Her lips were closed, but so soft and silken beneath his. He kept kissing her. She had to remember him. Pain and pleasure. Fire and life. Hope.
Love.
“Please.” He breathed the ragged rasp against her lips. He was as close to breaking as he’d ever been in his whole life. “Just remember . . . me.”
Her lips parted. Her tongue snaked out. Touched his. Tentative. So uncertain. He forced himself to stay controlled. To kiss her gently when—
She pulled away from him. Marna’s eyes searched his. “How many times . . . ?” Her voice was weak, as if she’d broken it. When she had been falling? And screaming for him?
I’m here.
“How many times . . . ” she whispered again, “do I have to tell you . . . I want to stay . . . with you?”
His heart almost jumped right from his chest.
Marna smiled up at him. Stared at him with eyes that knew and said, “I . . . know you. I . . . love . . . you.”
Tanner’s control snapped, and he pulled her as close as he could get her. His mouth took hers, wild, hot, desperate.
He’d found the one woman in this world who could make him whole. Who could make him be more than just a monster.
She’d chosen him over heaven. Brought him out of hell.
And he’d spend the rest of his days making sure she never suffered again. No more fire. No more pain.
Only pleasure. Love.
Life.
“You gave it up,” he whispered against her mouth as he lifted her into his arms. “You came back to me.”
Her arms wound around his neck. “I wasn’t letting you . . . get away.” Her voice was weak, but growing stronger. Just as she was. “Someone told me . . . guard what I want . . . the most.”
She was the only thing he wanted. He’d take her back to his home. Their home. He’d get her in bed, and he’d kiss every inch of her body and make absolutely sure this wasn’t just some desperate dream.
“For the rest of my days, I’ll be . . . guarding you,” Marna told him, her lips curving in a faint smile. “I don’t need to . . . have my wings . . . to be your guardian.”
A killer shifter, with a guardian angel always by his side? Maybe fate was playing a game of makeup with him. Whatever was happening, that plan sure sounded fine to Tanner. Damn fine.
An angel and a shifter together forever. Hell, yes. He kissed her again. Curled his body over hers.
And knew that even heaven couldn’t be any better than this.
Nothing could ever be better than holding his angel tight in his arms.
Together, forever.
He’d found his paradise.