he had excelled at. He spread the towel open and I walked into it. Then my angel dried me off—first my body and then my hair—taking his time to glide the fabric over my skin gently.
Azrael tossed aside the towel at last and eased me into an embrace. His arms and wings closed around me and a sense of calm settled over my skin, sinking deeper and deeper, relaxing muscles and raging emotions as it went. Az laid his head over mine and his even breaths coaxed mine into the same rhythm. I laid my cheek over his heart and melted. The sorrow suddenly seemed easier to bear.
“I've got you, Carus,” Azrael whispered. “I won't let go.”
Carus was Latin for beloved. So beautiful—I loved the sound of it on his lips. The word reminded me that I had much more than I'd left behind. I had so much more than any one woman had the right to have. My life was exceptional, extraordinary, and, at the moment, ethereal. I let Azrael's Angel magic comfort me and then, when I felt strong again, I lifted my face to his.
Azrael's lips met mine gently at first—just a brush of delicate skin upon delicate skin. A question more than a touch. I answered by opening to him and drawing him in. With that first wet caress, something zinged between us and we moaned together. Azrael's wings burst open. Our hands clenched on each other, pulling and demanding. He traced the lines of my back with his fingertips, then slid them up, into my damp hair. Az grabbed a handful to pull my head back for a more thorough kiss, his hard body pressing against mine, forcing me to feel how I had affected him so quickly. I grabbed his face with both hands and met his passion with my own.
Az nibbled and licked and growled into my mouth, but wouldn't stay put. He kissed his way down my throat and then my chest until he reached the crest of a breast. Azrael went to his knees then, folding his wings behind him as he took a tightened nipple into his mouth. I clasped him to me and cried out as his wet heat enveloped me. But that wasn't what I needed and Azrael knew it—felt it through our Blood-to-Heart bond. His strong hand slid between my legs, fingers stroking gently, then more firmly—working me expertly until I was weeping for him.
I went to my knees as well, then laid back on the cool tile, my gaze locked on my beautiful husband. Short, midnight hair still tousled from sleep blended with the midnight wings that rose above and behind him, diamond eyes glinted within that darkness, and the pale blue light of his name added to their magical glow. Below that stunning face of chiseled angles, his broad shoulders crowned a sculpted chest, the smooth ridges leading down to a taut belly and powerful thighs. His shaft reached for me, rigid and rose-tipped, and I reached back. With my first touch, Azrael let out a deep groan and settled between my thighs. I led him home and we became one.
My legs hooked around Azrael's back, just over his tight ass, and his flight feathers brushed my knees as I pulled him deeper. Those glorious wings lifted higher, becoming a velvet backdrop to his beauty, and his muscles clenched as he began a slow tempo. Strong and deep, Az moved inside me as he held my gaze, opening himself to me. Love shimmered down our bond and back, carrying our thoughts with it.
Azrael's were a stream of poetry, broken but beautiful. He sent his emotions along with his thoughts, infusing them with even more meaning. Inside my mind, they glowed as if he'd written them there. It has always been you, Vervain. Carus, my beloved, my wife, my star. The only light in my heavens. I could not exist without you guiding me. Happiness would forsake me without you in my arms. I need your body beneath me. Your love inside me. So much love. Eternity is not long enough for us. Carus. Beloved. Beautiful Vervain. I love you. On and on it went, drawing me into a rapture so profound that pain didn't have a chance of survival.
When we finally reached that ultimate peak, we did so together and with such shivering beauty that I wept. But this time, they were tears of joy.
Chapter Thirty-One
I was utterly relaxed when I went downstairs with Azrael.