Chapter Nine
She hadn’t heard him correctly. Gia shook her head.
“He was a big sonofabitch. Probably close to my height. Broad shoulders. He was wearing a black coat, heavy and long, and he had dark hair. I caught a glimpse of it as he ran away, but then I heard you asking for help…”
Her chest felt tight.
“You’d seen him, and you realized he had a gun. You tried to shove me out of the way.” The beast flared to life in his eyes. “But when he fired, the bullet just went through me and into you.”
No, not happening. She climbed over him, nearly fell out of the bed, and managed to drag the sheet with her. Gia wrapped it around her body as her knees knocked together.
“I wanted to chase him and kill him, but you called for help. That was when I realized you’d been hit. I tried to help you.” His hands fisted as he rose to stare at her. “Your blood just seeped through my fingers, and you died, staring at me like I was a stranger.”
Her toes curled against the hardwood floor. “This can’t be happening.”
“I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. Cael is an angel, and he showed me a glimpse, and you’re in danger and—”
“No.” She ran to the window. Peered through the blinds.
Snow was falling, and the street below appeared empty.
“I mean, he can’t have found me. I didn’t leave a trace behind when I left Jasper.
I didn’t tell anyone where I was going. I just packed up my car, and I drove until I found this town.
” Because it had felt right. Some instinct had almost whispered…
Home.
The floor creaked as Oliver moved to stand behind her. “Who is he?”
She didn’t see anyone below. “He can’t have found me,” she repeated.
“I couldn’t see his face. As soon as he fired the weapon, he turned and ran, and he was very fast. Tell me who he is.” His hand curled over her shoulder. “Tell me, and I’ll end him.”
She looked down at his hand and saw that his claws had come out. “This isn’t your fight.”
“The hell it isn’t. He’s coming after you.”
“He’s been coming after me for a very long time.
Since before I ever met you. But back then, I thought a simple restraining order would be enough to stop him.
For a while, it was. He was out of my life, actually, the whole time that you and I were together.
” She turned toward him as his hand fell away.
“It was only after you left that I started to realize he was still watching me. Then he did more than watch. The phone calls began. The flowers started arriving.” Nothing too bad, not at first. “The doors were unlocked at my home to show me that he’d been inside.
” A tear slid down her cheek. “The windows of my car were smashed. Then the last night I was in Jasper—the night he caught me in the park—I felt what I’m sure was a knife pressed to my throat. ”
A growl built in Oliver’s throat.
“If a group of teenagers hadn’t walked by, I think he would have killed me.
” She didn’t mention that it had been the same park where Oliver had proposed to her.
That she’d often walk in that park because that place was her last memory of being truly happy.
She also didn’t mention that the diamond engagement ring was in the top drawer of her nightstand.
She hadn’t worn it since Oliver had vanished, but she also hadn’t been able to sell it or give it away.
“A name, Gia. I want his name.”
“Darren. Darren Emmanuel.”
She saw the flash of recognition in his eyes and inclined her head. “Yes, the real estate mogul. He looks out at the world, and he once told me he wanted to own everything beautiful that he saw.”
“You never mentioned him to me.”
“Darren and I dated for two months, again, before you walked into my life. At first, I didn’t know that you and I were going to be serious, and it’s hardly fun, casual conversation to say…
‘Oh, by the way, you know the most famous man in the area? Totally obsessed with me. So I have a restraining order against him, but he’s got lots of cops in his pocket, so it’s not super enforced.
’” She sighed. “I thought it was over. The more I was with you, the more he appeared to fade away, and there just didn’t seem to be any point in bringing him up.
He was my past. Something dark and scary. You were the future.”
“And you don’t think I’m dark and scary?”
Did he even need to ask? Gia shook her head.
“He wanted to own everything beautiful,” Oliver repeated slowly. “That means…he wanted to own you, didn’t he?”
“He asked me to marry him. I said no. He went too fast with our relationship. It had only been two months, and I was already seeing alarms in all of our interactions. When I broke it off, that’s when things got…rougher.”
Oliver gazed tenderly at her. Tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Nodded. “Thank you for telling me.”
Uh, that was it? That was what he had to say?
“Thank you, and you understand, when he comes for you, I will be in his way.”
Her stomach knotted. “Oliver—”
“I will never again watch while you die in front of me.” Soft.
“I will never let you feel pain when I’m close.
I should have stopped this bastard long ago.
I hate that I was gone when you needed me, but it won’t happen again.
I swear it. You will never be alone. You will never be scared.
I will always be close when you need me. ”
Those words sounded so beautiful. Except for the whole her dying in front of him part.
That was terrifying and creepy and a thousand other things.
She had no intention of dying that night—whether in front of Oliver or anywhere else—and she certainly didn’t intend for him to die, either. “You’re not bulletproof.”
“No, but I’m not human, either. It will take one hell of a lot more than a bullet to keep me down. Believe this, I will do whatever it takes to protect you.”
She hadn’t possessed enough proof to get charges pressed against Darren in the spate of break-ins and vandalisms. As for the attack at the park?
She hadn’t seen his face. The cops hadn’t been willing to go up against him.
Knowing there was no choice, she’d fled.
“I want him behind bars. Locked up so he can’t hurt me or anyone else.
I don’t want you wolfing out and killing for me. ”
“If he comes to kill you, he’s dead.”
That was chilling. “Oliver…no.”
He curled his fingers around one of her wrists. Lifted up her hand. Pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “If I can throw him in a cell, I will. If I have to kill him in order to protect you, I will. When it comes to you, there are no limits for me. I will not watch you die.”
“Oliver—”
He kissed her. Like a kiss was going to distract her from what was a very, very serious conversation but…
What if danger is coming? What if Darren is out there, planning an attack right now? What if this night, this moment, was all that she had with Oliver? What if everything was already planned out and this was the night that she died?
