Page 42 of Far From Center
Chapter 17
“Nyalla, hurry up! We’re going to be late.”
“And whose fault is that?” Her voice rang out over the sound of hair dryer. “Once more, Nyalla. We have time for one more if we hurry.”
He had said that, not realizing how long it would take her to shower, dry her Rapunzel-length hair, and get ready to meet the Gormand. The greed demon’s flunky, the skinny demon, had called Nyalla’s phone, waking them up from yet another post-coital doze. An hour should have been plenty of time to both make love and attend to personal hygiene, but evidently he’d miscalculated. And he’d stretched the last session of physical intercourse a bit longer then he probably should have. He couldn’t help it. There was a feeling that flooded him every time she came apart in his arms. He’d never felt so full of emotion, of attachment toward another being. Just thinking of her made him stir, made him want to yank that hair dryer from her hand and haul her back to bed to bury himself into her once more.
“Can’t you go with your hair wet? I don’t think a greed demon is going to be any less impressed with you because of damp hair.”
Her head popped around the door jamb just long enough that he could see her glare. “Five minutes, Gabe. Just five more minutes.”
He sighed and turned to the table, once more arranging the books she’d knocked across the surface and onto the floor when they had been overcome by passion in the middle of their breakfast. The pirate one went on the bottom of the stack, then the emotionally damaged hockey player one next. Then he picked up the angel book scowling as he saw the cover with the half-naked dark-haired angel that was supposed to represent Raphael.
His brother. The light-hearted, fun archangel who didn’t care about his vibration pattern. The angel all the humans seemed to be attracted to.
Once again he thought of Nyalla’s words in the bedroom. Was it Raphael? Or had it been some human who’d been that ‘douche’. The sound of the hair dryer abruptly stopped, and he heard Nyalla clatter around, no doubt putting on make-up or something.
“Who was the ‘douche’ who blamed you for seducing him after sex? Was it an angel?”
The clattering noise stopped, awkward silence filling the air. “Yes, it was an angel. He was…well, it doesn’t matter,” she said from the bathroom.
It did matter. “You had sex with an angel? An angel besides me? You’ve had physical intercourse with an angel?” He could barely get the words out, fury boiling through him at the thought. “Was it Raphael?”
Oh, please don’t let it be Raphael.
She poked her head around the door jamb once more. “Raphael?” Her eyebrows rose. “Like he’d ever look twice at me. I think he’s holding out for a demon of his own.”
That wasn’t an answer. It wasn’t a reassuring statement either. “So youdidwant him? If he’d been willing, you would have had sex with him?”
By the creator, he sounded like a whiny, needy, pre-pubescent schoolboy, not a powerful archangel, but all he could envision was his brother’s hands on Nyalla’s skin, him doing all the things he’d just spent all morning doing — and enjoying.
She walked out of the bathroom and gave him an odd look. “In truth? Probably. I guess everyone is right. I’m a bit loose when it comes to sex. Humans, angels — I can’t seem to keep from hopping into bed with gorgeous men, whether they be mortal or immortal.” Her voice was light and teasing, but he heard the sadness underneath. She was human. Sexual enjoyment shouldn’t be cause for derogatory name-calling. It seemed things hadn’t changed quite as much in two thousand years as he’d hoped.
“You were searching for the right one, Nyalla.”
She sighed. “Sometimes I was searching for quick pleasure, a way to forget for just a moment about…things. Angels…well, you guys are irresistible. Gorgeous, powerful, as emotionally damaged as the hockey player in that book. But I promise you that I’ve never had sex with any of your siblings.”
Relief flooded through him. “Of, course you find angels irresistible. How could you possibly not be attracted to all this?” Gabe spread his arms and slowly spun about, giving her a sideways smile when he’d completed his rotation. “There’s no fighting our undeniable appeal — archangels in particular.”
She blinked at him for a second, then laughed. “You’re making a joke. The somber, humorless archangel Gabriel has made a joke.”
Was that how she thought of him? He guessed it was true, although in her company he was different — light and free.
“I’m glad that you haven’t had sex with any of my siblings, but I’d really like you to tell me what angel you’ve been intimate with,” he told her. “It would be very awkward if I were to have him in my choir or see him and not know.”
Plus, if he knew who it was, he could beat the angel into a pulp next time he saw him.
“I had a brief disastrous relationship with Nils,” she confessed. “He’s Sam’s Fallen angel,” she added at his perplexed expression.
Eirnilius. He’d just met with the Fallen a few days ago and he’d said nothing about sexual intercourse with humans. Although he wouldn’t have been likely to confess such a thing when he was hoping for reinstatement. In light of all that had happened recently, having sex with a human seemed like a minor offense.
Except this hadn’t been any human, it had been Nyalla. And the Fallen had been a douche, too.
“Did you love him?” Gabe nearly choked trying to get the words out.
Nyalla made a ‘pfft’ noise. “Hardly. It was sex, and he could never come to terms with it. He was always blaming his cock, blaming me. Do you have any idea what it’s like to engage in a consensual act, only to have your very willing and eager partner accuse you of practically raping him? I made excuses at first, thinking it was because he’d just fallen from Aaru, but after a month I’d had enough. He sleeps in the stable with the horses now.”
She seemed quite gleeful at Nils’ demoted sleeping quarters. Gabriel couldn’t keep from grinning, not at her outrage, but because this Fallen was clearly not a threat. A douche, was what Nyalla had called him. Actually the Iblis would call him an asshole, but he never understood what a portal for defecation had to do with poor behavior. Although, now that he’d had to use those portions of his anatomy he did understand the term.
