Voluptuous Vindication (11 page)

Ian exhaled, loud enough for her to hear despite the running water. “If you change your mind just call for me. I'll be around.”

Sara slumped against the wall with a sigh of her own. She was relieved but disappointed, her emotions completely out of whack. He'd given up easier than she'd wanted. The disappointment was ridiculous, but it still clouded her thoughts. It was just another reminder of how little he really wanted this task... And how little he thought of her.

Her legs were weak, her body trembling. Whether it was due to illness or Ian, she couldn't say. Finishing up, she wrapped a towel around her body. It was extra long, with enough material to reach around her ample body. Sitting down on the cushioned chair at the vanity, she rested her elbows on the counter and prayed for enough strength to make it back to the couch. Dressing herself would be hard enough.

After what seemed to be a long time, Sara made her way to the door. Her bag lay on the counter, but it could wait. She was simply too exhausted to carry it. The door opened slowly to reveal Ian on the other side.

He rested against the wall, his appearance perfect. Playing nursemaid hadn't hurt his looks. Sara felt like a limp rag doll in comparison. He straightened up when he saw her, his perfect lips curving into a smile. “Ready to rest?”

“More than you know,” she replied casually, walking past him to make her way back to the couch. Her hand rested on the wall, her legs shaky. She hoped Ian wouldn't notice.

He did. One moment her feet were on the ground, the next they were airborne. “Put me down,” Sara ordered, turning her face to look up at him. “I'm perfectly capable of walking.”

Ian ignored her, moving quickly down the hallway. “Sure you are, with the assistance of the wall. In case you haven't noticed, though, the wall ends.”

Sara glared at him. Underneath her indignation, she was embarrassed. Ian was the only man to have carried her, with the exception of Arch, and they were likely the only two that ever could. Sara knew that an angel easily had the strength, but did an Endurer? It was humiliating to think he was straining himself to fulfill his duties and begrudging each step of the heavy load he was carrying.

Ian moved in the direction of the stairs. Sara had enough. “Put me down now, Ian. And why are you going upstairs? In case you've forgotten, I've been sleeping on the couch.”

He grinned, his features amused.  “Anyone ever tell you that your bossy ways are actually amusing?  You remind me of a little chihuahua, barking incessantly at a bigger dog. They think if they bark loud enough, and long enough, the bigger dog will get intimidated. Unlucky for them, and you, it never happens. Your all bark and no bite. And just in case you haven't figured it out, I'm the big dog here.”

Ian cleared the top step, breathing easy. He chuckled at her disgruntled expression. “I'm bringing you upstairs because it's time you slept in a real bed. You've been pretty sick, and your body needs rest. It's not going to get that on a cramped couch. I've got a bed all made up for you, and the television is already set on your female station. All you have to do is lay back and relax.”

His bribe was working. She really did enjoy that channel, and he'd already done the work. “Your couch is huge,” Sara shot back, her tone grumpy. She was losing this battle, but he'd sweetened her surrender rather nicely. “Since we're up here, though, I suppose it wouldn't hurt. I am tired.”

“Very good,” he replied, his green eyes gleaming with victory. It was a look Ian wore comfortably. He turned into a room, carrying her straight to the bed. “Even if you don't need a good night's sleep, I do. The recliner is getting old.”

Setting her down gently, he stepped back. Sara gasped at the sheer luxury of the bed, and the room itself. Taking it all in with narrowed eyes, her eyes swung back to his. “This is your room,” she accused, making to stand back up.

He crossed his arms, standing in her path. “Don't even think about getting out of that bed,” Ian warned, his eyebrow arching as he stared down at her. “I'm not going to spend the entire night carrying you back.”

“Why do you want me in here?” She held her breath, waiting for his response.

“Why do you think?” Ian responded abruptly. “I'm protecting you, and to do that I actually have to be around you. Besides that, even an Endurer needs sleep. As big as my bed is, surely there's enough room for both of us.”  He turned away, grabbing a food-laden cart with wheels.

