Heaven and Hellsbane by Paige Cuccaro

jealousy making my chest tight, prickling over my nerves, and egging me to say something I’d regret every time she saw us together. They were her emotions, not mine…mostly. She didn’t want Dan back. She just didn’t like seeing him with anyone else. I figured there was no reason for either of us to endure the discomfort. So I waited in the car until Dan came back from handing the kids over.
    He closed the Jeep’s door and strapped on his seat belt. “Janet says hi.”
    “I bet.” I smiled but I knew it didn’t reach my eyes. I couldn’t stop thinking about Gertrude Newberry and what she might know about my Fallen sperm donor. I had a real chance at discovering my angelic father’s identity. This could all be over soon. Really over. And then Dan and I…oh crap… I stopped thinking about it.
    It seemed like only a few minutes later that I made the right onto Route 51 and Dan said, “You okay?”
    I glanced at him and realized we’d been driving for nearly fifteen minutes without talking. “Yeah, I’m good. Fine.” Even I could hear that I’d said it a little too fast, a little too desperately.
    “You’re thinking about having to confront your real father, aren’t you?” he asked.
    Among other things. But I shrugged and nodded.
    “You worried everything’s going to move too fast after your life goes back to normal?” he asked.
    I glanced at him again. That was it, in a nutshell. That’s why my stomach had been trying to come up my throat all day and my chest felt like it was caught in a vise. All the talk of marriage—of becoming a stepmother and having babies of my own—had totally screwed with my head.
    “Yeah, maybe.” I swallowed hard and tried to smile. I didn’t pull it off very well.
    Dan put a hand on my leg as he reached his other up to tuck my hair behind my ear. “So don’t think about it. Just…forget everything your mom and my kids said. When you’re ready—when we’re ready, we’ll talk about it, and not a second sooner.”
    I glanced at him again and this time my smile was genuine. I exhaled and the pressure in my chest eased a little. “Thanks for digging up the info on that picture. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.”
    He leaned close and kissed my cheek, his musky cologne drifting over me, the warm, familiar scent soothing my nerves.
    “I just hope it pays off,” he said. “I can’t stand you being mixed up in all this angel-and-demon shit. It’s dangerous. I’ll be glad when it’s over.”
    Dan was a cop, trained to serve and protect. I knew it ate at his bones that there were bad guys out there after me and he couldn’t do anything about it. The fact that the power he needed to protect me lay dormant inside him made it even worse.
    At the next stoplight I leaned over to kiss him, but paused a hairbreadth from his lips. “You’re a good guy, Dan Wysocki. But I can handle the angel-and-demon shit. I was born for it.”
    I kissed him and he kissed me back, his tongue making a quick pass across my lips. My breath caught at the unexpected sensation, and Dan whispered against my mouth, “I was born for it, too. Remember?”
    The car behind us honked and I jumped straight in my seat, realizing the light had turned green. We pulled out and made the left on to Cook Street and another left into my driveway. Dan’s black Charger was parked on the street but he followed me inside, closing the front door behind him as I tossed my keys on the small foyer table.
    “I know you can take care of yourself, Emma,” Dan said and I turned to see him standing in front of the door, hands in the pockets of his jeans. “You have those powers, and that sword. But it is dangerous. You’re risking your life dealing with these supernatural beings and all I can do is stand on the sideline and pray one of them doesn’t slice you to ribbons or hack off your head. Your friend was killed right in front of you. Two more have died in the last week. I want to tell you to