My Soul to Take (Soul Keepers (Young Adult paranormal romance)) (19 page)

He maneuvers himself over me in the next instant with a desperateness in his eyes that
I’ve never seen before. Just when I think he is about to eat me alive, he lands a feather light kiss on my lips and melts his body over mine. We are wrapped up in each other so tightly I can scarcely make out whose limbs belong to whom. He pushes his jeans over my hip and lets out a soft moan as he takes my earlobe in his mouth. The heat from his breath in my ear has me pushing myself even closer against him.

My body wants to be even closer but my conscious is ticking out like Elena’s blasted metronome, wait, wait, wait, wait. Oh, shut up already! Elijah rocks over me, his hands moving up the outside of my thigh and then under my gauzy dress to my waist. His fingers light a trail of kerosene in their path. They linger over my hip bone and grip my flesh just above my thigh as he continues to softly push against my other hip with his jeans. His hand continues up and under my bra, releasing the hooks like he’s a pro. I make no effort to stop him.

He is wine, and I’m filling my cup, and drinking him all down. My head is swimming, drunk off of his love and my body aches for relief. His hands softly take their cue and fill that need. The small sounds that escapes me sends Elijah over the edge as well.

We sway gently back and forth on the swing letting the steady crash of the waves kissing the shore rock us to sleep.

***

“
Twenty five thousand square feet of house and we fall asleep outside. I guess that goes to prove, home is wherever you are,” he says as he wakes me before the overly bright sun has a chance to rise and sear my retinas permanently.

“
How about I cook you something for a change. After last night, I’m in the mood to bake something.” I get the drop dead gorgeous smile flashed at me for my comment.

“
Are you sure you don’t want me to bake with you?” he teases.

“
If both of us were baking in the kitchen I’m pretty sure we would never get around to actually eating anything.”

“
Alright, have it your way. But one day we will bake together and our concoction will surpass any mouthwatering culinary feat.” His promise leaves me parched and hungry for him. He disappears inside, possibly lost in his own house. 

I find all of the ingredients in his kitchen for blueberry muffins and make a batch. Elijah enters the room just as I pull them out.

“Smells good in here,” he says before kissing my neck, causing me to forget what I was doing all together. He is freshly showered and dressed in only indecently low hung cargo shorts. A v shape is expertly hewn into his six pack, causing my eyes to become weirdly glued to the perfect site.

“
Ouch!” I forgot I was holding a pan of muffins, the heat finally coming through the towel and burning my finger. I toss the pan on the counter and shake my hand out in pain.

“
Let me see.” He puts my finger in his mouth and heals it, then savors it like it was a candy cane. I giggle and retrieve my finger.

“
Go put a shirt on before I’mputate a limb or something.” He smiles and returns a moment later, fully dressed.

We eat our quick breakfast and then he shows me to the master bathroom suite so I can get ready for the day. Of course the bathroom is elegant and the most beautiful one
I’ve ever been in. The guy has very good taste. A crystal chandelier glows above an island of a bathtub. There is a low fire flickering from a full sized fireplace, beautifully carved from sort of stone. But the coolest thing is the view. A very large sheet of glass curves around half of the room giving way to a full ocean view.

He told me to dress lightly so I wonder what he has planned. He laid out a more youthful pair of the sun filtering glasses for me, at least now I don’t have to feel like a grandpa, while he gets to fly around looking like Adonis. I put
on a pair of shorts and a tank top over my swimsuit. I’m still on the thin side from being held with little food for two weeks. I’m surprised all of Elijah’s rich food hasn’t packed on ten pounds by now.

“
Ready?” I give him a nod. “You are going to love this.” He tucks a stray lock of hair behind my ear. My eyes are on his lips willing them to come closer. He reads my look and moves in for a soft kiss. He leads me outside and takes off with me in his arms before I even know what happened.

It’s not long before we are soaring above the clouds. I can just make out the tip of a mountain in the distance.

“That’s where we’re going.” A few minutes later, he lands us on the smooth rock bed and loses his wings. “Come, We’ll hike the rest of the way.”

“
This is beautiful Elijah.”

“
Wait until you see where we’re going.” The terrain is a mixture of rocks and vibrant green lush plant life.

“
How big is your planet?”

“
It’s tiny compared to Earth. And compared to heaven.”

“
Oh. So how does it all work?”

“
What?”

“
Tell me everything about the Soul Keepers, about how you live here, who runs things. I want to know everything.”

“
Not much to tell that you don’t already know. We are given assignments. Most are short term. When we don’t have anything to do we can live here or like Elena, take a vacation on earth. Nehemiah gets his orders from the High angel who gets his orders from our maker.”
“So Nehemiah, he doesn’t really know everything, I mean his screen of the future isn’t all knowing, all seeing.” Elijah laughs.

“
The oracle only gives him limited views. But Nehemiah has a special skill set that makes him the best interpreter of the visions we have.” So basically my future and Sam’s is based on the best guess of an interpretation of one white haired angel. I don’t give Elijah any clue that I’m perturbed by this.

The day is warm and the climb uphill is steep. I can already feel the burn in my legs and that’s a good thing.
I’ven’t been running in almost a week. Elijah hands me a bottle of water when we reach the top.  I look around and try to catch my breath. The air is thin at this altitude. We are above everything including the clouds. Elijah starts to undress and my eyes widen for the show.

He pulls his totally dry shirt off, making me wonder if angels even break a sweat. Socks and shoes come off next. He down to swim trunks and stratospheric blue eyes. He smiles up at me and motions for me to get with the program. I follow suite but we are at the tip of a mountain so I don’t know what he has is mind.
I’m bewildered.

