Fallen Angel Read online

  Did he want her, or was it just the booze talking?

  She barely noticed the pub emptying, was too swept up in her thoughts to say goodbye to everyone as she got a head start on cleaning up.

  “I’m out.” Andy tossed his towel down at the other end of the bar. “You be good now.”

  Annelie ignored that. “Night.”

  He moved out from behind the bar, grabbed his coat and stopped behind Lukas.

  She scowled at Andy when he clutched his hands together in front of his chest, twisted back and forth at the waist and fluttered his eyelashes as if he was swooning over Lukas.

  “Get out of here before I fire your arse.” She lifted her own towel, scrunched it up in her hand and threatened to throw it at him.

  He grinned, turned on his heel and strode towards the door. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.”

  She shook her head. There wasn’t much Andy wouldn’t do.

  The door closed and she shifted her focus to Lukas where he leaned over the bar, sound asleep. Her pulse thrummed, steadily picking up pace as she gazed at him and grew aware of the fact she was alone with him now.

  Damn, he was gorgeous even when he was drunk, drew her to him like no other man had before him.

  She shook herself out of her reverie, tied her long red hair back into a ponytail and wiped the bar down, doing her best not to disturb Lukas and trying to avoid looking at him.

  It didn’t work.

  She found herself stood by him, looking down at his face, watching him sleep. A need poured through her, swirled and gained strength, until she couldn’t resist it. She hesitated and then, with her heart in her mouth, brushed the tangled strands of his fair hair from his forehead.

  His firm lips parted and he murmured something.

  She smiled and brushed his skin again, lightly so he wouldn’t wake, but enough contact to make her feel a little giddy.

  When had she fallen for him?

  It had come on so slowly over the past three years that she hadn’t realised she had those sorts of feelings for Lukas until he had gone away, and then she had been worried that he wasn’t coming back.

  But here he was again, at her bar in the same stool he always occupied, bringing light into her life and her heart in that way only he could, making the days without him disappear.

  A smile tugged at her lips. She had never been happier to see him.

  Even if he was asleep.

  He stirred and blinked slowly, as though trying to wake himself.

  Annelie didn’t take her hand back. She was feeling brave tonight, a little courageous and bold, willing to take a risk and see what happened.

  “How are you feeling?” She combed her fingers through his hair.

  Lukas frowned, his green eyes fixed on the distance, and then groaned. She took that as a negative answer.

  “No better yet?” Her gaze followed her fingers as she stroked them down the curve of his left ear.

  He nodded, moving her hand with him, and a smile touched his lips and then faded again when he closed his eyes.

  “I’m almost done. I’ll have you home soon.” She went to walk away.

  He caught her wrist so fast that it startled her, his grip firm as he sat up, and looked at her with such earnest eyes that her heart beat harder and a rush of nerves surged through her.

  “I ever tell you that you’re pretty?” Those words, spoken in a low husky voice, rocked her to her core.

  Her pulse raced and her throat turned dry. She shook her head and he reached out with his other hand and ran the backs of his fingers down her cheek, his caress light but setting her nerve-endings aflame and sending a hot shiver over her skin. Her lips parted as she searched his eyes, trying to see if he knew what he was saying, and whether he believed she was pretty.

  There was nothing but honesty and warmth in them.

  They sparkled with it, looking brighter now even though the lights were lower, entrancing her. “Your beauty puts angels to shame.”

  Annelie tried to convince herself that it was the drink talking but failed dismally.

  She had worked in the pub since she was in her early twenties, almost ten years ago, and had run it since her parents had retired early. She had enough experience to spot levels of inebriation.

  Lukas’s eyes were sharper and his words weren’t slurred. He wasn’t drunk anymore.

  He was definitely still tipsy, but that excuse didn’t hold with her heart.

  It believed him.

  He really did think that she was beautiful.

  She blushed. It burned her cheeks before she could get the better of herself. She worked at a bar. She was used to men telling her that she was beautiful at the end of the night, but the way Lukas said it, the fact that it was him, made her believe him.

  “You really are.” His hand slipped from her cheek to her jaw and he grazed his fingers along the curve of it. He smiled and her heart thudded. He was beautiful. She had never seen a man like him, with such deep green eyes and a smile that could make her heart pound and body tremble. “Beautiful.”

  “Hush.” She took his hand away from her face and held it a moment. “Quit making me blush, Lukas.”

  His smile held. “I love the way you say my name. Say it again.”

  Annelie rolled her eyes. “Lukas.”

  “Not like that.” He drew his hand towards him, luring her with it, until she was close to him. She stared down into his eyes, her mind racing forwards to contemplate things it shouldn’t be. He wasn’t going to kiss her. Even if he was looking more sober now, she couldn’t let things go down that avenue. His eyes fell to her lips and then lifted to meet hers again. “Say it like you mean it. Like you said it just then.”

  Annelie looked deep into his eyes, lost in them and the way the flecks of pale gold seemed to shift and move against their emerald backdrop, and blinked slowly.

  Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Lukas.”

  “Mmm, that’s more like it.” He pulled her closer and tilted his head.

  Her gaze dropped to his mouth, heart hammering against her ribs and blood thundering as a need to kiss him bolted through her, lighting her up inside, making her sway towards him.

  Just one kiss.

  CHAPTER 2

  Annelie broke free of Lukas instead of kissing him as she wanted, somehow managing to get control of herself.

  Disappointment flashed across his face and she struggled to ignore it as she fiddled with her black t-shirt. He wasn’t the only disappointed one. She had wanted to kiss him for so long now, had fantasised about the moment a thousand times over, but she couldn’t.

  No matter how tempting it was.

  If she did, she would always wonder whether he had kissed her because he was half-drunk or whether he had kissed her because he felt something for her.

  She wanted it to be because he felt something, the same way she felt about him, and that meant staying strong and resisting him.

  She had foolishly kissed men before at the end of the night, falling foul of their flattery, the loneliness she felt at times driving her into their arms. She didn’t want things to be like that with Lukas.

  She wanted more than that.

  “Let me finish cleaning and I’ll take you home.” She hurried away to the other end of the bar, not daring to look back at Lukas, not while she wanted to kiss him and was weak enough to go through with it.

  By the time she had finished, Lukas was looking sober but tired.

  And he was watching her.

  Annelie could feel his eyes on her, following her around the room as she placed the chairs upside down on the tables. Heat seemed to follow wherever he looked, rippled over her skin and roused that need to kiss him, made her ache with a desire to go through with it. She wanted to throw caution to the wind, to take the risk and hope it would all work out.

  She drifted over to Lukas, unable to resist the pull of him.

  He turned on the stool to face her, his eyes holding the fire that burned within her, enticing her to kiss him after all.

  She was feeling brave, wasn’t she? Brave enough to reach out, grab him by his collar and kiss him?

  She trembled at the thought, at the vision of him claiming her waist and pulling her against him as he seized command of the kiss.

  He canted his head, his green eyes narrowing on her as the heat in them flared hotter.

  It flared on her cheeks too, scalding them.

  She cleared her throat, averted her gaze, and nodded towards the door.

  “Come on.” She didn’t wait for him to get down off the stool.

  She started towards the door and Lukas was soon beside her.

  She snuck a glance at him and told herself it wasn’t a crime to appreciate how damned good he always looked in the black shirt and jeans he wore. They hugged his figure just the right amount, giving subtle clues about how sexy the body they hid was and luring her into picturing him naked. Even when she shouldn’t be.

  She closed the door behind him and locked up.

  “You okay?” She pocketed her keys and started down the quiet road with him towards the car park at the back of the pub, plucking the dead heads of a few flowers in the window boxes on the black painted sills of the elegant old white building as she passed.

  It was nice to have company for once. The dark fronts of the shops that lined the road opposite the pub and eerie silence cut only by the sound of distant cars on the main road often sent a chill through her and made her race for the safety of her car.

  With Lukas at her side, she didn’t feel afraid.

  She felt safe.

  “I have been better.” He tilted his head back, stared up at the night sky, and sighed, drawing her focus to him.

  There was such a look of melancholy in his eyes. W
hat was he thinking?

  “Where did you go, Lukas?” Annelie took her car keys out of her pocket, turned the corner into the car park, and pressed the button on the fob. The lights on her small car flashed. “I really was worried about you.”

  Lukas stopped and looked at her.

  She turned and met his gaze, letting him see that she wasn’t just saying that. He had disappeared without a word and it had frightened her. She had missed him.

  He stepped up to her, lifted his hand and gently cupped her cheek again, his palm warm against it, tearing down her defences and awakening the need to kiss him.

  His eyes held hers and she swore she saw another flicker of affection in them.

  Could he want her just as she wanted him?

  “I had to go away. I should have told you, Annelie. I should not have worried you.” There was black magic in his voice and the way he said her name, soft but with an underlying note of passion, and she was under his spell. He stroked her cheek, sending a shiver through her, and smiled into her eyes. “I did not think I would be gone so long. I promise I will not do it again.”

  Annelie told herself to break free but she couldn’t.

  She didn’t want to.

  She wanted to stand there in the warm night, feeling hot from head to toe because of Lukas’s caress and the ardent look in his eyes. She wanted to believe that his words meant what she thought they did and that he liked her and things between them would be different now. She hadn’t looked at another man since Lukas had walked into her life, had dreamed the impossible of him falling for her, and now it felt as though the impossible was possible after all.

  Lukas wanted her as much as she wanted him.

  She stepped into his embrace, her heart thundering against her chest, and stared up into his eyes.

  His fingers stroked her neck, his thumb brushing over her chin and then under her jaw. He tilted her head back, his eyes fixed on hers, and lowered his mouth. She shivered when their lips met and then pressed her hands against his firm chest and melted into him as he kissed her. It started out slow, a bare meeting of lips, but before she could draw another breath, his mouth covered hers and he stole it away.