“No!” Gia pushed against him.
Oliver took a step back.
No. This won’t be it. I won’t let things end this way.
“Gia?”
Her chin lifted, and she let the sheet fall. “You’re not going to kiss me to distract me.”
His eyes were hot as they traveled over her.
“I’m going to strip to distract you,” she told him. “I’m going to strip, and I’m going to touch you, and I’m going to drive you crazy, and even if this is our last time together, it’s going to be so amazing that it feels like we touch heaven.”
“Baby, I always touch heaven with you.”
How could she have forgotten the way his words would rock through her?
But they did. He did.
She put her hands on his bare chest. She stood on her toes, and her mouth began to kiss a hot path over him even as she felt his dick shoving toward her through the rough fabric of his jeans.
The first time near the Christmas tree had been incredible.
Fast and frantic and the orgasm had made her whole body quake.
But this time, she wanted to touch every inch of him. To savor him.
“Get on the bed,” she ordered huskily.
He did, but he pulled her with him. He ditched his jeans, sprawled on the bed, and tugged her down on top of him.
She shook her head. Positioned her body exactly where she wanted to be. Then she was wrapping her fingers around his cock and pulling it toward her mouth.
Taste. Her lips closed around him. Her tongue swirled over him. His hips flew off the bed, and Oliver’s hands closed over her shoulders. “Gia!”
She kept working him. Taking more of him inside her mouth. She remembered exactly what he liked. Just how he enjoyed being stroked by her tongue. She teased and she savored, and her hands greedily touched. She was going to drive him past the point of no return—
She was flat on her back. Gia blinked. How the heck had she gotten—
“I can move fast,” he told her gruffly. “Very, very fast.” He licked his lips. “Two more seconds, and I would have come in your mouth.”
That didn’t sound like the worst plan to her.
“Instead, you’ll be coming against mine.” Oliver shifted his body. Spread her legs wide. Put his mouth on her. Drove his tongue into her. She would have flown right off the bed, but his hands clamped over her hips and held her in place as he tasted and took his time with her.
Licking. Sucking. Working her clit with his tongue. Then thrusting that wicked tongue into her. Over and over.
Her heels dug into the bed. She’d wanted to touch and caress all of him— “There! Yes, right there. Oliver!”
He licked faster.
She came, as he’d wanted, right against his mouth. Her heart thundered, and the climax had her seeing stars.
He licked her until it was done. As she struggled to catch her breath, she felt his cock press at the entrance to her body. Gia forced her languid lashes to lift.
“I love you,” Oliver told her.
I never stopped loving you.
He drove into her.
Moments later, she was pretty sure they both touched paradise.
***
“So…when do I die?” They were in bed, and his arm was wrapped around her as they cuddled close. A wide yawn stretched Gia’s mouth. Her body was completely replete.
“Christmas Eve. That’s…that’s when you died in the glimpse I saw.”
She squinted at the clock. “We only have about thirty minutes until it’s Christmas. Just so you know, I don’t intend to leave the apartment in that thirty-minute period.” She intended to stay exactly where she was. All snuggled up with Oliver.
“Good.”
“If I make it through Christmas Eve, that means whatever you saw—whatever path for me, I mean—it’s changed, right?” Did she sound worried? She didn’t want to sound worried.
“The path for you will change no matter what.” He sounded confident. Determined.
Her Oliver.
“We’re not just going to head back to the way things were,” Gia warned him. Oliver should realize this. “There will be weeks of groveling from you. Lots of hot chocolate deliveries. Random acts of awesomeness where you rub my feet for hours.”
He laughed. “Consider all that done.” His lips brushed her temple. “As long as I’m with you, everything is going to be okay.”
Everything is going to be okay. Words she’d once tried to tell him. “The ring is in the nightstand.”
She felt him stiffen. “You still have it?”
“If it’s in the nightstand, I do.” Silly wolf.
He jumped from the bed. Pretty much yanked the drawer from the nightstand. That werewolf strength was impressive, but it could also be a bit detrimental to her furniture. She’d have to caution him about that.
But he held the diamond ring with the utmost care. Completely naked, he stood by the bed, then dropped to one knee. “Gia, will you please spend the rest of your life with me?”
The rest of her life…however long it might be. “I think I already told you the answer was yes once before.”
He barely seemed to be breathing.
“My answer hasn’t changed,” Gia said. She wiggled her fingers.
He took the hint and slid the ring into place. It gleamed so brightly, just like a brilliant star— “Star!” It was Gia’s turn to hop from the bed. She grabbed a robe and twisted it around her body. “We cannot go to sleep on Christmas Eve without putting the star on the tree!”
“Uh, Gia, I just asked you to marry me—”
“And I will. And it will be an awesome marriage. Lots of people will cry at the beauty of the ceremony, I’m sure, but for now…” She whirled and smiled at him. “Get those jeans on and come and help me to put the star on the tree.”
“Gia…”
“It’s almost Christmas,” she whispered even as she felt the slight weight of the ring and wiggled her finger. “And we need the star because an angel came to you and sent you back to me. I want to say thank you, and I don’t want to lose this second chance. The star is my thank you.”
He grabbed for his jeans. “Anything to make you happy.”
She rushed toward the bedroom door and swung it open. Her steps were practically flying over the floor as—
Gia stopped.
Someone was standing in front of her Christmas tree. Someone in a big, black coat. Someone who was damn well not Santa Claus. Someone…
Someone slowly turning toward her and revealing the gun he gripped in his hand.
“Hello, Gia,” Darren Emmanuel said. “Merry Christmas.”
He pulled the trigger.