When
I’m finally down to just my tiny black bikini, he takes my hand and we walk around an enormous boulder. On the other side is a small but deep pool of water, steam rises from the surface. Are we on a volcano? I eye the inky black water as if Elijah was asking me to step into a pool of molten lava.

“
Don’t be afraid, it’s safe. Go on in.” I shake my head. This world is too new, and I’m afraid creatures I’ve never seen or heard of before, may be lurking beneath the surface. A wicked grin plays at the corner of Elijah’s lips. Oh no! I take off running bare feet and all. He follows behind me, quickly catching up. He scoops me ups and tosses me over his shoulder. For just an instant I’m reminded of being taken. I shake the disturbing image from my head and squeal out.

In one quick spin he throws me into the water, screaming. I sink down into the water and never touch bottom. My feet kick me back to the surface. The water is bathtub warm and filled with millions of tiny bubbles.
I’m swimming in warm champagne.

“
Elijah!”

“
I couldn’t help it.” He is doubled over, trying not to laugh. He stands on the edge and offers me his hand to get out. I take his hand and pull him in with all of my strength. He splashes in next to me and slinks up to the surface gliding along my skin as if my body were a life rope.

His hands and the effervescent bubbles caress my skin in a way that has me almost convulsing with pleasure.

“There aren’t any giant, mountain dwelling, teenager eating fish in here– are there?”

“
Dunno, I’ll check.” He looks totally serious as he disappears under the water. Far too many minutes go by and I begin to panic more and more. I begin to look for him.

“
Elijah? This is not funny.” The air around me is dead silent. My stomach turns over inside of me. I swallow my fears and stick my head under the surface to try and see him. The water is pitch black, as if it takes sunlight and swallows it for breakfast and spits out darkness in its waste. Something grabs my ankle and tugs me down. “Aggh!” My heart races and I kick my legs and try to re-surface.

The thing pulls me down six feet and I recognize Elijah’s body as I pound against his hard steel chest. I relax immediately and my body bends to his.  He pulls me in and kisses me, filling my lungs with air. We rise slowly to the surface with the bubbles leading the way.

“You’re an asshole,” I say with a smile on my face.

“
You are far too easy to scare.”

“
Oh, because it’s not like some creature isn’t after me at least every other day in real life.”

“
Your right, I shouldn’t scare you.” His face becomes solemn and apologetic. I feel bad for ruining his fun.

“
What
should
you do?” I say with a flirtatious tone. Willing him to swim over to me. I prop my arms up on the opposite bank and allow my legs to float near the surface like this is our personal nature-made hot-tub.

Elijah’s eyes narrow, appearing predatory, and I know he is about to show me just what he
should
do. He’s a shark circling in the water. Bold blue eyes carry over every inch of my body, plotting his assault with eagerness.

His body glides in the water as he moves closer to me. He positions himself between my thighs and his hands on my back pull us closer together. His lips devour mine with a deep kiss. He tugs on my lower lip with his teeth. He flashes me a flirtatious smile with full blown dimples that has my body willing and ready for anything he’s selling. 

The material of his shorts is thin, leaving it no secret to what they’re trying to contain between our two swim suits. I was right, there are creatures in this water waiting to devour teenage girls, very large creatures indeed.

The only thing stopping us is our shared belief that sex is a sacred gift reserved for marriage. I think it will be worth the wait.  And we both know that I may not have to marry Sam now.  But I wonder, is there even a way for Elijah and me to marry? He hasn’t said anything about it
, except in my dreams.

Elijah drizzles kisses over my body above the water’s surface and below as if he were using his mouth to top a sundae. I think we are heating up this water to a boil with our passion.

I let out a long sigh when Elijah and I finally take a breath, wishing today could stretch on without an end, without us having to return back home. The muscles in his arms flex as he lifts himself out of the water and onto the smooth rock ledge of our pool causing me to stare yet again. He helps me out and we bask in the sun like two lazy cats until we are dry, eventually falling asleep.

“
Do you like it here?” he asks as we both rouse from our afternoon nap.

“
I wish we would never have to leave.” I would stay wrapped in his arms even if we were smoldering in the pits of hell as long as I could be with him like this.

“
I will find a way to make it happen Brennen.” And I know he will, because Elijah doesn’t make idol promises. I cover his lips with mine and move on top of him.

“
What do you want to happen, if we had our own destinies, if no one had any say in our lives?” I say as I sit atop his waist, our hands intertwined casually.

“
I would ask you to be my wife. I would spend every moment of our life together making you happy. You would never be bored, never be lonely, and never be scared again. You would only be very well loved, safe and sound in my arms because that is my very favorite spot for you to be.”

“
I will find a way to make that happen, Elijah. I promise.”

***

After showering that evening I join Elijah at a small dining table off the kitchen. A small service of workers have appeared out of nowhere and serve us dinner like one of those butler’s I’ve only seen in the movies.

“
Are you for real with the staff?”

“
Why are you whispering?” he asks, looking bemused, and sexy as hell in a gray T-shirt and jeans.

“
Are they angels too?” I really am curious as to why a powerful creature such as an angel would bow down to another angel.

“
No, there not angels. When people commit suicide they’re sent to judgment. Some of them get to come here and be servants or other kinds of workers.” 

“
As a punishment?”

“
More like a do-over.”

He grazes the back of my hand with his thumb and the small touch has me buzzing inside, eliciting pleasure in waves. How does he do that?