Destiny's Revenge (Destiny Series - Book 2) by Straight, Nancy (management books to read .TXT) 📕

more violently than was necessary, but she hadn’t batted an eye when I had torn her shirt off. My mouth found her lips and kissed them more fiercely than a wild animal devouring its prey.

Lauren was so stimulated she shoved me on my back and took over. Our intertwined bodies moved together perfectly, we climaxed in the same moment, and I felt myself turn from steel to jelly in her arms.

There were so many things I wanted to say to her, so many feelings she had evoked, I couldn’t bear to break this perfect moment. We lay there wrapped in each other’s arms, both probably afraid the other would let go. She was the one person that I belonged to, that above all others, owned me. Here I had tried to be so tough, tried to shelter her from the monster within me, and I had failed miserably. In this moment I didn’t care. The guilt of my selfishness flooded in, and I knew if I told her to keep a distance she would only hear my rejection and not my love for her. I teetered on the edge for several minutes when she finally spoke.

“Max, I don’t care what you’re going through, I couldn’t care less about what you think you are protecting me from, I need you. After today I know you need me, too. I’ll try to give you space, but you have to understand that every minute away from you kills me.”

I started to respond, but my head couldn’t form the words. I finally gave up trying to explain my action, my hurtful words, and simply uttered, “I love you.”

I glanced at the clock on the dresser and it was now 5:30, I had exactly thirty minutes to get showered, dressed and out the door. I hadn’t heard Samael’s voice the whole time, and I wondered why he was being on such good behavior. As I turned on the shower my luck ran out. Samael said, “That was Divine. Is your sex always so lively? My God, if I could have sex like that, I would never leave the bedroom!”

“Listen, Jackass, it’s because of you that I haven’t seen Lauren much the last three years. How about you give it a rest?”

“I know, I know, blame the guy that is trying to save the world. You should thank me. I can’t imagine that it would have been so spirited if you hadn’t decided to keep yourself away from her.”

“Samael, I’m not talking about Lauren with you, drop it.”

“You are mad. That was the most vigor my senses have felt in millennia. I think you should call in sick to work.”

“Damn it, Samael, enough!”

Lauren’s voice echoed through the closed door, “Did you say something, Max?”

Samael’s voice responded in my head, “Only that you are more perfect than Aphrodite.”

I knew I needed to answer her, “No, just singing.”

“I know you’re in a hurry, but when will I see you again?”

I turned off the water and could feel Samael’s excitement. I took a deep breath and opened the door standing there in my towel. “Lauren, what I said this morning about my head being all jacked up, I meant it. Don’t get me wrong, this was a pretty spectacular surprise, but I really need to sort some things out before we pick back up where we left off.”

The look on Lauren’s face was hurt, but bad news never gets better with age. I needed to find a way to exorcise Samael from me before I started seeing Lauren again regularly. He wasn’t right about very much, but he was right about her having experienced more pain in the last three years than any person should experience in an entire lifetime. I didn’t want there to be a possibility of Samael doing anything to her again.

Samael had been very good the last couple days, but something about my encounter with Lauren had invigorated him. His thoughts were loud in my mind: Don’t send her away on my account. You’re being overly protective for no reason. I cannot even take control of your pinky finger, what do you think I’m going to do to her?

Lauren nodded. I knew she didn’t understand and there was no way to tell her why we needed to keep our distance. She gave me a soft embrace and made her way silently for the door. I stood paralyzed in my bedroom, willing my body not to go after her. I heard her van driving away and finally allowed myself to breath. I finished getting ready for work and left the house with no time to spare.

Chapter 33

I got to work to find Randy standing in the parking lot. I still had fifteen minutes before my shift, so I assumed he wasn’t waiting on me. I gave him a courtesy nod and a quick wave with little attention.

In an over-friendly tone he called, “Hey, Max, glad to see you. You’re a little early. Can we catch up real quick?”

I shrugged my shoulders, not opposed to speaking with him, but my encounter with Lauren was fresh on my mind, and Samael had given up interjecting, so it felt almost as though I had her to myself.

“So, we didn’t expect to see you back. I was so surprised yesterday when you walked through the door looking for your old job, I forgot my manners. How’ve you been?”

“Good, getting back into the swing of things. It’ll take me a few days to get back into my nocturnal routine.”

Randy chuckled, a little louder than was necessary. He seemed a little nervous. “Good, glad to hear you’re … adjusting. Say what do you think of your partner?”

“Dale’s okay. We didn’t talk much, but he seems to know what he’s doing.”

“Good, not many around from the old crew. Wanted to make sure someone as talented as you didn’t get stuck with someone you didn’t want to work with.” Randy was horrible at