It was easy to see that she'd offended him. Guilt shot through her. Ian was stepping outside of his own life, risking life and limb to see her through her assignment. She could be cordial and polite, she owed him that. Her attraction, and his lack of one, wasn't his problem. It was hers, and a product of her own overactive imagination.

“I'm sorry, Ian,” Sara told him, settling back down into the bed. “Naturally, you're right. I appreciate all you've done for me, and what you're still doing. I guess I don't make the best patient.”

Pushing the cart to her, he brushed off her apology. “Believe me, I've seen a lot worse. Some of the Endurers are the biggest babies when it comes to an injury. You couldn't pay me to nurse one of them. By the time I was done, they would end up with worse than what they started out with.”
Especially if they kept complaining.

Sara laughed weakly. Ian stared at her, his green eyes surprised. “You think I'm funny?”

“Actually, that was pretty funny,” she agreed, laying back on the massive pile of pillows. “I haven't been around many Endurers, but I've always heard how tough you guys are. You would expect an Endurer to be the type to bear their pain silently.”

“Most of them do,” Ian agreed, moving the cart right up to the edge of the bed. “A few of them are total babies. I mean, really. You'd think they were still in diapers, waiting for their nursemaid to come and clean their asses.”

The look of distaste on Ian's face was priceless. Sara chuckled, enjoying his dry sense of humor. Taking a plate off of the cart, she quickly filled it. “Are you going to eat?”

“I thought you'd never ask,” he replied, grabbing the other plate. “That's one thing you'll never have to offer twice. We love to eat.”

Sara stared at Ian, fascinated by this boyish side of him. He pulled a chair up next to the bed, nodding at the television. “See, I told you I had your channel on. After days of being forced to watch it, I'm even learning to tolerate it.”

She picked up a carrot stick, munching on it as she considered her response. The television was a distant second when it came to the man who was holding her true interest. Sara examined and discarded several responses before finally saying, “Thanks, I think.”

Ian chuckled, leaning over to add several things to her plate. Eyes wide, she stared at him in surprise. At her questioning look, he said, “Mortals have to eat a variety of foods for optimum health. You've been ill. The only way to regain your strength is by eating.”

Sara looked down at her plate, unused to anyone caring. As an angel, she was expected to be the strong one, the one that looked after others. There had never been anyone to look after her, though, and she'd never really noticed the difference until now. His actions touched her, making her realize how lonely her life had really been.

Nodding, she picked up a cut sandwich. It was chicken salad, a mortal food she enjoyed. Taking a bite, she groaned at the flavor. “Did you make this?” Sara asked inquisitively, holding it up. “If so, you're an outstanding cook. In fact, everything I've ate here has been wonderful.”

He shook his head, his mouth full. Taking a sip from a glass of water, Ian said, “Unfortunately, no. I have no skill when it comes to kitchen work, although I certainly appreciate what comes out of it. Rosa, my housekeeper, makes the food when I'm here. She's used to cooking on a wide scale and knows to make a variety when I'm in residence.”

“I can certainly see why you like her.” She took a bite of a cheese cube. “Are you here often?”

“No, not really. Most of my time is spent in Las Vegas. On the rare times I want to get away from it all, I'll come here. It never lasts long. After a few days, I am usually ready to head back to the lights and excitement in Las Vegas.”

“Why do you like Las Vegas so much?”

Ian shrugged. “Why not? It's fast-paced, a place where the party never ends. It's perfect for someone like me, a person that enjoys a lot of action and variety. I've spent almost six hundred years doing exactly what I want. Commitment, responsibilities, or living in a predictable way would never suit me. Never.”

His words were a brutal reminder of the vast differences that lay between the two of them. Las Vegas was also packed full of women, sophisticated, beautiful women that knew the score.  A rich, handsome man like Ian would never be lonely. He was probably eager to get back to it, counting down the days until she was gone... Or dead.

“I see,” she replied, setting her plate back down on the cart. His charming companionship was leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. Sara remembered the words he'd said to her as they were leaving Las Vegas. Ian would do his duty, but he didn't want the matronly, overweight woman he was saddled with expecting anything more.

