spinning out of control.
She turned around, braced her hands on the stone hearth and widened her legs. “Then I suppose doing this is just asking for trouble?”
A low growl rumbled up from the depths of his throat as his gaze dropped to her beautiful heart-shaped ass, and in that instant he almost shot a load off. “Nicole…” he said as he hastily closed the distance between them. He pressed his chest to her back and slid a hand down her body to widen her lush ass cheeks. “You want this, baby? You want my cock in here?”
“I think need is more like it,” she professed, then shimmied against him, driving his cock into the small of her back. Connor circled his hands around to cup her breasts and buried his mouth into the soft curve of her neck. “Fuck, baby. I’m going to make this so good for you.”
Her moan prompted him into action. He slid one hand down her belly, and slipped a finger between her legs to find her warm, and wanting, her curls damp with her passion. “Christ, it makes me crazy when you get wet like this for me.”
“And you haven’t even touched me yet,” she murmured. The pleasure in her voice excited him.
Connor kissed a path down her back and dropped to his knees. He ran his wet tongue over her plump cheeks and felt her shiver under his touch.
With tender care, he slipped his hand between her legs, and brushed his index finger over her swollen clit until she was dripping with cream. He dipped into her hot feminine desire and used it to lubricate her back entrance.
She squirmed against him when he pushed a finger inside her. “Easy, baby, I’m going to take this real slow.” He took his time to widen and relax her ringed passage, preparing her for his girth.
When she began to move against him, he carefully inserted another finger. “How does it feel?”
“Different, but good,” she said, and
