"You shouldn't have put yourself in danger like that," he admonished. "Not for me."
"Of course for you! I love you; why wouldn't I?"
He sucked in a sharp breath, desire and hope spiraling like crazy inside his heart. Had she really just confessed her love for him?
"You love me?" he murmured, cradling her even closer against his chest.
She pulled back and stared up into his eyes. "I've chosen to fall so I can be with you. I think some angels might consider that love."
"Sunny, no, no," he argued, panicking. "You can't do that. Fallen angels turn into demons. They become evil and dark.... No way, sweetheart. Not for me."
"You don't know as much as you think you do, hunter," came the answer from behind her, a rumbling noise like the sound of thunderclaps and music combined.
A bright beam of light filled Sunny's living room, and he tried to avert his eyes this time, but thankfully the gigantic angel toned down his glory somehow. Kiel stood in the center of the room, appearing mostly human, although his golden-tan eyes were unlike any Jamie had ever seen in a mortal.
"Young ones, it was a difficult test," the entity sang, a broad smile filling his face. "As Sunera now knows, God ordained and allowed your new love to endure a trial. For a purpose . . . that you would know the strength of your feelings for each other. Know the importance of being destined to love and fight together."
"Fight together?" Sunny asked in surprise, but Jamie noticed that the rest of the mighty angel's announcement didn't seem to shock her at all.
"James Angel, you have a new battle partner in Sunera. You will pair with her as you fight demons and darkness. And, Sunera? You are now reassigned to James."
"What will that entail? I'm not sure I understand."
Kiel's eyes gleamed like diamonds. "Your role will be different from when you were with Kate—and she will be given a new guardian. You and James Angel will fight as one, true battle partners.
Angelic strength matched with his hunter's skills. You're meant to complete and balance his power. Your faith, dear one, had to find this way . . . and it did."
Sunny turned to face Jamie. "I read the lore," she admitted sheepishly, and only then did he notice the small stack of leather-bound books on her coffee table. "Shay kept bringing me books, volume after volume. No matter how much I kept thinking I should give up . . . I couldn't give up on you, Jamie. On us."
Kiel beamed. "But you did not learn everything, Sunera. As of this moment, you are now this human's partner, his mate . . . and his wife."
"His wife?" they blurted simultaneously. They hadn't gotten married; they'd barely even kissed before tonight.
"It is declared so by heaven itself. No earthly ceremony is necessary." The angel's eyes sparkled. "Unless you want one, that is."
Jamie gaped. He'd spent years terrified of settling down, of making a commitment to any woman—much less marrying one. But as he gazed back at Kiel, the messenger's words seeping into his brain, he felt lighter and more alive than he had in years—and was shocked to realize he wasn't afraid at all.
"So we're already married, and she'll still be an angel of sorts?" Jamie clarified. "My own personal guardian angel?"
"I don't have to fall?" Sunny chimed in, her dark eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
Kiel stepped much closer, seeming larger and taller the nearer he came. "It is a kind of fall, to become human in this life and mate with a mortal," he answered Sunny, the words vibrating so strongly that the potted plants rocked where they sat on the windowsill. "Your will ingness to fall in order to experience love has set you on an uncharted course. And what happens after that, Sunera? It will be as unknown to you as it is to all humans.... Your future in heaven remains a mystery. That is what it means for you to fall. That you live out your years as a human . . . although one with certain special angelic abilities. But you will not be given answers about the afterlife or future missions."
Jamie looked into Sunny's eyes, needing to know that she was comfortable with the arrangement, but all he saw reflected in her gaze was joy and genuine love. No doubt glimmered in her warm brown eyes, not even the slightest hesitation.
When he turned back to thank Kiel, the angel had already vanished, leaving a radiant glow in the center of the living room.
"This means," he said, spinning Sunny back into his arms, "that tonight's our honeymoon night, sweetheart."
"This can't be the way you imagined things happening between us," she whispered apologetically.
"Everyone always said I'd have a shotgun wedding one day. I just never imagined an Angel would wind up with an angel." He laughed, untying the scarf from her hair. "I like it loose, so I can run my hands all through your curls." He twined a particularly tight ringlet around his pinkie, loving how soft it felt.
Sunny stared up at him through half-lowered lashes. "Jamie Angel, you have a fixation with my hair."
"Because it's sexy as ever-living . . ." He coughed, seeming to catch himself. "Uh, heaven."