  She tiptoed, slid her arms around his neck, and kissed him, shivered as their lips met and tongues traced each other in a sensual dance that stirred fire in her belly and her blood.

  He groaned and it was music to her heart, driving her on.

  She licked his lower lip, tangled her tongue with his, and kissed him harder, her breathing coming faster now as he held her closer. His palm cupped her nape, fingers pressing into her neck as he held her, kissed her deeper and harder still, igniting heat in her veins that quickly rolled to a boil.

  Sense reared its ugly head but she shoved it away, not interested in anything her mind had to say on the matter. The kiss was divine. Lukas was divine. It didn’t matter that he was still a little tipsy and that they were kissing in the middle of an unpleasant car park. She knew in her heart that this wasn’t the drink talking.

  He pulled back, breathing hard, and his eyes searched hers.

  The fire in them matched the inferno burning within her.

  Did she look so hungry too?

  She wanted to devour him.

  “Annelie...” he started and looked as though he was going to kiss her again, but then he stepped back. “I am sorry. If I have offended—”

  “No.”

  His eyes darted to hers.

  She fought to voice what was in her heart. She wanted him too. She had wanted that kiss more than anything. She was on the brink of saying it but other words came out instead.

  “We should get you home.”

  Disappointment flickered across his face again and his gaze went back to the sky as he gave a subtle nod.

  Annelie walked to her car, cursing herself as cold swept through her, the same disappointment that had shone in his eyes. She ached all over to feel his hands and lips on her again, longed for him to hold her close and never let her go.

  What was wrong with her?

  Why couldn’t she have just said what she had wanted to?

  Lukas, it was fine that you kissed me because I want to do that to you and a lot more besides.

  It was so easy to say it in her head.

  She walked around the car and glanced at him. His eyes were on her again, drifting over her body, bringing the fire back in their wake. She burned for him. She burned so much that she felt as though she was going to die if he didn’t touch her and kiss her again, if he didn’t quench the flames as only he could.

  If she had said what she had wanted to, would he be kissing her again now? Would that divine body be against hers and his hands be on her, skimming over her in the way she was craving, bringing her to life with passion and need?

  Just thinking about that was too much to bear, had her aching again, on the verge of doing something crazy.

  Annelie yanked the car door open instead and got in, gripped the steering wheel to anchor herself in place and stop her from grabbing hold of Lukas as he slid into the passenger seat beside her. She mentally cursed herself for letting her nerve fail her.

  She started the engine, put the car into gear and drove, needing something to distract her from her turbulent thoughts and the need blazing inside her.

  She needed a distraction, but Lukas didn’t offer one.

  He was quiet, only speaking to give her directions across London to where he lived. When they reached it, she pulled the car to a halt in a space outside and stared at the building.

  A beautiful pale four-storey Georgian townhouse.

  “You live here?” She couldn’t quite bring herself to believe it.

  She had never figured Lukas for a moneyed type. He had never once looked as though he had more than a few hundred pounds to his name.

  Lukas nodded and got out of the car, not waiting for her.

  Had she put him in a bad mood?

  She had definitely put herself in a bad mood by resisting him. She cursed herself again. She should have just kissed him. She should have kissed him so hard he would have had no doubt that she wanted him, that his kiss hadn’t offended her or anything like that. It had caught her off guard, had been so damned good that she hadn’t been able to think straight at the time, but now her head was clear and she wanted to kiss him again.

  Her eyes tracked him. He was walking in a straight line, not wavering at all, and seemed sober now. If he kissed her again, she wouldn’t be able to resist him. She wouldn’t have a reason to.

  Annelie stepped out, locked her car, and hurried across the quiet road to him. He waited on the golden-lit porch of the building, in front of the black door, his gaze drilling into her again, stoking the embers of the fire he had ignited in her.

  She stopped at the bottom of the steps, waiting for him to say something.

  All he had to do was invite her in. If he invited her in, she would take it as a sign that she hadn’t messed anything up and that he still wanted her.

  His eyes held hers for what felt like hours and then he spoke in a low, hushed voice that did strange things to her insides, made her feel light and a little hazy.

  “I just want to be clear about one thing. I did not kiss you because of the drink.” He glanced away and then met her gaze again, his green eyes sharp and focused on her, so intense they sent a thrill through her. “There is a reason I like to sit at the bar and talk to you, Annelie. There is a reason I kissed you.”

  He looked as though he wanted to say more but she didn’t give him a chance.

  She ran up the steps, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him again.

  He stumbled backwards into the door, wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up his body as his tongue stroked the seam of her lips. She opened for him, shivered as their tongues touched and she fought him for dominance. An ache started low in her belly, the heat gathering there as she kissed him, savoured the taste of him and the warmth of his hard body against hers.

  It was Heaven.

  A moan slipped from her lips.

  Lukas fumbled with the door behind him and they fell into the bright entrance hall. She giggled as he stumbled and held her closer, kept kissing the breath from her as if he couldn’t get enough. She definitely couldn’t get enough of him.