Free Take Her to HeVan (Nephilim Book 6) by Lucy Kelly Page A

the power of what we shared?”
    “Hey, you’re the one who apologized,” she said, pulling away.
    Karlo was having none of that. He used his superior strength to bring her back against his body where she belonged. He moved a leg over her hip for good measure.
    “I’m not sorry we made love. I’m sorry for making love right now. You had wanted to wait until after we were married. I didn’t give you a chance to say no. I just had to have you,” he explained.
    “Well, I changed my mind. I’m a woman, we do that. I’m happy now, so don’t spoil my afterglow,” she said, snuggling in.
    “I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said, grabbing the cover at the edge of the bed with one hand and flicking it over their cooling bodies.
    The two of them were drifting off for a nap when a bark from Rusty reminded Marla of her responsibilities. One of which was feeding the dog. He had left them alone while they were playing on the bed. Now he wanted their attention.
    “I guess we better get up and feed him. I should probably start dinner too. I seemed to have worked up an appetite,” she said.
    “Mmm, I’ll help. The sooner we eat, the sooner we can come back to bed,” he said with a grin. He wanted to make sure Marla understood there would be no going back to the way things were before.
    “Hmm, oh, sure. That is, if you still want to be here after we talk,” she said.
    She had come to a decision. She couldn’t keep lying to Karlo. She would tell him the truth and then pray he would be willing to help her.
    Karlo gave her a strange look. “What are we talking about? I don’t think you could say anything that would make me want to go away from you.”
    “After dinner, okay? We’ll talk after dinner.”
    He nodded his agreement. If that’s what she wanted, it was fine with him. He would deal with this new crisis and then they would move on. He wasn’t letting her go.

Chapter Six

     
    Karlo was concerned about what Marla wanted to discuss with him. She seemed very sad. He knew he wanted to be with her forever, so her belief that he would change his mind didn’t make sense. He thought back to the conversation he’d had with Deputy Sheriff Jim Tucker. Jim Tucker had asked him how he had proposed and when Karlo had explained they had only talked about getting married, Jim had told him what he needed to do. Karlo decided this was the time.
    He got up from the bed and started getting dressed. He saw the shopping bags and gave only a passing thought as to why Marla hadn’t taken them upstairs to her own room. Mostly, he worried about his proposal. It didn’t matter that Marla wanted to get married on Monday. Jim had said she would be unhappy if he didn’t give her a romantic proposal. He said women liked to have stories to tell their friends and children.
    He had betrayed Marla, and she was willing to marry him anyway. She deserved a formal proposal.
    Marla came out of the bathroom already dressed. She crossed the room and took the shopping bags with her. She didn’t even look at him before she left the room.
    He had intended to make his proposal later during dinner. Jim said candles were important too. He didn’t know if they had candles and the lighting in the kitchen was sufficient to see by, so he dropped that part of the plan. Marla’s sadness convinced him he needed to give her a proposal now.
    He noticed his palms were damp. It was a strange sensation that was completely unknown to him. Wiping his palms on his jeans, he decided later he would ask Marla if she recognized the symptom, and what it meant. Leaving the bedroom, he didn’t see Marla in the kitchen.
    He heard a sound coming from the door at the side of the kitchen. Marla called it the mudroom, though he had never seen her make mud there. When he stepped up to the doorway, he saw Marla in front of two large white machines standing against the wall.
    “What are you doing? Is there anything I can do to help?” he asked her.
    “I realized I needed to