She'd be wise to remember that. Reading anything more into this, even if the expectation was nothing more than friendship, would leave nothing but heartache for her. Ian was making the best of a bad situation, nothing more. There could never be more to this than what is was now, guardian and guarded, the two of them locked in a desperate plight to keep her alive until her duties were fulfilled.

The attraction she felt for this Endurer was strong and unexpected, worsening by the day. It was also completely out of her realm of expertise. Would it have been better or worse if he reciprocated it. Either way, nothing could ever come out of her attraction, not with her being an angel. How did mortals go through this? As strongly as her body was reacting to his, it was nothing compared with the yearnings in her heart. It knew what it wanted, even if her mind didn't quite get it.

She turned away from him, laying down in the bed with her back facing him. Pulling the folded down comforter up around her, Sara said, “I'm sorry, but I am very tired. I'm sure you won't mind if I rest?” It was abrupt, but it was all she could manage. Her throat felt tight, her thoughts heavy. This was her reality, not the fantasies her mind was leading her into.

Ian was silent for a moment. “No,” he replied grimly. “I don't mind at all. I'm going to take this back downstairs.”

Sara didn't respond. Instead, she lay there quietly, her eyes squeezed shut. When the door shut firmly behind him, she opened them as the tears ran down her face.

Chapter 7

One week had passed since the night Ian moved Sara into his room. One long, erotically-charged week, at least on his end. The angel was still just as pure and chaste as she'd always been... If she'd ever been that way to start with.

His mind replayed the night they'd left Las Vegas. Unguarded, her passion had burnt so brightly she'd nearly burnt him up alive. It wasn't something he would have expected from a virginal angel. The teaser Sara had given him had only left him craving more. Never in his wildest dreams would he have expected such heat from one so pure.

None of it made sense. Ian wasn't used to restraint when it came to sex. Fulfilling his desires usually required nothing more than an inviting smile. Women flocked to him, and he'd always had his fair share. Her disappointment when he'd arrogantly informed her there would be nothing between them had made it clear to him that she found him attractive. So there was no reason they shouldn't be indulging the lust that lay between them.

Ian regretted the statement he'd made to her as they were leaving Las Vegas. It left a foul, bitter taste in his mouth, and it hadn't won him any brownie points with the angel. Regret wasn't an emotion he often experienced, but he was experiencing it in bucketfuls now. A smart man would have pulled the SUV over that night and given her what she so eagerly had wanted. Now he was the one wanting, while she seemed to have moved past the interest she'd had in him. Or so he would have thought, if not for the coy little looks she sent his way.

He fought back a groan of despair, not wanting to wake the woman sleeping next to him. His massive hard on strained against the silk material of his boxers, tenting it up well and away from his body. Ian wrapped his hand and fingers around it. His cock was huge, a fact Ian was very proud of.

Sara was so close to him. Paradise lay in the deep v between her legs, just feet from the part of him that need to be in her so badly. He wanted to rip the pajamas from her body and taste every inch of her, starting and ending at two very different set of lips. Once he settled between her plump thighs, he wasn't going to stop, at least not for several hours.

Desire rode him hard, harder than he could ever recall experiencing it. Maybe it was because he'd denied himself for so long. He'd been celibate for months, a state he hadn't found himself in since the time he'd lost his own virginity, hundreds of years before.

Ian refused to consider it was the woman herself, even as attractive as he found her to be. Devoting all of his sexual attraction to one woman was too much like a mating, a state he abhorred as much as he feared.

One by one, his closest friends and fellow Endurers, were finding themselves mated... And loving every moment of it. Shayne, then Vincent, and even Peter, a man that he would have never believed would allow himself to be shackled.  

Not him. Ian would never be a one-woman type of man, and he had no desire to try. There were too many beauties in this world, too many woman to be had. Why should he limit himself to one when he could have hundreds?

