I heard his voice in the other room. I wasn’t sure whether he was talking to Dev or my parents. No, the Jemisons. My parents were the faceless couple that had given me the ability to see souls. My entire life was falling apart right before my eyes, and I was helpless to do anything about it. This was worse than when I’d found out I could see the dead. Then I had my family to fall back on. Now, I had nothing.
I relived everything my parents had ever told me, getting more and more angry. How could they lie to me like that? They taught me values, and at the top of that list was staying true to myself. Mom taught me how a woman carried herself, and Dad taught me how a man should love. He was the standard I used to measure every man that ever waltzed through my life, and most had failed, until Echo. How could all of that be based on a lie?
The bedside radio alarm turned on, and an old tune started to play. I winced. Dev could not hold a tune.
I lowered the covers. “Not now, Dev.”
“I was just trying to cheer you up.”
“You can’t. This is one of those things I have to deal with on my own. Could you just go to the hospital without me and see how Mr. Reeds is doing? If his family is there…”
“I’ll anchor his soul and make him talk to them. I promise not to push him out and replace his soul.”
Why was I concerning myself with others? I needed to focus on me for a change. Then Dev’s words registered.
“Can you really do that? Replace his soul?”
“More like dominate his, but without a life force, I can’t stay anchored to his body for long. When a soul leaves a body, it does because the person’s life force is too low to tether it. When I was possessing living things, I’d share their life force, which quickened their death if they were sick. The longer I stayed, the faster they died after I left. If they were not sick, they’d act crazy.”
“Are you still sharing their life force?”
“No. Now I give them some of my energy, such as it is.”
“No wonder you are always weak and sleepy afterward.”
“Exactly. If I stay too long, I might be tempted to take theirs, and that’s why I like having you there. You yell at me to get out.”
“I can’t deal with anyone tonight, Dev. I’m sorry.”
“But Mr. Reeds could die tonight.”
“I know. Well, you win some…” I pulled the covers over my head and focused on my pain.
“That doesn’t sound like you, doll-face,” Dev reprimanded.
I didn’t care what he thought. I was done giving and being Ms. Nice. Then Mr. Reeds’s face flashed through my head, and I sighed. I’d liked talking to him and Captain G at the nursing home. I pulled down the covers.
“Help him, please.”
“Without you?” Dev asked. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. I trust you and know you will not fail me because I can’t deal with any more bad news, Dev. Go and make me proud.”
There was silence, then, “Thank you, doll-face.”
I frowned. “For what?”
“Trusting me.”
“I don’t see it as lack of trust, Dev. I see it as working together as a team. You do it before they die, and I do it afterward. If I’m not there, you work without me. If you’re not there, I do my part. We are a team.”
“So you don’t mind if I help others? The cancer ward at Kayville Memorial has a few coma patients that could use my help.”
“Then do it. Help as many as you can. Just be careful and report to me when you’re done.”
Once he left, I continued to wallow in misery until Echo returned with food from his favorite restaurant in Miami. He tried to entertain me with stories about the newbie reapers he was training. I only half listened. When he got up and disappeared inside the bathroom, I didn’t ask him what he was doing. The sound of running water followed. When I could have crawled back under the covers and continued wallowing, he scooped me up and carried me to the bathroom. The scene brought a rush of tears.
Scented candles covered most surfaces. Lavender, rose geranium, and jasmine. He knew exactly what I needed to relax. He’d also added jasmine bath salt to the water.
“Forget about everything except us and the fact that I love you.” He lowered me to the floor and peered at me, his eyes troubled.
“I’ll be fine,” I mumbled.
“I know, but I got your back. Every step of the way.” He started unbuttoning my top and pushed it off my shoulders. Then he gripped the waistband of my skirt and pulled it down. There was nothing sexual about the way he undressed me. His touch was gentle, his focus on what I needed. Even when his eyes heated as he removed my bra, he didn’t reach for me or try to kiss me.
“I’m going to put your hair up so we can wash it later.”
More tears fell. He knew me so well. I had specific shampoo and conditioner for my hair and never just dunked it in my bath water.
Completely naked, I stepped into the churning water and slid in. The warmth surrounded me, the water massaging my skin. Echo sat on the floor and rested his arm along the ridge of the tub. He scooped water with his hand and poured it on my shoulder.
“Do you want your lingerie or just shorts and a tank top?”
My lingerie was lacy, silky, and sexy. Looking sexy was the last thing on my mind. “Shorts and a tank top.”
He pressed a kiss on my forehead and left the room. I leaned back against the bath pillow, closed my eyes, and tried to let the aromatic scents soothe my senses, but I couldn’t relax. The scents weren’t enough.
Echo returned and checked on me. “How are you feeling?”
“Like crap.”
He frowned. “I bought a new massage oil—”
“Join me.” I extended my hand to him. “I need you, not a massage. Help me drown out their voices from my head. I keep hearing them.”
You were adopted. Your birth parents want to meet you. You were…
He’d never undressed so fast. Echo was such a beautiful man, body and soul, and he was mine. I scooted forward and created space behind me, but the second he sat down, I turned and faced him, wedging my knees between his and the tub so I straddled his thighs.
“Cora-mia,” he whispered.
“I need you now.” I stared into his eyes and scooted closer. “I need to forget.”
“I’m yours, always,” he whispered, voice husky. “Tell me what you want.”
“I want to get lost in you.” I scooted closer and reached up to cup his face.
The kiss I gave him wasn’t tentative. I wasn’t the innocent girl he’d met a year ago. I was a woman now, his woman, and I knew how to love him just as he knew what I loved.
I nipped on his lower lip, and a groan rumbled through his chest. Pushing my tongue between the seam of his lips, I swept it across his, inviting him to play. He did, but he didn’t take over. This was what I needed now. To be in control of something. Everything else was falling apart.
I savored the taste and texture of him as I moved along his jawline to his neck. His muscles leaped as my nails dug into his chest, and another groan escaped him. It wasn’t enough. I wanted him to beg me to stop torturing him.
I pushed him back, so he was partially reclined on the tub, his head resting on the bath pillow. I kissed down his chest, nipping him here and there and feeling him tremble. He completely submitted to my exploration. A few times, he smothered a curse, but he didn’t stop me. He often turned the tables on me when I pushed him too far. Not this time.
His hands caressed my back, one moving up to sink into my hair to grip the strands. He was close to losing it, his body taut with tension. I moved up and shuffled closer. He stared at me with half-closed eyelids, the amber in his eyes burning with love and need.
I reached down, and without breaking eye contact, I guided him, and a sigh of bliss escaped me when we were one. He gripped the edges of the tub, his jaw taught with tension. I wasn’t being fair, but I needed this. When I lowered my head and kissed him, his hips rose.
“Don’t move, please,” I begged him. I wrapped my arms around him and went back to kissing him, pouring all my love into it. His hands left the edges to stroke my back, my side, and my face.