"But be serious for a minute," she argued as he angled for a full-mouthed kiss. "I know this is totally sudden."
He slid both hands low about her, cupping her perfectly rounded ass in both palms. He gave a rolling squeeze, tightening his hold until she gasped in pleasure.
"Sudden?" he murmured against her lips. "This past week's been one long, slow-motion hell for me. Wanting you, needing you . . . tasting the bitterness of denial. And before that? Years of loneliness and emptiness right up until the moment I found you. No, this isn't sudden, Sunshine. This is my destiny. You are my destiny."
With a graceful motion, he bent down and scooped her up into his arms. "And this is you, my darling, about to be carried over the threshold to the start of our happily-ever-after. Where I'm going to make you fully and truly my wife . . . in every way."
Chapter Eleven
Jamie carried her over the threshold of her bedroom with a flourish, pausing to glance around.
"More flowers." He stood cradling her against his chest, taking in the African violets and orchids and amaryllis blooms, an awed expression on his handsome face.
"I'll plant some for you, if you'd like," Sunny suggested, flushing as she realized that she'd soon be living with him as his wife. And wasn't that just the sort of thing wives did? Plant flowers, cook food, provide a loving home? "Maybe . . . in the kitchen. I mean, if Shay won't mind."
"Shay? She'll never stop gloating about anything you want to do for me. And thanking you for shattering my confirmed bachelorhood." He nuzzled her cheek playfully. "Besides, I have a feeling you and Shay will be making over my family home . . . I mean, your new home," he corrected with a huge grin. "Good thing I have a big-ass bedroom so we can share it comfortably."
"For a man who's been notoriously unable to settle down, you're handling our 'shotgun marriage' with shocking ease." She glanced up into his eyes, some small part of her still worried that Kiel's mandate might overwhelm him, scare him away.
He stared down at her, serious in his expression. "Sunny, forget my trail of women, okay? Lord knows I want to. And Lord knows they wanna forget me!" He laughed, but there was a trace of regret in his gaze. "Thing is, I just hadn't found you yet, but once I did, I was ready for . . . well, everything we're gonna share. And I do mean everything." He glanced pointedly at the bed, then asked uncertainly, "The question is, though, are you ready? For this?"
She leaned forward, capturing his mouth with an answering, exuberant kiss. She was more than ready. She needed all of James Dixon Angel right now, and she wanted to make that fact abundantly clear. His tongue darted within her mouth, creating a tantalizing motion, teasing at her own tongue.
Still kissing her, he moved toward the bed, then playfully swung her down onto the mattress with a light bounce. He might as well have been tossing a feather, he handled her weight so effortlessly, which caused her to think of those hard muscles she'd felt beneath his clothes. And reminded her that she was about to see him in all his naked, masculine glory. She, who had never seen a nude human male—ever.
"Jamie? You know I don't . . . know . . ." She panted against his cheek as he lowered himself between her legs, nudging them apart with one hard, strong thigh.
"I'm gonna show you everything, Sunbeam," he promised, sliding warm, calloused hands up underneath her turtleneck. Instantly her nipples puckered, reacting as his palms moved up along her slender rib cage. Such warmth, such self-assurance, the way he touched her, coasting those strong hands upward until he cupped one breast in his hand, leaning all his weight on the other elbow. Her nipples tightened even more, beading beneath the silk and lace of her bra. She arched into his touch, wanting to feel his fingers rub back and forth over her sensitive flesh, and as she did, he settled more firmly between her thighs. A hard ridge pressed into the vee of her open legs and she lifted against it, needing him closer—desperately wanting all of him much closer.
In reaction, he began a kind of rocking motion, back and forth between her legs, mimicking what they both craved. The clothes simply had to go, or she'd never have all of him. Fumbling with the buttons of his shirt, she tried to unfasten it, but her hands were trembling too badly. Easing her hands out of the way, he locked his eyes on her with a blazing, heated gaze and made quick work of his own shirt, until it fell open about his hips. She gasped. Literally. He had a chiseled physique that was even more stunning than her ripe imagination had dreamed. She sank back into the down pillows and gazed up at him in awed wonder. He had tight pectorals with dark pink nipples that were as puckered as her own. And that chest was nearly hairless, smooth and sculpted, giving way to cordoned abdominals that made her pulse race. Much lower, she glimpsed a line of curling hair that vanished into the waistband of his jeans, a trail of pleasure that practically begged her to follow.