He stared at the sleeping woman next to him. Without her glasses, Sara looked younger and more approachable, even vulnerable. There was a light-hearted, funny side to her that he'd slowly discovered, and Ian wondered why she bothered to keep it hidden.

The night the fever had broke, Ian had ambushed her and left her no option but to share his bed. Although his home was protected, he couldn't chance her sleeping alone. It hadn't went quite the way he'd expected. Instead of breaking her into pleasurable bed play, he was presented with her back every night as she fell asleep.

Every morning she woke up blushing before scampering off to the bathroom. When she stepped back out, she was always fully dressed in one of her long skirts and button-down blouses. They were drab and unbecoming, revealing not an inch of flesh from her neck down. With her glasses on and her hair in a bun, she looked like a minister's wife. Sara certainly wasn't seductive in her appearance. It didn't mean a damn to his libido.

Her drab clothing was so out of touch with the woman he was learning her to be. She wore her clothing like armor, her self-control like a shield. Sara was a mystery he didn't understand, and he wasn't sure he ever would. Not with the short time she would be here, and his inability to read her mind.

The last week had passed pleasantly enough. Ian actually enjoyed her company, finding her witty and amusing when she was pulled out of her comfort zone. With his sights set on seduction, he'd charmed her in every way he could. Still, night after night had passed while each of them slept on their own sides of the huge bed.

No more. His patience, and his restraint, were shot. Smiling grimly to himself, he planned her sweet seduction... And her surrender.

* * * * *

“
I've got to get up and stretch my legs some,” Sara said, pushing back from the table to stand up. It was dusk. They'd spent the afternoon pouring over newspapers and talking about the current state of the world. She was no closer to finding out what her task was to be, but she knew she wouldn't find it by reading newspapers.

She walked to the glass of the sun room, staring out at the setting sun. The world around her was covered in thick snow and ice, so high it was piled up against the house. Sara felt a pang of sadness. Nothing would ever be the same in this realm again.

“What are you thinking about?” Ian asked, his voice close. Sara shivered, not realizing he'd moved right up behind her. Even through her clothing, she could feel the heat of his body behind hers. Her eyes slid shut as his masculine scent washed over her. Ian always smelled good, his woodsy cologne perfectly suiting the man he was.

“Life,” she whispered back, not bothering to turn around. Sara didn't elaborate. Every thought fled at his nearness, her brain ceasing to function. His attentiveness was disturbing. How could she get over her one-sided attraction when he made it so hard to do?

Sara jerked when his hands rested on her shoulders, not used to the feel of anyone's hands upon her body. He began to work his fingers into her tight muscles. Sara held back a groan of pleasure. 

“You're too jumpy,” he scolded softly, directly into her ear. His breath was minty, sliding across her skin. “You need to relax, Sara. Let your mind take a break, and for once in your life, just feel.”

He gently spun her around until she was facing him. Her eyes met his, her breath catching. Something had changed between them in the last week, but Sara had been too inexperienced to realize it. There was no denying the mutual attraction now. It was about to detonate, could she handle the fallout?

Ian's lips pressed down on hers. His tongue darted boldly against the seam of her lips, asking for entrance. Gasping, she let him in, the sensuality of her first kiss making her reel.

He broke away long enough to growl, “Put your arms around my neck.” Taking her lips again, his arms slid around her waist, crushing her body to his.

There was no turning back, his embrace sweeping away any restraints she might have had. Need took over, her actions beyond her control. Without realizing it, her arms tightened about his neck as her tongue met his, stroke for stroke.

“Sweet, Jesus,” Ian groaned, moving his lips down her neck. “I knew it would be this good. You're so hot, Angel. This body of yours is burning me up alive.”

Lowering his head to her chest, he took turns tonguing her nipples through the thin blouse she was wearing. Her breasts felt heavy in her bra, her nipples tight and needy. Sara moaned at the contact, burying her fingers in his soft hair.

Her breath sounded harsh in the silent room. He closed his firm lips over one turgid nipple, his mouth hot as he suckled gently. Sara couldn't remain silent any longer. “Yes, Ian,” she groaned, her knees buckling at the sheer pleasure of the contact. “Don't stop.”

