Page 10 of Sweet Revenge

“In the light,” I told her.

She nodded and awkwardly reached up to the porch light to grab the spare key while still holding on to me. Eventually, she managed to get it out and unlock the door.

The scent of must and wood hit my nose as we stepped through the door. It wasn’t too bad considering the house was new, but any uninhabited dwelling starts to smell after a while. Elisa led me toward the large brown leather couch and helped me sit. I couldn’t help the small grunt that escaped my lips with the transition.

“I’ll go get everything out of the van.” She kissed the top of my head and headed out.

I slumped down on the couch, wondering what all Drake had gotten us. He’d left a shirt on my gurney that morning, which I’d put on before we even left the clinic. It wasn’t the greatest quality material, but it worked, and beggars couldn’t be choosers, after all.

It took Elisa a couple of trips to get everything inside. She took some of the bags to the kitchen, which I could see from the living room since the house had an open floor plan. The others she carried down the hallway. “Main bedroom is on the left,” I told her as she passed me by.

From down the hall, I heard her exclaim, “This is nice.”

“Yeah, I like it.” I didn’t say it loud, so I wasn’t sure she’d even heard when she came back, a satisfied smile on her face. She went over to the front door and locked it before turning to face me. “We need to move you into the bedroom. Let me get the fireplace going in there, and then I’ll help you.”

“I can do it.” Even before I finished the sentence, she was shaking her head at me.

“No, you need to rest.”

I groaned, but secretly, I was happy she hadn’t let me go. It was hard to admit that I couldn’t do everything I normally would, but it would be better if I managed to rest a bit over the next couple of days and let her do what she could. My chest needed to heal.

A few minutes later, Elisa was back, with a smudge of soot on her cheek, smelling slightly of ash. I ignored it, not wanting to taint her image with my memories of that smell from this place. “Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

Hoisting me up off the couch was the hardest part. It hurt like hell, but I managed to stand, and then she wrapped her arms around me and got me into the bedroom, where I wanted to collapse onto the bed but thought better of it. Gently, Elisa laid me down on my back. She went about taking off my shoes and situating the blankets so they were pulled up to my waist. “I should get you something to eat.”

“No,” I told her. “Just come lie with me.”

Her expression told me she thought it was a bad idea, but she kicked off her shoes and climbed into the bed, lying next to me but situating herself so that she was looking down at me. “You need your rest.”

“I won’t be able to rest until I do this.” Lifting one hand, I cupped her chin and sat up a bit, ignoring the ache that radiated through my body with each movement. She closed the distance and kissed me, softly. Sweetly.

I wanted her. Even though I was laid up with three bullet holes in my chest, my cock began to ache just looking at her.

Looking into her blue eyes, it was more than just lust that flowed through my veins. I didn’t just want her body. I wanted her. Not just right now but forever and always, and I had no idea why or how to process it.

What I could say was, “Thank you.” I ran my thumb along her cheek, wiping away the soot. “You didn’t have to come into that bakery.”

“Of course, I had to,” she replied. “You saved me. I saved you. It’s what we do.”

I swallowed hard. “I sure hope we’re done with that.”

“My family wants me dead, so I doubt it.” She seemed nonchalant for someone who was talking about death.

“I have someone trying to steal my family away from me,” I reminded her. “I guess my situation isn’t much better.” It felt like the whole damn world had turned against us.

She brushed a hand over my cheek. “None of that matters now. We’re here. We’re together, and we’re safe. Let’s just take it one day at a time.”

I nodded, thinking the intelligent thing to do would be to close my eyes and fall asleep, but with her scent wrapping around me, her face hovering above mine, I couldn’t just let it all go. That ache I’d felt earlier had radiated up from my crotch, and now, the fire I felt for her was beyond any pain from my wounds.

I pulled her down for another kiss, and she leaned into me, gentle but firm. I wasn’t going to be able to let her go until I claimed her again.

CHAPTER7

ELISA

Daemon deepened the kiss, and even though everything in my logical brain screamed at me to get off him, to let him get some rest, the longer he kissed me, the more right it felt.