Excerpt 2: Judgment & the World

 

Excerpt from Judgment & the World:

Once again, he closed the distance between them. Trudie backed up another step, and he took another step forward, until finally she hit the bureau against the wall. She couldn’t back up any further and he kept closing in on her, as if stalking her. He didn’t touch her again, but he put his hands on either side of the bureau, trapping her between his arms. He leaned down and murmured into her ear, only an inch from her face, “When are you going to tell the Guardians the truth?”

He was terrifying her and yet at the same time the heat of his breath against her neck made her tingle with desire. She was so messed up. It didn’t matter what he did, she still wanted him.

“What’s your game this time?” he demanded in a husky whisper.

“Are you going to pull my heart out again, Angel?” she demanded, looking up into his face. “You hate me so much. Why didn’t you kill me when you had a chance? You could’ve crushed my heart instead of returning me to Earth. Didn’t you want to kill me? You blamed me for the trick played on you. You blamed me for everything evil ever done to you by this form. Why did you spare my life?”

“Because I’m not a murderer,” he said. “And I hadn’t given you a trial.”

She snorted. “That’s the reason? Poppycock. You were angry enough to commit murder. You came to my room to kill me. And then you looked at my heart, and told me I was nobody, nothing, completely worthless. And then you just abandoned me.”

He splayed his fingers against her chest, right between her breasts. Her body arched into his touch, although she knew he was preparing to grab her heart and yank it out.

“Do it,” she whispered. “End my pain.”

* * *

Her eyes brimmed with tears. 

Manipulative little minx. Raziel couldn’t stand seeing her teary; she knew just how to play him.

Instead of grabbing her heart from her chest, he bent his lips to her and kissed her violently. He had hoped she would push him away or she would grab him and pull him tighter.

She did neither. She trembled in his arms but didn’t reach for him either to shut him off of her or to embrace him. Her tears turned to sobs. He tasted salt in the kiss and pulled back to stare at her as she cried. She looked for all the world like a woman with a broken heart, begging for forgiveness from the man she loved.

It’s a lie, he reminded himself. It’s all a lie.

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