Read Online A Dark Kiss of Rapture by Sylvia Day - Free Book Online Page A

known she would. He couldn’t explain how he knew, it
was just there. It was as if she had a rhythm to her, a unique
tempo that resonated perfectly inside him. And he’d liked Gabriel , as she’d suspected he would.
    Synergy, he thought, tightening his arms
around her. He lay stretched out on her sofa, barefooted and
comfortable. She was sprawled between his legs, her back to his
chest, her arms crossed over his. Every breath he took smelled of
her, that unique fragrance that was partly a soft floral perfume
and mostly her natural essence.
    He’d never experienced anything even
remotely similar to this casual intimacy. Associations for him had
always been necessities—he worked with his teams, he fucked the
willing, and he relaxed alone. All of the Fallen had lost their
souls when they’d lost their wings, one couldn’t exist without the
other. But the rest of the Fallen had loved before they fell and
he’d wondered if perhaps the ability to know love was something he
could’ve only learned when he’d been whole. Perhaps he had missed
his chance.
    Clearly, he’d been wrong to think that way.
He’d never understood the saying My heart’s not in it . Why
did your heart need to be in anything? Do what you need to do. But
now he knew. He’d enjoyed his work, sex, and his solitude, but his
heart had never been in any of it. Until, perhaps, now.
    Raze pressed a kiss to her temple, marveling
at how drastically his life and outlook had changed in a mere day.
“You know,” he murmured, “now we can say we’ve known each other
days, as in plural.”
    Her head moved on his chest as her gaze slid
from the television to the digital clock on her cable box. “It
feels like so much longer than that.”
    She sat up despite his protests and
shifting, moving to straddle him. He watched her, riveted by her
elegant sensuality. She was way, way out of his league, but somehow
he was making her happy. She caught the pull of her zipper, one
that ran from cleavage to waist on the simple but pretty strappy
emerald dress she wore.
    “Ready for your surprise?” she asked, with
sparkling eyes.
    “Hmm... A surprise.” He gripped her thighs
beneath the hem and squeezed. “You’re all I need.”
    “And I’m what you’ll get.” The dress parted
and she drew it over her head.
    Jesus. He went hard all over. Her
delicate breasts were cupped by mere scraps of green satin framed
by black lace. The wisp covering the sweet flesh between her thighs
was nothing more than a tease. The whole sparkled with crystals and
contrasted beautifully with her creamy skin, dark hair, and peridot
eyes. He lost his breath for a moment, along with his brain.
    “A surprise,” he murmured. “And a gift. God.
Kim. You shred me.”
    Her greedy hands slid up beneath his shirt
and her mouth sealed over his. She took him. And fisting her hair,
he gave.
     
    * * *
     
    They spent Sunday morning being deliciously
lazy, rolling around in bed and talking about their work. Raze
could say little about the particulars of what he did, but he told
her he traveled a lot and worked in teams occasionally. He told her
about Vash and Syre, Torque and Salem, smudging details as
necessary to get the gist across. It was easier than he would have
thought to talk so much. Kim made it easy by listening attentively
and refraining from asking questions he couldn’t answer. In return
he strove to be as honest as possible under the circumstances.
Eventually, he’d tell her everything. After he discussed it with
Syre and Vashti.
    Kim talked about her job as a medical
laboratory scientist and he listened raptly, amazed that of all the
people he could’ve found this depth of connection with he’d found
one who spent her days looking at blood. She was, in her own way,
as drawn to the vital substance as he was. What were the odds?
    She was a trust fund baby, which allowed her
to do what she loved for a living. Most of her friends were also
her co-workers and Janelle had been her best