Page 26 of Angels Don’t Date

He gave me a squint as he leaned back. “What do you know about angelic purpose? Also, how honest do you want me to be? I can be honest, brutally so, but you did mention something about manners, and the two don’t really jive.”

I inhaled deeply of the quickly cooling air and stared up at the glorious sky. Did I want him to be honest, or did I want him to spare my feelings? My feelings were tangling around, utterly mixed up knowing that the beautiful yet vile angel was my beloved SunRae best friend forever. And he was gorgeous, and he liked being blood sucked, and he had the most delicious blood in the world, and he felt absolutely no desire. My feelings needed to be pruned before they messed up my first real-life friendship.

“Be completely honest. Why did you tell me you were SunRae today?” I didn’t look at him, but I braced myself, preparing for the pain of having him say that he didn’t want to be romantic with me, and didn’t want me to think about romance with him.

He shrugged. “So I could bake for you. I figured if I didn’t tell you, you’d figure it out the next time I baked something. You’re much better to bake for than Vesper. In all honesty, he’d rather nibble on fresh grass than eat my baked goods, but seeing you eat my cupcake was absolutely validating. You loved it.” He sounded so smug.

I turned to frown at him. “You didn’t tell me so that I’d be angry at you for lying and then I’d be less romantically interested in you?” I almost bit my tongue once the words were out.

He raised his brows, smile quizzical. “You’re romantically interested in me? Well, I am incredibly gorgeous. And I have a horse.”

Vesper made another rude sound.

I elbowed him. “I’m not, but Pearly White keeps saying that I am, just because I was watching you bake. Everyone else was…” I shuddered.

He nodded, eyes luminous. “I know they were. Or weren’t. Baked salad? And yet that was the most edible thing there. You poor, poor, poor thing. I’d rather be poisoned than eat another werewolf beef cake.”

“Same.” I grabbed his arm. “Except don’t be poisoned again, okay?”

He covered my hand with his and grinned. “Okay. Also, I have no problem with you being romantically involved with me, but everyone could see that you aren’t, because you voted me off the show. In spite of me saving your life. That’s very clear messaging. Although maybe you will be now that you know I’m SunRae and bake adorable mini cakes. And then if I bake for you all the time…No, I don’t see how you could help but fall desperately in love with me. Other than my personality issues.” His smile turned devious. “You should be romantic about me. Then I can use you as the reason I’m not interested in getting married for duty. Angels don’t understand why duty wouldn’t be a good enough reason for me to do something. After all, I’m the one with the most angelic blood. I must also be compelled by my duty above my heart.”

I squinted at him. “You don’t mind if I fall in love with you? But wouldn’t that make our friendship awkward?”

He looked truly puzzled. “How? Oh! Desire! I forget that people have that. Would it be awkward for you? You don’t seem to be terribly motivated by desire, or you’d be more interested in the incubus. He’s very handsome.”

“So handsome! But one of my best friends in the lab is a succubus, so I don’t take any of that appeal seriously. It’s not real.”

“Interesting.” He moved closer, eyes intent. “So, you’ve been exposed to these kinds of feelings, lust and so forth in its full potency? What’s it like?”

I blinked at the angel and slowly smiled while the colors shifted and began to fade from the sky. He was so adorably naïve, even more than I was. “You want me to explain lust to you? I’ll have to do research and write you a long essay on the topic.”

He wrinkled his nose. “And then you’d pluck out your eyeballs. Nevermind. Would it bother you if I were physically affectionate? For example, you just shivered for the fifth time, and my automatic response would be to wrap my wing around you and tug you closer to my body heat, but if it inflamed you uncomfortably to be so close to me, I won’t. Also if you just don’t like touching me. That’s more likely. Vampires don’t seem to like touching very much. Angels are very physical, but not in a romantic way. There’s a lot of bro hugs, for instance.”

I beamed at him. He really was SunRae, thinking all these different things in all these different ways, but always full of exclamations. So adorable! Not that his voice hit those high points, but if you translated his words to text, there would be exclamations all over the place. “I’m half human, but no, vampires don’t hug a lot, which means I’m sort of…” I hesitated then continued, feeling like I was stepping off the edge of a cliff. “Starved for physical contact.”

His feathery wing came around me, pulling me close to his warmth, and then his arm was there, wrapping around my waist, before he turned his head and kissed my hair. His voice was low and velvet. “Perfect. Then I can relax and just take care of you without worrying that I’m freaking you out.”

I gurgled a laugh while my heart beat faster and I held very still, trying not to freak out. But he was SunRae. Wasn’t it normal for him to want to take care of me? I wanted to take care of him and make sure he was optimal amounts of happy. Why shouldn’t he feel the same way? I hesitated and then put my head on his shoulder. “I’m freaking out, but quietly.”

“Look, the first star,” he said, pointing up at the edge of the sky while Venus made her entrance.

The sky was fading, the color gone even from the edges. I felt so nice snuggled up to the angel, but when I inhaled, his blood smelled so delicious, my mouth watered. I needed to get home and drink a blood bag. I nudged his warm body with my elbow. “You should take me home now.”

“Why? More stars will come out in a second and those are even prettier than sunsets. Some might even fall. A falling star is even prettier than a falling angel.” He winked at me like there couldn’t be anything prettier than him.

I giggled. “You’re very confident. Lucky you have wings so you won’t fall.” I tugged on his feathers and his arm tightened around me deliciously.

He raised a brow. “Angels with wings are in the most danger of falling since they’re so high up. Being with you is like that. So high and heavenly. I’m glad we’re friends.” His eyes crinkled in the sweetest smile.

Friends. Right. I gazed up at the sky instead of at him. “Me too. Now be quiet so I’m not distracted while watching for falling stars and angels.”

“Do I distract you a lot?”

“Of course. You’re so gorgeous. And you have a horse.” I snickered. “You’re terrible.”

“I know. Terribly gorgeous.” He cocked his head just so, and I knew that Vesper learned his dramatic posing from him.

I burst into laughter, and he joined me, voice rich and delicious as his blood while I stayed safely snuggled against him while a sea of stars came to life above.