He urged her over to the sofa against the wall. Sara pressed her mouth to his neck, marveling at the feel of his slightly-abrasive beard growth underneath her lips. Nipping gently, she was gratified by the groan that rumbled through his body.

In one practiced move, Ian laid her out on the sofa. Her hand slid underneath his shirt, marveling at the light dusting of hair she found underneath. He growled, pulling her hand away.

“Woman, cut that out. I'm determined to take my time with you, making this last until you're more satiated than you've ever been in your life. I can't do that with the feel of your sweet hands on my skin.”

His words, combined with the fill of the cool air against her legs as he caressed her legs, brought reality crashing down on her.
How could she even be considering this?

Ian's hands slid up her thighs, pulling her skirt up as he did so. His slightly callused fingers against her sensitive flesh felt so good, she almost lost the will to end it. If she waited a moment longer, she wouldn't be able to stop.

“We can't do this,” Sara said softly, grabbing his hands and pulling them away from her legs. Flushing, she pulled her skirt down and scooted past him, eager to get away. His powerful hand reached out and grabbed her wrist, a second after she stood up.

Standing up in one smooth move, Ian didn't bother to turn her to face him. Instead, he stood at her back, not embracing her but not releasing her. “Why not?” He asked in a low, flat voice. 

She remained silent for a moment, her mind searching for the right answer. There were so many reasons why it wasn't a good idea. Finally, she settled on the one that bothered her the most. “Less than two weeks ago, you disliked me to the point of believing it necessary to warn me off. Now, all of a sudden, it's okay?”

Sara shook her head in disappointment, her voice calm despite the turbulence of her needy body and confused thoughts. “Let go of me, Ian. I just want to forget this ever happened. In two weeks I'll be gone, and you'll be free to pursue a female that you actually desire... Instead of one that just happens to be convenient.”

He released her hand with a sigh of disgust. “You don't know a damn thing about me, and what type of woman I want, so don't presume you do. I'm not some kind of animal, Sara, just waiting to climb on the first woman that will spread her legs for me.”

Shaking his head, he walked to the doorway before coming to a stop. Without bothering to turn around, he continued in a bitter voice,”You know, it's too bad you aren't experienced enough to realize that. It might have been fun, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be. I hope for your sake you never discover the difference between me and a true animal, though. I can promise you, in the wrong hands, sex is nothing like what we just experienced.”

“Wait,” she called out, crossing her arms and rubbing at them briskly. “Where are you going?”

He laughed, the sound chilling. “Don't worry, Angel. I won't be too far away to protect your precious body. I'm going out to chop some wood, if that meets with your approval.”

Ian finally turned, his expression cold. Gone was the attentive lover, replaced by the harsh Endurer. “And if it doesn't? I could care less, I'm not the type of man to be leashed and led with a hoop through my nose.”

His tone dropped, cool and sensual when he added, “I warn you now, Sara. Something was started between you and I the night we met, and it's not going to go away until it has ran its course. It will be interesting to see which one of us can hold out the longest. From the heat burning off  that lusty body of yours, I daresay it won't be you. The opportunity won't last forever, so finish this... While we still have time left to enjoy it. ” 

With a mocking salute, he turned and walked out of the room.

* * * * *

“Mr. Bauer,” a woman's voice called out as Sara woke with a start. “Mr. Bauer, are you here?”

Sitting up, Sara realized she was still in the sun room. She'd laid down on the couch, lost in her thoughts, after Ian had left. Rubbing at her eyes, she tried to clear the sleep away. She must have dozed, exhausted by the multitude of emotions she was experiencing.

“Mr. Bauer, are you in here?” The woman's voice drew closer. It had to be Rosa, the as-of-yet, unseen housekeeper.

Ian had taken pains to keep her out of the other woman's sight, and Sara understood the reasoning behind it. Rosa was mortal, and there was always the chance her presence could be detected through a mortal's knowledge. Out of sight, out of mind, or so Sara had convinced herself.