“Oh, yeah.” She swept his hair off his forehead.
He rolled to the side and pulled her with him so they faced each other. “You do strange things to me.”
“Strange good or strange bad?”
“A little of both, I think. I don’t know what I’m doing when I’m in bed with you.”
She arched a brow. “Seemed to me you knew exactly what you were doing.”
He laughed. “Not what I meant. I just. . lose it with you.”
Her soft little hum made his dick quiver. “That’s not a bad thing. I like you losing it. I like losing it with you. I’ve never abandoned myself so freely with anyone before you.”
“Good to know.”
She pressed her lips to his. “It’s not a crime to lose control, Ryder.”
“I’m just not used to it.”
“I understand. You still worry about who you are, what you might do.”
He didn’t answer. But she was right.
“You’ll never hurt me. I’ve known that for as long as I’ve known you.”
“How did you know that?”
She shrugged. “Instinct. A woman knows who to be wary of.”
“Didn’t work so well for your mother.” He bit back an oath as soon as he’d said it, wishing he wasn’t such an insensitive bastard. Then again, he was who he was and Angie would have to learn to deal with that if she was going to be with him.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m an ass.”
A shadow crossed her face, and she nodded. “Yes, you are. But you always say what’s on your mind, and I love that about you. Don’t worry about hurting my feelings. I want to know what you’re thinking.” She smiled again. “Besides, I’m not my mother. And you’re not a demon in disguise.”
If only he could be sure of that. “Oh, I don’t know. I’ve carried plenty of demons inside me over the years.”
She laid her palm on his cheek. “It’s not the same thing. I know you, inside and out. I know what you’re capable of. Yes, you have violence in your past, and it’s part of who you are. But you’ll never hurt me. Not the way your father hurt your mother, the way he hurt you.”
He took her palm and kissed it. “I love you.”
She breathed deeply, then her face went serious. “Then take me to my sister.”
“I can’t. It’s not safe for you.”
“So everyone keeps telling me.” She pushed away from him and sat up. “Don’t you understand that I can help her? I can find her. I can find the black diamond. I might be the only one who can. I’ll bet you and I are the only ones.”
Curious, Ryder propped himself up on one elbow. “Why do you say that?”
“Can’t you sense it?”
“Sense what?”
“The black diamond. It’s like we’re a part of it.”
He’d been so busy dealing with Angie, he wasn’t sensing anything. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
She crossed her legs and faced him, taking his hands in hers. “Tap into your feelings. You touched the black diamond back at the caves in Australia, just like I did. It somehow. . links us to it. I know it does. We have a connection with it. As soon as it came back to life, I felt it.”
“Sorry, darlin’, but I’ve got nothing.”
“You’re not trying hard enough. Think about the black diamond. Visualize it. I know you can feel it, just like I can.”
She pulled at his hands until he sat up and faced her. “Okay, I’ll give it a try.”
“Focus on how it felt when you touched it back at the caves. Remember how alive it was?”
He did remember that. “It glowed. Almost like it had a living pulse inside it.”
Her eyes lit up. “Yes! That’s it exactly. And now the diamond is alive again. And it’s calling to us.”
Ryder thought about the diamond, tried to visualize its whereabouts, tried to connect with it, and came up empty. He shook his head. “Sorry, babe, I’ve got nothing but a void here.”
“Dammit.
He knew why. “You’re half demon, Angie. You’re connected to the Sons of Darkness, and so is the black diamond. That’s why you’re getting signals from it.”
She blinked, then nodded. “That would make sense.”
He studied her expression, looking for signs of upset. But she only seemed to be analyzing. “Are you okay?”
